Firefly: Serenity

[bz316]

I liked this show a lot, but one of the things that always bugged me was how...ambiguous the war was. I mean, until the movie beat us over the head with how EVIL the Alliance was, I never really got any kind of impression of what the Browncoats' cause even was supposed to be. I mean, they were fighting for independence or whatever, sure. But why exactly? Usually, independence or secession movements have casus belli and such. But the most we ever get from Zoe and Mal is some trite crap about how "the outer colonies just wanted to go there own way" or something. But what does that mean, exactly? That's not a political philosophy or a statement of principles. When the sleeper ships from Earth got there, was it every colony for itself initially, then the inner planets invaded and exerted control? Or were the outer colonies originally colonized by settlers from the inner planets (make it the sovereign government of said colonies)? And if so, why were they trying to break away? Taxes? No representation in parliament? Religious rights? I mean, we keep hearing from the two veterans (aka, people WITHOUT any objectivity on the subject) about how terrible the alliance is, but it seems like most of the places that have little to no Alliance control are pretty shitty: colonies with slavery, company towns with no workers rights, religious communes where the locals straight-up burn women as witches? Is that what they were fighting for?! WTF?

It's been quite some time since I've seen Firefly, but from what I remember (I can't recall if this was ever really established)...

Earth (with it's almost 200 different nations) got united by one monolithic government, and the new government's control is absolute. From America to China to Switzerland to North Korea, *everyone* bends their knee to the United Earth Government. From one point of view it's a utopia, but from another point of view it's a dystopia. And if you disagree with the government, tough luck, because there is only one government and you have no control over it. There are no effective checks and balances. Then Humanity expanded into space, and Earth's control over these colonies was naturally slightly weaker. From these weaker-controlled planets, people who desired something other than the United Earth Government shot off in their own space-made rockets to even more distant planets, with the explicit purpose of getting away from the United Earth Government and forming their own various independent nations. They're shitty worlds, but they're free.

The United Earth Government did not like that, as they fundamentally believe that they are the one and only government, and that all Humans exist under the umbrella of their leadership, whether they like it or not. So they brought their controlled planets back under full control, and then made moves towards taking control of the "free" outer-rim planets through force. The disconnected outer-rim planets formed up into one singular opposition force, and said "Hey, we're a distinct entity, with our own army, we don't belong to you and we won't be pushed around by you."

So the United Earth Government (the center of civilization and technology) invaded the underdog Browncoats and steamrolled them. Earth was 100% the invaders here. And from Earth's point of view, they had merely put down a treasonous rebellion, because their claim to rule extends as far as people do.

And then the movie reveals that they tried to create a drug to pacify the disobedient masses, which backfired and created the Reavers, who are an existential threat to everyone on the outer-rim, and buried the evidence of what they did because their power is absolute and they're accountable to nobody. And the movie didn't pull this out of it's butt, because just look at what they did to River with their experiments. They tried these things once, and they'll try them again, because nobody can stand against this oppressive, monolithic regime.

Right, but here's my issue with that. I am like 99% positive that was never once actually established in the show. If all that stuff is true, then it was expanded on it articles and interviews published outside of what was in the show. And viewers shouldn't have to do extra work to get a clear understanding of the universe's backstory. Purely from the context of the show (again prior to the movie), there is no more evidence that the Alliance is some kind of evil empire than there is evidence that the Browncoats were a bunch of religious zealots who were fighting for the right to establish some kind of weird space-theocracy. The only perspective we really get on the conditions that lead to the rebellion are two veterans of the same side (i.e., people who aren't likely to be objective about anything). And sure, there is all the stuff about River being hunted. But, at the same time, River is a violent, dangerous telepath (i.e., the kind of thing you might want a government to keep an eye on), and we genuinely have no firm idea on how much of that was caused by government experiments (again, prior to the movie) and how much is just her.

[clearspira]

I liked this show a lot, but one of the things that always bugged me was how...ambiguous the war was. I mean, until the movie beat us over the head with how EVIL the Alliance was, I never really got any kind of impression of what the Browncoats' cause even was supposed to be. I mean, they were fighting for independence or whatever, sure. But why exactly? Usually, independence or secession movements have casus belli and such. But the most we ever get from Zoe and Mal is some trite crap about how "the outer colonies just wanted to go there own way" or something. But what does that mean, exactly? That's not a political philosophy or a statement of principles. When the sleeper ships from Earth got there, was it every colony for itself initially, then the inner planets invaded and exerted control? Or were the outer colonies originally colonized by settlers from the inner planets (make it the sovereign government of said colonies)? And if so, why were they trying to break away? Taxes? No representation in parliament? Religious rights? I mean, we keep hearing from the two veterans (aka, people WITHOUT any objectivity on the subject) about how terrible the alliance is, but it seems like most of the places that have little to no Alliance control are pretty shitty: colonies with slavery, company towns with no workers rights, religious communes where the locals straight-up burn women as witches? Is that what they were fighting for?! WTF?

