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rklenseth
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Great Firefly Articles

Postby rklenseth » Thu Apr 15, 2004 8:16 pm

Firefly vs. the Firing Squad
by Jason Snell - December 13, 2002

Having worn out its welcome on Friday nights, Firefly -- Joss Whedon's sci-fi follow-up to Buffy and Angel -- is being cancelled. Although it will disappear from the airwaves in a couple of weeks, Fox executives promise that it will return later for one final set of airings. However, let's keep in mind that these are the same Fox executives who proudly promised new fall series The Grubbs and Septuplets last May. Seen any episodes of those shows lately?

So Firefly's a terminal case, and it's easy to understand why. Its ratings are in the tank, at least as far as Fox is concerned, even though more people are apparently watching Firefly than either Buffy or Angel. And numerous critics (and presumably viewers) gave up on the show after a lackluster first episode mandated by Fox after the network nixed the show's original pilot.

But here's the nasty little secret: Firefly is an absolutely brilliant show, perhaps the best sci-fi show on television today -- and certainly the one with the most potential for future brilliance. In the weeks since its weak opening episodes, the series has run off a string of seven strong shows that would be the envy of any other TV show on the air today.

This summer, it appeared that Whedon's Mutant Enemy production company had bitten off more than it could chew. Buffy was in disarray after a creatively disastrous season; Angel was reeling from the loss of showrunner David Greenwalt and lukewarm support from the Buffy-less WB network; and Firefly's pilot had been sent back to the kitchen. It looked like Whedon and his gang had overplayed their hand; the results weren't going to be pretty, and in the end it looked like the TV wunderkind was going to have plenty of spare time in which to write that stage musical or screenplay that he'd always been meaning to get to during Buffy downtime.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the charnel house. Whedon and his creative team proved that, far from being one-hit wonders, they're some of the best talents working in television today. Buffy has rebounded with what might be its best season in four years, and Angel has so thrived on its own that The WB is moving it to Wednesday nights in hopes that it can clean up the pile of leather and mascara left behind by Birds of Prey.

And then there's Firefly. Perhaps the show's toughest sell, judging from its first few episodes, is that it's sort of a western. Set on other planets and in outer space, sure, but with jangly country-western music and dusty frontiers populated by cows, horses, and dirty men in overalls who actually say "dadgummit."

Only after a dozen episodes does Firefly's depth and versatility really show through. In past weeks, the show has managed to slide between taut locked-in-a-spaceship drama, wacky old-west-cotillion shenanigans, and a terrifyingly violent confrontation in a sterile high-tech medical facility. This show that seemed to have painted itself into a corner with its images of horses and dust bowls turns out to actually have a remarkably broad canvas, with highly industrialized "core planets" straight out of standard sci-fi, as well as poor, low-tech backwoods worlds that rely on incoming starships the way an old west town would wait for the stagecoach to arrive. And given the series' striking use of Mandarin as well as English, one can only assume that there are some Chinese cultures out there to explore as well.

Filling out the canvas is Firefly's ensemble, a stage-choking nine members strong. Are you like me? Do you see a show with a half-dozen characters and start having trouble telling them apart? Like those three interchangeable guys on Enterprise, who are exactly the same character except that one of them is black and one is English.

Enterprise only has seven characters. But Firefly, loaded up with two more characters than your standard Trek ensemble, accomplishes something that I never thought possible: each character is well-defined, can't be mistaken for a different character, and has traits that contribute to making the show fun to watch. Holding it all together is Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds, no longer one of those guys with the girl at the pizza place. Instead, he's playing the lovable rogue who's, to his chagrin, actually a Hero with a capital H. Reynolds is far from perfect, and is certainly not above thievery -- in fact, he and his crew seem to make most of their living by stealing -- yet when there's a moral decision to be made, he's always on the side of good.

The other characters include a rare married couple (whose marriage is, in many ways, portrayed more realistically than most non-sci-fi shows), a fugitive pretty-boy doctor and his mentally ill savant sister, a high-class call girl, a cute-as-a-button grease-monkey engineer, and a preacher with a mysterious past (played by the fantastic Ron Glass of Barney Miller fame).

