1x08 Ariel - Firefly Episode Guide

¬ Announcement: ShareTV is now streaming full-length episodes of TV Shows from ABC & ABC Family

Firefly

- Episode 01x08

Episode: 01x08
Title: Ariel
Type: Regular Episode
Production Code: 1AGE08
First Aired: Nov. 15, 2002

Season 1 » Episode #08 - Ariel

Summary: The ship heads to Ariel to drop off Inara for her yearly companion health check-up. Simon realizes River's condition is getting worse and decides to sneak her into an Alliance hospital in Ariel for a brain scan. Mal and the others agrees to help him with his plan, but also takes this opportunity to steal some valuable medical supplies in the hospital and sell it at the street market.

Who appeared in this episode?

Guest Stars:

Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds	played by Nathan Fillion
Agent McGuinness	played by Blake Robbins
Blue Glove Man #1	played by Jeff Ricketts
Blue Glove Man #2	played by Dennis Cockrum
Pompous Doctor	played by Tom Virtue
Receiving Doctor	played by Roma Chugani
Young Intern	played by Ira Steck
Particularly Dressed Man	played by Michael Nagy
Patient	played by Alex Connie

More

Episode Quotes

	Season 1 / Episode 8: - Ariel Mal: You could've got off with Shepherd Book at the Bathgate Abbey. Could'a been meditating on the wonders of your rock garden by now. Jayne: Beats just sittin'. Wash: It is just sitting.
	Season 1 / Episode 8: - Ariel Wash: So... two days in a hospital. That's awful. Don't you just hate doctors? Simon: Hey. Wash: I mean, present company excluded. Jayne: Let's not be excluding people. That'd be rude.

[More Quotes]

MISTAKES/GOOFS

FAKE: In the first shot of Simon patching Jayne up, the wound he's sewing up is very clearly a prosthetic.
CONT: The CGI flying ambulance lands at St. Mary's on flat foot pads, but in the corresponding live-action scenes, the full-scale model is sitting on casters.
CONT: When Simon and River are captured by the Alliance, Jayne is handcuffed with his hands behind his back. However, when he is shot with a stun gun moments later, his hands are unbound and the cuffs are nowhere to be seen.

TRIVIA

The E.M.S. vehicle used to sneak everyone into the hospital is a modified version of the Russian Airforce's Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter. The main rotor was removed, however the short wings and twin bubble canopy remained intact. The section that Wash sits in to fly the craft is actually the second half of the canopy; the first was filled in with the rubber material.
The half-scale helicopter mock-up used for the exteriors of the "flying ambulance" was found by a fan in an aircraft graveyard located outside Mojave, California, still fully painted and reasonably intact. A fan campaign has begun to raise enough money to purchase the prop from the owner and donate it to a museum.
While sifting through the junkyard, Wash picks up a piece of trash and heaves it at what ends up being the hover ambulance they use to break in to the hospital. The piece of junk he heaves is the catalyzer from "Firefly" (2002) {Out of Gas (#1.5)}.
Shepherd Book doesn't appear in this episode (the explanation given is that he is meditating at an abbey), making it the only episode in the series not to feature all nine protagonists.