It's been quite some time since I've seen Firefly, but from what I remember (I can't recall if this was ever really established)...

Earth (with it's almost 200 different nations) got united by one monolithic government, and the new government's control is absolute. From America to China to Switzerland to North Korea, *everyone* bends their knee to the United Earth Government. From one point of view it's a utopia, but from another point of view it's a dystopia. And if you disagree with the government, tough luck, because there is only one government and you have no control over it. There are no effective checks and balances. Then Humanity expanded into space, and Earth's control over these colonies was naturally slightly weaker. From these weaker-controlled planets, people who desired something other than the United Earth Government shot off in their own space-made rockets to even more distant planets, with the explicit purpose of getting away from the United Earth Government and forming their own various independent nations. They're shitty worlds, but they're free.

The United Earth Government did not like that, as they fundamentally believe that they are the one and only government, and that all Humans exist under the umbrella of their leadership, whether they like it or not. So they brought their controlled planets back under full control, and then made moves towards taking control of the "free" outer-rim planets through force. The disconnected outer-rim planets formed up into one singular opposition force, and said "Hey, we're a distinct entity, with our own army, we don't belong to you and we won't be pushed around by you."

So the United Earth Government (the center of civilization and technology) invaded the underdog Browncoats and steamrolled them. Earth was 100% the invaders here. And from Earth's point of view, they had merely put down a treasonous rebellion, because their claim to rule extends as far as people do.

And then the movie reveals that they tried to create a drug to pacify the disobedient masses, which backfired and created the Reavers, who are an existential threat to everyone on the outer-rim, and buried the evidence of what they did because their power is absolute and they're accountable to nobody. And the movie didn't pull this out of it's butt, because just look at what they did to River with their experiments. They tried these things once, and they'll try them again, because nobody can stand against this oppressive, monolithic regime.

Right, but here's my issue with that. I am like 99% positive that was never once actually established in the show. If all that stuff is true, then it was expanded on it articles and interviews published outside of what was in the show. And viewers shouldn't have to do extra work to get a clear understanding of the universe's backstory. Purely from the context of the show (again prior to the movie), there is no more evidence that the Alliance is some kind of evil empire than there is evidence that the Browncoats were a bunch of religious zealots who were fighting for the right to establish some kind of weird space-theocracy. The only perspective we really get on the conditions that lead to the rebellion are two veterans of the same side (i.e., people who aren't likely to be objective about anything). And sure, there is all the stuff about River being hunted. But, at the same time, River is a violent, dangerous telepath (i.e., the kind of thing you might want a government to keep an eye on), and we genuinely have no firm idea on how much of that was caused by government experiments (again, prior to the movie) and how much is just her.

Completely agree with you. A work should stand on its own, if I have to go away and put in effort to try and make your show/film make sense, then you have failed.

[Riedquat]

The worldbuilding doesn't have to all come at once, it can be slowly shown and fleshed out as the show goes on. Firefly lacked the time to do all that much worldbuilding; if it was going to have been a short run from the start I'd have expected more but sadly it wasn't.

[clearspira]

The worldbuilding doesn't have to all come at once, it can be slowly shown and fleshed out as the show goes on. Firefly lacked the time to do all that much worldbuilding; if it was going to have been a short run from the start I'd have expected more but sadly it wasn't.

I agree with you don't get me wrong, but still, it is pretty damn arrogant to assume that you'll get a second season. This is especially true for sci-fi produced back before sci fi and fantasy began to enjoy the popularity it has today. And given how many storylines the movie wraps up, I don't think I am stepping out of line here by accusing Whedon of arrogance. Imo, his career was such hot shit at the time that he just assumed that anything he touches would get an automatic renewal regardless of quality.

And speaking of the movie, its poor performance is pretty indicative of what the general opinion of the show so far in this thread seems to be: it was a 7/10 show with 10/10 hype. General audiences flocked to see what the fuss was about and left still wondering.

