Firefly

I have a confession to make. Until year 2011, I’ve never seen Firefly. I’ve heard about it, I knew it was a very good TV series with a difficult fate, I knew that Nathan Fillion rocks (truth be told, I’ve never seen any of his works until the end of the previous year; and yes – I’m very ashamed of that), I knew that the series were unique in their own way and that everyone was mad at Fox for cancelling it. But still, it was a while till I brought myself to watch it. That’s not so unusual. It can take 5-7 years for me to check something everyone is a fan of, and then become a fan myself (or ask myself a question ‘So why does everybody like it?’) Anyway, the thing is, as it turned out, I’m not the only one who hasn’t seen Firefly yet. So I decided to tell a bit about it.

Firefly is a science fiction show. But it’s not the usual sci-fi kind. The world of Firefly unites Civilized East with Wild West, distant future with the romantic 19^th century. The world of Firefly is filled with lots of small western-like cities, and yet has many futuristic megalopolises. Horses are one of the most used forms of transportation, and yet they can be carried by interstellar starships between different planets (by the way, in Firefly there’s no sound in space). It all may seem strange at first – rarely do you see a man being thrown out of a holographic window of an old western bar. But then you get used to it and everything feels natural, like it should be there.

But the main features of the series are the characters, character development and the relationships between characters. You know, in a good TV show, characters are introduced as different (usually well-known) character types and then during the run of the show they’re being made more three-dimensional. In Firefly the characters are introduced as different character types with some aspects of the nature/behaviour being slightly (or totally) uncharacteristic to the said type, instantly creating a form of intrigue and three-dimensionality, and then all this is developed further (actually, there is no point in this move if it’s not developed further). Quoting from the series itself, ‘That’s what makes us special.’ If Firefly wasn’t cancelled after 14 episodes were filmed, I’m sure the creators would do the impossible with each and every one of the nine crew members of Serenity. But now it’s mostly the story of Captain Malcolm Reynolds and a girl River Tam (and their story is brought to a conclusion in the movie Serenity, filmed three years after Firefly’s cancellation). All the other characters are secondary (they’re just left with much more less screen time), but they’re still very interesting and believable, and each has his own story, though it’s not fleshed out as much.

I like the spaceship Serenity, Firefly class, more than other iconic starships, such as the Millenium Falcon or Enterprise. Mostly because it feels real. In Enterprise we have the bridge, the transporter room, the engine room and lots of bland corridors and rooms (you can’t tell the layout of the ship and how people live there). In Falcon we basically only see the cockpit and some kind of central room which I don’t know how to call (in its defence I can say that in Star Wars the ship doesn’t play a role as big as central ships in Star Trek and Firefly). But Serenity has limited space and everything feels natural – it has a bridge, dining area, engine room, crew dorms, cargo hold, infirmary, passenger dorm. It’s clear how people live on the ship, what they’re doing and what purpose each crew member has. Well, in the first few episodes it can be unclear how the rooms are connected and where they’re placed in relativity to each other, but later this problem disappears (and if it doesn’t, in the beginning of the movie Serenity there is a sequence without any editing, during which we follow Mal through all sections of the ship).

At first I wanted to tell more about each crew member and each episode, but then I decided not to. What’s the point? I would advice to discover everything yourself, that’s more interesting. Plus, there are sites in the Internet which would do better job describing it than me. A blog is a representation of one’s personal opinion, so I will just say that I like every character in the series (though I would say that I like Mal, played by Nathan Fillion, and Jayne, played by Adam Baldwin, the most), and I like every episode in the series (but, I could call Episode 8, Out of Gas, and Episode 12, The Message, my favourites). All in all, Firefly is a very good TV show, and I recommend it to everyone. And I will close this post with some of my favourite quotes from the series.

Mal: Well, look at this! Appears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us?

Zoe: Big Damn Heroes, sir.

Mal: Ain’t we just?

Simon: Captain, why did you come back for us?

Mal: You’re on my crew.

Simon: Yeah, but you don’t even like me. Why’d you come back?

Mal: You’re on my crew. Why’re we still talking about this?

Jayne: Testing, testing. Cap’n, can you hear me?

Mal: I’m standing right here.

Jayne: You’re coming through loud and good.

Mal: ‘Cause I’m standing right here!

Wash: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.

Zoe: We live in a spaceship, dear.

Wash: So?

Mal: It would be humiliating, having to lie there while the better man refuses to spill your blood. Mercy is the mark of a great man. [Stabs lightly with his sword] Guess I’m just a good man. [Stabs again] Well, I’m all right.