I had not been able to catch the 12 episodes of the show on Fox prior to it's cancellation. A week back I found the entire series with two unaired eps and making of extras at a store for under $35. I watched all, and by the end am a firm fan. I can hardly wait for the feature that is lensing right now. What a strange journey- Joss Whedon, who gets "creator" credit for the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series based on the earlier rather so-so film, as well as for the spin off series "Angel". I am not a fan of either- just not my interest. Firefly is good-to-great at moments. Sort of a wild west humanized portion of the galaxy. There are NO aliens. Hand weaponry resembles 19th century western handguns. There is a "Federation" or alliance that most of the time are portrayed subtly as possible bad guys. The Captain of the "firefly" class ship named "Serenity" (which is also the name of the upcoming theatrical film) is an ex-Sgt from battles not fully explained. His 1st officer is another enlisted type, a woman (...that happens to be black) who kicks ass, is an expert shot and dedicated to her Captain. The pilot is a Hawaiian shirt wearing ( and happens to be "white") guy who is also the 1st officer's husband. The grunt/not so bright muscle guy who is VERY good in a fight, named Jane is played by Adam Baldwin. The female engineer would have been called an earthchild at one time. She's a babe. In the original pilot, a 2-parter, they pick up a shepard- or priest played by "Barney Miller's" Ron Glass- an actor I have always enjoyed. He's mysterious and may actually not have anything to do with being a man of the lord. And they pick up a Doctor and his sister- both on the lam from the Feds- she had been kidnapped and mistreated by all possible means. She is getting her act back together but has foresight abilities, which start to be valuable. She also has a scorching IQ (and is very cute). Last but not least the "companion"- also known as a prostitute. She's classy, tender, smart and makes lots o' mula per customer (she takes a leased shuttle- there are two attached to the outside of the ship- to spend a few days to those who pre-arrange it). She is a valued member of the crew and secretly is in love with the Captain.
Apparently earth is no more. Humans are all over the exploited galaxy. A Chinese corporation has influenced things for a long time- most people are bilingual. The crew utters a lot of insults in Mandarin. This show is about human-ness. The crew makes dough by transporting cargo- for ANY paying person- so of course the cargo isn't necessarily on the up and up all the time. There are some repeat villains. There are encounters with the Feds, and also with their secret reps- the "blue people" (watch it- don't ask)- who are after the Doc and his sis. The CGI in this show is just great- intentionally done to look like camera action isn't perfect- to lend to the rough, westerny look. Serenity has main engines that have a cool exhaust visible all the time in space- and it's very nicely done- sort of a lazy exhaust, if that's possible.
If you decide to check this show out, rent more than the 1st 3 eps. It grew on me. ALL the crew did, and so did a lot of the worlds envisioned. Heck who couldn't like a show that shows a bad guy, confronting the Captain and about to shoot him, getting suddenly sucked into an engine intake- it was a very excellent moment. Even the simple sung westerny theme grew on me. The show captivated my Japanese spouse- and that's a complement in that a lot of the story telling IS unspoken. A supposed idea in regards to the feature film is that if that does well, the series will get a new life on the tube. That'd be great. And of course, periodically making a feature would be fine too. It's not another post-original series follow on [boring] Trek or (the quite excellent) B5. It's rather original and fun and thoughtful and very heartfelt. A universe (or "verse" as they say on the show) of humans showing themselves to be no more and everything plus. Very cool.... BP
Apparently earth is no more. Humans are all over the exploited galaxy. A Chinese corporation has influenced things for a long time- most people are bilingual. The crew utters a lot of insults in Mandarin. This show is about human-ness. The crew makes dough by transporting cargo- for ANY paying person- so of course the cargo isn't necessarily on the up and up all the time. There are some repeat villains. There are encounters with the Feds, and also with their secret reps- the "blue people" (watch it- don't ask)- who are after the Doc and his sis. The CGI in this show is just great- intentionally done to look like camera action isn't perfect- to lend to the rough, westerny look. Serenity has main engines that have a cool exhaust visible all the time in space- and it's very nicely done- sort of a lazy exhaust, if that's possible.
If you decide to check this show out, rent more than the 1st 3 eps. It grew on me. ALL the crew did, and so did a lot of the worlds envisioned. Heck who couldn't like a show that shows a bad guy, confronting the Captain and about to shoot him, getting suddenly sucked into an engine intake- it was a very excellent moment. Even the simple sung westerny theme grew on me. The show captivated my Japanese spouse- and that's a complement in that a lot of the story telling IS unspoken. A supposed idea in regards to the feature film is that if that does well, the series will get a new life on the tube. That'd be great. And of course, periodically making a feature would be fine too. It's not another post-original series follow on [boring] Trek or (the quite excellent) B5. It's rather original and fun and thoughtful and very heartfelt. A universe (or "verse" as they say on the show) of humans showing themselves to be no more and everything plus. Very cool.... BP