By Helen Fulton
With its odd but brilliant combination of space and western, Firefly was one of those series with everything you could ask for. It's funny, romantic, adventurous, scary, heart-warming and full of fantasy. I have never met a person who has seen the series and hasn't loved it!
With its odd but brilliant combination of space and western, Firefly was one of those series with everything you could ask for. It's funny, romantic, adventurous, scary, heart-warming and full of fantasy. I have never met a person who has seen the series and hasn't loved it!
For those who don’t know of Firefly, it was a television series made in 2002 by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Avengers Assemble). Set in 2517 in another star system full of terraformed planets after "Earth that was" became over-populated and humanity was forced to spread across the galaxy. Civil war quickly broke out, the outlying systems fighting for independence. They lost and were forced back into destitution under Alliance rule.
Years later, Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), a veteran on the losing side of the war, Captains Serenity, a cargo ship and smuggling operation against the Alliance. However, their job becomes increasingly harder when they’re forced to protect child genius River Tam (Summer Glau) and her brother Simon (Sean Maher) from being captured by the omnipresent Alliance, who have performed experiments on River's brain.
Other characters include Gina Torres as Zoe Alleyne Washburne, the second-in-command of Serenity; Alan Tudyk as Hoban "Wash" Washburne, Serenity's pilot and Zoe's husband; Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra. Inara is a Companion, which is the 26th century equivalent of a courtesan. We also have Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb, a hired gun onboard the ship; Jewel Staite (who I've had the honour of meeting at Comic Con last year) as Kaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye, the ship's mechanic. Lastly we have Ron Glass as Derrial Book, a ‘Shepherd’ or Pastor.
Years later, Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), a veteran on the losing side of the war, Captains Serenity, a cargo ship and smuggling operation against the Alliance. However, their job becomes increasingly harder when they’re forced to protect child genius River Tam (Summer Glau) and her brother Simon (Sean Maher) from being captured by the omnipresent Alliance, who have performed experiments on River's brain.
Other characters include Gina Torres as Zoe Alleyne Washburne, the second-in-command of Serenity; Alan Tudyk as Hoban "Wash" Washburne, Serenity's pilot and Zoe's husband; Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra. Inara is a Companion, which is the 26th century equivalent of a courtesan. We also have Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb, a hired gun onboard the ship; Jewel Staite (who I've had the honour of meeting at Comic Con last year) as Kaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye, the ship's mechanic. Lastly we have Ron Glass as Derrial Book, a ‘Shepherd’ or Pastor.
The series had 14 episodes, and was due to continue, however, three months after being originally shown on Fox, the show was cancelled. Fans campaigned for a network to save Firefly, including raising money for ads in magazines such as Variety. Even though the efforts didn't save the series from cancellation, they did manage to get a DVD release, a year after being cancelled. Other campaigns led to small successes including copied of the DVD being sent to 250 U.S Navy ships for officers to watch.
Their biggest successful campaign to date however led to Universal Studios producing a feature film, Serenity (unfortunately, Fox still owned the rights to Firefly) which opened at number 2 in the box office and made $40 million worldwide on the 30th September 2005, exactly 3 years after the original series aired.
Firefly has received cult status across the world, being voted "The World's Best Space Sci-Fi Ever" by New Scientist magazine readers, with Serenity in second place. In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed the show at No. 11 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years," commenting, "as it often does, martyrdom has only enhanced its legend." Numerous TV shows use Firefly references, including The Big Bang Theory, Community, Battlestar Galactica and Castle, in which Nathan Fillion plays the lead character and actually dresses as Mal for a Halloween special.
So, let us raise a glass to Joss Whedon's Firefly, the best and widely credited space-westerns about!
Their biggest successful campaign to date however led to Universal Studios producing a feature film, Serenity (unfortunately, Fox still owned the rights to Firefly) which opened at number 2 in the box office and made $40 million worldwide on the 30th September 2005, exactly 3 years after the original series aired.
Firefly has received cult status across the world, being voted "The World's Best Space Sci-Fi Ever" by New Scientist magazine readers, with Serenity in second place. In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed the show at No. 11 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years," commenting, "as it often does, martyrdom has only enhanced its legend." Numerous TV shows use Firefly references, including The Big Bang Theory, Community, Battlestar Galactica and Castle, in which Nathan Fillion plays the lead character and actually dresses as Mal for a Halloween special.
So, let us raise a glass to Joss Whedon's Firefly, the best and widely credited space-westerns about!
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