Firefly TV Review

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.