 Tim Minear and Joss Whedon pointed out two scenes that , they believed , articulated the mood of the show exceptionally clearly . One scene is in the original pilot " Serenity " , when Mal is eating with chopsticks and a Western tin cup is by his plate ; the other is in " The Train Job " pilot , when Mal is thrown out of a holographic bar window . The DVD set 's " making @-@ of " documentary explains the distinctive frontispiece of the series ( wherein Serenity soars over a herd of horses ) as Whedon 's attempt to capture " everything you need to understand about the series in five seconds " . 
