The leftward and other blatherings of Span (now with Snaps!)

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Catching the bug - Firefly & Serenity

I've been a bit late getting on this here wagon, but a friend recently leant me the complete series of Firefly, plus the movie Serenity, and I've spent most evenings of the last fortnight or so watching it with Nickname Pending and Mara in front of a nice warm fire, sometimes with popcorn or cake.

I can finally join the ranks of Maia and Make Tea Not War, not to mention some of the posters and commenters at Alas, and gush.

It's not just that it's got strong women characters (and some strong male characters who don't treat the women like dirt). It's not just that it's a western, in space (!) It's not even that it's the first sci-fi series I've seen in ages where you didn't notice the bad effects because the plot and characters were commanding all your attention.

It's funny. Really funny. And, after hearing it 13 times over approx 10 days, I wasn't sick of the theme song either (although I'm not sure I could actually sing it, unlike the fans on the Q&A extra).

I'm quite sad that there will be no more - the series was cancelled while they were still filming and the filum apparently didn't do well enough to secure a sequel.

But that does mean that I'm free to make speculations about what happens next which make me feel better.

In particular I'd like to think that Zoe is pregnant, it makes me feel less upset about Wash getting killed off in the movie. Zoe and Wash did have an argument about having a child in Heart of Gold, and a baby would be an interesting addition to the crew, especially now that River is no longer really a child.

While I liked the movie I did prefer the telly series - the violent scenes were shorter and less gratuitous, and there was more ability to develop the character arcs. Also the promotion for Firefly didn't seem to include dramatically inflating River's bust, unlike the graphics for Serenity which ticked me off.

So now that I've belatedly discovered the wonderfulness that is Joss Whedon, it's on to Buffy next!

9 comments:

Amanda said...

Oh you are in for such a treat. How I envy you with all of Buffy to watch. Then Angel after that.

Maia said...

Shiny - welcome to the club - Joss Whedon is your master now.

You have not experienced the greatness TV can achieve until you've watched Season 2 of Buffy. It's so cool that you've got that ahead of you.

Stephanie said...

I've offically been away from the west too long as I have no idea what you are talking about except for buffy.

Commie Mutant Traitor said...

Yes, I was thinking Zoe is likely to be pregnant too. I can't believe the networks are stupid enough to not make more Firefly...

Span said...

Thanks everyone for welcoming me to the fold ;-) Yes I am certainly looking forward to revelling in all the Whedon I have to slosh around in! Finally I'll be able to get those injokes.

Ghet - in regard to Kaylee's pendant, do you take that to mean good things for her and Simon? Cos that would be nice. I'm going to pretend that they aren't doomed.

Span said...

Thanks Ghet, the subtlety was something I just soaked up and hadn't really thought about before reading that, but it is definitely one of the Wonders of Whedon. If nothing else it makes the watcher feel smart when they work something out ;-)

llew said...

I'm a recent convert too.

I just wish we'd got the Shepherd & the Companion's backstories.

Span said...

I'm really holding out on watching the last little bit of Firefly I haven't seen yet - the extras on the dvd boxed set. I really ought to return them to the friend who graciously leant them to me. I just don't want it to be over. But then I guess I can save up, buy the DVDs and watch them any damn time I want!

Also I keep finding myself thinking a little about the original Star Trek (please don't shoot me). It was cancelled and then became movies, and then became the Next Generation, and so on and so on. Am I just fooling myself to entertain these hopes?

llew said...

Did you watch Serenity first? And then crave knowing who those people were & how they got to where they did? I suspect that's the best way to watch it. Knowing the end doesn't detract from watching the series.

Anyway, there is always hope for more :)

BTW, the last episode on the dvd is a goodie.

And Serenity is selling for $14 in some places, Firefly has dropped price dramatically too.