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Firefly - The Complete Series

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin; Release Date: October 19, 2004

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Firefly Frickin' Rocks the Roots of Steampunk

May 21, 2010

by ArtemisThistle

Rating:

Firefly is quinessential steampunk. Even better, it's western steampunk combined with spacepunk: the wild west- in space! Firefly presents an elaborate, brassy atmoshpere, packs a punchy script with dark, quirky humor, and pays its dues to classic westerns- shoot outs in the desert, bar fights and gambling. Plus, it's full of powerful female characters, who include an independent (and zen) sex worker, a drop-dead gorgeous leiutenant who can shoot a rifle while leaping sideways through the air, and the ship's brilliant, goofy, mechanic. Even River, the psychic genious child who gets picked on for having schizophrenic episodes related to government experiments, mentions pleasantly to an antagonist, "I can kill you with my brain."

The show also provides the epitomies of the old standbys: the brooding but noble captain, the endearing, macho backstabber who could sell them out at any moment, a preacher with a mysterious past, and a classy doctor learning just how wild the lawless backwaters of space really are.

The series showed for only one season, and was aired out of order. Watching the series chronologically reveals a tight plot line with plenty of twists and as many dusty shoot outs as you want. There are even horses and cattle wrangling.

The plot winds around the the Captain and Leiutenant, war veterans from a doomed battle. Turned lawless themselves, they smuggle cargo across the galaxy while running from the feds. Most of the crew are wanted for something, and one in particular is being chased mercilessly: River, the runaway from a government experient who escaped with the help of her brother, a prestigious, young doctor.

I especially appreciate sex positive character roles in the show. Inara, a "Companion" registered with a guild, like a union, offers a more enlightened sci-fi lense through which to view the old western characters from "houses of ill repute." Plus, I applaud the choice of a female identified character for the ship's mechanic. Quirky and small-town-innocent, though not chaste in the least, Kaylie continues to astonish as the universe's most talented space mechanic. Spaceship mechanics "just talk to me," she says in a Kansas drawl.

Steam punk has its roots in early science fiction literature, the edisonade, a type of English dime novel in which a mad inventor builds a steam powered machine to carry him across the New World, exploring and fighting savages. This trend eventually gave way to science fiction that made angry response to naive colonialism (hence the punk). In the last half of the 20th century sci fi writers explored and exhausted the social implications of imperialism, colonialism, xenocide, and patriarchy. Sci Fi is a playground for imagining ways out of what seems wrong and out of control with the "real" world, while calling out the "real" world for its superficiality and greed.

Firefly offers critique of our own puritanical sex culture, corrupt police force, and tyrranical government. It presents the dark side while introducing alternatives we could embrace.

In short, the characters are hot and funny, the action is wild, and the script is clever. Joss Whedon knew what he was doing. The setting is devine: dusty cattle ranch one moment, deep space the next. The ships cozy innards leave lots of room for amusing crew bonding and surprise attacks.

Disclaimer: the theme song is horrible. Truly brutal, bad songwriting. For fun, try making up your own words to the song during the opening credits- the music is slow and the lyrics are painful.

Firefly Frickin' Rocks the Roots of Steampunk

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More Firefly - The Complete Series reviews

review by Crotchetyoldfan. February 27, 2011

posted in SF Signal

Firefly & Serenity: Comparing the book to the movie

Up until about half a year ago or so, I'd managed to avoid Firefly. Sure I'd heard lots of fans saying great things about it and I was certainly aware of all of the attention Joss Whedon was attracting (brilliant, down-trodden savior of all that is meaningful on TV), but I had this little problem believing any of it. I'd been enticed into watching a couple of episodes of Buffy and wrote it and Whedon off as trash. Funny, sometimes high-concept (over the top) trash, … more

Comment Compliments (11)

review by einhverfr. December 16, 2010

Something different, but not for the kids.

I very much enjoyed this series. The basic premise is that of a dystopian Western in Space, where a totalitarian government has an iron grip on the most developed planets, and the less developed are left to fend for themselves. These outer worlds are relatively undeveloped and most of the technology seems like a mix of 19th-20th century, and near future technology. This is a series where horse-riding cowboys with assault rifles and space ships are found in close proximity. … more

Comments (9) Compliments (16)

Quick Tip by psikeyhackr. April 23, 2011

posted in Forbidden Planet - Sci-Fi Books & Films!

A Quick Tip by psikeyhackr

Here is Firefly from before Star Trek, 1962 LOL

Comments (1) Compliments (3)

review by zombiedoc. May 21, 2010

Consistently voted the best scifi series for a reason

I would reccommend this to any fans of science fiction as well as fans of Joss Whedon Firefly is, in 3 words, cowboys in space. And in one word: awesome. The characters are by far the best part of this series. They are well developed and incredibly rich. Even Jayne, who you love to hate, is always consistently Jayne. We begin to feel like we intimately know these characters and grow to love them. A wonderful series, well worth your time. … more

Comments (1) Compliments (24)

Quick Tip by SheilaDeeth. October 01, 2010

A Quick Tip by SheilaDeeth

How did they manage to cross sci fi with westerns, and then do all the swearing in Chinese! Great series. Wish it had lasted longer.

Comment Compliment

review by psikeyhackr. May 09, 2010

posted in Forbidden Planet - Sci-Fi Books & Films!

Objects in Space

I have not seen most of Firefly. Most of what I saw didn't attract me. The Western Sci-fi combo just didn't turn me on. But one episode I encountered was really good, Objects In Space. But it occurred entirely on the ship and the Western motif did not enter into it. River is acting weird and they are wondering if she is a danger to the crew but a bounty hunter gets on board trying to kidnap River but her psychic powers make that … more

Comment Compliments (12)

Quick Tip by EvilPlunderBunny. June 15, 2010

A Quick Tip by EvilPlunderBunny

a great show that was cancelled too soon.

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see all Firefly - The Complete Series reviews (8)

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About this movie

Wiki

Joss Whedon follows up his hugely successful BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER series for Fox with FIREFLY, an action-packed fusion of the science-fiction and western genres. Set five hundred years in the future, FIREFLY depicts a troubled world after a massive universal civil war. The resulting power party, the Alliance, control everyone and everything, except for Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and the crew of his spaceship, Serenity. As the Alliance continues to wreak havoc on the world, Malcolm does what he can to restore order to his surroundings.

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