20 September 2002, a Friday. 2002's landscape was one of hope. War was raging, but the economy was recovering. And TV offered grim doses of reality, but also great escapism.
I went home on weekends in those days from UH. We met Mal and the other Big Damn Heroes for the first time that night. I wasn't sure what to make of the promos. These 30 second spots had humor and spaceships which sold me. Yet, it was a western. What was I to make of this? (In retrospect, that's what the casual viewer would have said if they channel surfed onto it.)
The episode did an adequate job of introducing these highly interesting characters. It was unlike just about everything else on TV, yet was somehow familiar. I was enjoying the episode and thought it was better than most other things I could have watched during that awful time slot anyway. What cemented the show as something truly special was near the end, when Mal pushes Crow into his engine. Who would do such a thing? Only a Big Damn Hero.
It went on only a few other episodes but the show was something special, something to emulate, something to ... have faith in ... so to speak.
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