Flyin' Through the 'Verse

Good characterization has a large impact on the quality and enjoyment level of folklore and fiction. This is certainly true in popular science fiction T.V. shows and movies. For example, when the creator of the original Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, created his space opera he made sure his three leading characters: Spock, Doctor McCoy, and Captain Kirk were well thought out and interacted with each other in interesting ways. This made the horribly done (at least by today’s standards) special effects and oftentimes-generic plots seem forgivable because of the way the three officers’ relationships evolved.
A few years ago, the creator and screenwriter of the hit T.V. shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Joss Whedon, created a science fiction/western show that explored the relationships of a much larger group of characters. Firefly, as Whedon called this new show, is set in a future five hundred years in the future. Terra-formed worlds on the “core” make up a tyrannical dominating empire called the Alliance. (And yes, we actually do see evidence of tyranny in this Alliance, unlike an assumed tyranny like that of the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars canon.*) A resistance called the Browncoats rose up against this Alliance, and lost. The captain of the Firefly class ship, Serenity, Malcolm Reynolds, was one of these resistance fighters. This was the backdrop for the show Firefly. Unfortunately, this show was pulled from Fox after just a few episodes due to an out of order showing of these episodes and poor ratings.
Slowly, a fan base began to grow out of the ashes of this condemned show. Calling themselves Browncoats after the resistance fighters in their beloved show, these fanatics spread Firefly across the globe using the DVD boxed set as their main weapon. Eventually, the movie company Universal saw how the DVD was in the top ten DVD list on the online mega store, Amazon and decided to propose a movie deal with Joss Whedon. He began to film his blockbuster, Serenity, named after Mal’s firefly shaped ship. Opening in theaters on September 30, 2005 in the United States, the movie has so far made a disappointing 36 million dollars.
Soon to be released on December 20, 2005 in the United States as a DVD, Serenity will hopefully make double the amount it has already gained. If only people knew what quality science fiction they were missing, this movie would gain a lot more money. Even if you do not enjoy science fiction normally, this series and movie will have you enticed. As I have stated earlier, this is mainly due to the characters and interactions that occur between the characters. Mal, a usually dark and brooding type is very interesting, because unlike most protagonists in modern films and shows he does not always do the right thing. In fact, he, as well as the rest of his eight (I could argue nine) crewmates, are thieves, thugs, and criminals, so they are usually doing the wrong thing. (At least the Alliance is convinced that what they are doing is wrong.) This is not a black and white cast (the good guys, and the bad guys) many of the characters are in the grey area, like they would be. The dialogue from both Firefly and Serenity are what one would come to expect from Whedon, witty interjections, but often emotionally driven thought provoking lines. Both the beauty and the ugliness of humanity shows through the ‘Verse (universe), as the crew of Serenity battles barbarian men called Reavers. The problems of this ‘Verse are all started and overcome by humans, without the absurdity of other science fiction shows filled with aliens. That is what people find so drawing to this show, the relationships between humans and also the humanity shining out in the themes of this world, the fact that its still a very human story underneath all the “fairy dust”.

(*I am of the camp that the rebel alliance was a terrorist organization…but that’s another article ☺)