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.
Visible crew/equipment: As Serenity touches down on the Eavesdown Docks on Persephone, a crew member can be seen pushing Wash's mule down the ramp just after Mal talks to Kaylee about passengers and the ship's Compression Coil.
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
Revealing mistake: As Mal rolls the survivor of the derelict transport onto the floor, the survivor moves his left hand onto his chest when he is supposed to be unconscious.
Bushwhacked - S1-E2
Audio problem: When Zoë and Mal find the door to the cargo hold, Zoë checks to see if it's locked. Four beeping sounds can be heard as she does this, but she doesn't press any buttons. She only turns a knob on the door. The four beeping sounds are also heard before she even touches anything.
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
Visible crew/equipment: As Simon boards the derelict ship, a handheld camera is reflected in his visor.
Bushwhacked - S1-E2
Visible crew/equipment: As Zoë and Mal investigate the derelict ship, stage lights are constantly reflected in both their visors.
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.
Visible crew/equipment: As the camera goes down through the ship to River standing on the catwalks in the cargo bay (eavesdropping on the crew as Kaylee tells them about how she killed the 3 guards on Niska's ship in War Stories), look at the kitchen table on the far right of the screen. There is a man with white hair bent over the table reading a book. He isn't part of the ship's crew, more likely part of the film crew.
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.
The Message - S1-E15
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the episode, when Jayne reads in the note from his mother that she enclosed something in the box for him, there is a shot of Zoë reaching for a crowbar to open Tracey's coffin. Jayne's left hand is visible on the far right of this shot, holding the hat that his mother knitted for him. In the following shot he takes the hat out of the box despite already having it in his left hand in the previous shot.
Visible crew/equipment: When Wash tells Zoë to be careful as they touch down on the Eavesdown Docks on Persephone, a hand can been seen pulling the Mule down Serenity's ramp in the bottom right corner of the shot as Wash leaves.
War Stories - S1-E9
Revealing mistake: During the firefight on Niska's ship, when Simon sees a guard coming and says to Sheppherd Book, "Book, we, uh-", a dead guard on the floor moves his legs as the guard that Simon saw fires his weapon. (00:37:10)
Continuity mistake: After the opening credits River wakes up from a nightmare. She knocks over a rolling tray and some objects fall off it onto the floor. The position of the tray and the objects left on it changes between shots.
War Stories - S1-E9
Continuity mistake: In Niska's office, behind his desk, there is a door that slides open to a small torture chamber. In "War Stories," there is a small staircase that leads into this torture chamber behind the door. However, in "The Train Job" (the first time we see this chamber) there is no staircase.
Revealing mistake: When Nandi confronts Rance stealing the baby, it is a plastic doll and not a live child in his arms. (00:35:40)
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.