[Nikas Zekeval]

I liked this show a lot, but one of the things that always bugged me was how...ambiguous the war was. I mean, until the movie beat us over the head with how EVIL the Alliance was, I never really got any kind of impression of what the Browncoats' cause even was supposed to be. I mean, they were fighting for independence or whatever, sure. But why exactly? Usually, independence or secession movements have casus belli and such. But the most we ever get from Zoe and Mal is some trite crap about how "the outer colonies just wanted to go there own way" or something. But what does that mean, exactly? That's not a political philosophy or a statement of principles. When the sleeper ships from Earth got there, was it every colony for itself initially, then the inner planets invaded and exerted control? Or were the outer colonies originally colonized by settlers from the inner planets (make it the sovereign government of said colonies)? And if so, why were they trying to break away? Taxes? No representation in parliament? Religious rights? I mean, we keep hearing from the two veterans (aka, people WITHOUT any objectivity on the subject) about how terrible the alliance is, but it seems like most of the places that have little to no Alliance control are pretty shitty: colonies with slavery, company towns with no workers rights, religious communes where the locals straight-up burn women as witches? Is that what they were fighting for?! WTF?

It's been quite some time since I've seen Firefly, but from what I remember (I can't recall if this was ever really established)...

Earth (with it's almost 200 different nations) got united by one monolithic government, and the new government's control is absolute. From America to China to Switzerland to North Korea, *everyone* bends their knee to the United Earth Government. From one point of view it's a utopia, but from another point of view it's a dystopia. And if you disagree with the government, tough luck, because there is only one government and you have no control over it. There are no effective checks and balances. Then Humanity expanded into space, and Earth's control over these colonies was naturally slightly weaker. From these weaker-controlled planets, people who desired something other than the United Earth Government shot off in their own space-made rockets to even more distant planets, with the explicit purpose of getting away from the United Earth Government and forming their own various independent nations. They're shitty worlds, but they're free.

The United Earth Government did not like that, as they fundamentally believe that they are the one and only government, and that all Humans exist under the umbrella of their leadership, whether they like it or not. So they brought their controlled planets back under full control, and then made moves towards taking control of the "free" outer-rim planets through force. The disconnected outer-rim planets formed up into one singular opposition force, and said "Hey, we're a distinct entity, with our own army, we don't belong to you and we won't be pushed around by you."

So the United Earth Government (the center of civilization and technology) invaded the underdog Browncoats and steamrolled them. Earth was 100% the invaders here. And from Earth's point of view, they had merely put down a treasonous rebellion, because their claim to rule extends as far as people do.

And then the movie reveals that they tried to create a drug to pacify the disobedient masses, which backfired and created the Reavers, who are an existential threat to everyone on the outer-rim, and buried the evidence of what they did because their power is absolute and they're accountable to nobody. And the movie didn't pull this out of it's butt, because just look at what they did to River with their experiments. They tried these things once, and they'll try them again, because nobody can stand against this oppressive, monolithic regime.

Right, but here's my issue with that. I am like 99% positive that was never once actually established in the show. If all that stuff is true, then it was expanded on it articles and interviews published outside of what was in the show. And viewers shouldn't have to do extra work to get a clear understanding of the universe's backstory. Purely from the context of the show (again prior to the movie), there is no more evidence that the Alliance is some kind of evil empire than there is evidence that the Browncoats were a bunch of religious zealots who were fighting for the right to establish some kind of weird space-theocracy. The only perspective we really get on the conditions that lead to the rebellion are two veterans of the same side (i.e., people who aren't likely to be objective about anything). And sure, there is all the stuff about River being hunted. But, at the same time, River is a violent, dangerous telepath (i.e., the kind of thing you might want a government to keep an eye on), and we genuinely have no firm idea on how much of that was caused by government experiments (again, prior to the movie) and how much is just her.

I had a different mental picture based on a couple of things.

One, all the references I heard to Earth was "To Earth that Was", and I wasn't sure if it was canon or just the impression that Earth is gone. Or at least uninhabitable. Thus the "Verse" was a large system (I do recall WoG is there is no FTL, this was slow boat colonization) where this (and perhaps the only) group of refugees went to. I think environmental damage was sited, I recall "Earth was used up" being mentioned.

Two, at one point Inara mentions voting for "Federation"? I can't recall the exact term, but there was apparently some kind of plebiscite on forming a strong central government. It was unclear if the stronger, more technological and industrialized 'core worlds' simply out voted by raw population, or went to military force when they lost.

