Fourteen years ago today, Firefly aired its first episode on Fox – the same network that would infamously cut Joss Whedon's singular space western down in its prime just three months later.

Browncoats among you (that's Firefly fans, for the uninitiated) will know that it wasn't actually the show's outstanding pilot episode 'Serenity' that aired on September 20, 2002, but rather the inferior (though still great) replacement episode 'The Train Job'.

Here, then, are 11 more intriguing nuggets from this sorely-missed gem.

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1. Remember when Nathan Fillion's Caleb stabbed out Xander's eye in Buffy?

To add insult to injury, Nicholas Brendon – who played Xander – was originally Joss Whedon's first choice to play Firefly's Mal Reynolds, until scheduling scuppered that plan and Fillion took the role.

2. Executives at Fox (Browncoats, take a moment here to shake your fist) were unhappy with the fact that Wash and Zoe were married.

According to Whedon, they wanted to leave open the possibility of romance between Wash and Zoe, and threatened not to pick up the show otherwise. "I said, 'Then don't pick up the show, because in my show, these people are married.'"

3. If you thought you recognised the young Simon Tam in the episode 'Ariel', you're not wrong.

That actor was none other than Zac Efron, in only his second ever screen appearance.

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4. Whedon had trouble writing the script for movie sequel Serenity because of the wildly different genres its leading characters, Mal and River, represented.

"Mal is a Western fellow and River is kind of Noir, so how do I reconcile them?" His mentor, film professor Jeanine Basinger, helped him steer through the block with genre-blurring movies like Brian De Palma's The Fury and Nicholas Ray's classic Western Johnny Guitar.

5. Morena Baccarin's Inara remained mysterious throughout Firefly's brief run, but had the show continued it would have been revealed that she was dying.

A terminal illness subplot – hinted at but unexplored in the series – had been rumored for years before Baccarin herself finally confirmed it in 2008.

6. Neil Patrick Harris auditioned for the role of Simon, which ultimately went to Sean Maher.

Internet rumor has it that Harris's lab coat in Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was the same one Maher wore in an episode of Firefly, but we're not sure how legit that info is.

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7. It's hard to put into words just how ham-fisted Fox's marketing for Firefly was.

Suffice it to say that early promos promised a zany and "twisted" sci-fi comedy featuring – among other characters – "a flighty pilot!", "a space cowboy!", "a cosmic hooker!" and "a girl in a box!" No sign of these gems online, but you can get a taste of how bad the campaign was here. Prepare for warp speed.

8. The funeral scene in the episode 'The Message' was genuinely mournful.

It was filmed just after the cast found out that Firefly had been cancelled. Real pain.

9. Three Buffyverse alums were slated for guest appearances.

Just when you really thought you'd come to terms with the fact that we're never getting any more Firefly..."I had planned to do an episode with Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof and James Marsters as part of a traveling Shakespare troupe," says Whedon. "Because it's sort of a staple of the John Ford Westerns, there's always that over-the-top theatre guy, and I thought it would be terrific to have them try and put on a play in the cargo bay." Damn you, Fox.

10. The cast grew to genuinely love the ship's lounge set.

So much so that in between takes, they hung out there instead of in their trailers or the green room.

11. Almost every single member of the Firefly cast went on to play a villain in another Joss Whedon project.

Nathan Fillion in Buffy and (arguably) Dr Horrible, Gina Torres and Adam Baldwin in Angel, Summer Glau and Alan Tudyk in Dollhouse, and Sean Maher in Much Ado About Nothing. Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin and Ron Glass, you're next…

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