Written by Cheryl Cain. Intended director was Marita Grabiak. The writer's draft was dated August 16, 2002 and it was given an episode number of 1AGE06, but that's the number for {{Jaynestown}} so this may be apocryphal. According to various sources on the 'Net, Dead Or Alive was one of the ordered scripts that Fox perused just before the final decision to cancel the series was announced. Though some incorrectly refer to Dead Or Alive as a "lost episode" in actuality it's just a script that never got filmed. According to unconfirmed reports, it was the next script in line to be filmed, immediately after The Message, when Firefly unceremoniously got the axe.
There are similarities in the script Dead or Alive and the last episode to be filmed before cancellation. Some theorize that Dead Or Alive was actually an early draft of TheMessage but it's difficult to know for certain at this time.
The story told in the Dead Or Alive script takes place mostly on a planet where a fair is going on. Mal finishes up conducting some business and wants to get off planet soon, as this place is crawling with Alliance boobs. However, the rest of the crew is more interested in participating in the fair. Even Simon and River manage to slip off the ship and mingle with the crowd. When Mal realizes this he's just about to send up a flag metaphorically speaking and rustle his crew back inside to take off. Just then, an explosion occurs which destroys a nearby factory, distrupting everyone at the fair and knocking the crew of the Serenity off their feet. This brings the Alliance on full alert, and the subsequent lockdown forces Mal and his crew to participate with Alliance officers in a strange futuristic cross between a posse and a lynchmob, as they hunt down the prime suspect for the terrorist act: a browncoat named Declan who served with Mal during the war.
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