The last couple of weeks have been a hell of a ride. I'm working fulltime on a project, I'm teaching a Linux course and in the background I'm trying to get some deals to kickstart my freelance design and development career. And then there's the personal stuff I won't bug you with. This is all nice and dandy but... one needs to relax at times as well. A great way to relax is watching some quality TV shows. If there's one remarkably great show I've seen in a long while besides the current best show on the planet (Battlestar Galactica) it's got to be Firefly. This TV show is a couple of years old already and until I saw the movie 'Serenity' I had never heard of it.

Now I have... and I just had to share with the world how much this show rocks. So here's a warning in advance: fanboy material ahead! But if you love truly original shows and you haven't heard of Firefly yet you might want to read on. Yes, even if you don't like science fiction all that much...

Setting and the unique genre mashup

Firefly is set about 500 years from now. Humanity has spread across the universe and a central government called 'the Alliance' controls the rich and prosperous inner planets. After a civil war in which captain Malcolm Reynolds and his war mate Zoe battled against the Alliance they're trying to get by on an battered but reliabe spaceship called 'Serenity'. They have been on the losing side of the war. The show is not just about the two of them however. They've gathered a great crew of which each member has his/her own story.

Just like in the real world, no government can control everything. Therefore a lot of 'outer planets' and dusty moons exist in the Firefly universe on which the Alliance has much less or no controll at all. A lot of episodes deal with things that happen on those outer planets. Many of these are the home to societies that closely resemble the 'Wild West' we know from classic western movies.

This brings up a first reason why Firefy is such a special show. It's a perfect mix between science fiction and classic western. You'd think this can't be serious or it would never work but the opposite is true. Creator Joss Whedon poured the two in a cocktailshaker and... he shook it. The mix between genres resulted in something truly remarkable.

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 'em I ain't comin' back.
Burn the land And boil the sea.
You can't take the sky from me.

Have no place I can be since I found Serenity.
But you can't take the sky from me.

Firefly theme by Joss Whedon

The Firefly universe is totally believable as far as I'm concerned. There aren't any weird aliens, people still use bullets to fire at eachother instead of unrealistic 'laser guns' and the less civilized worlds look and feel like the real world. In fact, like the old real world. Like the wild West! Some parts of the universe advanced, some didn't. There's some advanced technology but a lot of things still look pretty much the way they look today.

Serenity

Serenity is more than just a ship. It's a home to the whole cast of the show. It's the only place where they can still find... serenity. Then there's the ship design. Serenity is probably one of the coolest ships ever featured in any science fiction movie or series. It's the shit. It's the ship every scifi buff secretly dreams of. Millennium Falcon? Screw that.

Serenity is the kind of spaceship everyone would love to have if only they existed for real... Oh yeah, it's a 'Firefly class transport'. When you see it in flight you'll know where it got that name. During the whole show it becomes clear that everyone loves Serenity. Especially captain Malcolm Reynolds of course. I could go on forever about the ship I guess. Coolness incarnate! No wonder the whole show was named after the ship type!

The crew

Besides captain Mal and Zoe there's a bunch of other interesting characters that make up Serenity's crew. First of all there's Inara. She's what they call a companion. We'd probably call that an upper class escort girl. Not your average hooker though, mind you! Inara breathes elegance and class. She brings that touch of high society to the crew enabling them to sometimes infiltrate into the civilized world for a short while. Then there's Kaylee, the cute mechanic who keeps Serenity flying safely. Furthermore we've got Jayne, a mercenary. He's the stereotypical tough guy. Not always completely reliable either. Wash is Serenity's pilot. One hell of a good pilot and married to Zoe.

Just to add some extra variation we've got a 'Shepherd' on board, which would translate to what we'd call a priest in the real world. I'm not sure whether this guy really is a priest though. He sure knows his crime activities and how to handle a weapon. Finally there's Simon, a doctor who joined the crew together with his young sister River. He's on the run for the Alliance with River whom he saved from the Alliance which was having rather evil plans with her. She's a seriously damaged young woman with some very special gifts.

The show

Most TV shows have their ups and downs. Not so with Firefly. Every episode is a real gem in itself. Some deal with the high-tech future, some breathe a western-like atmosphere. I guess we could call Serenity's crew a bunch of real space cowboys. The show has everything really. Action, wicked plot twists, just the right amount of romance and emotion. A great moment comes to mind just now from an episode called 'Trash'. It starts with a short scene in which we see captain Mal stranded in a desert environment, totally naked, saying: "hmmmm.... that went well!". Every episode has it's great moments like this one.

Firefly is a show about fellowship, trust, love and hate. There's a lot of action, excellent plot twists and a very subtle touch of romance. There's plenty of things going on between several members of the crew. I love the romantic tension between Mal and Inara which never really pushes through but is yet quite apparent.

Yes, this is a science fiction show. However I truly believe the show would appeal to just about anyone who loves great television. You don't have to be a scifi buff to love Firefly. I have no idea what got into the heads of the FOX executives when they cancelled this show prematurely. If you look around on the internet you'll find that just about anyone who's seen this show wonders about that. Luckily the show got a second life on DVD and... as a full length motion picture: Serenity. If you haven't seen Serenity yet but plan to: Don't watch it yet! Start by buying the Firefly DVD box and enjoy the show. The movie will make much more sense as it's set a couple of weeks after the last Firefly episode. I myself did start with the movie because I never heard of Firefly before. If you've read all the way through this and you're interested: use it to your advantage. Go buy that awesome DVD box and get to know captain Mal Reynolds and everyone else on 'his boat', as he calls Serenity more than once. Or buy it for a friend. Tell them Marco wrote that this show kicks ass. You won't regret it. Guaranteed.

small extra: The critically acclaimed show 'Battlestar Galactica' (which is my current favorite TV show) contains a small tribute to Firefly as the SFX were done by the same company. In the first episode a Firefly class transport flies through the scene!

Source: whedon.info