Inside Serenity 1.1: Evolution of a Firefly, Part One
posted Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 by Andy Gore
The following is a transcript of Inside Serenity: Evolution of a Firefly, Part One, an audio feature that came out today on The Signal, a Firefly/Serenity podcast. I highly recommend you listen to that feature first, then come back here to catch any details you missed. Either way, let us know what you think. We’re planning many more to follow this first effort, – AG
Welcome to the first installment of Inside Serenity, your guided tour through day-to-day life in the ‘Verse. In this series I will be delving into an extensive library of background materials collected from a variety of sources, including the official archives at Universal and the personal collections of folks who worked on both Firefly and Serenity. Included in that library are a lot of previously unreleased information – show and movie reference, conceptual drawings and hero props – that I put in a big pile in the middle of my office every night and roll around in, laughing manically and repeating, “Mine! Mine! Mine!”
Of course I’m just kidding. I’d never do that. Something might get wrinkled. However, the research team helping me put these features together do pour over all that background info, studying each tidbit, fitting the pieces together as best we can in the hopes of gaining some new insight into the ‘Verse that will be.
And let me tell you, there’s a lot more to the ‘Verse than we’ve seen in a movie and 14 TV episodes. Yep! The ‘Verse is a mighty big place with many, many stories to tell. And, well, I just didn’t feel right keepin’ those shiny bits all to myself.
But rather than just recite a few excerpts and call it a day, I’ve decided to present the info we have in context, that is, from the perspective on someone living in 2518. In this way, I hope to help bring the ‘Verse to life just a tiny bit more for listeners.
As a result, I will often be using this source material in ways that may or may not agree with future canon. I will, however, do everything in my power not to violate official canon as it exists today, the background materials in our possession, or even extended canon, where possible. And where I take liberties, I will do so sparingly and in consultation with technical advisors and the folks at The Signal. We’re gonna keep it fun; and using these materials in context seems the best way to do that.
And what better place to start than Serenity herself? Joss Whedon described the boat at the center of Firefly and Serenity as his tenth character. But while much has been said, and even more speculated, about the other nine characters, what do we really know about the ship that is their home? What do we know about the biggest of our Big Damn Heroes?
Actually, we know quite a lot. We know that Serenity herself is not the only Firefly sailing the Black; heck, she’s not even the first. There’ve been Fireflies a flyin’ for some 83 years. Serenity’s a Series 3 design with two Generations before her and at least one after. All told, there have been some 50,000 Firefly Class Transports built, with more coming off the line each year. The modularity of the Firefly makes it one of the most customized boats in the ‘Verse. You can see Fireflies workin’ all manner of jobs – hospital ship, cargo hauler, free trader, military supply vessel, even space liner. The Firefly’s simplicity makes it one of the most reliable and long-lived boats around. Even the over-designed Series 2 was dead simple compared to what most captains are flyin’ these days.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The best place to start telling the story of the Firefly is at the beginning. And to do that, well, all you have to do is turn to Page One of the Firefly Coach Works brochure:
The Firefly-Class Multi-Purpose, Mid-Bulk Transport:
A Legacy of Strength, A Tradition of Self-Reliance.
For 83 Years, Blazing The Trail for Rimward Pioneers
All adventures have their heroes. But only great adventures forge legends. And in the greatest adventure of them all, that of Rimward Expansion, many heroes were made, but only one name stands legendary: Firefly.
The Firefly Class Transport was first conceived nearly 100 years ago. With newly-terraformed worlds coming online by the dozens, the challenge of supporting all those new colonies was as vast as the ‘Verse is big. Border and Rim worlds were going to need a cheap, reliable way to move supplies, trade goods, transport colonists; and isolated populations we’re going to need ships they could service, and could land and takeoff, nearly anywhere.
It was clear that if Rimward Expansion was to be a success, the first order of business was the development of a boat that was inexpensive to build, easy to maintain, and could be adapted to many purposes. Without all those qualities, a ship would fail in the rugged and primitive conditions of the outer ‘Verse. And with no ship, the colonies would soon follow.
It was with this in mind that the Firefly’s designers sat down and got to work.
Excerpt from Doing The Job: How The Rim Was Won, by Kailand Murphy, professor of Macro Economics, University of Sihnon
Up until the Rimward Expansion of 2435, most freighters were big – really big. So big, some could fit an entire Alliance cruiser in just one of their external cargo bays. They were, of course, incapable of atmospheric maneuvers. That job was left to trans-orbital cargo lifters, not much more than giant flying airframes that would lift the enormous freight modules out of a planet’s gravity well, then hook it up to the super-freighter for transport to another world.
This approach was great for moving large amounts of cargo cheaply and efficiently between core worlds. But on the border planets, where populations were comparatively small, the amount of freight carried in just one super-freighter module could supply a colony for decades. Of course, it would require the gross planetary product of an entire border colony for decades to pay for it’s contents and transport, making such giant cargo movers impractical for on-going support on the Rim.
The mid-bulk transport was the obvious solution. Big enough to carry a substantial load of cargo, small enough to land and take off without assistance, simple enough to be operated by a small crew and cheap enough to do the whole thing for a modest amount of credits. There were no economies of scale with a mid-bulk design. But they weren’t needed on colonies with populations in the hundreds or thousands.
Smaller cargo haulers did exist before 2435, but were rarely seen on the Core World trade routes. They were mostly restricted to planetary jobs, running supplies from central cities to outlying areas, or perhaps to a local moon or orbiting trade station. As a result, these early mid-bulk transports were rarely equipped for long hauls and had only the most basic crew facilities.