And then there's the topper: Adam Baldwin's portrayal of Jayne. Jayne is everything that Reynolds is not: dishonorable, rude, and cowardly. If Whedon's learned anything from his previous shows, it's that a series regular who stands in opposition to his other characters works wonders. An anti-character can make your other characters look more heroic in comparison, and is pretty damned good with the comic relief as well. And although this bearded lummox with a tendency to steal from his crewmates seems pretty far removed from Charisma Carpenter's cheerleader queen in the early years of Buffy, they serve identical purposes.

Even if Firefly is being snuffed out, it's still a milestone for Joss Whedon and his team. Stripped of his sly pop-culture references by the show's far-future setting, Whedon has proven that he can write hilarious comedy mixed with equal parts character drama and bang-up suspense. Buffy was no fluke. The people at Mutant Enemy can make great TV, and with appalling consistency.
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Postby rklenseth » Thu Apr 15, 2004 8:18 pm

Originally published in The Texas Mercury

The very week that Fox TV finally deigned to broadcast the pilot episode of its unique, ground-breaking sci-fi show Firefly, they also announced its cancellation.

You may recall that I predicted this. It gives me no pleasure to be right about these things. Further, while I consider mocking irony to be a force of nature as real and pervasive as gravity and the convection of heat, the way in which Firefly was mishandled by Fox seems a little too calculated to be anything but deliberate. Yes, I tend to be paranoid; but sometimes, you know, even paranoids have real enemies.

One thing became utterly clear while I was watching "Serenity," the pilot episode: there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. It had action, it had adventure; it had character and development. It was smart, funny, tough-minded, and 100 percent different. It set everything up perfectly. Unless the programming executives at Fox are retardate morons who need to be in an institution rather than making millions as the heads of a TV network, the decision not to air the two-hour pilot first and the rest of the series' episodes in sequence is too big a blunder to be a simple "mistake" or "accident."

They wanted to kill this show. I believe that, as surely as I do that the sun rises in the east. Had they really been behind the series, and wanted it to "go" somewhere, they would have first of all given it a decent time-slot, one in which it would have had a chance to find an audience—the nine-o'clock (Eastern) slot on Sunday nights, vacated by that overwrought piece of dreck The X-Files*, would have been perfect. It is—was—not an eight o'clock primetime "kiddie" show. It was a serious drama with a fantastic setting. And it was simply without question the best show of its type ever made for television.

So why did Fox kill Firefly so deliberately? Did they want to punish creator Joss Whedon for his "unexpected" successes with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel? Demonstrate to him conclusively that it is not the few genuinely creative people in Hollywood who hold the real power in the industry, but the men and women who hold the purse strings?

Long ago I reached the conclusion that the medieval system of patronage, whatever its faults and drawbacks, was infinitely superior to the modern "market" system of "free-enterprise" for encouraging the creation of lasting works of literature and art. I put these in quotes because market economics is only a tool, and hence is only as good—or bad—as those who wield it. A society of intelligent, thoughtful individuals could, no doubt, produce the highest art ever known to man through a market economy. A society of lowest-common-denominator swine, sheep, slaves and mindless, pap-programmed robots could only, I submit to you, produce the kind of utter dreck that is foisted on gullible audiences today as "entertainment," and for which the swine, sheep, slaves and robots are only too eager to pay, and, by so doing, to support its continuance.

Bear in mind that medieval society was likewise comprised of swine, sheep and slaves (they didn't have the John Dewey-style system of "public education" in those days required to turn out the robots), so that the system of patronage actually could work; rich aristocrats who genuinely had an interest in the arts could selectively choose who to support and who not to with a taste and consideration which, clearly, the vaunted "common man" of any age is incapable.

But now this hints at another problem with Firefly, and which may have contributed to its undoing. This was an uncommon show, aimed at uncommon people. It had depth, sensitivity and intelligence—things notably lacking in every other show on television. The latest Star Trek incarnation, Enterprise, for example, is as shallow as a puddle of dog urine, has a ton of squeamishness masquerading as "sensitivity," and is as stupid as only the post-original Star Trek clones can be. (My favorite pastime, when I bother to watch it, is spotting the inconsistencies and incongruities between this milieu, purportedly taking place a century before the exploits of Kirk and Company, and that of the original series.) The only other sci-fi show I have come to watch regularly is the eccentric Starhunter, a syndicated Frog-Limey-Canuck co-production that is simply not in anywhere near the same league as Firefly, though it is perhaps more "scientifically correct" in its vision of the future and has, in ways, echoes of the frontier aspect so adroitly utilized by Firefly—this is another show where they wear long-tailed coats and tied-down guns in the future. (Starhunter is obviously made on the very cheap, and is in its third year of production in Europe, though the first season has just now made it to American TV.)

