TV Show of the Week 18: Firefly

Mr E

14 episodes was all this show got. Sometimes there is no justice in the world. On paper, you'd wonder how it ever got a green light in the first place - "Lets create a show that combines western and sci-fi" - Wild Wild West anyone?

It got made, and it was great. The story followed a cast of 9 on a ship called Serenity. It was such a diverse group - the captain, the hired muscle, the 'companion', the priest, the doctor, the doctor's strange sister, the pilot, the pilot's wife and the mechanic. Just as everyone grew to love the characters, the story, the clever but strange western-tinged script, the show was cut down in its prime - another victim of the retarded friday night slot of death (tm) on Fox. If it was on a Sunday or midweek, would it have lasted longer? We'll never know.

The story does have a somewhat happy ending though - fans got their wish when the movie Serenity came out in 2005. It wrapped up the story somewhat and gave us the closure that we craved.

It launched/helped a few careers too - Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Summer Glau are all better known because of it (and Morena Baccarin and Jewel Staite went on to decent stretches in the Stargate franchise)

For intelligent, warm, funny, well written (short lived) drama, pick up Firefly and Serenity on DVD and watch it all over a weekend.

Then write a letter to the muppets in Fox telling them what tools they are.

AlmightyCushion

You forgot the fact that Morena Baccarin (summer glau and the other one (can't remember her name (she used to say shiney a lot (look at all the embedded brackets aren't they fun (they really aren't)))) as well to a slightly lesser degree) is crazy hot.

Sherifu

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

You forgot the fact that Morena Baccarin is crazy hot.

+ one million billion zillion

lostexpectation

suffered for the lack of second series, i cant' remember if we never find out the priests back story

Cloudinsane

One of the best shows ever made.

It's funny, dark, sad, action-packed and funny...have I said that already?

It's probably fairly cheap now, so go and treat yourself. Then buy Serenity for a fiver and love/hate Joss for a fitting end.

Bubs101

It's great but let's just say it lacks Giant Mechanical spiders and cross dressing androids

cuckoo

lostexpectation wrote: »

suffered for the lack of second series, i cant' remember if we never find out the priests back story

We never did find out what his story was.

Loved and adored this show with the blazing heat of a thousand suns....but....watching the DVD extras with Firefly and Serenity I have to wonder what was in the kool aid that the cast and crew were drinking on set? They sound a little like cult members, I get that they have happy memories of their coworkers, but, they have the glint of fanaticism as they talk about the 'experience'.

Sherifu

lostexpectation wrote: »

suffered for the lack of second series, i cant' remember if we never find out the priests back story

It was touched on in the film but not fully explained.

J-blk

I only got to watch this after all the episodes had aired but before "Serenity" was released and loved it. I'm a fan of sci-fi but not westerns so on paper, this sounded like it was going to be crap... but that couldn't be further from the truth. If you enjoy sci-fi and you haven't watched this, then you owe it to yourself to do so - even though it's heart breaking when it all ends, with clearly a lot more of the story to be told...

Kiith

Fantastic show. Was an absolute disgrace that it got cancelled. And yes, Morena Baccarin is super fine.

Basq

I wasn't really a fan of Sci-Fi... never embraced Star Trek, Star Wars or even Battlestar Galactica the way others have.

But Firefly was different... the sci-fi wasn't laden thick in Firefly. The one thing that was present was top-notch writing (arguably the best thing Whedon has written..), fine performances (particularly by Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk) and a truly different approach to a TV series.

Cannot recommend this series enough... I've loved it ever since I made this thread almost 4 years ago.

I adore this series!

lostexpectation

no a sci-fi fan, i feel betrayed, banish him, banish him

Cloudinsane

While Inara is quite the mynx - seriously, she could use those feminine wiles on me anytime she wants to - I gotta say, my heart belongs to YoSaffBridge.

Saffron, even though she was only in two episodes, made me pretty much fall for her. She's my perfect woman. I love Christina Hendricks!

MagicMarker

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

You forgot the fact that Morena Baccarin (summer glau and the other one (can't remember her name (she used to say shiney a lot (look at all the embedded brackets aren't they fun (they really aren't)))) as well to a slightly lesser degree) is crazy hot.

Amen brother!

JP Liz

Absolutely Brillant Show - Everything about it was shiny especially Captain Tightpants Mal Reynolds - one of best theme tunes ever plus also The Ballad of Jayne Cobb

Samurai

Watching jayne's town on sci-fi channel now, awesome!

DeepBlue

Tbh I could see why it was cancelled.

"Heart of Gold" was an awful, awful episode with "The Message" not far behind in terms of mediocrity. Others were ok episodes but "Out of Gas" and "Objects in Space" were truly outstanding television.

If the series continued it's fair to assume the trend would continue with standard to poor episodes with the odd piece of brilliance.

I don't really understand the reverence this series gets and don't think it's deserved. The theme tune was an awful dirge and the western/sci-fi mix was badly handled. I could understand why it wouldn't necessarily be all high-tech out on the outer rim but would people really have adopted the exact same dress sense as the 18th century?

If Firefly had gotten two or three series it might well have been forgotten by now.

TheIrishGrover

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

You forgot the fact that Morena Baccarin (summer glau and the other one (can't remember her name (she used to say shiney a lot (look at all the embedded brackets aren't they fun (they really aren't)))) as well to a slightly lesser degree) is crazy hot.

Ah Jewel Staite (Kaylee was her name on the show). Was lucky enough to be at the preview of Serenity wayyyy back when when herself and Sean Maher (Simon, the doc) and the producer turned up and got to meet them. As hot as Jewel Staite is on the show she was, to quote Cartman: hella-hot in real life.

Pity the show was cancelled. But it never had a chance. I think they were looking for another Buffy: Late teen audience with great merchandise potential. What they got was a clever, witty but decidedly oddball show aimed at an older audience. Still, at least it launched Summer Glau and the fantastic Nathan Fillion.
.
.
. We'll have to see how Dollhouse goes I suppose. Hands off Fox for the love of God!!!

Pushtrak

I think another fact that needs to be pointed out is that when it was aired in America, Fox mixed up the episodes... The first episode wasn't the first episode, for instance. And I believe this happened more than once. Another thing they did was changing the time it was aired, leading to confusion as people didn't know when to watch.

Fox dug Firefly its grave.

Richard Dower

Best thing about this series is Summer Glau and i've been a fan of Jewel Stait since her early days on Higher Ground...but alas the show itself dosen't appeal to me.

Richard Dower

Pushtrak wrote: »

I think another fact that needs to be pointed out is that when it was aired in America, Fox mixed up the episodes... The first episode wasn't the first episode, for instance. And I believe this happened more than once. Another thing they did was changing the time it was aired, leading to confusion as people didn't know when to watch.

Fox dug Firefly its grave.

They did the exact same thing with Keen Eddie, mixed up the original order and cancelled it after 8 episodes.

fugazied

All of the women on Firefly were super hot Yep I would agree with it being one of the funniest, warmest and most interesting sci-fi series ever made. The characters were very interesting, all had their flaws and dialogue was always witty and hilarious. When I first heard the premise, a western stylised sci-fi, I thought it was destined for failure. How wrong I was! Despite it getting canned on fox, the love shown for the show by fans is amazing, very successful.