The characters are, quite obviously, the element that is going to make or break your show. You might have the best idea in the world for a mystery, but if its populated by bland or stale characters, its unlikely anyone will care. Most shows survive by having 1 or 2 dynamite characters, and the rest of the cast play off them. The ensemble in Firefly, by comparison, is inspired. Not only does each character have depth and an interesting back story, but they also interact with each other in fascinating ways. This is, I suspect, because they are used to channel many of the primal relationships which are universally familiar. Leaving aside the two protagonists, Mal and Inara, the core crew consists of some of the various elements that make up the self. Simon (intelligence,) Jayne (physicality,) Book (spirituality,) Kaylee (heart,) River (intuition,) Wash (humour). Zoe is a little trickier to classify, but then Im not claiming that Joss Whedon sat down and planned the crew out this way. Im saying he designed individual, distinctive characters who naturally and organically take on different roles. If you think Im reducing the characters to a stereotypical representation of an emotion, Im afraid youre missing the point. For example, Simon is a complete and complex character. Hes a doctor, he has a difficult relationship with his family and especially his sister, and he has a budding attraction to Kaylee. But hes also archetypal. His flaws are also those of intelligence; he is slightly arrogant, occasionally suspicious, socially awkward and nervous due to being too self-conscious. His conflict within the crew is the classic conflict of the mind with the body, as the extremely physical Jayne resents his presence on the ship. Jayne is unable to comprehend Simons relationship with Kaylee as being more than sexual attraction, and enjoys teasing and tormenting him about his physical frailty and how seriously he takes himself. We enjoy seeing the relationship between Simon and Jayne play out because its the same one weve seen countless times in our lives: the age-old battle between brains and brawn. Firefly is especially well designed in its distribution of every aspect of human nature between the various crew-members, and theres an almost infinite number of ways in which they can interact with each other. Its a hallmark of successful shows; in a completely different genre, Friends did something very similar many years previously. Of course, the strong character base would be worthless in Firefly without the overarching plot, or the rich setting. In simultaneously achieving all of these things, it demonstrated quality that most network shows can only dream of.
Laurence Gardner was born in Canterbury, England. After moving around various cities during his childhood, and spending some time travelling in Europe and America, he studied English Literature at Oxford University. Since then, he’s been living abroad, teaching English, learning a range of languages, and writing in his free time. He can currently be found in Heidelberg, working as an English Tutor and Translator and studying at the University. If you liked this article, follow him on Twitter to get automatic updates on his work.