It sounded like the worlds that supported the Browncoats at least voted against the measure in locally decisive manners, Mal at one point replies to Inara she did vote for her world to join the Alliance. Mal replied, "Well I suppose someone had to." with overtones that made her just as much a whore as her job.

I never really got into this during the original run. I felt their wasn't enough 'schizo tech' Cowboys with cellphones, and other scattering of high tech that was portable enough to make it outside the core worlds. As I put it, It felt like they wanted to write a Western, complete with some post Civil War diehards. But didn't think they could sell a Western, so dressed it up as a sci-fi show. Or they wanted a Sci-Fi show but didn't think they could sell one, so dressed it up as a Western. And the fit at first got me as awkward, like wearing someone else's clothes, badly.

I do recall Mal getting my interest during the Train Job episode (I think the first one I saw, maybe on a rerun). Where at the end the chief enforcer of the crime boss they just double crossed by giving the goods back, swore elaborate vengence while tied up near the Serenity's engine intakes. And Mal responds by kicking him into said engines, and giving the same "here's the money we were fronted, the jobs a bust. We go our way, you go yours." speech to Chief Minion #2.

[Philistine]

I liked this show a lot, but one of the things that always bugged me was how...ambiguous the war was. I mean, until the movie beat us over the head with how EVIL the Alliance was, I never really got any kind of impression of what the Browncoats' cause even was supposed to be. I mean, they were fighting for independence or whatever, sure. But why exactly? Usually, independence or secession movements have casus belli and such. But the most we ever get from Zoe and Mal is some trite crap about how "the outer colonies just wanted to go there own way" or something. But what does that mean, exactly? That's not a political philosophy or a statement of principles. When the sleeper ships from Earth got there, was it every colony for itself initially, then the inner planets invaded and exerted control? Or were the outer colonies originally colonized by settlers from the inner planets (make it the sovereign government of said colonies)? And if so, why were they trying to break away? Taxes? No representation in parliament? Religious rights? I mean, we keep hearing from the two veterans (aka, people WITHOUT any objectivity on the subject) about how terrible the alliance is, but it seems like most of the places that have little to no Alliance control are pretty shitty: colonies with slavery, company towns with no workers rights, religious communes where the locals straight-up burn women as witches? Is that what they were fighting for?! WTF?

It's been quite some time since I've seen Firefly, but from what I remember (I can't recall if this was ever really established)...

Earth (with it's almost 200 different nations) got united by one monolithic government, and the new government's control is absolute. From America to China to Switzerland to North Korea, *everyone* bends their knee to the United Earth Government. From one point of view it's a utopia, but from another point of view it's a dystopia. And if you disagree with the government, tough luck, because there is only one government and you have no control over it. There are no effective checks and balances. Then Humanity expanded into space, and Earth's control over these colonies was naturally slightly weaker. From these weaker-controlled planets, people who desired something other than the United Earth Government shot off in their own space-made rockets to even more distant planets, with the explicit purpose of getting away from the United Earth Government and forming their own various independent nations. They're shitty worlds, but they're free.

The United Earth Government did not like that, as they fundamentally believe that they are the one and only government, and that all Humans exist under the umbrella of their leadership, whether they like it or not. So they brought their controlled planets back under full control, and then made moves towards taking control of the "free" outer-rim planets through force. The disconnected outer-rim planets formed up into one singular opposition force, and said "Hey, we're a distinct entity, with our own army, we don't belong to you and we won't be pushed around by you."

So the United Earth Government (the center of civilization and technology) invaded the underdog Browncoats and steamrolled them. Earth was 100% the invaders here. And from Earth's point of view, they had merely put down a treasonous rebellion, because their claim to rule extends as far as people do.

And then the movie reveals that they tried to create a drug to pacify the disobedient masses, which backfired and created the Reavers, who are an existential threat to everyone on the outer-rim, and buried the evidence of what they did because their power is absolute and they're accountable to nobody. And the movie didn't pull this out of it's butt, because just look at what they did to River with their experiments. They tried these things once, and they'll try them again, because nobody can stand against this oppressive, monolithic regime.

