“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”
– Ballad of Serenity
I mentioned a while back that I downloaded the complete Firefly, a science-fiction/western hybrid with a strongly libertarian bent by Buffy-creator Joss Whedon. I started viewing it a few weeks ago and got hooked, and am now going to go through the series again to savor it. I’ll likely post some screencaps again like I did with Shingu. In a nutshell, though – this series was even better than Galactica, and for those who know me, that’s no small endorsement on my part. The show lasted only one season before being cancelled, but its fan base is as energetic as Star Trek’s, in a way no other fanbase has ever attained (no, not even Buffy or Galactica). There was enough fan support to actually justify a full-length feature film (“Serenity“), which I will also review here. Let me make my position plain: if there’s a single science fiction show I recommend, out of all of the ones I have ever seen, it’s Firefly. I hope to show you readers why.
“I am to misbehave.” – Malcolm Reynolds
Yep, Firefly was something special.
if there’s a single science fiction show I recommend, out of all of the ones I have ever seen, it’s Firefly.
You took the words out of my mouth. There were many amazing things about Firefly, but I think my favorite was the language. The dialog was perfect, and mixed several seemingly incongruent styles into a perfect whole. “Objects in Space” may be the best single-episode of sci-fi ever created.
I highly recommend the commentary tracks on the DVDs. I usually don’t bother with those, but this time it was really good – it is clear how much everybody involved in that series loved it. Plus, you get to hear Whedon sing the themesong.
I actually have two copies of the DVD set right now (while my original was in storage I bought another copy after jonesing for a bit). Shoot me your address in an email and I’ll send you the extra – I think you’d enjoy the extras on the DVDs.
*floored*
you are awesome. Just fired off the email. I cannot wait to see the extras! I’m not sure if Whedon’s singing is a selling point, but rumor has it that Adam Baldwin sings the Song of Jayne. That, I HAVE to see 🙂
Hi,
I just signed up for an account to respond to this article. I found this site searching for information on the Kino’s Journey movie that came out this year in Japan (if you know of a fan sub let me know.) Haibane Renmei is excellent, too.
But now you post about loving Firefly too! And Firefly is my favorite live action series. So I just had to say, hey, you’ve got good taste. Perhaps we can share some recommendations.
I agree with astro, the special features on the DVD set are well worth checking out. Also, the Serenity special edition set is coming out later this month (so wait for that) and will also be chock full of awesome features. After loving Firefly, I went back and checked out Joss Whedon’s Buffy and Angel series, and found both to be quite exceptional as well – all the great character development, witty dialog, and cliche-twisting plots are there as well (plus you actually get to see how he treats series that get to run several seasons… curse you Fox for robbing us of the opportunity to see what he had planned!)
Also, on the subject of anime, I’ve only seen the first few episodes… but I can safely recommend Mushishi. It’s spiritually similar to Kino’s Journey – following one enigmatic main character as he travels around and solves various mystical problems in a compelling, beautiful, and thought-provocative series. The first DVD recently came out stateside.
Anyway, I’m going to browse around the site some more. Keep flying.