Yes, I remember that Friday night vividly. I had decided to give John Doe a try, turned the TV to FOX, and was making myself dinner when Firefly came on. I had seen the previews for the show and had wanted to watch it but I had forgot it was premiering the same night as Doe.
I watched the whole show and was pleasantly surprised and was looking forward to the next episode right up until we got to the part where Crow (the huge bad guy) was on his knees in front of the Captain and the Cap tells him the deal is off here is the money back and tell your boss blah blah blah.
Then Crow gets up and starts into the speech and my heart fell. You know the speech. The one where the bad guy says I will chase you to the end of the earth to get my revenge and the last thing you will see is my laughing eyes as I... blah blah blah.
It seems like every bad guy in every bad movie has said that same line, and I was groaning with disgust because what seemed like a very good show just jumped the shark on the first episode. However, something magical happened. Something I've never seen before in "the speech" situation.
What happened instead of The Captain saying some lame-ass reply and letting the Bad guy Crow go to fight another day, our Beloved Captain Mal said "too bad" and kicked the still bound Crow into the intake manifold of the starboard engine of the Firefly and shredded Crow into pieces grabbed the next bad guy in the posse and proceeded with the same offer.
I was hooked forever!
And, I am very happy to say that not only is my Firefly DVD slated to be delivered soon but also, "Firefly the Movie" goes into production in the first quarter of 2004!