I'm going to fangirl hell for agreeing with Fox over Joss but I loved Mal so much I can't imagine him being different. Of course if Joss had got his way I'm sure I'd be typing 'how could Fox have wanted him lighter? I can't imagine it'

By the way, I wish you could see Nathan Fillion's face properly in the image for the 'unsure' option because he's pulling a really funny face :)

wellllll imma nooob on this spot- i really enjoyed Mals character but had we had more time..i would have enjoyed a development.
its like with barney on HIMYM (yeah sorry..you know me) i HATED his guts in S1 and only after we got to know him i started loving him. i would have been totally fine with a "darker" version- as long as there would have been development.

sidebar: i have a few questions/opinion aboot serenity VS firefly.
i saw no forum topic on it, but id hate to be the noob who walks in saying all the stuff others said 1 year ago and make a pick like "OMG DID YOU TOTALLY NOTICE THE KAYLEE SIMON ATTRACTION"
is there a place where you have discussed this and i missed it or would it be okay to make a forum?

As far as I know there hasn't been any in depth discussion about it, just some chats in the comments of picks. I think a forum would be cool :)

thanks..i made one here
link
and am now waiting for the old schoolers to give me a piece of their mind =P

If the series had gone on longer I definitely wouldn't have minded him starting out darker. In fact, Mal in the pilot is much darker than in the next episode. As I understand it, the execs saw the pilot and one of the factors of their decision not to air it was that Mal was too dark and per their instructions, Joss "jollied" him up a bit in "the Train Job" which took the place of the pilot as the first episode aired.

i think mal was perfect the way he was!!

He certainly is a bit darker in the first two episodes and i'm not sure it's a coincidence that those are my two least favorites. I think the other episodes stuck a better balance between the darkness and goofyness of Mal.

After seeing how dark Wesley got in Angel...dark Mal wouldn't be so great. But it's not like he wasn't like that in the movie (which was amazing) Honestly, I love him no matter what way he is, :)

I think it may have been the only thing that Fox did right to Firefly, though at the same time, I think any network would have looked at Mal and asked to lighten him up a bit, PLUS that's how Fillion more naturally portrays Mal, and says he didn't fit with the dark tone of the original character.

I LOVE Mal. He's great! The only person funnier is Jayne, Book with Einstein hair, and that guy named Early

TRAP!!!

XD