Plot; The crew of a ship for hire get more than they bargained for when they take on a small group of passengers.
Firefly long ago reached cult status, w/fans breathlessly singing its praises, but despite my love of sci-fi, I'd only viewed it as a mild curiosity. I watched an episode back when it first aired, but it didn't grab me and I never came back. When a feature film was announced I was a bit puzzled. "Wasn't that the show canceled after one season? A half season at that.". It was well received, but didn't fare much better than the series that inspired it and again I never felt compelled to check it out. That is until I saw Joss Whedon's Avengers. I loved it so much I decided to check out some of his other work and started w/Serenity. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Part of that likely came down to the fact that I felt like I came into a story in progress despite Whedon's best efforts to give the uninitiated their bearings. Still, I enjoyed it enough that I resolved to revisit Firefly and give it another go. That was six years ago.
I decided to finally watch Firefly because of a book series I'm knee deep in called The Expanse. The crew dynamics of the Expanses' Rocinante reminded me a lot of that of Firefly, so I figured now was maybe the time to check it out. I'm glad I did.
Firefly is a Western in space. Quite literally at times. From the character's drawls and slang to the costumes and arid landscapes, Whedon isn't trying to be cute about it. It's very much on the nose. I actually prefer that to "Look how clever I am." style metaphors. Apparently this 90 minute pilot was deemed unacceptable as a pilot by Fox, and didn't air until the end of the series' run. What I want to know is, what were Fox execs smoking? This is a fantastic opener. It's smart, tight and well written, with clever dialog and a strong story that sets up our cast of interesting characters perfectly. The production values are first rate. Nearly cinematic. I was hooked from the word go and the 90 minutes flew by. If this is indicative of the series as a whole, I can't wait for my next journey aboard the Firefly.
Firefly long ago reached cult status, w/fans breathlessly singing its praises, but despite my love of sci-fi, I'd only viewed it as a mild curiosity. I watched an episode back when it first aired, but it didn't grab me and I never came back. When a feature film was announced I was a bit puzzled. "Wasn't that the show canceled after one season? A half season at that.". It was well received, but didn't fare much better than the series that inspired it and again I never felt compelled to check it out. That is until I saw Joss Whedon's Avengers. I loved it so much I decided to check out some of his other work and started w/Serenity. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Part of that likely came down to the fact that I felt like I came into a story in progress despite Whedon's best efforts to give the uninitiated their bearings. Still, I enjoyed it enough that I resolved to revisit Firefly and give it another go. That was six years ago.
I decided to finally watch Firefly because of a book series I'm knee deep in called The Expanse. The crew dynamics of the Expanses' Rocinante reminded me a lot of that of Firefly, so I figured now was maybe the time to check it out. I'm glad I did.
Firefly is a Western in space. Quite literally at times. From the character's drawls and slang to the costumes and arid landscapes, Whedon isn't trying to be cute about it. It's very much on the nose. I actually prefer that to "Look how clever I am." style metaphors. Apparently this 90 minute pilot was deemed unacceptable as a pilot by Fox, and didn't air until the end of the series' run. What I want to know is, what were Fox execs smoking? This is a fantastic opener. It's smart, tight and well written, with clever dialog and a strong story that sets up our cast of interesting characters perfectly. The production values are first rate. Nearly cinematic. I was hooked from the word go and the 90 minutes flew by. If this is indicative of the series as a whole, I can't wait for my next journey aboard the Firefly.