Firefly & Serenity

Guest post by Matthew Ilseman

Firefly is the quintessential Space Western. Not necessarily the best, but one that has a notable balance between Western and Science Fiction elements.

Created by Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, it came out in the early 2000s. I remember watching it during commercials of basketball games. I was skeptical of the series because it seemed too similar to one of my favorite animes, Cowboy Bebop. (Which I will review sometime in the future.) They were both Space Westerns set in a humans only future after a disaster on Earth. So while did not exactly dislike it, I may not have given it a fair viewing.

Having rewatched it I can say it is definitely a good show but not necessarily a great one. Had it lasted more than one season it might have become a great show. I am not sure it would have been, but it had the potential. 

Thing is I don’t really trust Whedon to maintain the quality. There were parts of Buffy I liked and others that made me want to kick in the TV screen. That is not even getting in to the fact that Whedon seems to create toxic environments for his projects’ staff. You have to separate the art from the artist. (John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and Hayao Miyazaki were all jerks. I’d still recommend watching there films because they could produce works of genius.)

So, about the show itself.

Set in the future when the Earth’s resources have been used up and man has fled into space, it follows the crew of the space ship Serenity. The captain, and most interesting character in the series, is Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion.) A veteran of the losing side of a galactic civil war, he now is engage in smuggling and other assorted crimes. Other members of the is his second and command and war comrade Zoey (Gina Davis), his quirky pilot Wash (Alan Turdyk), engineer Kaylee (Jewel Staite), brutish mercenary Jayne (Adam Baldwin,) and prostitute with a heart of gold Inara (Morena Baccarin.) They take on in the first episode three passengers preacher with a hidden past, Shepard Brook (Ron Glass,) the doctor Simon Tan (Sean Maher,) and his unbalanced sister River (Summer Glau.)  

The last two are fleeing the Alliance, the winning side of the previously mentioned galactic civil war. Simon had rescued his sister from being experimented on by the government and had fled to the edge of space. They would play a major part in the plot of some episodes and particularly its sequel movie, Serenity. Shepard Brook is sorely underused. (Though not exactly misused like so many religious characters on TV.)

The background of the series is similar to 19th century only in space. The galactic civil war echoes the American Civil War with Mal and Zoey fleeing to the rim as many Southerners went westward after the conflict. While the in-series civil war does not seem to have been about slavery, Mal does come across as fairly Southern. He can be stubborn and contentious, but also obsessively dedicated to protecting his own. He has little use for authority particularly the centralized kind.

The rim of space which Serenity travels bears resemblance to the American West. Many planets are primitive and look like an episode of Gunsmoke. They have mostly 19th century technology even if they are visited by spaceships.

The settlers are preyed upon by the mysterious Reavers who play a major part of the plot of Serenity. While this has some similarity with the battles between the settlers and the Native Americans, when the Reavers identity is revealed they turn out to be very different.

The plots of the episodes are to some degree fairly Western. “The Train Job” unsurprisingly about the crew robbing a train. “Objects in Space” involves an encounter with a bounty hunter after River. The plots of every episode if not necessarily spectacular are always solid.

What is particularly good about the show are the characterization, the dialogue, and the interaction between the characters. This tends to be Joss Whedon’s strong suit. Mal and Simon butt heads occasionally. Jayne is somewhat treacherous. Wash and Zoey, who are married, are an interesting if odd couple. The cast plays their parts well.

There are problems with the show. The direction and cinematography aren’t that great. The previous Space Western I reviewed, The Mandalorian, is far more pleasing to the eye. This is possibly a result of the show having a low budget, but I also don’t think it had good direction. I seem to remember Buffy having fairly murky scenes in it as well. Serenity, the movie, was somewhat better. Of course, cinematography seems to have gone downhill in general. Long gone are the days of Ford and Hitchcock.

The aggravating thing is that there was potential for the show to get better, but it was cancelled before its time so certain elements seem underused. The movie Serenity does a lot to fix this though.

Still, whatever faults it has I would definitely recommend it. If you like both western and science fiction you will probably enjoy this.