The
Alliance is a fictional supra-governmental entity in the
Serenity franchise, a powerful
authoritarianAuthoritarianism describes a form of government characterized by an emphasis on the authority of state in a republic or union. It is a political system controlled by typically non-elected rulers who usually permit some degree of individual freedom....
government and law-enforcement organization that controls the majority of territory within the known universe. Originally composed solely of a number of "core worlds", several years prior to the show's timeframe the Alliance fought the Unification War to bring all colonized worlds under its control. The Independent Faction (
BrowncoatBrowncoat is a term applied to fans of the short-lived television series Firefly. The name is based on a nickname for the Independent Faction from the series.-Fictional meaning:...
s) wanted the outer worlds to remain autonomous and attempted to resist Alliance control. The war raged for several years, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides, until the Alliance emerged victorious. An
armisticeAn armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
was signed between the Alliance and the Independent Faction, thus ending the war and securing Alliance control over the entirety of the system.
Name
The scripts for the
pilot episodeA television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. It is an early step in the development of a television series, much like pilot lights or pilot studies serve as precursors to the start of larger activity, or pilot holes prepare the way for larger holes. Networks use pilots to...
, "
Serenity"Serenity" is the original two-hour series pilot for the Firefly science-fiction television series created by Joss Whedon. However, FOX executives were not satisfied with this as a pilot, and so instead, "The Train Job" was created to be the pilot. "Serenity" was not aired until the end of the...
", and the first-aired episode, "
The Train Job"The Train Job" is the second episode of US science-fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon, although it was the first to be shown...
", refer to an "AngloSino" flag on the IAV
Dortmunder and on the stolen boxes. However, the term
AngloSino Alliance was never used in an actual episode or film; the phrase
Union of Allied Planets is explicitly mentioned in on-air dialogue in the episode "
Ariel"Ariel" is the ninth episode of science-fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon.Hard up for cash, Serenity takes on a job from Simon: break into an Alliance hospital on central world Ariel so that he can get a thorough diagnostic of River and the crew can loot the valuable stores...
", so it can be assumed to be the formal name of the Alliance.
History
After
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
's natural resources were used up generations ago, mankind abandoned the planet (which now exists in myth and legend as "Earth-That-Was"), and moved out into the stars. But, mankind held onto the tenets of culture and civilization in the exodus, carrying with it those things both material and spiritual that make us human.
Relatively little is known of the early history of the Alliance (such as the exact date of the exodus from Earth, and the reasons why China and the USA allied themselves with each other). The Alliance flag, seen in the original pilot episode, is a blending of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
flags (two versions of this flag, one with 13 stripes and one with five stripes, appear in the series).
At the
Battle of Serenity Valley, both the Alliance and the Browncoats suffered heavy casualties, particularly amongst officers. Survivors from both sides were stranded on the battlefield until the Alliance was able to send a fleet of medical transports to rescue them.
The day that the Unification War ended is known as "Unification Day" (often abbreviated to "U-Day") and is celebrated as a holiday throughout the Alliance. Alliance military officers like to drink a toast to Unification Day and enthusiastically encourage others to join in the festivities.
Universe
The two worlds that make up the "core planets" (the first worlds to be
terraformedTerraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth to make it habitable by terran organisms.The term is sometimes erroneously used more generally as a synonym...
) are
Sihnon, a mostly
East AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about , or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang,...
-themed planet, and
Londinium, a world with mostly
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
Western EuropeThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
influences. The alliance of the two worlds leads to up a multi-racial, multi-
ethnicAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
, and multi-
religiousA religion is a system of human thought which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity or deities, or ultimate truth...
universe.
The Alliance may have some elements of a
monarchyThe person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times. A Monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or...
. In "
Serenity"Serenity" is the original two-hour series pilot for the Firefly science-fiction television series created by Joss Whedon. However, FOX executives were not satisfied with this as a pilot, and so instead, "The Train Job" was created to be the pilot. "Serenity" was not aired until the end of the...
",
Malcolm ReynoldsMalcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a fictional character in the Serenity franchise. Reynolds is played by actor Nathan Fillion in the 2002 TV series Firefly and the 2005 film Serenity. In the series, Reynolds is the captain of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity...
(
Serenity's captain) said "I'd like to be king of all Londinium" and many of Inara Serra's customers are
Lords- Places :*Lord's Cricket Ground, English Cricket Ground and home of Marylebone County Cricket Club.- Politics :*House of Lords, upper house of the British parliament*Lords Spiritual, clergymen of the House of Lords...
. However, "King of all Londinium" may just be a catchphrase (ie,
"king of the world" in modern usage) and Lord could merely be a positional title.
In
SerenitySerenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is considered a continuation of the cancelled Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set 510 years in the future, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew...
, the movie set in the
Firefly universe, it is revealed that the Alliance is run by a branch of the government called the
ParliamentA parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement, the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at...
.
It appears that this Alliance was a melding of the
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
and the
United States of AmericaThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Generally, the Alliance is rather authoritarian, although
Joss WhedonJoseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American director, executive producer, occasional actor, and creator and head writer of the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse...
