What I Love About...Firefly

Since I don't want to bore you all just talking about writing, and since my random post on Kaidan Alenko from Mass Effect is still the biggest draw to my blog, I've decided to occassionally post about things that I love or hate under the heading, What I Love About... & What I Hate About...

You will often see me refer to things in these two extremes - Love & Hate. I'll rarely, if ever, express indifference. If I don't care enough to love or hate something, I can't be bothered to speak or write about it.

Anyway, without further ado I give you What I Love About...Firefly

You may not want to read any further if you haven't finished watching the series and/or movie yet. Um, Mandie Baxter, that means you.

For the rest of you who may not be familiar with the show (yeah, I'm talking to you guy-who's-been-living-under-a-rock) here is a brief description of the show:

Firefly is a space opera/western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship.

Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things".

The show explores the lives of people who fought on the losing side of a civil war and others who now make a living on the outskirts of society, as part of the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system.

In addition, it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance resulting in the fusion of the two cultures as well.

According to Whedon's vision, "nothing will change in the future: technology will advance, but we will still have the same political, moral, and ethical problems as today."

The main character, Malcolm Reynolds, was a volunteer in the Independent army during the Unification War against the Alliance. After the Independents lose the war Mal purchases Serenity, a transport ship. His main mission in life then becomes to keep his crew alive and to keep his ship flying.


Okay, since there are sooooo many things I love about this show, I'm going to limit myself to my top 10.


10) Serenity - The Movie

If you have any doubt whatsoever about the quality of this show, think about this -- the show is so beloved by its creators, its cast, its crew, and its fans, that a major motion picture was released 3 years after it had been cancelled by its television network mid-way through its first season.

9) Serenity - The Ship



Isn't she shiny?

The ship, named Serenity, is easily the 10th character in the show. She's that important to the structure of the story. Her very name, Serenity, is a reminder to Mal of what he stands for, which is independence from the Alliance. After all it was at the Battle of Serenity Valley that the Alliance clinched victory.

Serenity is the embodiment of freedom and death, existence in the face of non-existence that would be life under the Alliance.

As the show's theme song states --

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me


Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me


There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me...

8) Um, Cowboys in Space. 'Nuff Said

This show has taken some flack for what some people see as its hokey western theme. Yeah, well, boo you people. This theme is awesome. Shoot-outs, and outlaws, and heroes who fight for lost causes. It's gritty. It's real.

Some people seem to be under the misconception that our future will be unlike our society today. It won't. Barring some cataclysmic event from which we will need to rebuild society completely, we will remain as we are today. Yes, our technology will advance. Hell, we'll be flying in space people. But humanity won't automatically become better or more enlightened just because time has passed.

The world-building in this show is spectacular. The 'verse of Firefly is unlike any other science fiction universe.  So many sci-fi worlds feel derivative of earlier works in the genre, but the world of Firefly felt unique.  Again, think space cowboys, but also think space cowboys on planets that resemble China, or 19th century Europe, or 20th Century USA. 

Also, think space cannibals, genetically engineered space warriors, and space Russian mafioso and you'll start to get an idea of what the 'verse was like.

7) The Mystery

While the show was mostly episodic in structure, there was a larger story that took place within those episodes -- the mystery of River Tam.  Who was River? And why did the government want her? Why were they willing to kill to get her back? How does she know what she knows and why can she do what she can do? Is there a connection between her and the creatures known as the Reavers? We get a lot of answers in the movie Serenity, but still it was this mystery that drove the long-term story arc of the show.

6) The Dialogue

Wash: "Can we maybe vote on the whole murdering people issue?"

Joss Whedon is a genius when it comes to dialogue. He used words like shiny and when the characters got angry or swore, they did so in Chinese. In addition, he mastered the art of injecting humor in what could have been really dark, tense scenes. Here are some of my favorite quotes for your enjoyment:



[Wash is at his station on the bridge, playing with plastic dinosaurs.]
Wash [as Stegosaurus]: Yes... yes. This is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... This Land.
Wash [as Allosaurus]: I think we should call it... your grave!
Wash [as Stegosaurus]: Ah! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Wash [as Allosaurus]: Ha ha ha! Mine is an evil laugh! Now DIE!
Wash [as Stegosaurus, doing a Christopher Walken impression]: Oh no, God, oh dear God in heaven...


Zoe: I know something ain't right.
Wash: Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail.


Jayne: [over radio] Testing. Testing, Cap'n, can you hear me?
Mal: I'm standing right here.
Jayne: You're coming through good and loud.
Mal: 'Cause I'm standing right here.


Simon: I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can...how do I know you won't kill me in my sleep?
Mal: You don't know me, son, so let me put this to you plainly: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me. And you'll be armed.
Simon: Are you always this sentimental?
Mal: I had a good day.
Simon: You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages... half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives.
Mal: We're still flying.
Simon: That's not much.
Mal: It's enough.


[Jayne is demanding that Wash take off for the delivery without Mal and Zoe.]
Jayne: You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'til you understand who's in ruttin' command here!


[A tied-up Crow is made to kneel outside Serenity as it prepares to lift off]
Mal: Now this is all the money Niska gave us in advance. You give it back to him, tell him the job didn't work out. We're not thieves... well, we are thieves, but the point is we're not taking what's his. We'll stay out of his way as best we can from here on in. You'll explain that's best for everyone, okay?
Crow: [stands up] Keep the money. Use it to buy a funeral. It doesn't matter where you go, or how far you fly, I will hunt you down, and the last thing you see will be my blade.
Mal: Darn. [kicks Crow into Serenity's engine intake]
[Cut to another henchman being placed before Mal]
Mal: Now this is all the money Niska gave us in advance—
Henchman: Oh, I get it! I'm good. Best thing for everybody. [desperate grin] I'm right there with you.


