This is the obligatory mention of FOX and Executive Meddling.

Wasn't nearly enough of Firefly.

Courtesy of xkcd (though Randall Munroe was far from the first to notice), what’s with the lack of Asians in a supposedly China-dominated ‘Verse?

• Not a direct discussion of this inconsistency, but writer Joss Whedon hits on this subject in "Commentary! The Musical," the pseudo-commentary for Dr. Horrible, with the song "Nobody's Asian in the Movies"
• Tam may be an Asian-inspired last name, origins lost due to Memetic Mutation. Plus, we don't get to see much of the civilized worlds, and Outer-rim seems more populated by the Eagleland types for whatever reason.

The Reavers always bothered me. If they are so insanely violent, consumed with killing and torture and beyond all reason, and their ships fly without "containment" (very dangerous, apparently), who flies the ship? Somehow, it seems much too calm and rational. Also- how is it they don't attack each other? They don't seem like the type to think long enough to collaborate.

• Also also: their origin story is a fairly broken and fantastic Aesop on the evils of...uh...conformity, and stuff? The movie managed to be great; the fact that it only pulled this off in spite of space zombies being its central premise, though, was pretty disappointing.

The Big Damn Spoiler ( death of Wash) in the Big Damn Movie. The Mal/Zoe shippers were probably overjoyed, though...

How they never explained what the hell Book's deal was.

Well, they never had time. TV Shows (in America, at least) are meant to last for years. Book's Big Mystery was a story to be told far later in the series than the half-season it was allotted.

Edit from another troper: But then they killed him off!

Edit from yet another troper: I thought it was heavily implied in the movie that book was a former operative

"The Message" has always been frought with Fridge Logic for me. First off, they said that Tracey's own organs were removed to make room for the transplant organs he was smuggling. What happens at the rendevous, when Tracey gives up the smuggled organs and his own guts are halfway across the 'verse from him?

And that doesn't even touch the fact that noone bothered to try to explain the plan to Tracey after he decided they were going to abandon him to the Fed, which would have cleaned the whole thing right up.

Edit from another troper: I always figured the fact his organs were far away to be what tipped him off that the deal was bad and thus that he needed to get away. It was made clear that he doesn't think things through, so it makes sense (for him) to have only realized AFTER that he was basically screwed.

Edit from yet another troper: I always thought they were going to ship Tracy's organs to the rendezvous. Since Tracy's organs were natural, they would have made it past any Alliance inspections. I never figured out what Tracy was going to do for replacements after he double-crossed the people holding his real organs.

There was no Musical Episode. Obviously due to the whole "no-awesome-show-beyond-half-a-season" Executive Meddling.

Not so much a complaint but a curiousity. In the Pilot the Fed says, "I know what you did for your sister, that doesn't make you a killer." Was he spouting off by rote? Surely he if he knew what had happened he would know that it could potentially make ANYONE a killer. And someone pointing a gun at him might actually take it as patronizing. It seemed to be working(Simon was young, accustomed to respecting the law and had a bit of buck fever)but it was a remarkably chancy ploy. Am I the only one who thinks that this was not necessarily the smartest thing to say. Or at least if it was good manipulation it was hardly a logical assumption.

In the pilot why wasn't Dobson's ankle broken when Simon tackled him from the catwalk? That's about 130 pounds or more(my weight is a bit above 120 and he's about the same height but less skinny)dropping suddenly from about 10-15 feet above. Dobson shouldn't have been able to walk without a limp. Or was he limping and I just didn't catch it?

As to that, why don't characters get damaged just a little more when they get beat on? Yes I know it's really because their "so darned pretty" and the writter doesn't wish to spoil their looks. But sometimes you just gotta wonder. Why didn't Simon look just a wee bit more sore after being struck by Mal? Why didn't Mal look or act a little more like someone who had just been tortured for hours(I know Electric Torture , but still). River is really the only one who seems to be damaged and that is because it is part of the plot. People seem to have a suspicious invulnerability.

• [fanwank] Five hundred years of microevolution has made people more durable.

In "Out of Gas," the fact that River knows there's a fire in the engine room. Her psychic powers are remarkably consistent— she reads people— except in this one instance, where she suddenly either sees the future or can sense another part of the ship.

Edit from another Troper: Given River's capabilities, she probably noticed some small detail overlooked by the others who were distracted and, well, are not quite on River's lever of understanding.

Yet one more edit: most likely river noticed a sudden outrush of oxygen.

Big Damn Spoiler: Because the reavers were only created once, there's a finite number. Did none of the characters notice this/care?

• FYI: It was stated that Miranda had a population of approximately 30 million, and the "treatment" resulted in a Reaver in 0.1% of them. Thirty thousand is still a crapload of Reavers.
• In addition, one can assume not all the present Reavers are from the incident on Miranda. Since in the Bushwacked episode the sole survivor goes insane and adopts the Reaver attitude. While you might not consider these "true Reavers" they still have the same basic attitude.
• Fan Wank: Rather than survivors always going insane in the same predictable way, perhaps the Reavers administer Pax to their victims on top of everything else.

Inara's past. Why was she in space and not teaching other Companions?

The sudden time jump in the intended pilot, "Serenity", which should have had a caption.

Edit from another troper: I just saw it on DVD. There is a caption.