Firefly: Serenity

[clearspira]

A good show. I was never blown away by it like many have been, but a solid watch. I guess one of the problems is that besides Malcolm and Kaylee, I cannot sit here and say that I think this is an interesting cast of characters. They're... poorly fleshed out in my opinion. And I don't say that to be mean, I say that as someone who concedes that this show was cancelled in its first season. I suspect that my opinion would be different if we got another couple of seasons whereby they could develop and grow.

Incidentally, I feel as if Kaylee is everything that Girl Wesley over on STD was intended to be but failed at. Quirky without being annoying, smart without being obnoxious.

[CrypticMirror]

Eh, Star Wars: Rebels did it better.

I never could like Mal, he always came across as a smug asshole to me. Jane is vaguely entertaining, and Alan Tudyk is okay but better as a voiceover guy, the rest... They just don't do anything for me.

I liked the Serenity movie though, although more as a sorta Battle Beyond the Stars b-movie. The series, I just can't get into. I do not get the hype.

[FlynnTaggart]

I could have swore Chuck already reviewed this but apparently not.

Anyway my faulty memory aside, I thought this was a decent opening to the sadly short series, would have probably a lower opinion of it if the series continued but where it was so short you kinda have to cherish each episode. Helped establish the characters, had a good plot, some decent action, and some good world building without throwing everything at you. I also enjoyed that the "gold bars" were not actually gold bars for some reason.

Kaylee was just darn adorable, Mal I liked as he's definitely got the space cowboy anti-hero vibe that I love with a bit of Han Solo and even a bit of Indiana Jones with how he just doesn't bother with fights at times, Jayne's bluntness was interesting, and I like the not exactly traditional roles of Wash and Zoe with her being the "tough guy" and him the more "soft" one. Shepherd Book was pretty darn interesting, the good man in a crew of criminals and Simon was far more then he seemed.

Not a perfect episode by any stretch but I thought it was decent enough.

Also still get a kick out of seeing the Weyland Yutani logo on the fake DShK mount.

[RobbyB1982]

A couple of the characters were good but the main lead was just such an unrepentant asshole I could never get behind him. ANd not in the "love to hate them" sort of way or the "he's written that way but he's got secret depths" but in that he was a complete ass to one of his crewmates and never apologized for it.

I don't care that her profession was courtesan or that he was secretly in love with her, he called her a prostitute and a whore to her face, intended to be cruel, far too many times to ever give him a pass on his behavior. Plus his constant rivalry with Jane and the way he treated everyone else on top of that, and just... ick. Why did these people have any loyalty to him?

Kaylee was a treasure however.

And yeah, its a series that ended before its first season was even done, so its hard to say where it would have gone and how good or bad it might have actually been given the chance.

[sandangel]

I remember liking this when I was younger, and I can see the bones of a good show forming, but the fact that the show ended so abruptly hurts it a lot. You can't really judge the quality of a show just from the first few episodes, because that's when it's still finding its feet. It's a good concept for a show, if nothing else, and I hope someone gets to make a proper version eventually.

[bz316]

I liked this show a lot, but one of the things that always bugged me was how...ambiguous the war was. I mean, until the movie beat us over the head with how EVIL the Alliance was, I never really got any kind of impression of what the Browncoats' cause even was supposed to be. I mean, they were fighting for independence or whatever, sure. But why exactly? Usually, independence or secession movements have casus belli and such. But the most we ever get from Zoe and Mal is some trite crap about how "the outer colonies just wanted to go there own way" or something. But what does that mean, exactly? That's not a political philosophy or a statement of principles. When the sleeper ships from Earth got there, was it every colony for itself initially, then the inner planets invaded and exerted control? Or were the outer colonies originally colonized by settlers from the inner planets (make it the sovereign government of said colonies)? And if so, why were they trying to break away? Taxes? No representation in parliament? Religious rights? I mean, we keep hearing from the two veterans (aka, people WITHOUT any objectivity on the subject) about how terrible the alliance is, but it seems like most of the places that have little to no Alliance control are pretty shitty: colonies with slavery, company towns with no workers rights, religious communes where the locals straight-up burn women as witches? Is that what they were fighting for?! WTF?

