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?
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.
That is how it is on Hulu, I wager it is the same on D+