Here is your position. You have either never heard of “Firefly” or you are absolutely obsessed with it. Sure you may fall somewhere in between, but you’re a rarity. Joss Whedon’s doomed sci-fi western show aired over a few short months in 2002 and was cancelled by Fox after 11 episodes aired. There’s been a bunch of network shows that were cancelled this season and I can’t even remember their names. But “Firefly” survived through an unlikely cult following that developed. There was even a major movie developed by Whedon with the same characters in 2005, but that’s a story for another Throwback, which you’ll likely see soon enough.
I could summarize the show’s concept, but I’ll let Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) do it.
“Here's how it is: The Earth got used up, so we moved out and terraformed a whole new galaxy of Earths. Some rich and flush with the new technologies, some not so much. The Central Planets, them’s formed the Alliance, waged war to bring everyone under their rule; a few idiots tried to fight it, among them myself. I'm Malcolm Reynolds, captain of Serenity. She's a transport ship; Firefly class. Got a good crew: fighters, pilot, mechanic. We even picked up a preacher for some reason, and a bona fide companion. There's a doctor, too, took his genius sister outta some Alliance camp, so they're keepin' a low profile. You understand. You got a job, we can do it, don't much care what it is. “
Trusty IMDb provides that quote that aired at the beginning of a number of episodes. But it merely provides the backdrop for what the show is about. Whedon took a number of archetype characters, found the perfect actors and somehow built a team that has more life than the USS Enterprise, are more relatable than the Jedi and so compatible that it becomes totally believable when the mercenary (Adam Baldwin) is bench pressing with the preacher (Ron Glass). The first few episodes run slow, but the reward comes with how connected the viewer becomes in the subsequent chapters.
The series never fully hit its stride while on the air and many of the episodes are stand-alone story-arcs still presenting the setting and situations that exist in this world, or more appropriately, worlds. But like most hour long dramas, the moments that paint a bigger picture of the series are what get fans hooked. The alliance gets close to catching Simon (Sean Maher) and River (Summer Glau) on a few occasions. One of those times comes at the hand of a Serenity crew member. Fillion’s performance that follows as Mal confronts him makes Han Solo look as gentle as an Ewok. Also the team encounters Reavers, cannibalistic men, who cut up their own skin and terrorize the outer planets. Mal’s unintentional wife also makes up a multi-episode arc.
I am of a firm belief that characters guide narratives. Everything else is secondary if the audience is presented with strong individuals. “Firefly” is a perfect example of this. This could be set in a nursing home as Mal and Wash (Alan Tudyk) bicker over dominos. It probably wouldn’t be as exciting, but it would still be compelling. As it is, the show has the characters living on a spaceship in a galaxy where Earth’s two dominant cultures, Chinese and American (or more specifically cowboys) have merged into one. Okay, now that’s compelling.
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