I reckon I'll russle up some warp drive The sci-fi show Firefly is not something I watched when it was on Fox a few years back. I was not watching much TV at the time and was a little put off by the whole "brought to you by Joss Whedon" being drilled into my head thing. While channel surfing, I would occasionally stumble upon it and not be able to make any sense of what looked like a western in space.
But I had a chance to catch Serenity the movie and saw something I hadn't seen in a while-a science fiction show with interesting characters and wit. Set in a post civil war intergalactic future, the show highlights one of the most interesting parts of the sci-fi galaxy-mercenaries. Mercs drift from job to job and are not bound by rules (Star Trek) or a cause (Star Wars). They are free to explore a fictional galaxy from top to bottom.
But Firefly plays it smart by not focusing as much on their mercenary lifestyle as the characters who inhabit it. The old west speaking Captain with a moral code, the second in command soldier, the lunkheaded muscle, the ditzy engineer, a high class concubine, a lighthearted pilot, the mysterious priest, an uptight doctor and his schizophrenic sister who is trained to kill. They fly on a ship that's the equivalent of the Millenium Falcon, a ragged hunk of metal that flies on borrowed parts and force of will.
Firefly mixes a sharp sense of humor in its blend of fantasy and reality. The humor makes the show stand out from, say, the realistic but dour Battlestar Galactica. Like it's namesake, Firefly buzzes lightly around sci-fi heavyweights that carry heavy messages and social commentary. It's that lightness that makes the show fun and a must see for me in reruns.
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