It’s hard to believe that it’s been 7 years since Serenity came out, and 10 since Firefly was on our screens. Not that I watched it when it was. I was one of the many who had enjoyed (for the most part) Joss Whedon’s Buffy and Angel, and when I’d heard he was starting work on a new sci-fi show, it’s fair to say I wasn’t that enthusiastic. It’s a genre I don’t particularly care for, and I felt he should be concentrating on the world I had already invested in. How wrong I was. When I finally got round to watching Firefly it was already off the air, and yet by the time I had finished the first (and only) season I was hooked. Screaming defiance at Fox for having cancelled the program, I joined the hordes of fans prowling the internet and even signed a ‘Bring Firefly Back’ petition. However, it became more and more obvious as the years went on that Serenity was all the closure we were going to get. The show isn’t coming back; the world has moved on – so why am I writing this article?
Well, firstly, if there’s anyone out there who’s yet to watch Firefly, then I’d like to take this opportunity to persuade you to do so. It’s an exceptional program, and while not everyone ‘gets it,’ it’s well worth taking the time to try it out. Right now. Don’t even finish the article first, as it contains some spoilers. Go and watch the show. Gone? Good.
Now that that’s out the way, we can get on with the business of examining exactly what made the show so compelling. This is going to be more than the adoring, incoherent babble of a committed fan (although that’s almost inevitably going to occur as well). It’s also an attempt to isolate the strongest points of the series and hopefully have a think about what makes great television. For any aspiring script-writers, that’s always worth doing.
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6 Comments
Hm. I, like you really hated the idea of Firefly. I blamed it for the weird plot twists that appeared in Angel at the time. I got annoyed when precious Firefly actors turned up in other shows. However, this article has actually made me interested in watching it for the first time. I should really give it a chance, so many people seem to really love it.
Great article, I have only discovered firefly in the last couple of years after meeting a guy who is everso slightly obsessed by anything done by Whedon!
I agree that one of the main things I loved about the show was that it couldn’t be fit neatly into a genre, I also loved the character dynamics, but it is really interesting that you would count inara as one of the protagonists. I personally would see mal as the main ‘guy’ and all the other characters as equal. IMO whedon’s genius is in portraying a group of characters without any of them fading away, this carries over from buffy, angel and of course now the avengers, he has a large number of characters but you feel the same level of connection with all of them. He never ends up with ‘that guy in the corner that never seems to speak’.
I want to rewatch it now!
I just finished watching firefly and serenity for the first time and it was such as fantastic experiance great storytelling and characters and soo many excellent moments.
Reavers fictional? When you find out where they actually came from and what caused them to be (only rumours and conjecture in the series, the truth is in Serenity) then they are entirely plausible.
Just wondering…the title of this article suggests that it is going to give 5 examples of what Firefly did best. However, there is only a number “1,” and no further numbers. So what are the 5 things?
Veronica, I think you got linked to the end of the article accidentally! Start at: http://whatculture.com/tv/5-things-joss-whedons-firefly-did-best.php
Evan, I wouldn’t call the reavers ‘entirely plausible’, although it certainly makes for a good story. Retaining enough humanity to pilot space ships and live together for months or years on end, but losing so much as to become what they are… well, I’d call it narratively convenient, but certainly I enjoy their backstory.