As Becca has already mentioned, we have spent the majority of our unplanned hurricane vacation watching all 14 episodes of the short-lived TV series Firefly. I had serious doubts about the show when I heard the concept — part Star Wars, part Star Trek, and part Tombstone all rolled together. In other words, western sci-fi. I know, weird, right?
Well, not so weird. Or, rather, weird but in a really, really good way. The show is great, and I now join the legions of people upset that the show was broadcast out-of-order in an awful time slot and basically killed before it had a chance to get started. (Thanks, Fox.) I’ve now watched all 14 episodes and there are so many things I want explained, and so much more I want to learn about the characters.
You may have seen previews for the movie Serenity that comes out this weekend. Turns out that Firefly lives again in the form of a major motion picture! Woohoo! Maybe if it does well, the series will return…
Each of the characters (nine in all) has a backstory that I want to know more about. There’s the captain, Malcolm Reynolds, who’s very Han Solo-esque both in mannerism and hotness (woo). The second-in-command is Zoe, an old war buddy of Mal’s. She’s married to the pilot, Wash, who is extremely sarcastic and funny. The muscle-head of the group is a man named Jayne who cares about himself above everything else, and has some hilarious comments. The ship’s mechanic is a country girl whiz named Kaylee, who has a not-yet-acted-upon but not-unrequited thing for the doctor, Simon. (I think Simon’s my favorite character at the moment.) Simon ended up on the ship trying to outrun the Alliance (think Empire) with his sister, River, who he rescued from a school that was apparently a cover for bizarre medical experiments, so River’s a bit psycho. Then there’s the Shepherd, a kind of missionary who somehow has sway with the Alliance, but we never figure out why. Finally there’s Inara, a Companion aka courtesan, which in the future has turned into a highly respected career, who has a not-yet-acted-upon but not-unrequired thing for Mal.
It totally sucks that I can’t keep watching to find out what the Shepherd’s past is, why a respectable woman like Inara decided to live on a smuggling ship, what’s up with River, is Jayne really going to stay loyal to the crew, and why won’t Simon and Kaylee just HOOK UP ALREADY??
If you ever end up with three days off work while you wait out a hurricane, I highly recommend the DVDs. Or, you know, even if you’re not avoiding a hurricane. Oh, and go see the movie!