Right, but here's my issue with that. I am like 99% positive that was never once actually established in the show. If all that stuff is true, then it was expanded on it articles and interviews published outside of what was in the show. And viewers shouldn't have to do extra work to get a clear understanding of the universe's backstory. Purely from the context of the show (again prior to the movie), there is no more evidence that the Alliance is some kind of evil empire than there is evidence that the Browncoats were a bunch of religious zealots who were fighting for the right to establish some kind of weird space-theocracy. The only perspective we really get on the conditions that lead to the rebellion are two veterans of the same side (i.e., people who aren't likely to be objective about anything). And sure, there is all the stuff about River being hunted. But, at the same time, River is a violent, dangerous telepath (i.e., the kind of thing you might want a government to keep an eye on), and we genuinely have no firm idea on how much of that was caused by government experiments (again, prior to the movie) and how much is just her.

I'm 100% positive none of that was ever mentioned in the show, or even the movie. It may have been described in one or more of the many tie-in projects - comics, RPGs, board games, etc. - but I can't swear to it: I don't recall seeing mention of a "United Earth Government" in any of the stuff I have read. And if that were the case, I'd need a good explanation of why the UEG was universally referred to as "the Alliance" by friends, foes, and even their own serving military* and LE personnel, not only during the war but for years afterward.

My own interpretation was that the Alliance was infested with a rich urban elite - smug, arrogant assholes who believed they had a monopoly on both intelligence and morality, and therefore that everybody who didn't think exactly as they did was stupid, evil, or (more likely) both. The frontier worlds had a completely different set of problems from the wealthier, urbanized worlds, and wanted to be free to address those problems without having an inappropriate/irrelevant (or exploitative) set of priorities imposed upon them from off-world. The casus belli in this case, then, would simply be encroachment by the Alliance - under the guise of "bringing the light of civilization" - into territory that the Independents regarded as theirs. Wars don't always involve a grand moral or philosophical underpinning, you know. Sometimes it really is as simple as, "I want that." "Can't have it, it's mine." "We'll see about that."

Beyond that, from various statements by Whedon I believe it's very much intended to be ambiguous. We see the Browncoats as "the good guys" because that's who two of our protagonists fought for, and they still have frequent negative interactions with their former foes; but when you look at the setting in detail, you get something like the "What have the Romans done for us?" scene in Life of Brian.


* In WW2, for example, if you'd asked the bridge crew of a destroyer on the Murmansk convoy run what Navy they belonged to, they'd have promptly said "Canadian," or "Royal Navy," or "American," or whatever. They would not have said "the Allies." In contrast, all the Alliance personnel we see through the course of the show do in fact seem to work for The Alliance.

[bz316]

I'm 100% positive none of that was ever mentioned in the show, or even the movie. It may have been described in one or more of the many tie-in projects - comics, RPGs, board games, etc. - but I can't swear to it: I don't recall seeing mention of a "United Earth Government" in any of the stuff I have read. And if that were the case, I'd need a good explanation of why the UEG was universally referred to as "the Alliance" by friends, foes, and even their own serving military* and LE personnel, not only during the war but for years afterward.

My own interpretation was that the Alliance was infested with a rich urban elite - smug, arrogant assholes who believed they had a monopoly on both intelligence and morality, and therefore that everybody who didn't think exactly as they did was stupid, evil, or (more likely) both. The frontier worlds had a completely different set of problems from the wealthier, urbanized worlds, and wanted to be free to address those problems without having an inappropriate/irrelevant (or exploitative) set of priorities imposed upon them from off-world. The casus belli in this case, then, would simply be encroachment by the Alliance - under the guise of "bringing the light of civilization" - into territory that the Independents regarded as theirs. Wars don't always involve a grand moral or philosophical underpinning, you know. Sometimes it really is as simple as, "I want that." "Can't have it, it's mine." "We'll see about that."

Beyond that, from various statements by Whedon I believe it's very much intended to be ambiguous. We see the Browncoats as "the good guys" because that's who two of our protagonists fought for, and they still have frequent negative interactions with their former foes; but when you look at the setting in detail, you get something like the "What have the Romans done for us?" scene in Life of Brian.


* In WW2, for example, if you'd asked the bridge crew of a destroyer on the Murmansk convoy run what Navy they belonged to, they'd have promptly said "Canadian," or "Royal Navy," or "American," or whatever. They would not have said "the Allies." In contrast, all the Alliance personnel we see through the course of the show do in fact seem to work for The Alliance.