But Firefly was just light-years beyond anything before it. Given its fate, there is surely likely to be nothing anywhere near it in the future. As I said before when I tried to interest you in it, Firefly never stepped too far out of line for an American TV series in the early twenty-first century, but it also, in its stubborn, eccentric way, refused to toe that line. Yes, Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) was a "good" man, ultimately, in the conventional sense; but he had to work at it, and in his case "being good" was an act of tragic nobility, for he believed in the life-darkened depths of his otherwise pure soul what little psycho-psychic River (Summer Glau) elicited from him with her mind-reading powers in the last sequential episode, "Objects in Space"—that "none of it means a damn thing."

You see, as with your author, it "meant" something only to him; and his decision to be good was, indeed, a conscious act—he was "good" because he believed that was the way human beings should be. He had no "proof" of it and every evidence against it. He also had the skills and knowledge, the talent and ability, to be more ruthless and clever than either of the series' crimelords, the slovenly Badger (Mark Sheppard) or the fiendish Niska (Michael Fairman). By all reason and logic, believing as he does that, ultimately and objectively, "none of it means a damn thing," he should at least have been as mindlessly and passionately mercenary as his shallow counterpoint Jayne (Adam Baldwin). But he is not.

Yes, he passed judgment and killed people on his own authority, and that is decidedly a "bad" thing in today's "law and order" climate—you are supposed to beat the crap out of them, then arrest them and turn them in for trial and prosecution; we have, in this society, supposedly a "rule of law" that ensures "justice." (Please pardon the hysterical and derisive guffaws in the background.) Malcolm Reynolds lived by a rule of honor that demands justice. He was in this respect quintessentially American—and, to be more specific about it, quintessentially Southern American.

And that, my friends, may really have been a problem for Firefly. The conscious patterning of the Firefly milieu on the Confederate defeat that Whedon publicly stated was the case may have not set very well in the Yankee-dominated halls of Political Correctness that rules modern America, be they "liberal" or "conservative" ("neoconservative"; again, the two are virtually indistinguishable). Firefly was an unabashed post-Civil War space Western where the losers were the good guys; and everything about the series echoed that, from the desert settings of the frontier moons and planets, the costumes, the music, even the characters' patterns of speech. We knew who these people really were. They had no slavery to fight for, only the right of self-governance—and, just the other day, I read where the National Park Service is "renovating" the Gettysburg Battleground to rid it of its purported "pro-Southern bias," the "myth of a Lost Cause" that was "based on the notion that the war was fought over states' rights, not slavery."

Here's a hint for you modern would-be "historians": the war was fought over states' rights. Slavery was just the pretext. Read the accounts of the time. Everybody said so, including, foremost of all, the "great emancipator" himself, Dishonest Abe Lincoln, who said, some of you may recall, that he was out to "preserve the Union," which he would do if it meant freeing all the slaves, or freeing none of them at all. But of course, the "new" Gettysburg will be patterned after the "Holocaust Museum," i.e., another shrine to political victimhood. (Contrary to popular present-day propaganda, World War Two was not fought over what Hitler was doing to the Jews—nobody on "our" side knew or, if they did, even cared what was happening to the Jews back then.) Which is to say, another excuse for the black man to get his "historical revenge" against the white man by making believe that punishing people for the sins and/or crimes, real or imagined, of their ancestors somehow constitutes "justice."

There were hints, of course, that some sort of racial and social antagonism existed in the Firefly universe. For one thing, the Alliance, to which Reynolds and his crew were opposed, is officially known as the "Anglo-Sino Alliance"; the crew was prone to breaking into Chinese when agitated (admittedly a ploy to bypass the censors); and there is a line in the original script to the pilot episode, "Serenity"—though it is missing from the episode as aired—in which the barker who attempts to get Reverend Book (Ron Glass) to board his ship, the Brutus, announces, "We are not interested in Asian or Catholic passengers, thank you." These elements, I suspect, would have been manifested as the series developed, if it had been allowed to develop, Whedon not wishing to overwhelm his audience with too much at once, and wanting to have something to draw upon in the series' future, if it had been allowed to have a future.

