Out of Gas - S1-E5
Continuity mistake: In the flashback where Mal and Zoë meet Jayne for the first time, every close-up of Mal and the one close-up of Zoë shows their hair blowing in the wind. But in the shots of them together, their hair is completely still.
Continuity mistake: When Mal and Nandi are talking and drinking on the couch, the position of Mal's left arm keeps changing between shots. In both the closeup shots of Mal and Nandi, his arm is resting next to her on the couch, but in the shot of them both, his arm is behind her.
War Stories - S1-E9
Continuity mistake: As Zoë is walking through the halls of Niska's ship to give him the money, her hands keep switching from raised to down by her sides.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jayne is telling Simon and River to keep clear of Saffron, he is holding some things wrapped in tin foil (possibly food). He places them on a table next to him. River then calls Saffron a liar. In the following shot of Jayne, one of the food packets has been torn open. River later says that "Jayne" is a girl's name. The food packet that was torn open is now intact.
War Stories - S1-E9
Continuity mistake: During the torture scene, Wash has quite a large stomach. But after he is saved by Zoë, his stomach is considerably smaller.
Continuity mistake: When Shepherd Book tells everyone about the electrical nets, Jayne says, "One day you're gonna tell us all how a preacher knows so damn much about crime." Shepherd then turns to leave. But in the immediate close up of him and Mal, he turns to leave again.
Continuity mistake: When Early drops an unconscious Mal down the hatch to his room, in the shot from above Mal falls with his arms by his side, but in the next shot when he lands, his arms are above his head and fall to his sides when he hits the ground.
Continuity mistake: After River brings Simon the hodgeberries, the hair on her left shoulder constantly moves between shots.
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene where Simon is talking to his father about his dedicated source box, a newspaper on the table in front of his father keeps moving between shots.
Continuity mistake: As the crew leave Simon and River behind on Jiangyin, Simon's fringe changes between shots. In some there are 3 curled strands of hair, in others there are 2.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the episode, Mal, Jayne and the slavers are playing holographic snooker. One of the slavers gets ready to hit the white ball and leans over the table with his snooker cue. The holographic balls then start to malfunction. In the shot of them malfunctioning the snooker cue that the slaver was holding has disappeared from the table only to return in the following shot.
Continuity mistake: In the final shot of Serenity leaving Regina near the end, the lights on the port (left) and starboard (right) sides of the ship are reversed - the port lights are green when they should be red and the starboard lights are red when they should be green.
Continuity mistake: When Zoë and Wash are on the bridge talking about Saffron, Zoë's necklace moves position between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Serenity disembarks from the Alliance ship after getting Shepherd Book stitched up, the lights on the port (left) and starboard (right) sides of the ship are reversed - the port lights are green when they should be red and the starboard lights are red when they should be green.
Bushwhacked - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: When Kaylee and Simon go looking for spare parts on board the derelict ship, there are two green lights lit up on a control box behind Kaylee. But once Kaylee pulls one of the ship's parts out, the two green lights are no longer lit. Several lights in the room flicker and flash on/off, but the two green lights on the control box behind Kaylee do not.
Bushwhacked - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: After Simon and River come down from Serenity's roof, River asks Simon if Mal is coming back. Simon tells her that he is. River's head then moves from looking down to looking up between shots.
Bushwhacked - S1-E2
Continuity mistake: As Mal tells Commander Harken that the Reavers made the survivor watch as they killed everyone on board, Commander Harken's hands move from separated to clasped together on the table.
Continuity mistake: When the crew are planning how to break into the Bellerophon Estates, Mal and Saffron use Serenity's port (left) shuttle to get to the island. But when Wash flies Serenity underneath the disposal bin, the shuttle is back even though Mal and Saffron have yet to return. We never see or hear of the shuttles being able to return to Serenity by themselves and it wasn't part of the agreed plan.
Chosen answer: One of the premises of the show is that the two major Earth societies that survived, and ultimately merged, were the Chinese and Americans. As a result the common language includes much Chinese. Clothing, signage, and building designs also have a heavy Chinese influence.