RR Firefly

Introducing a brand new type of review!
Now I'll be posting what I wanted to call Random Reviews as well on the blog. What will be these RR you may ask? Well, everything that won't fit the previous categories! TV shows? Cartoons? CD? Etc..etc...

Another Jess Whedon cult classic.
I already reviewed Dr. Horrible in the past!
Firefly may have not been featured in my Favorite TV Shows top list, but it still is one of my favorite scifi shows ever!

The fans will notice something Firefly-sh here :P

Btw, it's my brother's. No, not Knux, the hat is my brother's. Knuckles is just a plush!

I was going to make one of those Quick-Reviews thingies I've done a couple, to review all separate episodes..but I prefered to finally review the series as whole instead.
I may use Quick-Reviews for current on-going shows though...

Name: Firefly: The Complete Series
Created by Joss Whedon
Original run 2002
Genre Scifi

Firefly was a pretty original TV Show created by Joss Whedon, the genius behind such cult classics as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dr. Horrible and the upcoming epic comic book movie The Avengers.

It's a show that mixes pretty well Old West with Science Fiction.
A sort of retro-futuristic universe.
And it's pretty well grounded into our reality, unlike, say, Star Wars, Star Trek and all the other Star-shows...

Western-like duels in Spaaaaaace~

The show was canceled after only 14 episodes, but what a fantastic universe was detailed and explored in such little time...
I won't blame everything on the Channel, the producers or anything and write another long-ass rant like so many other fans like to do. Instead I'm gonna focus on the bright side.

The show introduced Captain Mal and the crew aboard is firefly-like ship called Serenity and their encounters with the authority in this not that far from today future.

In the future, a supra-governmental entity called the Alliance, composed of mostly America and China, conquered space travel. The humans live now in outer space in little colonies and such.
There's been a great war, a Unification War. Our hero, Mal was fighting on the side of the Independents..but lost the war... Mal named his ship Serenity after the Battle of Serenity Valley, the final battle during the Unification War.
Now he's smuggler and lives some crazy adventures day-to-day with his loyal crew.

It really feels like Joss & co, took out what was the best about Han Solo, and created a whole new universe from that!

Spaceships flying next to a bunch of cows!! Only in Firefly~

The show rests on a solid and original backstory, fantastic scripts which explores many relations of its universe and a great cast of characters!

Malcolm Reynolds, played by Nathan Fillion, really runs the show!
Fillion's a great actor, and this is probably one of his best characters!
The rest of his crew is as well detailed and in the very few episode the show had we even really got to explore how the characters think and who they were.
Zoe, Serenity's first mate, long time friend of Mal and the wife of Wash, pilot, funny guy (and big fan of dinosaurs it seem :P).
There's also Inara, a "companion" (huh..imagine a space geisha!).
Book, a "shepherd" (sort of space-preacher~) who seems to hide a mysterious past..
Kaylee, the engineer-gal. Simon, passenger in the first episode and later the doctor on board of the Serenity. He was tryin' to protect and help his sister, River. Played by Summer Glau in one of her first roles.
And finally Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin!). Gun for hire, mercenary and big guy on the ship! One of the fan favorite's character in this universe and one with the most episodes analysing his comportements and change of heart during the time spent with this crew.

Alright..I admit it... This picture's just an excuse to draw the rest of the crew :D

I could spend a lot of time detailing all the episodes or making praises of the show...
Instead, I'm just gonna say what the show's about and what it did accomplish!

Firefly is a lot more about the characters than the big epic interplanetary fight scenes!
Though the CGi used here and there, mostly for the ship, was pretty well done and believable.
You won't find epic space wars and fake 3D alien creatures in Firefly.
It's grounded in a realistic universe (as much as scifi goes) and is mostly about the war that happened with space travel and colonies and its later consequences.
Each character seems to explore aspects of it. River and Simon are mostly here to see how far the government went, with their experiences, protections, etc..
Book seems to hint some connections with the powers that be...though it wasn't ever really explored! (blame it on the cancelation :( yep..)
And Mal and Zoe are the wanted criminals of war...

It's a fantastic and very original setting.
The Old West touch is quite original and really make this show stand out amongst other scifi shows.
There are some hints are crazy experiments gone wrong and alien diseases (with the creatures known only as reavers) though we don't get to see it on the show...

Finally, it's a great show that only needed a handful of episodes to make us know a big colored and diverse cast such as this one, discover a whole new universe and create a fantastic bond with fans very dedicated to the show!
(just check all the fanbases encounters, websites, forums, projects and movements this show created! my question only is...where were they when this was on air??)

Overall, it's a great show and a must own for any scifi or Joss Whedon fan!

You won't regret it! And the complete set of episodes is easily available nowadays!
It's quite original, maybe not as exotic as a Star Wars nor as epic as the last Star Trek movie, but it really deserves its place amongst anyone's collection!

The show was canceled due to a very poor marketing and the producers not wanting to air the episodes in correct order (they didn't even show the first one!!) and the fact that it's a Joss Whedon show..
See, the man is a very great creative and make some very fine products but most of his shows get canceled anyway... Oh well...
At least the fans got a conclusion, an epilogue to the show some years later in a movie...but that's another story for another time...
(And Nathan Fillion fans can still see the guy in the very good crime series Castle!)

Anyway, great show, great bunch of episodes, fantastic cast & crew, solid writing...
You either already have it or are currently on the process of gettin' it, am I right? AM I RIGHT?? *wink wink nudge nudge*

I give it:

 3 / 3 UFOs!