See, the problem I have with that specific interpretation is we never get any impression from Mal or Zoe that was the case. They never refer to the outer colonies "being invaded" or anything. If they had, I could be like "okay, so they were perhaps defending themselves from invasion or at least saw themselves as fighting off invasion," which is as good a casus belli as any on a person to person level. Maybe that's not exactly what happened, but it could at least explain what the cause supposedly was. But they keep spitting out folksy bullshit about "folks wanting to do things their own way" or some such nonsense, which is vague enough to be basically meaningless. And I doubt it was a matter of principle about hating smug, rich assholes since its not like Zoe or Mal ever implies they wanted to create some kind of utopian state that tore down the barriers between the "haves and have-nots." I mean, it's not like I wanted either of them to be the equivalent of a space Thomas Paine, spitting out the future equivalent of the "Common Sense" pamphlets. Just some indication of their reasons for fighting beyond just "grr...Alliance evil, blah blah blah"...

[Robovski]

It was cancelled before it ever came to British TV and so that took a lot of my interest away in seeing it as close to air as I could have when it was on any British channel. On the strength of reputation I bought a box set of the DVDs when they were on sale like in 2010 and watched them with a friend who was a fan and watched this episode first (and the rest in order). It was a good show but by this point I felt the hype was such that nothing could live up to that and I don't feel wrong in that assessment. I appreciate it existing, it is top shelf sci-fi, but it was never ambrosia from Mt Olympus and perfect in every regard. That said, it was a good show and fucked over by Fox (like so many other shows) and deserved more. It could have been one of the greats and now it's a bright spark of TV history that never caught flame.

[bronnt]

I don't get the complaints about the worldbuilding. I actually dislike shows that try to bash you over the head with their exposition and a complete lack of subtle. Firefly did it right. I like how they demonstrate the fact that Chinese culture and language have become commonplace-you can have very much white characters with Chinese last names. Rustic and simple characters like Jane swear in Chinese because it's become vernacular, like how many Spanish words seep into American English.

It also doesn't bash you over the head with an overtly EEEVIL Alliance government. They're necessarily super evil, even if they have a few dark secrets. For the most part they're just a government that is a bit more authoritarian than many of the outer colonies might have liked. Wars are very seldom fought because Just And Righteous Heroes and Vile, Evil Overlords. The British Empire wasn't explicitly evil, but they still had enough lapses in justice that the American colonies rose up against them. "Taxation without Representation" is a fairly esoteric concept to fight a war over if you don't know the full context of it. And people don't constantly talk about things that people already know.

That's not to say the show is perfect, but I think the way they teased out the worldbuilding instead of hitting you over the head with it was very well done.

[bz316]

I don't get the complaints about the worldbuilding. I actually dislike shows that try to bash you over the head with their exposition and a complete lack of subtle. Firefly did it right. I like how they demonstrate the fact that Chinese culture and language have become commonplace-you can have very much white characters with Chinese last names. Rustic and simple characters like Jane swear in Chinese because it's become vernacular, like how many Spanish words seep into American English.

It also doesn't bash you over the head with an overtly EEEVIL Alliance government. They're necessarily super evil, even if they have a few dark secrets. For the most part they're just a government that is a bit more authoritarian than many of the outer colonies might have liked. Wars are very seldom fought because Just And Righteous Heroes and Vile, Evil Overlords. The British Empire wasn't explicitly evil, but they still had enough lapses in justice that the American colonies rose up against them. "Taxation without Representation" is a fairly esoteric concept to fight a war over if you don't know the full context of it. And people don't constantly talk about things that people already know.

That's not to say the show is perfect, but I think the way they teased out the worldbuilding instead of hitting you over the head with it was very well done.

The thing is, most people (myself included) aren't demanding an episode wherein somebody lays out a 45 minute long powerpoint about the full structure of the Alliance Government or the various sociological, political, and economic factors that caused the war. All I want is something more specific than the folksy bullshit Mal and Zoe keep spewing about people doing their own thing or whatever. Like a few lines of dialogue, describing what they saw as the reason for fighting. Not only would this give us more context for the setting than "a war happened, these assholes lost," but it would tell us more about Mal and Zoe. All we know is they are against the Alliance, but telling us why they chose to fight in the way (ie, specifics about the causes of the conflict) would give us a deeper look into who they were. Did they see it as fighting off an invasion, thereby demonstrating their loyalty to the land they were born on? Did they grow up believing in the ideals espoused by Alliance Society, only to see its excesses become too much to bear, thereby demonstrating their hatred of hypocrisy and disillusionment in the society to which they were born? All we ever get from them is what they are against. Their explanations of the war never tell us what they are for (or used to be for).

*Also, the British Empire wasn't explicitly evil? Tell that to India or China...