List of Firefly planets and moons

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Unofficial diagram of the Firefly universe. (Orbits and planets are not to scale.)
Unofficial diagram of the Firefly universe. (Orbits and planets are not to scale.)

This is a list of fictional planets and moons from the Firefly / Serenity fiction. In the show, they are also referred to simply, though somewhat less properly, as "worlds". During the short television run of the Firefly series, it was not made clear whether the planets and moons depicted were located in one planetary system or many (however, creator Joss Whedon, as well as all licensed products, confirm that there is no faster-than-light travel in the Firefly universe)[1]. The opening narration of the film makes it clear that the planets and moons are in one system with "dozens of planets and hundreds of moons." This is supported by production documents published in Serenity: The Official Visual Companion. All of the following bodies were terraformed and made to have a standard gravity in order to be capable of supporting human life.

The number of terraformed worlds is never mentioned in the series though in a deleted scene from the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds", Captain Malcolm Reynolds mentions to the character Saffron that there are "more than 70 earths spinning in this galaxy and the meek have inherited not a one." The scene was cut because it was too long but its information regarding the number of worlds can be taken as canon.[citation needed] However, the opening narration of the film Serenity gives us a brief history of the Firefly universe and mentions; "Earth that was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many. We found a new Solar system, dozens of planets and hundreds of moons."

During the movie Serenity, the planet Miranda is speculated to be a 'black rock,' a planet where no life exists or is possible. A generic explanation (that the terraforming did not hold) is offered to explain it, indicating that this simply happened some times while the terraforming process was occurring.

Although technically they are all part of the Alliance, the border planets and moons are mostly self-governed.

Contents

[edit] Planets featured in Firefly

Serenity over Whitefall
Serenity over Whitefall
  • Ariel is a central planet of the Union of Allied Planets. It is home to a major medical center (named Saint Lucy's) of the Alliance's solar system. The majority of the action of the episode "Ariel" occurs on this planet. Ariel could be named after one of Uranus' moons in the stellar system of "Earth that was" — the Solar system (named after its star, Sol) — which gets its name from Ariel the sprite in William Shakespeare's The Tempest. The crew of Serenity arrives on this planet for a heist on an advanced medical facility.
  • Bellerophon, seen in the episode "Trash", is an Alliance moon and home to the wealthy. It has both a large ocean and an empty area of desert climate, complete with canyons, rock and sand. Isis Canyon is pointed out as the most deserted spot on the world. Bellerophon Estates, large self-contained estates that hover above the moon's ocean, are described as having "gracious living, ocean views and state-of-the-art security." Durran Haymer, a collector of priceless Earth That Was artifacts, lives in Bellerophon Estates. The planet is named after a hero in Greek mythology. "Bellerophon" is also the unofficial name of 51 Pegasi b, the first extrasolar planet to be discovered.
  • Hera is an Earth-like planet with important significance to the Unification War. Serenity Valley is located here, where the Independent Faction experienced a crushing defeat at the hands of the Alliance. First mentioned in the episode "Serenity". Hera is named after a goddess in Greek mythology, Zeus' wife and sister. In the closed-captioning for the episode "Bushwhacked", it is spelled "Hara".
  • Higgins' Moon is a moon where the primary commercial activity is mud farming which is performed by indentured servants called "mudders". The mud is exported offworld and used in the manufacturing of ceramic components. The bulk of the population is impoverished. The moon appears to be owned by a magistrate named Higgins. Jayne became a folk hero to the mudders in the town of Canton due to his role in a botched heist about four years before the time of the Firefly series. The crew visits Higgins' Moon in the episode "Jaynestown."
  • Jiangyin is a border planet located 3 weeks away from Persephone, and also nearby Greenleaf. Alliance law is known to be upheld here. The crew of Serenity sells a cargo load of cattle here in the episode "Safe". The planet is most likely named after a city in China's Jiangsu province along the Yangtze River.
  • Osiris is a wealthy core planet where Simon Tam attended medical school and worked as a trauma surgeon, mentioned in the episode "Serenity". Most likely the location of the Tam Family estate shown in various flashbacks in the episode "Safe". Named after the Ancient Egyptian god of life, death, and fertility, "Osiris" is also the unofficial name of HD 209458 b, the first extrasolar planet to be discovered by the transit method.
  • Persephone is a civilized planet with heavily stratified societal structure. The Eavesdown Docks are located here, a commercial port and Badger's base of operations. The Serenity crew lands here periodically to resupply and pick up work. Simon and River Tam, Shepherd Book and the Alliance villain Dobson were picked up here in the episode "Serenity". Book had been living on Persephone at the Southdown Abbey. The planet was also the site of a swordfighting duel between Malcolm Reynolds and Atherton Wing in the episode "Shindig". Persephone's name comes from Greek mythology as the name of the "Queen of the Underworld".
  • St. Albans is an icy world, and Tracey's home planet. Located about two days away from the Space Bazaar Sky Plex. There is apparently a single Federal Station located somewhere on the planet, reasonably close to a huge gorge through which Serenity flies in an attempt to outrun an Alliance gunship. Tracey is brought back to this planet in the episode "The Message".
  • Whitefall is the fourth moon of Athens, a large percentage of which is owned by a woman named Patience. Whitefall is said to not be civilization "in the strictest sense." The crew visits Whitefall hoping to sell their cargo to Patience in the episode "Serenity". According to the RPG, a Blue Sun facility is rumored to be underneath one of the mountains. A security outpost on the planet was later seen in the film Serenity.

