From scifi.com:
Whedon Helms Firefly Ep
Joss Whedon, who is directing an upcoming episode of Fox's SF series Firefly, told SCI FI Wire that the installment features guest star Richard Brooks (good vs evil) as a bounty hunter named Early. "It's basically about a bounty hunter who's come to seek River [Summer Glau] and actually manages to get on the ship while it's in the middle of space," Whedon said in an interview during a break in filming. "And so it's very sort of suspenseful. And it's also about the crew finding out what is River and ... is she dangerous? Is she psychic? Is she just weird? And juxtaposing her character and the bounty hunter as two outsiders who are sort of looking at the crew and this world."
Whedon also wrote the episode, "Objects in Space," which will air in December as the show's 11th segment. "It's actually a big existentialist tract about the sort of meaning of objects," Whedon said, with tongue in cheek. "But I don't really pitch that, because, 'Tonight, an existential tract on the meaning of objects right after you changed to the channel suddenly!'"
Directing Firefly is different from helming episodes of Whedon's other series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, he said. "Every set has its own sort of tenor. The thing about Firefly is ... that this whole cast, ... they're extremely kind and professional, and they get along, and they help each other, and they work hard. I'm not saying my other casts don't work hard. And some of them get along, and it's great. But there's a star, and then there's the ensemble. And there's tensions on the set. ... It's not one big happy family. It seldom is on a television set. And [in Firefly,] I've got nine people, all of whom are great in a scene. Any pair of them works great. And all of them doing their best to help each other out. It's early on still. But they really feel like an ensemble than any bunch I've worked with." Firefly airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT; it returns with original episodes on Dec. 6.