(The crew is playing a game similar to basket ball when an alarm goes off)
Zoe: Proximity alert. We must be comin' up on something.
Wash: Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing?!?! (pause) Oh, right, that would be me. Back to work. (hands ball to Mal and leaves)


Mal: "Mercy is the mark of a great man."
[stabs Atherton Wing]
Mal: "Guess I'm just a good man."
[stabs Atherton Wing again]
Mal: "Well, I'm all right."


Badger: "'Course you couldn't buy an invite with a diamond the size of a testicle, but I got my hands on a couple."
Mal and Jayne: sniggering
Badger: " ... of invites!"


Tracey: "When you can't run, you crawl. And when you can't crawl, when you can't do that ... "
Zoe: " ... you find someone to carry you."


Mal: "I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you."


Mal: "If anyone gets nosy, just ...you know ... shoot 'em. "
Zoe: "Shoot 'em?"
Mal: "Politely."


5) Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye



Kaylee was portrayed by Jewel Staite, who is just adorable and wonderful. As is Kaylee. She is exceptionally sweet and chipper. She maintains a bright and positive attitude even when others are feeling crappy.

She loves being on the ship. She loves all of the people. And she's the only one who loves all of them genuinely and unconditionally.

She loves strawberries, which appear to be a delicacy in the 'verse. And despite her mechanical ability, which allows Kaylee to fix just about anything, she likes girly things like frilly dresses and having Inara do her hair. So she is easily irritated when Mal fails to see that she is a woman as well as a mechanic.

She also has a crush on Simon Tam, the show's doctor and River Tam's older brother. Though nothing happens as far as a relationship is concerned during the run of the series -- even though it is clear that Simon bears strong feelings for her as well -- in the movie Serenity, Simon confesses he has feelings for her while they are pinned down by Reavers in a seemingly hopeless situation, prompting Kaylee to reply "Hell with this. I'm gonna live".

How can you not love a girl like that?

4) Reavers



Simon: What happens if they board us?
Zoe: If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order.

Reavers are some of the freakiest creatures ever created. They're cannibals that float around space hunting humans. Worse, they're not monsters...they're human. Created as the result of the Alliance attempting to control the population on one of the outer planets, Miranda.

The Alliance released a chemical into the air supply in an attempt to maintain a peaceful colony. Unfortunately, it worked too well. Most of the colonists stopped going to work, stopped talking, stopped eating, and eventually let themselves die. A tenth of the population however had the opposite reaction to the chemical and became these vile, monstrous creatures.

3) River Tam



River Tam kicks major ass.

Also? She can kill you with her brain.

Throughout the series River remains a mystery. She was considered a child prodigy from a very young age, intelligent beyond her years and athletically gifted. Simon, her brother, stated that compared to her, he is an "idiot child," despite having graduated highly in medical school and finishing his internship a full four months faster than usual. As a result, she was sent to what everyone believed was an Alliance school for the gifted.

After receiving a cryptic letter from River, Simon discovers that she is being held captive by the Alliance, so he risks everything to rescue her, which is how they end up on Serenity.

Eventually we find out that while in the hands of Alliance doctors and scientists River was secretly and extensively experimented on, including receiveing surgery to remove most of her amygdala, which prevents River from being able to control her emotions. She has abrupt periods of mental instability and nurtures psychic and intuitive abilities.

She was also trained as an assassin, to be used by the Alliance to correct thier mistake -- the Reavers. Yeah, that's dozen of them at her feet in that picture there.

2) Macolm Reynolds

Mal: "So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave."

No one is quite the anti-hero like Malcom Reynolds. And no one could have played this role quite like Nathan Fillion.

Mal puts on his I-don't-care attitude, yet he is fiercely protective of and loyal to his crew. He is the captain of the Serenity, a war veteran, champion of lost causes, and just plain awesome. Fillion poured his heart and soul into the character. He brought Mal to life. Made us care about him. Made us want to see him win.

Though Mal loses faith in God and religion (between the Battle of Serenity Valley and the bulk of the series), he retains a strong faith in humanity. He is wary in his personal dealings, yet he puts great stock in the fundamental goodness of people in general. This faith in an individual's abilities to do the right thing manifests strongly in his very negative view of governmental institutions. "Governments," he says in the pilot, are for "getting in a man's way."

He abhors the Alliance, but he can acknowledge that he lost the fight against them and now just wants to stay out of their reach. As he says in Serenity, "I just wanna go my way."

However, throughout the course of the film, Mal comes to learn more of the Alliance's dark secrets, which rekindles his fighting spirit and causes him to again take up the fight against the oppressive regime. Mal expresses his newfound resolve during his speech near the final act of the film "They (the Alliance) will swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave."

1) The Love

I adore the fact that this show -- this very manly show with guns, and cannibals and all that -- is, at its core, about love. 

Kaylee's love for Simon -- and eventually his love for her.

Jayne's love for Kaylee -- though never expressly acknowledged it is quite obvious that Jayne, the ship's resident bad boy, was quite enamored with the adorable Kaylee

Wash & Zoe -- the only married couple on the show.

Simon's love for his sister River -- risking everything to rescue her from the Alliance. Protecting her from anyone who wishes her harm. He knows that it's likely the sister he knew will never be the same again, yet he tirelessly tries to save her.

Mal & Inara's love for one another --though ignored and pushed so deep down inside each of them they were bound to burst. I mean, come on people, he fights in a duel to defend her honor.

Love of freedom. Love of life. The crew's love for one another. Even their love for Serenity herself. Their ship. Their home.

Mal says it best at the end of the film while teaching River to fly her -- "Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse... but you take a boat in the air that you don't love... she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down... tells you she's hurting before she keels. Makes her a home."

--