 At the very beginning of the actual pilot episode ("Serenity"), the  Alliance ship that comes upon the Serenity is named the  "Dortmunder". In several of Donald E. Westlake (qv)s comic crime  novels, the leader and planner of the group is named Dortmunder. The  captain of the Serenity is referred to as a "genius planner," as is  Dortmunder. And, as in Westlakes novels, the best