Firefly's greatest transgressions against the modern American Statist Quo, however, were in my estimation twofold and related. To be sure, this was not the mindlessly smarmy "optimistic" vision of the future that is Star Trek in its post-original incarnations; and that, to be sure, is a "sin." But Firefly, in its way, was, in this post 9-11 climate, almost downright seditious. The Alliance enforcers—the "bad guys"—were called "Feds." The attempt to unite and homogenize people was seen, by Firefly, as not a "good" thing; and yet it is the undeniable Zeitgeist of the modern age and behind every bit of mischief and misadventure in the world today, including what happened on September 11, 2001. Most people believe in it, reflexively. Nor do most people agree with Captain Reynolds' words (as quoted by Reverend Book in the episode "War Stories"), "The government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." It is, after all, supposedly "our" government, "the system" over which we, the people, are presumably "sovereign," simply because we have a "choice" between drinking a bottle of slow poison or shooting ourselves in the stomach, politically-speaking, come election day. Do not think that Firefly was not drawing allusions and parallels to our own society and its attendant beliefs, or that this implicit criticism went unnoticed by the powers-that-be.

But most of all, living "beyond the law" as Reynolds and his crew had to, the moral universe of Firefly depended not on the "rule of law," but on its much-maligned and deliberately-misunderstood alternative, the rule of honor. And Firefly made the case, through Reynolds, as persuasively as it has ever been made in American fiction, print, TV, film or otherwise, in my opinion, for the ultimate superiority of the rule of honor over the rule of law—at least for uncommon people, if not the run-of-the-mill herds of swine, sheep, slaves and robots held to be so dear today.

For you see, the rule of honor demands what law must defer: individual responsibility, personal culpability, what is fair and what is just, of every man (and woman) who lives by it. Nowhere is this made more clear than at the climax of the episode "Ariel," in which Reynolds is about to space Jayne for betraying River and her doctor brother to the Feds. Jayne, after some hemming and hawing, admits his guilt, and his reasons for the betrayal: "The money was too good. I got stupid." This makes little impression on Reynolds, who turns and walks away: he knows Jayne is guilty, and why. What turns him back around and stops him is when Jayne asks what Reynolds plans to tell the others, and says, rather pathetically:

"Make something up. Don't tell 'em what I did."

I, for one, could see the wheels turning in Mal Reynolds' head: He's ashamed. There may be something of a man in him after all.

It is then, of course, that Reynolds closes the outer hatch before Serenity leaves the atmosphere, and spares Jayne's life.

Some of you may think this is only in my imagination; and to be sure, I do not imagine that Joss Whedon has sat down and thought about the rule of honor as I have, or would even support or espouse it, as I do, other than as a fictional device for the development of one of his characters. And yet there it is; consciously or not, it is in there, and it underlies every single thing that Reynolds does. Honor is his roadmap in life, his way of finding his way through the wilderness. It says to him at every turn: This thing I can do and live with myself; this thing I can't. It is in the end what makes him a "good" man, in the conventional sense, and an American, and, ultimately, a Southerner.

And it is the greatest offense, the greatest affront, that Firefly could give to our vaunted modern age, and why, in my opinion, Fox never gave the show any kind of a chance.

There is a petition to save Firefly, hopefully by getting the United Paramount Network (UPN), owners of the Star Trek franchise (and where Whedon already has one "hit" series, Buffy), to pick it up. I support any and all efforts to save this show, if it can be saved, which I honestly doubt. It is genuinely worth something, in my estimation; worth more than all the rest of the TV shows currently on the air. I still think it's the best thing that's ever been on American television; and I can't escape thinking that that is exactly what killed it.