Then the terraforming of over 100 planets and moons was completed almost simultaneously in 2435 – and when those 100 worlds were opened for colonization, it sparked the biggest land rush the ‘Verse has ever seen. Overpopulation and lack of opportunity on the Core Worlds, combined with big colonization incentives for those willing to help pioneer these rugged worlds, drove first thousands, then millions, out to the Rim. Most were heading out to what they hoped would be a better life, if not for them, then their children or grandchildren.
To get there required transportation. To stay there required a constant flow of supplies. Not surprisingly, this drove the release of dozens of new ship designs, all of them hoping to be the boat that would carry settlers to their new homes.
CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM
DATE: October 12, 2434
TO: Board of Directors, Allied Spacecraft Corporation
FROM: Neil Bohrs, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing
SUBJECT: Firefly-Class Transport Executive Summary
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board, we stand together today on the threshold of the greatest adventure in human history – greater than the opening of the Orient by Marco Polo, greater than the American westward expansion of the 19th Century; greater even than the grand exodus of humanity from Earth That Was. Before us is not the opening of a region, or a frontier, or even a handful planets. Before us is the opening of 123 new Earths. Measured on any scale – logistical, economic, cultural or historical – the mass colonization of the Border and Rim worlds will be the single greatest endeavor yet attempted by mankind.
And with great endeavors come great opportunities.
On February 27, 2435, the first of what we hope will be many new boats will begin rolling out of the Allied Spacecraft Corporation’s shipyards in Osiris. These will not be the sleek warships of the Alliance, nor will they be the vast cargo juggernauts of Blue Sun. No, these will be unlike any ship made by ASC before: They will be modest boats, small and self-contained, as rock-solid as they are simple, as adaptable as they are unpretentious. And let me say it now – they will be ugly. But to the pioneers who will depend on these boats for their livelihoods and, perhaps, their very lives, there will be nothing more beautiful in or under The Black.
I am speaking, of course, of the Firefly.
The Firefly-Class, Multi-Purpose, Mid-Bulk Transport represents such an assemblage of firsts for ASC, I hard know where to begin. From design to construction, we have never built a boat like this: The manufacturing process will take place in three stages – first the ship’s superstructure will be completed by our Process, Quality and Construction division at the Luxor facility on Osiris. As you all are well aware, the ASC shipyard at Luxor is one of our oldest and smallest sites, hardly used since the days of First Construction. As the largest maker of meta-atmospheric craft in the ‘Verse, ASC hardly has use for such a small factory except as a historical landmark and gift shop.
But whereas ASC typically assembles complete ships, in large numbers and massive scale, the Firefly is unique. This is a practical boat for the Citizen Pilot, and as such, must be modest of both size and expense. And, as you can see by the attached financial analysis, the Luxor shipyard is ideal to frame and skin such a boat.
Of course, Luxor’s somewhat antiquated facilities will also help contain costs. And, by outsourcing the final outfitting of each boat, we can avoid expensive upgrades to the shipyard’s manufacturing systems, as would be necessary were we to complete each ship ourselves.
We have identified several outfitters to finish construction, all on Border Worlds where we expect the Firefly market to be centered. It was determined by R&D that to keep costs down and to allow for easy customization for a multitude of tasks, an unfinished shell would be made and then delivered to these specialty outfitters for customization. Not only will the outfitters have an easier time building to task for prospective customers, they won’t be saddled with our overhead, which should also serve to keep prices in check.
While we are seeding Fireflies with about a dozen of these integrators, we have especially high hopes for the Firefly Ship Works on Hera, which has ordered the largest number of units for outfitting.
In terms of standard equipment, all Fireflies will feature a large rear engine module, VTOL-capable main engines, central cargo/systems section and extended forward section with crew quarters and bridge. The design is much less refined than our main line cruisers, giving them a somewhat unfinished look. However, it is this rudimentary chassis that is making construction of our first generation ships simple, and transport to outfitters inexpensive. With the success of this new manufacturing approach and the Firefly itself, we should be able to achieve greater economies of scale in the future, when we can refine the design.
Those familiar with the original Firefly concepts will notice that these final “Series 1″ boats are considerably smaller than what was originally envisioned, and don’t feature a modular cargo area, a secondary cargo space or even passenger berths. These design options were dropped in development to save cost and to hit our production deadlines.
Like some of our larger transports, optional shuttles will be available for the Firefly, but these will be smaller, two passenger affairs with no additional stowage. They will also be completely exterior to the main body of the ship. The integrators who will be fitting these shuttles have come to refer to them as “Beetles” due to the single, domed pilot’s viewport. I’d recommend we add that fact to the sales backgrounder; it’s cute little details like this that will endear the Firefly to the buying public.
And that’s what we will aim to do with the Firefly: Endear this boat to the folks leaving everything they know behind and heading out into the unknown. They must feel an emotional connection to this ship; it will be hearth and home for the master’s who operate them and saviors to the customers they serve. Even the design is a bit whimsical – shaping the body contours like the Earth That Was insect. It is a mythic thing, the Firefly of old, but also warm and reassuring. And even if fireflies now only exist in storybooks and historical vids from old Earth, thanks to this boat the night skies on a hundred new Earths will once again be filled with their warm, glowing lights that mark something welcome and familiar in strange new landscapes.
