dragonfire88's Full Review: Firefly - The Complete Series
I first heard about writer/director Joss Whedon in connection with the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was the summer of 2002 before I really started to watch the reruns of the show and I was quickly hooked. That fall, Whedon’s new show Firefly was starting on Fox and I watched it from the beginning. I was immedately hooked by the wildly entertaining show. Unfortunately, Fox cancelled the series after only a handful of episodes were made. Firefly - The Complete Series was later released on DVD. The strong sales of the set helped make it possible for Whedon to make Serenity, a movie that continues the story.
Joss Whedon became known for creating a world where vampires, demons, and monsters were real. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the spin off Angel were unique shows. I think that Firefly is an even more unique show. It is a mix of science fiction, western, and adventure with touches of comedy thrown in throughout. Whedon and the cast made the unusual combination work to create a very good, entertaining show. It took place 500 years in the future, mostly on a spaceship. The planets were populated with people, not strange looking aliens. Many of the characters used shotguns and pistols, though futuristic weapons like lasers were also used. Some planets looked to be modern while others had a more old west look and feel, complete with people raising cattle and using horses to travel. The theme for the show, written by Whedon, had a western sound to it. There was also a mix of cultures going on. It seemed to be mostly a blend of American and Chinese since they were supposed to be the last remaining super powers. The characters would use Chinese phrases, mostly for cursing I think, and while it was a bit strange, it did work. No subtitles were used to give translations when that happened, though it was easy enough to figure out the general idea of what they meant.
Only fourteen episodes of Firefly were made. Only eleven aired and several were shown out of order, including the two part pilot which actually aired last. The episodes are arranged on the DVD set in the order they were intended to air. Several things wouldn’t have made as much sense with the way the network originally aired the episodes. Whedon is known for creating complex characters and shows with long story arcs. Those things take time to develop and Whedon wasn’t given the chance to do that for Firefly. Even though the show wasn’t on for long, I came to care about the characters and wanted to know more about them. The show was just beginning to delve into the characters and their complex stories when it was cancelled. Whedon created a foundation for future episodes that he ultimately wasn’t able to make. Some of the episodes seemed to be completly self contained, but most of the time there were things that tied in with the larger overall story. The actual last episode, not the one that aired last, left many things up in the air. I am hoping that Serenity deals with some of those things.
Firefly revolved around a group of nine characters that made the ship their home. I am going to talk about those characters before discussing what was going on in the show.
Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds - He was the captain of Serenity. He’d fought in a war to try to prevent a centralized government from taking over the entire system. He’d seen many of the troops under his command die during the war. He was very protective of his crew and passengers. He could be kind or ruthless depending on the situation. Nathan Fillion was very good in the part. He later went on to play a villain in some of the final episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Zoe - She fought with Mal during the war and remained with him after it was over. She was his second in command on Serenity. She was good with a gun and didn’t hesitate to use one when necessary. She would question Mal’s orders, though it didn’t happen often. Gina Torres was convincing as Zoe. She played a character in several episodes of Angel.
Wash - Serenity’s pilot and Zoe’s husband. He sometimes felt left out because of the past Zoe and Mal shared. Wash really didn’t have experience with actual fighting. He was more fun loving than the others. He even played with dinosaur toys. Alan Tudyk did a good job with the part of Wash. He played a character that was even more kooky in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. He also played a robot character in I, Robot.
Kaylee - Young woman that was the mechanic for the ship. She managed to keep the ship going with whatever she could find. She seemed to have some kind of connection with the ship at times. She spent most of her time in the engine room, but she had a feminine side as well. Jewel Staite had to gain weight to get the part. She wasn’t heavy at all in any episode, so she must have been a walking stick to begin with.
Jayne - He seemed to be the muscle for the crew. He had many guns, including one he’d named Vera. He preferred to shoot first and as questions later. Money was his biggest motivating factor. He was gruff, a bit crude and not overly friendly. He wasn’t the smartest person on the ship and misunderstood what the others were saying at times. Adam Baldwin handled the part well, giving Jayne some likable qualities to go along with his mostly grumpy attitude.
