Today being the 23rd anniversary of the premiere of Firefly, I am both, doing a rewatch of the series as it aired should have aired, and started a new community for discussion of the show and related spin-off media.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)
Put on your browncoat and join us.
What are the differences?
The original pilot / first episode, Serenity (not to be confused as the movie of the same name), is an hour and a half long and sets up a ton of context for the rest of the show.
Instead, Fox aired the second episode, The Train Job, as a pilot.
Serenity was ultimately aired as a series finale / 11th episode, the show was cancelled before he three remaining episodes were aired.
If you haven’t seen Firefly, I strongly recommend that you start with the Serenity Episode. You’ll know by the end whether or not this show is for you.
Okay, yeah, that seems really dumb. When I watched the series (on Disney+), I’m pretty sure Serenity was first. That’s the one that starts with Shepherd Book walking around the shipyard, correct?
That is how it is on Hulu, I wager it is the same on D+
Opening scene is the battle of Serenity Valley, it cuts away to the crew collecting illegal salvage and having a close call with the Alliance, they pick up Shephard and Simon as passengers / commuters on Persephone which I think is the scene you’re referring to.