Writer:	Tim Minear, Joss Whedon
Director:	Joss Whedon
Star:	Morena Baccarin (Inara Serra),  Jewel Staite (Kaywinnit Lee 'Kaylee' Frye),  Gina Torres (Zoe),  Ron Glass (The Shepherd Book),  Sean Maher (Dr. Simon Tam),  Summer Glau (River Tam),  Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb),  Alan Tudyk (Wash),  Nathan Fillion (Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds)
Guest Star:	Drew Goddard (Guy on planet),  Michelle Ferrara (Immigrant Woman #2),  Tawny Rene Hamilton (Immigrant Woman #1),  Eric Lange (Fed),  Dennis Cockrum (Blue-Hand Man #2),  Lina Patel (Ensign),  Kevin Will (Officer),  Valerie Red-Horse (Deputy),  Jeff Ricketts (Blue-Hand Man #1),  Michael Fairman (Niska),  Andrew Bryniarski (Crow),  Tom Towles (Lund),  Gregg Henry (Bourne)

Joss planned to have Mal keep the cargo from the train to show that Mal puts the needs of his crew above the needs of others. However, executives at Fox told Joss to have Mal return the cargo to the town folk in order to make Mal more likeable to the audience. (edit) This was originally supposed to be episode number 3 (or number 2 if we count Serenity as the two-hour pilot episode it was supposed to be). (edit) The Arabic music playing as the bellydancer dances in the opening, is used again in The Message as the crew enters the space station to pick up their mail. (edit) The uniforms which the marines on the train are wearing are from the movie Starship Troopers, by Paul Verhoeven. These reappear throughout the series. (edit) When Serenity is about to dock with the space station (at about 14 minutes into the episode) two other ships can be seen briefly. Those look very similar to a PatCom or Dreadnought type ship from the computer game Independence War, which features basically the same background story as Firefly. (edit)

River: (They) won't stop. They'll never stop. They'll just keep coming, until they get back what you took. Two by two, hands of blue... two by two, hands of blue... (edit) Kaylee: It's a train heist. We fly over the train-car, The Captain and Zoe sneak in, We lower Jayne onto the car, they bundle up the booty and we haul 'em all back up. Easy as lyin'.
Simon: You've done this before?
Kaylee: (laughing) Hell no! (edit) Book: There's neither of us can pay a tenth of what your crew makes on one of your "jobs."
Mal: Are you referring to our perfectly legitimate business enterprises? (edit) Mal: Hell, this job I would pull for free.
Zoe: Can I have your share?
Mal: No.
Zoe: If you die, can I have your share?
Mal: Yes. (edit) Zoe: Sir, is there some information we might maybe be lacking as to why there's an entire Fed squad sitting on this train?
Mal: Doesn't concern us.
Zoe: It kinda concerns me
Mal: I mean that they're not protecting the goods. If they were, they wouldn't be letting people get past them.
Zoe: You don't think that changes the situation a bit?
Mal: I surely do. Makes it more fun!
Zoe: Sir. I think you have a problem with your brain being missing. (edit)

Trivia: Inara has been on Serenity for eight months. (edit) In the overhead shot of the train, just before Serenity comes into the shot, the wheels on the train that are F/X'd out elsewhere can be seen in the shadow next to the track. (edit) When this episode originally aired on Fox, an opening narration was used to explain that the Earth was "used up" so mankind left. They found another area with "hundreds of new earths" which were terraformed to support human life. It is left unanswered whether "the 'verse" is completely contained in one solar system and how that is possible given the number of planets and moons that are shown during the run of the show. (edit) Maybe this will change in future episodes, but all the planets we see in this episode (including the intro and the opening credits) are dusty and dry and kinda desert-like. But we're told in the opening narration they were all terraformed. So why'd they go around and create a bunch of deserts? (some didn't find this too unusual, thinking maybe the process was limited to desert creation) (edit)

Mal: I'm thinkin' we will rise again.
This line is a play off of the motto of people who support the U.S. Confederacy: "The South will rise again." (edit) Jayne: Hey, hey. Them ain't "kosherized" rules.
Referring to the Jewish word "kosher" which in pop culture has come to mean "OK", or "alright." (edit)