Inara - She was a registered companion that rented one of Serenity’s shuttles. A companion was a prostitute that went through extensive schooling. They were considered very respectable in most places. Companions choose which clients they accepted. Inara developed friendships with most of the others on the ship. She was very caring. She added some elegance to the ship. Inara was played by Morena Baccarin. I liked her in this part.
Shepherd Book - He started off as a passenger and seemed to become part of the crew. He was a preacher that had left an abbey before ending up on Serenity. He became involved in more of the jobs the crew took and knew an awful lot about weapons. He was able to diffuse some situations. Ron Glass was believable in the part.
Simon Tam - Young, intelligent doctor on the run from the Alliance for rescuing his sister. He was originally just a passenger but ended up serving as the doctor for the crew more than once. He was very worried about his sister and did everything he could to try to help her. He didn’t deal well with others. Sean Maher was good in the part.
River - Simon’s younger sister. She had gone to a school that offered a special course of study. The school was actually run by the Alliance to perform experiments on students like River. The Alliance wanted her back. River acted strange and had some unique abilities as a result of what was done to her. There were times when she acted perfectly normal. Many things were left up in the air related to her. She had the most mystery surrounding her. The final episode finally gave some more hints about her abilities. I think Summer Glau did very well with the most complicated character. River’s moods bounced all over the place, making her very unpredictable. Glau was believable in all of the different moods.
Alliance - Government that controlled most of the planets in the system. They were very powerful.
Reavers - Very nasty group that would kill anyone they came into contact with in horrible ways. They tended to stay to the outer areas of the system so many people believed they were just a myth.
Mal Reynolds fought on the side of the independents in the war against the Alliance. After his side lost, he bought a Firefly class spaceship and named it Serenity, intending to find work in the outer areas as much as possible to stay away from the Alliance when he could. Mal and Zoe assembled a crew and took jobs transporting cargo and sometimes people while trying to avoid the Alliance and Reavers. The jobs weren’t always legal. The crew, especially Mal, had a unique sense of right and wrong. They took jobs that involved stealing cargo that paid a lot and other times they took jobs that involved aiding strangers for a smaller pay day. Shepard, Simon, and River came aboard as passengers and ended up basically becoming part of the crew. Kaylee and Inara were the most welcoming to the new people, though the others came around for the most part. Jayne seemed very hostile most of the time, especially toward Simon and River.
The crew of Serenity ended up in several interesting and dangerous situations during their travels. Most of the episodes contained an adventure of some kind with some action and violence. Even the two part episode meant to be the pilot that Fox didn’t like had action in it, though a lot of time was spent introducing the characters. That episode showed Mal and Zoe at the end of the war in the first few minutes before jumping forward to when the show was set. The action was well done and kept things interesting, though I never thought any of the shows were boring. I never thought that the violence was that extreme, though there were a few things shown that weren’t pleasant to see. Humor was included in all of the episodes, usually through things that different characters said. Wash added a lot of comedic relief throughout the series. The humor was mixed in much like it was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. A few episodes featured some flashbacks that showed more about the past of some of the crew. The episode Out of Gas consisted of mostly flashbacks, showing how Mal assembled the crew.
Most of every episode took place on Serenity, a large ship with two levels. The ship was completly built, with each level on a different sound stage as large, continuous sets. Serenity was an older ship and not in the best condition. Kaylee had to improvise at times to keep the ship running. Mal returned from doing business on a planet once to find that wires were running all over the engine room like some giant string art project. The dining area seemed to be the center of the ship where they planned jobs more than once. The ship was home for the crew and it looked like it was. Scenes showing Serenity flying through space and even landing on planets involved special effects. I thought those were well done. There were times when the frame looked a bit shaky or even blurry, but it worked for the show. The music used throughout the series, composed by Greg Edmonson, fit in perfectly with whatever was going on. Different styles of music were blended together much like different cultures were blended together. The music was hauntingly beautiful and moving, especially during the unaired episode The Message.