Hank Parnell
rklenseth
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Postby rklenseth » Thu Apr 15, 2004 8:36 pm

Don't Shoo Firefly

by Bob Jackson

The concept of “Self Ownership” – corollary to “Love thy Neighbor as Thyself” – takes a stretch of the cerebral muscle. Most people never make the effort to venture beyond the “I’m bored/hungry/thirsty/angry/tired/excited . . .” state of mind. Consequently, berating people, no matter how logical one’s arguments, simply does not inspire a mind to shake loose of its shackles. Frequently, a whiff of political or religious conversation triggers an automatic off switch on a listening brain. But as the culture so aptly demonstrates in our day-to-day world, simple messages based on emotion effectively convey ideas. And fortunately, not all of the voices in the group mind – television – preach the message that bureaucrats with guns and badges are the saviors of civilization.

Fox TV’s entertainment division gave us a fantasy gem called “Firefly” the season of 2001, and it now can be seen on DVD. As testament to being a smarter than average show, Firefly lasted only 11 hours on the boob tube. But its small, loyal following got their wish: 14 episodes on DVD, including three not shown on television. This good piece of anti-state mind candy charges my own libertarian batteries in two ways. For one, viewing heroic anarchy elevates my mood and is especially effective after I’ve depressed my dopamine levels reading the particulars of something like the Bank Secrecy Act. Secondly, I have something to discuss with someone else that connects us on an emotional level. With a friendly recommendation, I can get a few sci-fi fans to give it a look. And then we can talk about it later. So far, I’ve not met anyone who gave it a negative review, while most of positive reviewers have gushed over it as one of the best things they’ve seen on television.

The themes resonate with liberty. Let me recap some of its elements. The protagonist was a soldier in a planetary war of secession. His postwar trade is to be a smuggler on the spatial fringes of an interplanetary empire. One of his long-term passengers is a career prostitute. Yet the protagonists are portrayed heroically. Outside of a single character, they are portrayed as loyal, honorable and self-reliant. Their violence is usually, though not always, limited to self-defense. In contrast, the state appears as lawless and authoritarian through agents such as indifferent warship commanders, murderous rogue cops, and two sinister figures in blue gloves who murder anyone who happens to ask them the wrong questions. Finally, as a pleasant extra, I was personally amazed to find two major characters on the show who are married, affectionate, competent, and the husband isn’t just a vehicle for comedic pratfalls. The characters aren’t libertarian saints: They aggress against property on a regular basis, though usually the anarchist-correct, state-kidnapped kind.

Political leanings may be inborn traits, or at least they seem to be with most of the people I encounter. There are legions of people who feel happy, safe and secure being told what to do by someone else. But even amongst that group, a lot of people prefer to live good, moral lives if the opportunity costs are not too high. The most important battle in our fight for political liberty is the one for the hearts of the unconverted. But people put blinders on to moral instruction that intrudes upon the comforts of their daily lives. However, we can borrow a tactic from modern educational theory and sneak a lesson in behind entertainment. Afterwards, you can bring up the libertarian ideas and relate how situations in the show are similar to the situations in the life of the person to whom you are speaking. “Firefly,” in particular, is a wonderful opening to people who count themselves as sci-fi fans who, as a group, may be susceptible to arguments based on reason, though, amazingly, are mentally trapped on the socialist federation in large numbers. Entertaining through books, movies, jokes, parables – whatever is appropriate for the person to whom you are speaking--can be a means to spread our ideas. Remember that the hearts we save may eventually be our own.


April 6, 2004
David
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Postby David » Fri Apr 16, 2004 6:21 am

Have you ever considered starting a fan club of some sort, you seem to be the most zealous follower of this show I have ever met, lol. I still haven't seen it, although once I saw that it was on the Digital Cable T.V. guide at a friends house but I missed it. You say it is on network now? I saw something about a certain day it was on there regularly, I have to confess that I didn't really read all that stuff you posted about it. :lol: So is it on regular cable?
rklenseth
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Postby rklenseth » Fri Apr 16, 2004 2:00 pm

In Canada and the UK is play regularly on their Sci-fi channels but it has been taken completely off the air here in America.

But you can buy or rent them on DVD.

Also there is a movie coming out in 2005 so perhaps it will return to the air eventually in the next year or so to promote the movie. :wink:

And you haven't met the other fans yet have you? :wink: I'm nothing compared to them.
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Postby David » Sat Apr 17, 2004 4:37 am

Now that you mention it, I guess I haven't, I didn't even know it existed until I saw you writing about it a long time ago. lol
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Postby rklenseth » Sat Apr 17, 2004 6:08 am

There is also a site that you can download the episodes from but I'll have to find it again.
west
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Postby west » Sat Apr 17, 2004 8:10 pm

RKL--i love firefly as much or more than the next guy, but...

please, this is like the 20th firefly thread lately.