, the series' creator, has said this is at least partly because the show is seen from the viewpoint of those hostile to the Alliance. Whedon himself admits that sometimes, the Alliance is like the predominant view of the USA in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
: doing very good things, helping people, spreading democracy. At other times the Alliance can tend towards black ops and power-grabbing, although rarely more so than any real-world democracy.
It is a
governmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
run by
bureaucraticBureaucracy is the collective organizational structure, procedures, protocols, and set of regulations in place to manage activity, usually in large organizations and government...
rules. Corporate influence is high, the prime example of "Blue Sun", a powerful corporate conglomerate Whedon has compared to "
Coca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines internationally. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the beverage is sold in more than 200 countries...
or
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices...
" and which owns "at least half the government". A lesser example is the
Weyland-YutaniWeyland-Yutani is a fictional corporation in the motion picture Alien and its sequels, often referred to simply as "The Company". It is one of the corporations that runs the human colonies outside the solar system through the Extrasolar Colonization Administration, has a seat in the Interstellar...
corporation of
AlienAlien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto...
fame, whose logo can be seen on certain Alliance weapons. In
Serenity, the Alliance also relies on local security companies to serve as the Alliance presence.
Due to the melding of American and Chinese influences in the Alliance, most people in the
Firefly universe are equally adept in speaking both
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
and Mandarin; some characters on the show speak Chinese at times (usually when using obscenities, so Whedon wouldn't have to bleep anything out and ruin the suspension of disbelief), and many signs are printed in both English and Chinese. Additionally, during the episode "
Out of Gas"Out of Gas" is the eighth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It differs stylistically from the rest of the series, in that it tells its story alternately in three timeframes: events in the present, events in the near-past that led to the present, and...
", Serenitys warning messages over the intercom are repeated in both English and Cantonese.
The Chinese spoken is based on Mandarin (intermixed with Cantonese), but the pronunciation is heavily corrupted from the real-world language by the actors.
Alliance military
The Alliance operates a massive fleet of spaceships, resembling huge floating cities, that act as both military and police for the distances between the various planets of the Firefly Universe. Alliance ships have the registry prefix IAV (Interstellar Alliance Vessel). Examples include the IAV Dortmunder
and IAV Magellan. The pilot episode of the series reveals that the large city-ships carry smaller craft referred to as 'gunships', though the gunships themselves are never identified and their specific characteristics are never revealed. In the episode "Bushwhacked", we learn that Alliance ships have nurseries, suggesting that there might be even more civilian facilities aboard.
In the film
SerenitySerenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is considered a continuation of the cancelled Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set 510 years in the future, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew...
, we see a fleet of sleeker, more streamlined warships, suggesting that the Alliance has a wide variety of space vessels for various purposes.
Alliance ground troops are nicknamed "purple bellies" (in contrast to the Independent "browncoatBrowncoat is a term applied to fans of the short-lived television series Firefly. The name is based on a nickname for the Independent Faction from the series.-Fictional meaning:...
s"). They wear armor similar to that worn by the Mobile InfantryThe Mobile Infantry is a fictional military force in Robert A. Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers and in the movies Starship Troopers, released in 1997, the 2004 sequel, Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, the 2008 film Starship Troopers 3: Marauder and the TV series Roughnecks: Starship...
in the movie Starship TroopersStarship Troopers is a 1997 American military science fiction film, written by Edward Neumeier , directed by Paul Verhoeven, with some names and details taken from Starship Troopers, a novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It was the first of three films released in the Starship Troopers franchise...
(the makers of Firefly
used leftover costumes from that movie). Crewmembers on Alliance starships wear gray uniforms resembling those worn by Imperial German ArmyThe German Army was the name given the combined armed forces of the German Empire, also known as the Imperial Army or Imperial German Army. The term "Deutsches Heer" is also used for the modern German Army, the land component of the German Bundeswehr...
from World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
; officers and enlisted crew are identically dressed (except for headgear: officers wear hats, enlisted crew wear berets). In Serenity, Alliance crew members wear blue uniforms.
The exact structure of the Alliance military, such as its rank system and branch organization, is not identified within the series or the film. Some Alliance officers have been seen with naval ranks, such as
CommanderCommander is a military rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service...
, and others with ground-based ranks such as
ColonelColonel is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
and
GeneralA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
.
Downfall
During the events of
the 2005 filmSerenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is considered a continuation of the cancelled Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set 510 years in the future, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew...
, the crew of Serenity discover the truth behind River Tam's insanity; she had discovered the truth behind the
ReaversReavers are a fictional group of humans in the television series Firefly and the movie Serenity who live on the fringes of civilized space and have become animalistic...
, in which the Alliance had inadvertently created the first Reavers in an attempt to create peace on the planet Miranda.
Malcolm ReynoldsMalcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a fictional character in the Serenity franchise. Reynolds is played by actor Nathan Fillion in the 2002 TV series Firefly and the 2005 film Serenity. In the series, Reynolds is the captain of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity...
resolves to reveal this to the universe, and after a lengthy battle with the Operative, succeeds in doing so, ruining the Operative's faith in the Alliance's methods and revealing the existence of the Reavers (plus the true colors of the Alliance) to the system at large. Before he departs, the Operative tells Mal of how much trouble he had caused the Alliance (in the shooting script, he states that they had gotten multiple complaints from several worlds), and warns him that, although their regime is weakened, they will be after him in revenge.