Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me...
I recently rented Serenity and was quite taken aback by how good it was. I watched bits and pieces of Firefly when it originally aired on Fox, but never really knew the characters and never got involved. After being so surprised by Serenity, I ordered the Firefly box set and watched all 15 episodes and then rewatched Serenity once again.
Firefly - I know it has been said before, but I'm going to say it myself: Firefly Is A Show That Should Never Have Been Cancelled. I'm kicking myself for never really following the show when it aired, and for taking so long to finally find out what all the fuss is about. After watching the series, I place it higher than Star Trek, Babylon 5, Farscape, and the new Battlestar Galactica.
Firefly takes place about 500 years in the future. Earth was overpopulated so people started searching other galaxies for somewhere to live. They found a galaxy with about a dozen planets and started what is called "Terra-Forming" which is to make the planet suitable for human life. The inner (core) planets in the galaxy started what is called The Alliance. They built a utopian society and decided that everyone else in the galaxy should be under their control. The outer planets didn't like the idea, and fought back against the Alliance. They were called the Independents or their slang term, The Browncoats.
Firefly takes place after the war. It follows an ex-browncoat seargent named Malcom Reynolds. After the war, he and his second in command, Zoe, bought a Firefly class ship for illegal cargo transport. The show follows the crew of the ship, Serenity, as they go throughout their various jobs.
The crew of Serenity is fantastic. You have Wash, the pilot who is married to Zoe and is quite often the comedic relief in the show. Then there is Jayne, a bumbling idiot who just loves to shoot stuff. Then there is Kaylee, a beautiful (if naive) engineer. Along the way, they pick up a Shepard who is like a preacher, and a young doctor and his sister. They also have Inara, a certified companion (prostitute) who lives and does business on the ship.
Like I said, most of the shows are about the crew's various smuggling jobs. But, a huge part of the show is the Alliance's search for River Tam. She is smuggled aboard Serenity by her brother Simon, who becomes the ship's doctor. When she was about 14, she was sent to a special school for genuis children on the Alliance planet of Ariel. She become much different while there, and Simon broke her out. Now, she's mostly in a catatonic state, with brief lucid periods.
The show is also not just about space, and technology and such. It's also a very well done western. Most of the planets in the show are dusty desert locales that you would normally find in an John Wayne film. The clothing, the buildings, and sometimes the mentalities all fit into the Wild West style. This is one of the shows most interesting aspects.
Over the 15 hours, I fell in love with each and every character on the show. Wether they were protecting a whore house on a desert planet or stealing from the Alliance, it was consistently entertaining. I truly love Firefly now, and I can't believe that someone would cancel such a piece of pure entertainment. I know that Fox did show Firefly out of order, with the pilot episode being last. This has become quite possibly my favorite TV show of all time.
Serenity - Serenity picks up not long after the show ended. The crew is still together with the exception of Shepard Book, who has taken up residence on a planet in the galaxy. The movie focuses mainly on the story of River Tam, and the Alliance's continued search for her. They now have an almost ninja-like operative after them, and he will not stop until River is captured and brought back under Alliance control. But, come to find out, River has some abilites that many of the crew were unaware of. She has amazing martial arts abilites and can kick some ass. The crew goes on a journey to find out just what happened to River and why the Alliance wants her so badly.
Serenity works a bit better than the TV show. It's obvious that the movie had a much larger budget, but it's not just that. The characters seem to be a bit more free in this format, and it's almost as if Firefly should have always existed in movie form instead of a show. Overall, this film is some of the most fun that I've had in a while. My inital viewing of the film was good, but after going back and watching Firefly and then Serenity again.....I was affected much more. Trust me, if you are a fan of the show then you will have a few tears drop when watching Serenity.
So there you go. I'm not a Whedon fan. I never really liked Buffy, and I could never bring myself to watch Angel. But, after watching Firefly, I now proudly consider myself a Browncoat.
Go out and rent/buy Firefly and Serenity ASAP. You won't be disappointed.
I only started liking "Buffy" in its last seasons, but it was indeed a very good show, although the first seasons only can offer usual black and white characters, tame action and some laughs. IMHO the series started improving after featuring Elisha Duskhu, and from then on they are great.
I could have said more or less the same as you about "Firefly": It rocks. I found "Serenity" a bit worse, but still much better than most sci-fi being done these days. I specially like the fact that the funny dialogue doesn't turn the characters into morons, but manages to meke them look more human. Whedon should be proud, but I want sequels.
Firefly is a great show that got shafted by FOX. Serenity did a good job as a follow up and it ended at place where it could be left alone or continued.
I have read an interview with Whedon where he basically said that Firefly as a serie is dead, but he does want to visit that universe again, so maybe there is hope for sequels to Serenity.
Yeah, I've also read that Whedon hasn't given up on the characters just yet. It's good to know.
I would love to see Firefly come back as a series, but I'll be more than happy with any sequels that we are given.
I picked up SERENITY on your recommendation, Skaboi. (Well, yours and a whole bunch of other people.)
I really liked the film, but it was missing that something that would have put it over the edge for me. I'm not sure what that something is exactly. If Netflix had a half star rating system, this would have gotten a 4.5.
I did watch most of the extras, and they made me glad FIREFLY returned as SERENTIY, even though I've never watched the show. Good for the fans. Maybe someday I will sit down and watch FIREFLY.
And I did like BUFFY, when it was on. At least the season and a half I watched.
Mofo,
I'd really recommend watching Firefly. It makes Serenity well worth that 5th star. I certainly liked it a lot better after doing so.
