9: Serenity is coming out tomorrow

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Serenity is coming out tomorrow

Title text: Mal, Simon, Wash, Zoe, River, Kaylee, Jayne, Inara, Book.

Explanation

This comic is about the release of the movie Serenity, which was the followup to Joss Whedon's TV show, Firefly, which was cancelled by Fox after only one season. Plus, three episodes were not shown on Fox but debuted on Sci Fi Channel in the UK. The show was followed by a devoted number of fans who were outraged by the cancellation of the show. High DVD sales and strong fan support allowed the follow up film Serenity to be created, which tied up many of the loose ends that Firefly left open, such as the cause of River's abilities and the origins of the Reavers.

The image shows the main characters of Firefly. From left to right:

• Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds - the ship's captain.
• Simon Tam - a doctor trying to rescue his sister.
• Hoban "Wash" Washburne - the ship's pilot.
• Zoe Washburne - the ship's second-in-command.
• River Tam - Simon's sister, who displays superhuman capabilities, but is crippled by alliance research.
• Kaylee Frye - the ship's happy-go-lucky mechanic.
• Jayne Cobb - the hired muscle.
• Inara Serra - a companion, the equivalent of a courtesan, but with a greater deal of respect.
• Derrial Book - a shepherd, which is similar to a priest, with a very unknown backstory.

This is the first xkcd with adorned stick figures (e.g. hair, coats, etc.) to represent distinct characters, which later becomes a standard motif of the comic.

Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, and Jewel Staite, the actors who play Mal, River, and Kaylee respectively, show up later in Randall's series The Race.

Transcript

[Several stick figures stand side by side in a lineup. A forlorn male in a coat, a male with combed hair, a male with spiky hair and arms outstretched enthusiastically, a female with long hair and cornrows, a shorter female with stringy hair falling over her face, an enthusiastic female with arms raised in celebration with shorter hair, a male with short hair and a goatee and hands on hips, a female with curly hair wearing a dress, and a stern-looking man with flyaway hair.]

Trivia

• This was the 10th comic originally posted to LiveJournal.
  • The previous was 6: Irony.
  • The next was 10: Pi Equals.
• Original title: "Firefly"
• Original Randall quote: "Drawn in honor of the upcoming Serenity! If you work very hard you can figure out who is who."
• This was one of the thirteen first comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on Friday September 30, 2005.
• This comic was posted on xkcd when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
  • It was posted along with all 41 comics posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
  • The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
• One of the original drawings drawn on checkered paper.

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Discussion

Serenity / Firefly / River Tam /Summer Glau have been referenced in many other xkcd comics: ‎82.208.215.147 (talk) 08:51 13 August 2012 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)