[edit] Planets featured in Serenity

  • Beaumonde is a fairly wealthy planet, relatively close to certain border worlds. The planet is known to have factories and ranches. The Serenity crew arrives here after their heist on Lilac, to share part of their earnings with the brothers Fanty and Mingo. Their port of call is a large asian city. At the bar called Maidenhead, which was chosen for these dealings, they discover River's Alliance-conditioned fighting abilities. This occurs during the Serenity movie. About seven months earlier, the crew was headed for Beaumonde in the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds". Beaumonde roughly translated from French means "Beautiful World."
  • Haven is the home of Shepherd Book, who left the crew during the events of the comic book series titled Serenity: Those Left Behind, and where he resided in the movie. It was also a place of refuge for the Serenity crew. In the novelization of the film, it is revealed that Haven is a mining planet which is often used as a hiding place for those running from the law (for a fee) and is where some smugglers or criminals decide to settle down.
  • Lilac is a border planet probably near Reaver territory. From space it appears to have a lilac color, which presumably it was named for. The Serenity crew land on Lilac to rob a bank holding an Alliance payroll. Lilac is roughly ten hours from Beaumonde as stated by Mal.
  • Miranda is the name of a planet located beyond Reaver territory.[1] It was home to an Alliance colony with a population of 30 million. The Alliance experimented on the population to find a way to make people more controllable. However the experiments with "G-23 paxilon hydrochlorate", or "Pax", failed: 99.9% of the population became so passive that they essentially lost the will to live. The opposite effect was observed in the remaining 0.1% of the population, who became extremely aggressive and butchered the Alliance scientists in charge of the experiments. This tenth of a percent of the population escaped to become the Reavers. The Alliance tried to cover up what had happened on the planet by creating a story that the colony was lost due to failure in the environmental changes caused during the planet's terraforming process. Writer/Director Joss Whedon says in the DVD commentary that the naming was based on the character from The Tempest. The irony is that the Shakespearean character is most noted for the lines, "O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't!" Like other planets in the Firefly universe, it also shares its name with a moon in the Solar system, in this case, a moon of Uranus.

[edit] Unspecified planets featured in Serenity

There were several other unspecified planets featured in the Serenity movie:

  • The three planets featured in the opening of the movie: the icy planet with a terraforming complex, the "inner" planet showing the city panorama and the "outer" planet showing a small desert settlement.
  • The location of the medical facility where the Alliance experiments on River Tam and where her brother Simon comes to rescue her.
  • The world where Inara resides with other Companions.
  • The ion cloud moon with the abandoned communications station where Mr. Universe resides.

