Tag: serenity

“I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.”

From: Firefly/Serenity

Genre: Television/Movie

Who said it?: Hoban “Wash” Washburne

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from Serenity, a film sequel of sorts to Joss Whedon’s (sadly) short-lived sci-fi television series, Firefly. The film’s title is derived from the name of the Firefly-class spaceship the crew uses.

The quote comes from near the end of the film. In order to break through an Alliance barricade, Captain Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds lures a horde of Reaver ships to the Serenity’s position to distract the Alliance ships. While this does work to a degree, the Serenity still has to find a way to slip through the Alliance forces. This is when Hoban “Wash” Washburne summons his courage to actually pilot the Firefly-class ship against seemingly impossible odds…

Geek wisdom: It’s incredibly easy to psyche ourselves out when under pressure. It’s easy to talk ourselves out of doing of even attempting to perform complicated tasks. In order to actually do them, confidence is key. We have to believe in ourselves whenever we do anything. Whether it be relatively mundane activities or extremely complex processes, we have to believe in ourselves that we can actually do it.

“We live in a spaceship, dear.”

From: Firefly

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Zoe Washburn

The story behind the quote: This quote comes from the (sadly) shortly lived sci-fi series, Firefly. It takes place in the future, when mankind has colonized other planets. Malcolm Reynolds is the captain of a crew of a Firefly class starship named Serenity. While the series is set in space, it’s presented more like a western, which made it pretty unique. It’s also a pretty quirky series being the brainchild of Joss Whedon (the same creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog).

The quote comes from the last episode of the series, entitled “Objects in Space.” To avoid spoilers, I’ll just mention where the quote fits into the episode. The crew is discussing the possibility that one of their crew members, River Tam, who appears to be autistic (and crazy), may actually have psychic abilities. The pilot of Serenity, Wash, seriously doubts this, since psychics only appear in science fiction. Wash’s wife, Zoe, turns to him and ironically tells him that they actually live in outer space in the Serenity.

(By the way, if you’re a geek, you owe it to yourself to watch the entire series.)

Geek wisdom: Somethings may also seem impossible and totally outrageous to one person but may be very natural with another. The clip above shows Wash totally saying that psychics are too far in the realm of impossibility to be real. It’s his wife that has to point out to him that they are living in a spaceship, which is actually something that is pretty hard to comprehend for others. But for Wash, it’s just a normal thing.