Inara met with clients at most of the planets that Serenity stopped at. Her clients weren’t always shown. There were some intimate scenes between her and a client shown over the course of the show. Inara showed off a lot of skin a few times, but was never shown naked. Heart of Gold, one of the unaired episodes, had the crew helping a former companion and friend of Inara that now was running a bordello. Sex was brought several times in that episode. Other episodes featured sexual situations or conversations, though nothing too steamy since this was a television show. Zoe and Wash were shown in their bed a few times. Mal ended up naked in the middle of nowhere during the episode Trash. His bare backside was shown. Jayne said some crude things connected to sex in a few episodes. Sex was brought up, but it wasn’t a main point of the series.
The crew of Serenity had complex relationships with each other. Mal felt responsible for everyone on his ship. He was the closest to Zoe since they shared a past. There were all kinds of undercurrents to his relationship with Inara. He seemed to look down on her because of her profession, but he didn’t hesitate to defend her when someone else insulted her. They had feelings for each other and neither one would admit them which resulted in a lot of unresolved sexual tension between them. I would really like to know how that works out. Zoe and Wash had a good marriage overall, though they did have disagreements. They met when Wash was hired as the pilot. I would have liked to have known more about their relationship and how they fell in love since they are different types of people.
Jayne kept to himself and it wasn’t always clear where his loyalties lay. He did seem to develop a friendship with Shepard by the last episode. Jayne didn’t keep it secret that he wasn’t happy about Simon and River being on the ship. Shepard managed to get along with everyone and had his own secrets that weren’t explored. Kaylee was friendly to everyone. She quickly developed feelings for Simon. At times he seemed like he either didn’t realize it or didn’t care, and at other times he seemed like he had feelings for her as well. Their relationship was also unresolved and one I would like to see fully develop. Simon was shy, which did influence how he interacted with the others. His biggest concern was helping his sister River deal with what happened to her. Everyone else had some trouble and concerns about getting close to River because of the unpredictable way she acted.
CAST
Morena Baccarin - Inara
Adam Baldwin - Jayne
Nathan Fillion - Mal
Ron Glass - Shepard Book
Summer Glau - River
Sean Maher - Simon
Jewel Staite - Kaylee
Gina Torres - Zoe
Alan Tudyk - Wash
Firefly - The Complete Series DVD set contains four discs. Each disc has its own small plastic case. The covers feature a different character, and the backs list the episodes on the disc along with a small plot summary and the original air dates. The three episodes that didn’t air are included in the order they were intended to be included. Several of the episodes feature commentaries from Whedon or different cast members. The fourth disc has some other extra features in addition to the episodes. There was a short gag reel, one audition tape, four deleted scenes, Joss Whedon singing the theme song, and three behind the scenes featurettes. Several cast and crew members talked about how the show was made and their experiences filming. It was clear that the people involved in making the show truly loved it and felt it was something special. The development of the ship was also discussed, along with how they built the sets for each level of the ship. I thought that the featurettes were interesting.
Firefly was a brilliant show that was cancelled entirely too soon. It wasn’t given the chance to fully develop. Since Firefly - The Complete Series has been released on DVD, fans of the show can see the episodes in the order they were intended to air, including three that were never aired. This set is a must have for Firefly fans.
Episode List
Serenity Part 1 and 2 - Originally aired 12/20/02
The Train Job - Originally aired 9/20/02
Bushwhacked - Originally aired 9/27/02
Shindig - Originally aired 11/1/02
Safe - Originally aired 11/08/02
Our Mrs. Reynolds - Originally aired 10/04/02
Jaynestown - Originally aired 10/18/02
Out of Gas - Originally aired 10/25/02
Ariel - Originally aired 11/15/02
War Stories - Originally aired 12/06/02
Trash - Never aired
The Message - Never aired
Heart of Gold - Never aired
Objects in Space - Originally aired 12/13/02
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