Firefly

Over the last few days, I've been re-watching Firefly, one of my favourite programmes. Created by Joss Whedon, the creative force behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Dollhouse, Firefly follows the adventures of Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds and his crew about the spaceship Serenity. The show is set hundreds of years in to the future, after Earth has been existed and humanity has fled to a new solar system to survive. They terra-formed planets to make them habitable, resulting in the Core planets, the centres of power, culture and wealth, and border planets, which are more barren and lawless. Before the time of the show, some of these border planets tried to 'rebel' and make it so they were ruled by themselves rather than the government. However, these Independants were defeated in a long war by the Alliance and brought under their control. Mal fought for the Independants.

Mal, along with long-time war-buddy Zoe, owns and runs the Serenity taking any job, legal or illegal, he can in order to earn money and keep his beloved spaceship flying. Other members of Mal's crew include Wash, quirky pilot extraordinaire and Zoe's husband, Kaylee, the cute and cheerful mechanic, Jayne, the male (despite the name) mercenary, and Inara, the ship's resident Companion - a kind of prostitute revered by society and widely desired. Things take a turn for a worse after taking on a group of passengers, including Shephard Book, a priest, and Simon Tam, a doctor. It's revealed that Simon has sneaked his sister River on board the ship, and both are highly wanted fugitives. Simon helped his sister escape from a government run facility that experimented on her destroyed her sanity, but appears to have left her with psychic powers. Being captured by the Alliance isn't all they have to worry about however, as space is also filled with Reavers, crazy, feral creatures who will rape, skin and torture anyone they meet.

The show is excellent. Full of excitement and action, comic wit and moving character-driven storylines. Easily one of my favourite shows, and each character is fully realised. The only negative thing about Firefly is that it is only 15 episodes long. The show was cancelled by Fox before it's first season was over, and yet has become a cult favourite show. Despite that, it's obvious that not everything is what it seemed when it came to the characters aboard Serenity and several of them had secrets only vaguely hinted at. And we never fully found out what was done to River or the extent of her powers. It was obvious there was a much grander plan at work than simply 'cowboys in space' and it's unfortunate that we didn't get to see this or at least get a proper resolution. And that's why Firefly is special. Because unlike any other cancelled show I know, Whedon was able to produce a follow up feature film, called Serenity, which managed to give fans some resolution and answered the more pressing mystery of the series - River. It's a great film, and well worth a watch once you've watched the series. Unfortunately, other mysteries weren't answered even in the film, and have since been revealed in follow-up comics to appease fans.

Overall, Firefly is a great show, full of action, intrigue and comedy.

I've included a trailer for the show to give you a glimpse into what it's like: Firefly trailer

And this is a clip of good and funny quotes from the series for your viewing pleasure also: 32 Best Firefly Quotes