Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Dollhouse, also created the brilliant but short-lived Fox series Firefly. This genre-bending sci-fi western drama with an ample dose of comedy was seemingly doomed from the start. The episodes were aired out of order for some inexplicable reason, and the show never got a chance to get a sure foothold. Since then, people discovering the show for the first time have wondered what the hell those TV executives were thinking. Firefly's characters, from Nathan Fillion's Captain Malcolm Philips to Adam Baldwin's Jayne Cobb to Summer Glau's River Tam, are endearing and unique. Their adventures are action-packed and emotional, and the universe they inhabit was brimming with so much potential. Firefly glides effortlessly from compelling western elements, to pulse-pounding space action, to quiet character moments. The writer's evaded censors by having the characters curse in Mandarin, which is an especially fun touch. The series spawned a movie, Serenity, which tried to provide some closure, but it was not enough to quell fans' cravings for more. Both newcomers and longtime fans alike can only lament Firefly's absurdly premature cancellation and dream about what might have been. An Arrested Development-type Netflix resurrection would send fan gratitude (and expectations) firmly into the stratosphere.