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Postby rklenseth » Thu Apr 29, 2004 4:15 pm

E! Online is reporting that Barry Mendel, of 'The Sixth Sense' fame, will be producing 'Serenity'. It also reports that Barry Mendel Productions will be working alongside Mutant Enemy Productions (Joss Whedon's company)

E!Online talks about Serenity
E!Online writer Sarah Hall gives Serenity info this week in a syndicated news story.

No More Angel? Serenity, now!

After the WB's surprise cancellation of his Buffy spinoff last month, a devastated Joss Whedon found himself without a pet project.

But Whedon didn't lick his wounds for long. He's now at work on developing his defunct television series Firefly into the feature film Serenity.

The futuristic action-adventure film will be the directorial debut for the man famed for bringing Buffy's vampire-slaying antics to living rooms everywhere.

"We have wanted to be in business with Joss Whedon for a long time and we're incredibly excited to be working with him on his feature film directorial debut," said Universal vice chairmen of production, Mary Parent and Scott Stuber, in a statement.

"Joss is a true creator, whose talent crosses all mediums. His mythic worlds are inhabited with rich, detailed and very human creatures. Serenity will provide him with a great opportunity to paint another larger-than-life canvas with very identifiable, real characters at the heart of the story."

Firefly enjoyed a cult following during its short-lived run on Fox's airwaves, but unfortunately it didn't earn the ratings to keep it afloat.

The series glowed again upon its release on DVD last December, inspiring Universal to give Whedon the big-screen go-ahead.

Whedon will both write and direct the film, which will be produced by Barry Mendel, whose credits include The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.

Chris Buchanan, president of Whedon's Mutant Enemy production company, and Alisa Tager of Barry Mendel Productions will share executive producing credits.

Whedon will be working with a familiar roster of actors, as many Firefly cast members will reprise their roles for Serenity.

The film centers on a veteran captain of a galactic war, who, with a small crew, rents out his ship, Serenity, for the purposes of transport-for-hire and pulling off small crimes.

When the captain takes on two new passengers, he soon learns that they are hotly pursued fugitives from the coalition controlling the universe.

A whole host of trouble follows for the captain and his fearless crew, as they find themselves the prey of evil forces that they are ill equipped to evade.

Production on Serenity is slated to begin this year.
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Postby new.vogue.nightmare » Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:30 pm

I suppose I'm the closest thing there is to a fan who hasn't watched it yet. :lol:
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Postby rklenseth » Sun May 02, 2004 7:10 pm

The mass outcry over Angel's cancellation is misplaced. Don't misunderstand: Angel's loss is a shame, but it's had five series. It's farewell year is really the twelfth season of the Buffyverse, so getting angry about Angel is like wailing inconsolably at an old lady aged 102 croaking in her sleep. Sure, it's sad, but hey-she had a good innings! Firefly, meanwhile, is a life cut down in its prime, a fresh-faced teen mown down by a drunk driver; all the potential cruelly obliterated. And what potential! Firefly could have been just as good as Angel or Buffy. No, scratch that- it is as good.

It's unlike and other SF series. It's about little people, not superheroes. There are no space battles, no lumpy-foreheaded Trek aliens: just a bunch of ordinary people whose only ambition is everyday survival, trying to scrape together a living. It's down-to-earth and utterly believable. They even have toilets in their rooms, for chrissake! And the way it's shot adds to that sense of verisimilitude.
Cleverly, even the FX sequences ape the look of hand-held camerawork.

It's a mature show, too. You can divide Whedon's CV into The Three Ages Of Joss. Buffy appeals to everyone from age 12 upwards. Angel has special resonance for twentysomethings. Firefly is a little older and wiser still. Radically, its central love affair is between a married couple. More importantly, it takes its time. This of course, was why the network got cold feet after watching the pilot - the morons.

But the best thing about Firefly is its ensemble cast. Every TV actor says their cast is "like a family". Half the time, this is fragrant b*******, masking a buzzing hornet's nest of rivalries, resentments and rampant egotism. When the Firefly team say they miss working together, you know it's true: it shines through in every performance. Not only are all nine characters living, breathing three-dimensional people with strengths and flaws, mysteries and inconsistencies; the chemistry between the actors is just perfect.

