Blue Sun

In the television series "Firefly", the Blue Sun Corporation is a large, diversified corporation (or possibly Megacorporation), compared by creator Joss Whedon to a combination of Coca Cola and Microsoft. The company is broadly hinted as being less benign than either of those two companies, and plays a role more comparable to that played by Weyland-Yutani in the "Alien" franchise or Omni Consumer Products in the "RoboCop" franchise.

The Chinese name of the company has been rendered as 青日 ("qīng-rì"), and 蓝日 ("lán-rì"). "Qīng" (青) is an older word that can mean blue and/or green. "Lán" (蓝) is a newer word that only means blue.

Appearances of Blue Sun

While the direct activities of Blue Sun are never exactly explained, the presence of the corporation is certainly felt in the ambiance of the TV series and in the feature film Serenity. Blue Sun logos and advertisements are hidden in many different locations.

* Episode 1.01 Serenity (Pilot Episode): During the sequence when the "crybaby" is activated, one can see that the crybaby is a radio transmitter taped to a Blue Sun Brand coffee can.
* Episode 1.01 Serenity (Pilot Episode): When Mal, Zoe, and Jayne are walking back to the ship from the unsuccessful meeting with Badger, several Blue Sun banners can be seen attached to cargo containers scattered throughout the Eavesdown Docks.
* Episode 1.03 Bushwhacked: During the entire episode, Jayne wears a T-shirt bearing the 青日 Blue Sun logo, although 蓝日 was used in later episodes.
* Episode 1.04 Shindig: The canned goods that River removes labels from are Blue Sun brand products. Actual Blue Sun logos can be seen on the rectangular cracker boxes.
* Episode 1.09 Ariel: When River uses a butcher knife to attack Jayne, he is wearing the same Blue Sun T-shirt that he wore in Bushwhacked.
* Episode 1.09 Ariel: As Jayne approaches the Telofonix videophone to report that he has arrived with the 'fugitives', it is showing a Blue Sun Cola advertisement.
* Episode 1.09 Ariel: When Simon activates the 3-D neuro-imager to examine River's brain, the Blue Sun logo can be seen in the hologram.
* Episode 1.12 The Message: When Serenity debarks from the landing platform after taking Tracey's body on board, a video advertising a Blue Sun cola brand can be seen playing just to the left side of the ship. This same video sequence also plays in the episode Ariel when Serenity is landing, but it is too small to actually identify the Blue Sun logo on the soda can.
* Episode 1.12 The Message: When Tracey's bare back is exposed, he is revealed to have a blue sun tattoo below his left shoulder.
* Serenity (Feature Film): When Simon and Mal conclude their disagreement regarding whether or not River will go along during the heist, a cargo container stamped with the Blue Sun logo can be seen in Serenity's hold.
* Serenity (Feature Film): The "Fruity Oaty Bar" commercial which triggers River's attack opens with a blue sun in a blue sky.
* Serenity (Feature Film): During the fight sequence in the Maidenhead Bar, River roundhouse kicks a Blue Sun water bottle off a table.
* Serenity (Feature Film): The liquor bottle that Jayne passes to Simon during the crew meeting in the dining area is of a Blue Sun brand.
* Official "Serenity" Blueprints: Blue Sun built the ship's primary power plant.

Relationship between Blue Sun and River Tam

In some instances when River Tam exhibits bizarre or violent behavior, Blue Sun is involved.

* In the episode Shindig, River rips the labels off cans bearing the Blue Sun logo while babbling. The transcript of her ranting indicates that she believes the food contains something bad.
* In the episode Ariel, Jayne is wearing a Blue Sun shirt when River slashes him. The writer of this episode confirms in the director's commentary that River was actually attacking the logo on Jayne's shirt and not Jayne himself.
* In an interview reproduced in "Firefly: The Official Companion, Volume One", Whedon confirms that the two Blue-Handed men (sometimes called by the fans "Hands of Blue") River feared were associated with Blue Sun.

The Goals of The Blue Sun Corporation

Blue Sun's place in the grand scheme of things is a plot point unexplored in either Serenity or in the TV series. In one of the behind-the-scenes featurettes of the "Firefly: The complete series" DVDs, there is a part in which some cast and crew say what could have happened if the series had not been canceled. In it, Joss Whedon states that we would have learned more about Blue Sun corporation and that they were responsible for the psychic project into which River was abducted. It is also clear that Blue Sun is somehow intertwined with the Alliance government given Whedon's admission that the Blue Handed villains were related to the corporation. What is also clear is that Blue Sun is deeply involved in the basic consumer products market as shown by their presence on coffee cans, cola cans, and cracker boxes. River's negative reaction to the canned goods in the episode Shindig is probably related to its involvement in said psychic project and the many surgeries that were made to her brain but may also imply that there may be something sinister about Blue Sun brand food, though the truth of that claim has yet to be proven.