Joss Whedon's Firefly
I was pretty huge fan of X-FILES back in the day, but the wave of similar styled shows that came in its wake (with shows like Millenium, Dark Angel and such) overwhelmed me so much that by the time Joss Whedon’s new series came around, I wasn’t much interested in checking it out. “Enough sci-fi for now!” was my motto, and thus his cult favorite series Firefly remained in the unwatched section of my life, even as the name Joss Whedon grew to huge and respected dimensions!
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| Nathan Fillion as Mal and Gina Torres as Zoe |
So I’m hanging out with my friend Gerg, a guy who has turned me onto quite a few really cool things (most recently I can say that this was the guy who turned me onto the Rocket Raccoon era Guardians of the Galaxy) and we’re talking about the new Avengers: Age of Ultron movie, and Joss Whedon’s direction in general. At some point, Gerg mentions Firefly, a series he absolutely LOVES, and is surprised when I say that I’d never seen the series.
“Wow, Now I know what I’m gonna get you for Christmas!” he exclaimed, before I said “Hold on, to have me sit down and watch a whole season of a show that YOU love but I have no desire to see is more like a gift to YOU than to me!” This didn’t dissuade him because he immediately countered with, “Then please watch it as a present to ME!” D’oh! ‘Dude”, I said, “I really don’t have time to watch a whole show.” But he just kept humming, “We’ll See, heh heh”…
Fast forward two or three months later, and I’m at Costco where I see that among the TV series they’ve got on DVD, they happened to have the entire Firefly series in one set for an astounding $7.99. $7.99!! That was cheaper than a used movie! Since I had no plans that weekend, I figured I could pick up the DVD and watch a few episodes to see what all the hub-bub was about, and even if I didn’t like it, at least I could appease my friend Gerg!
So I began watching the show, and at first, it seemed very much like your typical science fiction television show with your quirky characters riding around in a ship solving the “problem” of the week… I’d say it sort of reminded me of the old Star Trek Next Generation or Battlestar Galactica series in a way.
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| Nathan Fillion and Gina Torres |
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| Ron Glass |
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| Sam Maher, Adam Baldwin and Jewel Staite |
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| Sam Maher and Summer Glau as the Tam Siblings |
The Pilot episode was okay, though nothing extraordinary for me. As I continued to watch the show, however, I began to get to know the characters better, and as I did, began to like them more, and in turn began to enjoy their interaction with each other. Each shipmate was so different that each clash of opinions between each other made for delightful dialog!
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| Captain Reynolds talks to Engineer Kaylee |
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| Fillion, Summer Glau, Alan Tudyk and Gina Torres |
In fact,I began liking the characters so much that it it got to the point where the drama going on between the shipmates was more interesting than any of the actual stories going on! I’ve always been a sucker for a pretty face, and so I guess the first character I started liking was Kaylee, as adorably played by Jewel Staite.
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| Jewel Staite as Kaylee |
Her playful pixie attitude caught my attention early on, then when I saw her all dolled up for the fancy dress ball in episode 4’s “Shindig”, I felt the tugging of my heart going out to her- SHE WAS SUCH A CUTIE!
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| Adorable! |
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| Pixie Mechanic Kaylee |
You would have thought I’d have liked Nathan Fillion’s character of Ship Captain Mal Reynolds from the get go, but for the first few episodes, I felt he spent WAY to much time being talked down by his shipmates and being second guessed and chided for his moral choices. Strangely enough I really began liking him only after I fell in love with my second favorite member, the lusciously sultry Inara Serra, played by the equally exotic Morena Baccarin.
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| Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra |
Out of all the shipmates aboard the Serenity, it’s always been the relationship between Fillion’s rude, gruff Captain Reynolds and Bacarrin’s perfect, classy and elegant Inara that has me glued to my screen. He uses foul language to her and describes her Companion profession as “being a whore”, but deep down you know how protective he is of her, and as time went on, you began to see that she deeply cared for him, too!
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| Always at Odds: Malcolm and Inara |
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| The Alluring MIss Serra |
This was never more apparent than in the episode “Our Mrs. Reynolds”, the first episode that made me feel that perhaps Firefly WAS something special after all. In this episode, a stowaway on the ship purporting to be Reynolds’ new wife Saffron (played by the delectable Christina Hendricks, Oh My) uses her deceptions and charms to undermine the crew and take over the ship.
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| Christina Hendricks as Saffron |
MAN, was Inara awesome in this one! As Saffron sneaks around plotting, Inara is the one who keeps her head and gets down tot he heart of the matter. And when the Captain is taken out by the enemy, for the first time, you really see the affection she has for him- and then in true form, once Mac is saved he playfully insults her, keeping their relationship right there on the edge!
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| Inara letting her true feelings show for the fallen Mal |
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| The best frenemies one could ever have! |
So after that I began watching the show in a new, more appreciative light, and that set me up for one of the greatest chapters EVER, the incredible “Out Of Gas” episode. Written by co-executive produce Tim Minear, this episode begins at the end: Captain Reynolds is crawling on the ground of the Serenity in a delirious near-death state, and as he struggles to make his way across the dock, the scene changes, and we are seeing a flashback of the day that Reynolds and his second –in-command Zoe (Gina Torres) first acquired the ship. The episode then switches scene again- this time not to the present time where Reynolds is dying, but the beginning of that fateful day.
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| The awesome "Out Of Gas" Episode: A grim present... |
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| ...and flashbacks to the crew's wide-eyed beginning days |
So as the show progresses, we are seeing two flashbacks playing out- the events that led up to the dying Reynolds intertwined with the origins of how each member came to be a member of the Serenity Crew. Rest assured, by the end, all ends are neatly wrapped up and the good Captain is saved to live another day. but HOLY CRAP, was I BLOWN AWAY! This was SO freaking GOOD, I couldn’t believe they had the patience to save this episode til mid-season! That night talking to my friend Car, I said, “By the way, regarding “Firefly”…Man, I’m a fan, now. NOW I GET IT!”
I just finished watching episode 10, “War Stories” and besides being treated to the first real guns-a-blazing shootout of the series, have now come to love Zoe and Ship Pilot Wash (Alan Tudyk) as well- it seems the characters are growing more and more, and I’m loving them more and more!!! And with the new development of River Tam’s mysterious new powers coming to light at the end of the show, things gonna get a LOT MORE exciting in the next few episodes!
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| Zoe and Wash |
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| Zoe kicking butt |
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| A drastic change in River... |
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| ...Which worries Kaylee a bit! |
With only 14 episodes in the series, I know the end is coming soon, but I’ve ALREADY ran to the used bookstore and picked me up a copy of the Firefly follow-up movie SERENITY because I intend to watch this one all the way to the end full-throttle! Very excited to see what happens NEXT!
