Joss Whedon delivered another classic, even though it was canceled before its time. It's cowboys and rebels in space, but not exactly...
It only took some out-of-order broadcasting to kill this show. Fortunately it received some well-deserved wrap-up in the form of a movie.
Watch it. Even if you don't like Whedon as a person, his TV shows were (and still are!) great.
Afterword
Of course, now we know it was canceled after a single season, but I didn't know then, back in 2003... I wrote about Firefly in Dapper after watching the first few episodes. I watched them in the original broadcast order, which you definitely should not do...
Since then I've re-watched the series and was blown away yet again...
Suggested viewing order
- Serenity (pilot)
- The train job
- Bushwhacked
- Shinding
- Safe
- Our Mrs Reynolds
- Jaynestown
- Out of gas
- Ariel
- War stories
- Trash
- The message
- Heart of gold
- Objects in space
- Serenity (the movie)
Episode 1... 2... 3...
Let's get back to 2003... When I watched the series in broadcast order...
What I thought of Firefly in 2003...
Cowboys in space. But with a twist. The first episode wasn't extremely good, but acceptable. The second one was slightly better. The third one was good (very nice one-liners).
Rumors abound that this show will not make another season, and will be killed of after episode number 11. A pity.
I sometimes have the feeling all good shows come to an untimely end... Space: Above and Beyond, Farscape, Firefly...
Even the (by now?) classic Babylon 5 almost didn't make it. (It was almost axed end of season 4...) If the big bosses of the broadcast companies keep on doing this, we'll end up with only 'reality' television Big Brother style. In fact, they might think about the consequences... series sometimes take time to grow upon people, to take on cult status. Buffy was almost canceled a few times, yet it survived with ever-increasing popularity, until it went out in style, ending in a big bang (well, a large hole) with season 7.
So many unfinished series... Sigh.
So, back to Serenity and its crew. Take space age, rebels fighting alliance (and the rebels lost), everything is in 'western style' with cheesy gun-slinging and lousy accents. In the best of modern television series tradition, all characters have their secrets, and there are some minor arcs (that
appear to be not that important, or at least did not develop yet) spanning multiple episodes. So far... adequate.
The good part is the mood. I love the intro, first and second part. (Two intros? Yeah, the first few eps had two 'leader' sections, while the later eps had one, in a different style and tone... I preferred the earlier ones though.)
I love the 'pioneers' mentality, and of course we all love the 'honest good people vs. big bad government'. Except that in this case those 'honest good people' are, well, not always entirely 'honestly good'.
You might want to start with episode 3 though. (Or better: follow the suggested viewing order.)
(Last minute update: despite my initial skepticism, this show is getting better and better. You should watch number 5 Out of gas which absolutely rocks. I am impressed.)
Twenty Years Later
I'm re-watching Firefly, and damn, it's just as good as I remembered. This is one helluva show that would deserve a sequel / makeover.
It's available now on Disney+, and this time they give us the intended order. Blimey! Unfortunately, none of the regular streamers carry Serenity (the movie), so you'll have to buy it on Amazon or Google Play or Vidu or wherever it streams or sells these days...
Dapper / TellTales! #33
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