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Firefly - The Complete Series Customer Reviews (16 - 18 of 83 Reviews)
Breath of Fresh Air
Living in Europe has meant that I only discovered "Firefly" long after its demise. The ending of the "Buffy" series presented us with a rather charismatic Big Bad in the form of 'Caleb' Nathan Fillion. A quick look in the IMDB told me he'd worked on another Whedon show, "Firefly". At about the same time Club RTL, a tiny cable channel, was showing this SF-Western. No sooner had it started or they cancelled it too. The mind boggles.
When you're presented with a Joss Whedon project, you know it's going to be interesting whichever way you look at it. It's going to have a wonderful use of language (no-one does dialogue like Whedon), an uncanny ability to blend drama and comedy, a healthy politically incorrect attitude, a tendency to throw all preconceived ideas and predictability out of the window and a strong cast to deliver the plot. What more do you want?
Then Fox and Club RTL go and cancel it. Oh well, I've pre-ordered the region 2 DVD-set despite seeing only 4 episodes. I'm sold. The first one I saw was "Out of Gas", which grabbed me from the first shot and kept me wondering until the very end how it all tied together. Whedon took three flashback lines to tell the story - seamlessly. Counter-balancing the angst of "Out of Gas", "Shindig" offered a light comedic tone, showing character development with great dialogue. "Safe" was perhaps a tad weaker, but "Ariel" was downright disturbing. Here we touched on the core of what could have been a great epic story: the Alliance and the Blue Sun company. Who are these men with Hands of Blue? What really happened to River and what is she capable of? Can Jayne be trusted and will Mal blow him out of the airlock? Dark, dark episode and so brilliant. Whedon was not allowed to tell the story. Here's hoping that he will at least be able to make that movie!
We'll Still Have The Sky
Doesn't it seem odd that a show that failed would be put on DVD? I thought so too, but I kept hearing good things about Firefly, and I am big fans of Joss Whedon's other shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, so I decided to see what it was like. I couldn't be happier that I did because Firefly is definitely a great show that was killed before it could even begin to reach its full potential. The show tells the story of nine people on the firefly class ship Serenity, which was named for a battle in a war for independence. This battle was, for the most part, the last stand for Capt. Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his fellow Independents. After this fight, victory seemed imminent for the Alliance, a government who wanted to unite all planets under one rule. Mal and his friend and later first mate Zoë (Gina Torres) wanted each planet to rule itself. After the war, the pair bought Serenity and assembled a crew consisting of Wash (Alan Tudyk), the pilot and Zoë's future husband, Kaylee (the beautifuly Jewel Staite), the cheerful mechanic who definitely has elements of the Buffy character Willow (the also beautiful Alyson Hannigan), and Jayne (Adam Baldwin), who is kind of muscle for hire. They also have Inara (Moreena Baccarin), who is a companion, which is the new term for prostitute. Apparently, 500 years from now, prostitution will not only be legal, but it will be a respectful career. She rents one of Serenity's two shuttles, and her presence is mutally beneficial to the crew and herself. Her clientele is increased, and she opens some doors for Mal and the crew. In fact, her nickname is the Ambassador. The group will do anything to keep going; they will pick up passengers and do any job, legal or illegal. Mal actually seems to prefer the illegal jobs just because it means thwarting the Alliance. Then in the first episode (strangely, it was the one of the last ones aired), three new people join the crew. There is Shepard Book (Ron Glass), the preacher and conscious of the ship, Dr. Simon Tam, and his insanely intelligent and intelligently insane (yes I know, that didn't make much sense) sister. Simon and River are on the run from the Alliance; River, who is a genius, was sent to an academy run by the Blue Sun Corporation, which is heavily funded by the Alliance. However, the acadamy turned out to be a lab facility where researchers did experiments on River. She sent coded messages to Simon, and he had her cryogenically frozen, and then resuced her. Now Mal and the crew have to deal with a crazy young girl who is a wanted fugitive.
The writing and acting on the show are definitely worthy of Joss Whedon's name; in fact, after Firefly ended, Nathan Fillion and Gina Torres were cast in Buffy and Angel. I loved this cast, especially Jewel Staite. She was priceless! I was so afraid that she was going to die in the first episode, and I was very relieved when she wasn't. However, her situation allowed for one of the best scenes in the entire series; the thing that happened when Mal told Simon that she was dead was so funny. Some of my favorite episodes include Serenity Pts. 1 and 2, The Train Job, Shindig, Ariel, Our Mrs. Reynolds, Trash, The Message, War Stories, and Objects In Space. Oh, and speaking of characters in Joss Whedon's shows, did you see that, in Serenity, Carlos Jaccot, who played Dobson, also appeared as villains in Buffy and Angel (although in Angel, he wasn't really evil, despite the fact that he was a demon who wanted to eat Doyle's (Glenn Quinn) brains).
Unfortunately, we may never know how much some of these characters will be developed. In fact, there are so many things that we may never know; such as Book's origins; something was up with him. He could shoot too well, and the bounty hunter, who may have been a little crazy, said without any doubt that he was no Shepard. We also may never know what those blue-handed men from the Blue Sun actually did to River, and what they wanted her for. The Simon/Kaylee and Mal/Inara relationships will never be fulfilled/revealed/destroyed, and we won't find out if Inara actually leaves. I really hope that the Firefly movie gets made, so that we can see what happens next. I would also like Fox to revive the show, the way that they are reviving Family Guy, because they lost a true gem when they cancelled Firefly.
Cut off in its prime
Firefly was cancelled before it even made it to the UK, which made the experience of watching it this summer (and again, now, on DVD) all the more poignant... and frustrating. While I won't go the 'reasons' behind the cancellation here, it seems clear to me that it was wholly unjustified; to anyone with any discernment, it's clear this show simply gets better with every viewing and every episode.
The cast is a joy; from captain of the ship Mal to endearingly crazy psychic River, every actor hits the note for their character time after time. Coupled with the great writing we've come to expect from Mutant Enemy, what we get is arguably the most perfect, and perfectly characterised, ensemble cast yet in a Whedon show. Sparky, believable dialogue (especially between Mal and Inara, but frankly every line sounds utterly natural - and often laugh-out-loud funny). Unforced character conflict (Jayne, for example, is a belligerent git, and as such a vital element of ongoing tension). Above all, a gradual, natural development of the ensemble's dynamic.
The look and sound of the show is similarly lavish in detail and feel. The costumes are simultaneously eye-catching and 'lived-in'. The sets are a brilliant meld of Western and SF, all dusty canyons and technology that is functional and *used*, as opposed to _Trek_'s ultra-sleek waiting-room ambience. The dialogue and incidental music both add to the hybrid atmosphere, with their own dialect of Madarin and archaism.
Overall, this is about the boundaries between genres being shaded in a quite ingenious manner - and it is mirrored in the genuinely hazy morality of the characters and their world. Want to see a real frontier in action? Look no further.
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