[edit] Additional moons and planets

[edit] Planets

  • Athens is a border planet with at least four moons. One of its moons is Whitefall.
  • Bernadette is a central planet. The settlers in "Bushwhacked" left from here on their way to Newhall.
  • Boros is a planet with strong Alliance presence. Originally the destination of the travellers picked up by Serenity on Persephone. Mentioned in the episode "Serenity". A security outpost on the planet is seen in the film Serenity.
  • Dyton[2] is possibly the home planet of Badger. The colony's inhabitants were likely of British origin, since cockney accents appear common among people from Dyton. Referred to by River in the episode "Shindig".
  • Greenleaf is an Alliance planet. Located 10 hours away from Jiangyin. [2] Mentioned in "Safe" as a location likely to have medical facilities.
  • Heinlein is a gas giant around which Triumph orbits. It may have been named in honor of science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein.
  • Londinium (incorrectly spelled Londinum in the Firefly Official Companion, Volume One) is one of the two Major Planets. It is inhabited primarily by colonists from the United States and is the location of the Alliance Parliament. Londinium was the Roman name for London. Misspelled as Ondinia in the subtitles of Region 2 & 4 DVDs.
  • Newhall is probably a border planet, it was the destination of colonists coming from Bernadette in the episode "Bushwhacked".
  • New Melbourne is probably a border planet. It is mentioned as having extensive fisheries, indicating that it may be an ocean world. In "Objects in Space", Inara and Mal discuss the possibility of her disembarking there. Mal also says that everything on New Melbourne 'is either fish or fish related. And unless you have the uncontrollable urge to gut sturgeon, which who hasn't by the way...' from this it is concluded that New Melbourne is an oceanic planet, probably named after the Australian city, Melbourne, which is on the sea.
  • Parth, mentioned by Saffron in the episode "Trash", is the planet on which Saffron claimed (falsely) to have been sold to slave traders.
  • Pelorum is a resort world where the crew of Serenity travels after they successfully hijacked the drone in Better Days.
  • Santo is an unsophisticated planet near Persephone. From space, the planet has a blueish grey color. Mal and Jayne get into a fight with some slavers here. Seen in the episode "Shindig".
  • Shadow is where Mal Reynolds was raised on his mother's ranch. Serenity DVD states that it's a planet rather than a moon: freeze-frame at 35:04 shows the Operative viewing an info screen on Mal, featuring the text "Son of a rancher, born on the planet Shadow." The RPG states that it was rendered uninhabitable during the Unification War. "No one lives there. No one can."
  • Sihnon, together with Londinium, is one of the two Major Planets. It is inhabited primarily by colonists from China. The planet is highly sophisticated and technologically advanced. It is also Inara Serra's home planet. From space, the planet has a deep red color. Described by Inara "like an ocean of light." Mentioned in the episode "Serenity". Misspelled as Zenon in the subtitles of Region 2 & 4 DVDs.
  • Verbena was formerly a poor and undeveloped frontier planet, the Alliance chose it as a site of a new gearshift assembly factory for military skiffs. Appears in the unaired script "Dead or Alive".

[edit] Moons

  • Ares is a moon of Boros mentioned in the Serenity RPG.
  • Beylix is a small border moon, used for smuggling rendezvous. Mal's war buddy Monty was caught by the Alliance here. Mal refers to it in the episode "Trash". In the role-playing game, Beylix appears to have a permanent cloud cover and dense ice rings.
  • Ezra is a desert moon orbited by Niska's Skyplex. Malcolm Reynolds tries to sell medical supplies here. Named in the script for "War Stories"
  • Ita is a moon in a remote sector. The crew of the S.S. Walden was returning from a salvage mission here before they discovered Serenity's distress signal in the episode "Out of Gas".
  • Muir is a moon where the character Badger was raised.
  • Regina is a mining moon, upon which many people are suffering from "Bowden's malady", a degenerative disease. This is where "The Train Job" takes place.
  • Triumph is a primitive and poor border moon, apparently self-governed with rather unusual customs and traditions. Elder Gomman is the leader of the moon's settlers or, more likely, one small town's worth of them. Saffron was picked up here in the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds".

[edit] Unknown (moon or planet)

  • Aberdeen
  • Angel
  • Constance is a planet or moon where Mal, Zoe and Jayne try a bank heist while Shepherd Book delivers a sermon to act as cover. Seen in the comic book series Serenity: Those Left Behind.
  • Deadwood
  • Harvest
  • Highgate
  • Kerry
  • Liann Jiun
  • Paquin is a location mentioned as having a job for Mal and his crew in the episode "Out of Gas".
  • Salisbury
  • Silverhold is eight sectors away from St. Albans. The Silverhold Colonies are the jurisdiction of Federal Agent Womack in the episode "The Message".
  • Three Hills is mentioned by Mal as a location for him to sell his stolen goods at in the episode "Serenity".
  • Whittier

[edit] Quotations

  • "Sihnon isn't that different from [Persephone]. More crowded, obviously, and I guess more complicated. The great city itself is... pictures can't capture it. It's like an ocean of light." — Inara Serra, Serenity (pilot episode)
  • "Earth-that-was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many. We found a new Solar system — dozens of planets and hundreds of moons. Each one terraformed — a process taking decades, to support human life, to be new 'Earths'. The Central Planets formed the Alliance. Ruled by an interplanetary parliament, the Alliance was a beacon of civilization. The savage outer planets were not so enlightened and refused Alliance control. The war was devastating, but the Alliance's victory over the Independents ensured a safer universe. And now everyone can enjoy the comfort, and enlightenment of true civilization." — River Tam's teacher, Serenity movie

[edit] Notes

  1. ^  Reaver territory is loosely defined as the empty void around Miranda.
  2. ^  Distances between specific planets and moons will vary due to orbits.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chambers, Jamie (2007). Serenity: Role Playing Game. Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd., 198. ISBN 978-1-931567-50-3. “Lacking "faster-than-light" drives, folk found the journey to their new home long and taxing.” 
  2. ^ Whedon, Joss (2006). "Shindig". Firefly: Official Companion, Volume One: 122, Titan Books.  Although the DVD shows "Titan" in the subtitles, the Official Companion is the actual script.

[edit] External links