Firefly : review

2004

15 50 minute episodes

SF elements

cowboy thieves in space

Review

The motley crew and passengers of the Firefly class spaceship Serenity travel around the armpit of the fascist Alliance-dominated galaxy, trading, smuggling, whatever to make a living. The mixture of spaceships and horses works well after the initial surprise: these are backwater colonies with people managing as best they can, and old tech doesn't disappear just because new tech is available.

These are all flawed and individual characters, with shady pasts, with shady futures, yet all doing the best they can. The dialogue crackles in the trademark Whedon style, the episodes combine humour, pathos, and moral dilemmas. You quickly come to care for all these people, and want to know more about their hidden pasts. This is indeed " Buffy for adults".

And then it stops! Why does hokum like Andromeda and pap like Charmed go on season after season, while excellent clever stuff like Firefly is not even given a chance to establish? (Yes, I know I watch these others, and even enjoy them, but then I also enjoy bacon double cheeseburgers -- particularly when hungry -- but that doesn't mean I wouldn't prefer to watch Firefly , and to eat medium rare sirloin steak.) Gah. I'd like to find the Fox executive who decided to pull the series before it had even completed a season, slowly eviscerate them over an open fire, then send them on to the hell reserved for beancounters, where they can spend eternity with whoever pulled Farscape .

Rating: 2

[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]