[Meushell]

I liked what we got, but I am glad it was canceled. I would have probably enjoyed a few more seasons, but after that... Well, Joss Whedon’s shows tend to start out strong, get stronger, then take a dive. He seems to do things for shock value just because he can, and that stops being entertaining after the first time.

I like this particular episode though. Kayley seemed to take the strawberries for herself. At least, that’s the impression I always got, and that amuses me.

Sometimes the Western feel of Firefly feels like it was taken a little too literally though.

[Rocketboy1313]

It is kind of ironic that as good as "Firefly" is, the fact that its fanbase has hyped it so much has made it into one of the most overrated shows of all time.

It was pretty good, probably would have been great had it kept going, and has a lot of good tie in material. I am sure in 15 years it will get a remake on some streaming network and will be able to tell a fully explored story.

[Cheerilee]

I liked this show a lot, but one of the things that always bugged me was how...ambiguous the war was. I mean, until the movie beat us over the head with how EVIL the Alliance was, I never really got any kind of impression of what the Browncoats' cause even was supposed to be. I mean, they were fighting for independence or whatever, sure. But why exactly? Usually, independence or secession movements have casus belli and such. But the most we ever get from Zoe and Mal is some trite crap about how "the outer colonies just wanted to go there own way" or something. But what does that mean, exactly? That's not a political philosophy or a statement of principles. When the sleeper ships from Earth got there, was it every colony for itself initially, then the inner planets invaded and exerted control? Or were the outer colonies originally colonized by settlers from the inner planets (make it the sovereign government of said colonies)? And if so, why were they trying to break away? Taxes? No representation in parliament? Religious rights? I mean, we keep hearing from the two veterans (aka, people WITHOUT any objectivity on the subject) about how terrible the alliance is, but it seems like most of the places that have little to no Alliance control are pretty shitty: colonies with slavery, company towns with no workers rights, religious communes where the locals straight-up burn women as witches? Is that what they were fighting for?! WTF?

It's been quite some time since I've seen Firefly, but from what I remember (I can't recall if this was ever really established)...

Earth (with it's almost 200 different nations) got united by one monolithic government, and the new government's control is absolute. From America to China to Switzerland to North Korea, *everyone* bends their knee to the United Earth Government. From one point of view it's a utopia, but from another point of view it's a dystopia. And if you disagree with the government, tough luck, because there is only one government and you have no control over it. There are no effective checks and balances. Then Humanity expanded into space, and Earth's control over these colonies was naturally slightly weaker. From these weaker-controlled planets, people who desired something other than the United Earth Government shot off in their own space-made rockets to even more distant planets, with the explicit purpose of getting away from the United Earth Government and forming their own various independent nations. They're shitty worlds, but they're free.

The United Earth Government did not like that, as they fundamentally believe that they are the one and only government, and that all Humans exist under the umbrella of their leadership, whether they like it or not. So they brought their controlled planets back under full control, and then made moves towards taking control of the "free" outer-rim planets through force. The disconnected outer-rim planets formed up into one singular opposition force, and said "Hey, we're a distinct entity, with our own army, we don't belong to you and we won't be pushed around by you."

So the United Earth Government (the center of civilization and technology) invaded the underdog Browncoats and steamrolled them. Earth was 100% the invaders here. And from Earth's point of view, they had merely put down a treasonous rebellion, because their claim to rule extends as far as people do.

And then the movie reveals that they tried to create a drug to pacify the disobedient masses, which backfired and created the Reavers, who are an existential threat to everyone on the outer-rim, and buried the evidence of what they did because their power is absolute and they're accountable to nobody. And the movie didn't pull this out of it's butt, because just look at what they did to River with their experiments. They tried these things once, and they'll try them again, because nobody can stand against this oppressive, monolithic regime.

[planescaped]

I adore Firefly and think it a tragedy that it didn't get more than one season. Even a second season would have helped it immensely.

As it is I do find it too short to last. Like going to one of those small plate restaurants, what you get might be incredible, but you're still gonna get fast food afterwards...

Fortunately I found Babylon 5 shortly after seeing Firefly and that helped a lot. Also, I personally loved Mal's character, Nathan Fillion was born to play that role and he played it so well.