Title: Firefly
Starring: Nathan Fillion {Captain Malcolm Reynolds}, Gina Torres {Zoe Washburne}, Alan Tudyk {Wash Washburne}, Morena Baccarin {Inara Serra}, Adam Baldwin {Jayne Cobb}, Jewel Staite {Kaylee Frye}, Sean Maher {Dr. Simon Tam}, Summer Glau {River Tam} and Ron Glass {Shepherd Book}.
Release Date: 2002
Genre: TV show,
Science Fiction, Action/Adventure, Drama, Space Adventure
Plot: Set five
hundred years in the future, space is tamed by adventuring people in spaceships
and struggling colonies on recently terraformed planets. A small group of people
in a little Firefly-class ship called Serenity are struggling to make a living
in smuggling and stay off the government's radar. Captain Malcolm Reynolds
heads up the gang and has served in the recent war, favoring the losing side of
the independence against the might of the Alliance government. This past
experience makes him wary of the shiny Alliance ships, the richy-rich kids of
the core planets and anything that just looks suspicious, but he makes up for
it by being extremely loyal and protective of his crew. His first mate, Zoë,
served alongside him in the war and keeps him pretty balanced, while her
husband, Wash, is the goofy talented pilot. Manning the engine room is sweet
cheerful Kaylee and in charge of "Public Relations" is trigger-happy
Jayne, a big beefy guy who shoots first and asks questions later. Balancing
this whole rag-tag group of renegades is Inara, a registered Companion who is
up to par with the government and provides a certain amount of "respectability"
to the crew.
When this core group completes a job and arrives on a lovely
little planet to sell the goods, they pick up a handful of passengers and
through an interesting turn of fate, end up with three new shipmates. Shepherd
Book is something of a missionary, traveling around and looking for folk who
need to hear the good word. Doctor Simon was once a very promising trauma surgeon
on one of the main central planets, until his genius sister River needed his
help. Now they're on the run with some very high prices on their heads and
dangerous people on the look-out for them. Thrown together, the crew get to
know each other and test their strengths and weaknesses in close quarters in
space, sometimes in combat and sometimes not. They go through ambushes,
kidnappings, failed missions, successful missions, the occasional brush with
the Alliance and even more terrifying, with the roving bands of dreaded
Reavers. And through it all, they learn who to trust and who to shoot on sight.
Likes/Dislikes: This
is a very creative high energy adventure with a story that easily spans each
episode while still making each unique and giving plenty of attention to the
world and characters. I have no idea why this show was ever canceled. The
dialogue is hilarious and wonderful, the characters written beautifully and the
world they live in is so much fun to explore, though it might be a good idea
not to poke around the darker spots too much. However, this isn't exactly a
family-friendly show. A registered companion in this world is someone akin to a
prostitute but better paid. Rather like old time concubines but able to pick
and chose their benefactors. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing in the development
of the story's world, it does get very annoying and uncomfortable when you
actually are shown some of those intimate business scenes. I don't mind the
scene with the married couple {though I'd much prefer if there were no sex
scenes at all}. Also, the Reavers are incredibly nasty creatures with rumors
about what horrors they do to people but thankfully all of this is off camera.
How creatures like that could exist is beyond me. But all the space travel is
lovely and I love how the characters interact with each other.
Rating: PG-18 and
up, mainly for content {could safely be viewed with parent armed with remote}.
Date Review Written: November
9th, 2015.
