~ by Rebecca Fisher

Introduction:

Oh, Firefly. One of the shortest and yet most mourned sci-fi shows of all time, Firefly stands as a monument to how an interfering network can completely destroy a show.

After Joss Whedon’s pitch for a sci-fi drama about a renegade crew on the losing side of a war was green-lit by Fox executives, the network went on to sabotage the show every chance it got: insisting on a different pilot that focused on action rather than character, airing the episodes out of order, and eventually pulling the show before it had even finished its first season. It makes you wonder why they commissioned it in the first place.

But then something fairly miraculous occurred: the DVD box set sold so well and garnered so much attention that Joss Whedon was given the opportunity to wrap up his story in a feature film. It was a rather bittersweet success, as though Serenity managed to bring the characters and plot some sense of closure, you could tell that the material would have worked much better if spread out over the course of several episodes.

But the whole thing sharpened into focus a recent phenomenon: that supportive fans could have an impact on the future of a franchise. If fans could generate enough money and publicity over a particular project, then network executives were willing to give it a second shot (as is the case in shows ranging from Family Guy to Ripper Street). It’s hard not to lament the fact that in today’s world of social media, Firefly would have had a much higher chance at being brought back for a second season.

Premise:

Sometimes the premise of a show is ingenious because of how simple it is. The appeal of Firefly lies in the fact that it’s a fusion of the Western with science-fiction, using “it’s a whole new frontier” as its tagline. That’s brilliant.

Five hundred years into the future, the human race has left Earth-That-Was and colonized a number of terraformed planets. Some planets have access to supplies and technology, others live on the fringes of civilization with very little in the way of basic amenities. This division can be traced to the winning and losing sides of the War of Unification, in which the government body known as the Alliance defeated those that fought for Independence.

The defeat at Serenity Valley

This defeat led one such “browncoat” to abandon both his faith and his military position in order to buy a ship and fly it well out of Alliance control. Captain Malcolm Reynolds now makes a living as a smuggler on board his firefly-class ship Serenity (named after the definitive battle that lost the war) and surrounded by a loyal – for the most part – crew: fellow soldier Zoe Alleyne, her husband and pilot Hoban “Wash” Washburne, mercenary Jayne Cobb and mechanic Kaylee Frye. Renting out the ship’s shuttle is Inara Serre, a beautiful Companion (that being the polite word for a high-class escort) who conducts business both on and off the ship.

Occasionally they take passengers on board, and that’s when the story really starts. Simon Tam is a young doctor desperately trying to smuggle his sister River away from Alliance agents, having learnt that she was experimented on due to her hyperintelligence and psychic abilities. Simon is well aware that he needs to keep her a secret, and Mal (despite River’s unpredictability) quite likes the idea of keeping the Alliance’s prize hidden from them…

Captain Reynolds finds River in his cargo hold

Story:

The beauty of Firefly is that its premise allows for a wide range of storylines, from the crew partaking in heists and smuggling operations, to trying to avoid the ever-growing reach of the Alliance, to the life-or-death consequences of the ship breaking down. And I haven’t even mentioned Shepherd Book or the Reavers yet!

But perhaps the best part of watching Firefly is the exhilaration of being flung into a brave new world that never slows down for the viewer. The characters are fully immersed in the reality of their lives, and there’s very little exposition to help the viewer get a handle on how things work. Instead it’s a headlong journey into the distant future, where food is a rare commodity (instead people eat bland nutrition bars) and casual dialogue is sprinkled with Chinese slang.

The good ship Serenity, firefly class

And somewhere “in the black” are the terrifying Reavers, generally considered an “urban legend” to most people, but real enough to anyone who runs into them. Savage cannibals that attack almost anything that crosses their path, what they do to their victims is probably something that Helen wouldn’t want me to describe in any great detail on her blog! Of course, there’s a story behind the Reavers, but you’ll have to track down Serenity in order to find out what.

All things considered, it’s amazing how much this show managed to pack into fourteen episodes.

Characters:

Being a Western requires a specific type of ensemble cast, with all the familiar stock characters: the grouchy sheriff, er – captain, his loyal lieutenant, the amoral mercenary, the classy doctor, the mysterious preacher, and the hooker with a heart of gold. But everything here is given a sci-fi twist; in the case of the hooker, she’s actually a member of Guild of Companions, all of whom are accorded a huge amount of respect and prestige (far more than the smugglers, obviously).

The entire cast from left: Jayne, Inara, Kaylee, Mal, Wash, Zoe, Simon, Shepherd Book and River

All of them encompass one of Joss Whedon’s favourite themes: that of a ragtag bunch of misfits who form a family despite their differences. Even though some individual character-arcs sadly go unresolved (we never learn Shepherd Book’s backstory, or learn what was in the syringe that Inara was carrying – at least not in the show itself), the nine core cast members have a united plot-thread that sees them become a cohesive and well-oiled team over the course of the one and only season.

Along with plenty of banter, a staple part of any Joss Whedon show.

Conclusion:

To this day Nathan Fillion still makes jokes about how disappointed he is that Firefly was cancelled (his character on Castle often makes allusions to it). Though the feature film went a long way in giving fans the resolution they longed for, it’s still difficult to watch Firefly and not imagine what could have been if the story and character-arcs had been given the opportunity to unfold over a number of seasons. Let this show stand as a lesson to all interfering network executives: sometimes you just have to let the creative people tell their story – you never know what you’ll end up sabotaging if you don’t.
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Next Time: Batman, The Animated Series.

Around this time last year I did a review of the animated Justice League. Now seems as good a time as any to backtrack on that particular franchise and take a closer look at the show that kick-started the popularity of DC comic heroes in cartoon form – Batman: The Animated Series.
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About The Reviewer:

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her They’re All Fictional blog.

To read Rebecca’s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:

Big Worlds On Small Screens