Firefly

Review by M

Cult TV: Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse) is the king of character development and successfully independent mainstream TV and movie making. Be it 2010 or 2517, humans still need love, equality and - according to Firefly - most of all, freedom.

• Buy Firefly on Amazon (complete series is vair cheap)

Firefly, a television show created by Joss Whedon, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, is probably one of the most paradoxical things I've ever (in my young life) encountered. The first episode (which, in fact, is not the original pilot episode - at the demand of FOX, Whedon and co-writer Tim Minear wrote a new pilot over the course of one weekend) aired September of 2002 and the show was off the air by July of 2003. The alleged reason was the poor ratings - but then, perhaps the poor ratings were only the result of FOX airing the episodes completely out of order. For a sitcom or purely episodic story, rearranging the chronology wouldn't make much of a difference, but Firefly's strongest asset is its character development - you know, the sort of thing that spoilers slaughter.

The genre is another example of paradox. It's both Western and science-fiction. In one episode alone, characters can go from flying across the 'verse' (or 'universe') and shooting laserbeams to riding horses and having swordfights. (One of my favourite scenes involves a ball with lovely poofy Victorean dresses and a string quartet.) Emily Nussbaum of the New York Times described Firefly as 'a character-rich sci-fi western comedy-drama with existential underpinnings'. I'll be a little less verbose and simply say: steampunk.

But if Firefly is so focused on rich character development, just who are said characters? Why, they are the crew of Serenity, their ship.

Malcom Renoylds is the gruff, witty captain. He fought in the war for independence against the Alliance, a group of wealthy Inner Planets that wanted to unite everyone under their rule. His side, the Browncoats, may have lost the war - and badly - but they're still in no way fond of the Alliance.

Mal's second-in-command, Zoe Washburn, fought with him in the war and now fights alongside him in the crew's various shipping and smuggling exploits. While we don't want to get too hung up on the race card, it's nice to see a black girl in space that has better things to do than hang around waiting to be kissed by Captain Kirk. Zoe's husband (Hoban 'Wash' Washburn) is the ship's pilot - a lovable geek and somewhat (in)famous for playing with plastic dinosaurs in the first episode.

The ship's mechanic is a bubbly girl named Kaylee who loves Serenity like it was her own daughter. She loves everyone else, too - as Joss Whedon once said, 'When Kaylee smiles, everything is shiny.' Balancing out Kaylee's positive energy is Jayne Cobb, the main muscle in the outfit. He doesn't come across as the most intellectual of sorts, but he's a dead-on accurate sniper.

The brains of the outfit would be Dr. Simon Tam, the doctor that the crew picks up in the first episode. He's left his brilliant career back at a top medical instituation in order to save his younger sister, River. About River.. well, I don't want to say too much, so let's just put it this way: she's special. Very special.

Finally, providing a center of calm and peace is the preacher, Book. He claims to be simply experiencing the world outside his monostary but his familiarity with weaponry and criminal operations seem to suggest otherwise.

Because the characters are so vibrant and diverse, it seems like most everyone can really connect with one of them. Perhaps that's why Firefly has spawned such a massive fanbase. Despite their valiant campaign, they failed to save the show from being cancelled. Boo! Hiss! However, they did manage to succeed it getting it voted "The World's Best Space Sci-Fi Ever" in the New Scientist magazine internet poll, which is no mean accolade. The cinematic follow-up, Serenity, which was filmed after the huge success of the Firefly DVD sales, came in second place. A touch of sympathy vote? Who cares. I think we can trust the readers of that hallowed publication, New Scientist. The series was also awarded many mainstream awards, including an Emmy of Outstanding Special Visual Effects.

Like I said - it's not difficult to connect with the characters. Sure, they're flying through space and throwing around witty one-liners, but they're just as human as the rest of us. So, when I see them trying to save the people they care about, trying to fight for their ideals, it makes me think that maybe I can do those things, too. Be it 2010 or 2517, humans still need love, equality and - according to Firefly - most of all, freedom.

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