Still Sceptical? "It got cancelled after a dozen episodes," you're thinking. "How good can it be?" Really good. Astonishingly good. Trust us - just this once, take a risk with your hard-earned cash. Buy this box set. You won't regret it. And you'll be ahead of the crowd when the Firefly movie leads to a spin off TV series... Five stars

DVD Extras: Excellent. There are commentaries for eight episodes. Whedon's one for the final episode, "Objects In Space", is astonishing; he relates it back to an "existential epiphany" he had as a young man after reading Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea. Also: an interesting (and moving) Making-Of; four deleted scenes, an amusing blooper reel, a recording of Joss singing the theme and more. Five Stars
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Postby rklenseth » Sun May 02, 2004 7:10 pm

Universal Pictures has given a thumbs up to a big screen version of Joss Whedon's Firefly to be named Serenity, after the central spaceship. Whedon has written the script for the down and dirty Western/SF hybrid, and will be directing the movie, which begins production on 4 June. The finished movie will hit cinema screens in 2005.

"We're incredibly excited to be working with Joss on his feature film directorial debut," said Universal execs in their official statement. "Joss is a true creator, whose talent crosses all mediums. His mythic worlds are inhabited with rich, detailed and very human characters. Serenity will provide him with a great opportunity to paint another larger-than-life canvas with very identifiable, real characters at the heart of the story."

It's the culmination of months of work by Whedon, who has been passionately struggling to continue the story of the Serenity crew ever since the Fox network cancelled the series. Of his attempts, Whedon simply explains, "I felt as strong as ever that these characters had a story in them."

The exceptional sales of the Firefly DVD box set in the USA must have helped him sell the project. "They didn't hurt," laughs Whedon. "I don't have hard numbers, but it's been doing fine and the fan response is so enormously strong. It's definitely got a much bigger audience now than it had when it was still on the air."

Unsurprisingly, Whedon won't divulge specific information about Serenity, but he did tell us: "It has to be a movie. It has to have a reason to be big, to have its own story, to be available to people who have never seen the show. But is it drastically different from the TV series? Not so much in the sense of having the same cast, same ship and same problems, and then being on a much bigger scale. The feel of the thing - the intent of the thing - is very similar. It's obviously a much more epic story, but it's still the story of these people and how they make their way in this world. Basically it's really, really hard for them for about two hours."

What has been revealed is that the movie is set around six months after the TV series left off, and centres on two passengers on board Serenity who "attract trouble to the crew".
However, a few other details emerged after casting sheets detailing new characters were briefly leaked online (WARNING: minor spoilers ahead). Key amongst these are a mysterious government agent called "The Operative" who is pursuing Serenity, and "Mr. Universe", a friend of captain Mal Reynolds, described as "the ultimate information junkie".

Apparently the script also features a friend of Inara (who is an older companion), a doctor that seems to be the one who conducted experiments on River, identical twins who have a business deal with Mal, and a holographic doctor (not to be played by Robert Picardo!) on a desolate planet.

The announcement came as a pleasant surprise. Here at SFX, we adore Firefly, but the bottom line is that due to its quick cancellation, the show was considered a failure. Joss's extraordinary success now raises another fascinating question: if the movie is a success, will a new spin-off TV series follow? SFX
rklenseth
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Postby rklenseth » Sun May 02, 2004 9:26 pm

I forgot to mention that the last two articles were featured in the last SFX.
rklenseth
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Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2003 12:46 am

Postby rklenseth » Tue May 04, 2004 3:42 am

Click this link and find out that I'm not the only one that thinks this is the greatest show since sliced bread.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000AQS0F/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/103-9060852-1541409?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846&vi=customer-reviews

These are customer reviews from Amazon. See I'm not the only one.
rklenseth
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Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2003 12:46 am

Postby rklenseth » Tue May 04, 2004 12:29 pm

"When I pitched the show, I said it was about nine people living in the blackness of space and seeing nine different things. That's what I'm fascinated by, how they all react. They must make decisions that are horrific to people who aren't fighting for their lives every day. It's about a group of people who are living hand-to-mouth, and are heroes, day-to-day." - Joss Whedon

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