Revisiting the Death of Firefly
by Joshua Minton
I persuaded my wife to watch the entire series of Firefly before watching the movie Serenity. the show only ran for 14 episodes before being cancelled under a cloud of supreme idiocy by the Fox television Network (the same one which brought you Ally McBeal and When Animals Attack).
This show had everything that the best novels had: intimate and flaming conflict; originality in characters, several love story arc that have you invested in the main characters' happiness; a mystery that could have been unraveled and kept the audience's interest over several seasons (ala X-Files--which, by the way totally failed to deliver on); two excellent smart asses who made great comments at opportune times; solid special effects; a believable setting that one could imagine themselves immersed in; Sex was not treated as taboo, but handled in terms of living life (including homosexuality); and, finally, the show approached reality from different angles that were surprising and refreshing.
One of these angles was the fact that prostitution was seen as a noble profession in the role of the Companion. Also, the role of priest was novel in that it got back to the basics of administering the word of hope and faith in the character of The Shepherd (which I think is such an appropriate salutation that I wouldn't listen to anyone now who didn't refer to himself as such on spiritual matters).
And this is just from the television show!
The movie Serenity takes all this and ratchets it up about ten notches and has become, in my mind, one of the finest science fiction films ever produced.
I really hope that the rumors I've been hearing about a new Serenity show on the Sci-Fi network is true. I really would like to be watching Battlestar Galactica right now, but that kind of cable isn't in the cards.
It's a shame that "Science Fiction" shows are so often relegated to the geeks and losers in popular culture. That is not only unfair, it's unfortunate because science fiction story telling is one of the few creative ways that mankind can morally project themselves into a possible future of greater convenience and common struggles with the worries of the present day.
It's almost a type of goal setting.
At any length, I've said it before and I'll say it again, you don't know what you're missing if you haven't watched Firefly and Serenity yet.
TAGS: Firefly, Serenity, Science Fiction
This show had everything that the best novels had: intimate and flaming conflict; originality in characters, several love story arc that have you invested in the main characters' happiness; a mystery that could have been unraveled and kept the audience's interest over several seasons (ala X-Files--which, by the way totally failed to deliver on); two excellent smart asses who made great comments at opportune times; solid special effects; a believable setting that one could imagine themselves immersed in; Sex was not treated as taboo, but handled in terms of living life (including homosexuality); and, finally, the show approached reality from different angles that were surprising and refreshing.
One of these angles was the fact that prostitution was seen as a noble profession in the role of the Companion. Also, the role of priest was novel in that it got back to the basics of administering the word of hope and faith in the character of The Shepherd (which I think is such an appropriate salutation that I wouldn't listen to anyone now who didn't refer to himself as such on spiritual matters).
And this is just from the television show!
The movie Serenity takes all this and ratchets it up about ten notches and has become, in my mind, one of the finest science fiction films ever produced.
I really hope that the rumors I've been hearing about a new Serenity show on the Sci-Fi network is true. I really would like to be watching Battlestar Galactica right now, but that kind of cable isn't in the cards.
It's a shame that "Science Fiction" shows are so often relegated to the geeks and losers in popular culture. That is not only unfair, it's unfortunate because science fiction story telling is one of the few creative ways that mankind can morally project themselves into a possible future of greater convenience and common struggles with the worries of the present day.
It's almost a type of goal setting.
At any length, I've said it before and I'll say it again, you don't know what you're missing if you haven't watched Firefly and Serenity yet.
TAGS: Firefly, Serenity, Science Fiction
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