Glad you enjoyed the film though. Some of the best science fiction in the past few years.
My friend Melanie told me how great Firefly was and pretty much forced me to watch the first episode when I was over at her place last.
There was nothing objectively wrong with it, I just didn't like it. In fact, I bailed when there was about five minutes to go. I just couldn't make it. The part where they met the Reaver ship ... and nothing happened ... is what really did it in for me, I think.
EDIT: I hated -- hated -- Buffy, so Whedon's stuff obviously isn't to my taste.
Skaboi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
After watching the
> series, I place it higher than Star Trek, Babylon
> 5, Farscape, and the new Battlestar Galactica.
Better than Star Trek!?
Blasphemy!
I haven't seen any of the Firefly shows or Serenity yet.
I'll have to check them out.
Akira,
I actually enjoy the fact that they meet the reaver ship and nothing happens. Sets up all of that suspense and then nothing happens. Certainly makes the meetup with the reavers at the end of the pilot episode much more dramatic.
If you want reaver attacks, then watch Serenity. It pretty much starts off with reavers attacking a town, and the crew of Serenity.
I loved Firefly, and I dearly loved Buffy, again more so after Season 3. It took that long to really get its groove, but after that, it was just a wonderfully funny, well written show.
Firefly, I was turned onto after its cancellation. I love it now, and without giving away names, I have mourned the death of one of my favorite characters EVER on TV. I was, to say the least, deeply wounded and betrayed by Joss Whedon.....:(...and am not sure I'll ever forgive him. j/k
Anyway, if anyone here HASN'T seen Firefly, or at least Serenity, then by God, go get them right now!
Firefly was a fantastic show, which I was lucky enough to pick up on before the movie [though it wasn't shown on TV here until AFTER it got cancelled, which is frustrating.]
The movie fell a tad flat character-wise for me: the difference in how they interacted/relationships between them had changed just enough to unsettle me a bit. Nothing really wrong with it, in fact it worked quite well in places, but it just didn't feel right to me. Perhaps it's the fact that a few of the crew weren't permanent like they were in the series.
And of course as always I'm bitterly dissappointed yet very happy that Whedon had enough sense to put his characters through all these terrible action scenes, and to not have the whole gang survive [it's just annoying when a film has all these tense moments of 'are we going to die?' and it never happens, and therefore the impact of said tense moments is lessened by this knowledge.]
The Reavers are an inspired bit of storytelling and were genuinely scary in the film, much more so than the TV series. Though they kind of lose their mystique a bit due to the film, but hey I can live with that too.
Overall it's a highly reccomended Sci-Fi TV series in which I actually cared about and enjoyed the characters, as opposed to, say, Buffy, where I liked a few characters, but was a little annoyed by a few of them too [loved the show regardless though]
Amanda Wrote:
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> I love it now, and without giving away names, I
> have mourned the death of one of my favorite
> characters EVER on TV. I was, to say the least,
> deeply wounded and betrayed by Joss
> Whedon........and am not sure I'll ever forgive
> him. j/k
I feel you on this one Amanda. That person was my favorite character on the show, and it was painfull to see their death. It was especially hard after going back to the show and seeing "War Stories", added a lot more emotion to their demise.
Aw, man....i gotta watch this, even knowing someone dies...
I vere caught this on its run, but i am glad i caught it on Sci-Fi...for once, they show something good!
Great characters, and neat storys.
Gotta recomend the commentray track by Staite and Tudyk on the one with the guy who first shows up, in a coffin...."Why did you order a dead guy?" Tudyk realy gets going when they come to his "Jerry Lewis is flying the ship!" comment. Ah, but they had fun...
And how often does a show get TWO comedy reliefs? Wash is the SMART one, and Jayne is the DUMB one. How cool is that?
Mal " This is my crew. I introduce them later. Thier good people."
Jayne " When can i get sexed up!?"
Mal : Well, that one's pretty horrific.."
Here are my favorite episodes:
The one where they go to mud mining planet and Jayne is trying to act inconspicous because he robbed the governors house once. So they're walking to the meeting with their contact and there's a life size statue of Jayne right in the middle of town. Then in the bar the everybody starts singing the Ballad of Jayne.
The one when Mal and Wash are being tortured by the psychopath guy for renigging on the deal they had made with him in a previous episode (and Mal had kicked his 'representative' into the engine intake). Anyway Wash went because he's thinking Zoe has a thing for Mal because of their war experiences. They're arguing about her and not even paying attention to the guys toturing them.
Man, that was a great show and really p**ses me off when I think about them cancelling it.
My favourite episode is "Our Mrs. Reynolds". Amazing stuff, and the interchange in the bedroom between Malcolm and "Mrs. reynolds" is priceless.
That Jaynestown episode cracks me up everytime. I dubbed a copy of the audio from the 'ballad' onto my computer a while ago, and it's priceless.
Ms. Reynolds, War Stories, and Jaynestown are some of the best. I personally think that Out Of Gas was the crown episode.
My wife on the other hand likes Trash the best, if only to see Nathan Fillion naked.
I got a chance to watch an episode. A number of things struck me
1) it IS a SF Western. They even have lever action rifles. Talking of which, it seems that Hecker & Koch is doing a brisk trade in the future. No wonder they other side won
2) The ship is run by Caleb of Buffy fame!!!
3) Neo fascist corporate design hasn't changed much since Starship Troopers
4) Are these guys still holding out for the Confederacy?
5) What everyone already should know: if you see a derelict spacecraft which everyone left in a hurry DON'T GO NEAR IT
Overall, I'm not quite convinced yet but it shows promise.