Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite,
Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass
Creator: Joss Whedon
Original Airdate: 9/20/2002-12/20/2002
Network: Fox

Another product of the much loved and acclaimed “Whedonverse”, Firefly’s lifespan was completely comparable with its real life namesake found in nature. After the Fox executives that originally green-lit the show were replaced, the show was shunted around different time slots, including Friday night kiss of death slot at one point.

Preempted several times and consistently aired out of order, it was finally it was canceled after just eleven of its fourteen episodes had been aired. Some small screen conspiracy theorists have even speculated that whilst the show was admittedly expensive it was poorly supported in every way possible by new the new Fox regime as something that could be pointed to as an example of the kind of bad programming that justified the ousting of their predecessors.

The show itself is a clever hybrid of science fiction and classic western, and its spirit and themes are drawn from American mythology of the civil war and frontier society. The name Firefly refers to the classification of the ship, Serenity, the much beloved and beat up freighter that the rabble crew of renegades and smugglers call their home.

Lead by the extremely likable and charismatic Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds the crew is another typical Joss Whedon ensemble; very different people from all walks of life banding together as an extended family. Joining the captain are a host of Angel part-timers, including his first mate and old war buddie, Zoe (Torres). Her husband and ship’s pilot, Wash (Tudyk). Tough mercenary, Jayne (Baldwin). Elegant and Sensuous Inara (Baccarin), the ships companion. and the warm and fuzzy ships engineer, Kaylee (Staite).

When the crew takes on passengers in the form of Shepard Book (Glass), a preacher with a mysterious past, a Doctor named Simon (Maher) and his sister River (Summer Glau), they quickly realize that they are harboring fugitives wanted by the oppressive governing body, The Alliance. The crew must band together to evade capture and unlock the dark and dangerous secret inside River’s badly damaged mind.

Tracing the origin of this merry band is a simple task and you need look no further than 1997 debacle of Alien Resurrection for which Whedon’s supplied the ill-suited script. While those characters were wholly unsuitable for that universe, and hamstrung by the fact that they had to be whittled down quickly, they are just ripe for this one. An instantly familiar gallery of rascals and scalawags with a subtle aversion to authority and a quirkily fractious way of expressing a deep and unspoken devotion to each other.

Though just fourteen episodes long it’s a rich an involving world that mixes the best psychological elements of John Ford and the regressive grunge of Ridley Scott (noble cowboys flying battered old space ships with revolvers strapped to their hip), peppered with Whedon’s singular humor. It’s demise is made all the more sad when you consider the infinite potential glimpsed and then cut off by the enjoyable but rushed wrapping up handled by Whedon’s big screen follow up, Serenity.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 11:19 pm and is filed under American Television, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.