The story of "Firefly" is interesting. It aired back in 2002, while Fox spent two months ruining it back then, amongst other failures airing it in the wrong order, and that should have been it from Joss Whedon's Sci-Fi Western-ish-outlaws. Ah, well... The Browncoats aren't likely to lay down without a fight. The devoted fan-base made numerous attempts to resurrect it, and in 2005 a movie was made to tie up some lose ends.
I didn't watch it until earlier this year for the very first time. There had been rumors all over the 'verse about this show; word of mouth speaking about the greatest mistake ever made in Television, the worst cancellation ever, best show ever made and so on. I kept saving it for a rainy day, somewhat reluctantly as these kind of word of mouth usually tend to be exaggerated. Boy... was I ever wrong.
This time I went into another rerun remembering it as one of the greatest shows ever made, if not the very best. For the first time in my life I've had to get hold of a TV-show in BluRay-quality. It's worth every disc or GB to have it available in the very best possible quality. I walked into it with a maximum score of 6 on my old TV-show dice, a ranking system I'll leave behind forever from this day despite not having decided on which to begin with, and a 10.0 on TV.com (as one of just two shows). In other words. This is the shit.
Whatever "Firefly" lose in surprises and suspense on reruns, it takes back tenfold in how well the characters stay true to their core throughout the short-lived series. There's no doubt creator Joss Whedon knew his characters very well, and used that to the advantage of the show as often as possible. It comes natural when Jayne changes his mind about helping strangers, as soon as he's told they're whores, it comes natural when Simon talks about another kind of life and Kaylee feels insulted when Serenity is spoken ill of. It comes natural when the patron says the girl is a witch and our Captain replies: "Yes, but she's our witch." "Firefly" is packed with excellent writing and a cast that delivers in every role.
There are some highs that far surpass most others; like The Hero of Canton in Jaynestown or River's dance quickly learned in Safe. Scenes where the creator and writers show a sublime understanding of their created 'verse as well as characters. Moments that last in memory long after the final end credits.
Whedon did so much correct with this show, it's a mystery anyone could pull their plug. The futuristic worlds and moons, the dual language of English and Chinese, the moving home giving them endless opportunities thanks to their created 'verse, reavers, war veterans, outsiders, a wide range of diverse characters, and arch mysteries surrounding several of the leads, just to mention a few of the highlights.
There were plenty of brilliant choices made to assure the possibility of a long lived show that could keep the quality high, and most important of them all was the melting of a familiar setting in Serenity with the endless possibilities within terraformed moons and planets. The fans would always feel home with the bridge, the cargo area or Kaylee's machine-room, but only the imagination could stop them from doing whatever they liked on a moon far far away. That's just impossible to do in any other genre than Sci-Fi.
Not all characters got to blossom, and we'll forever have to wonder what kind of stories Shepherd might have got into with his mysterious status and knowledge. Wash got to fly impressive and even be jealous, but what kind of story was in his past? Mal, Zoe and Jayne got to be the catalysts, the fighters and the leading trio most of the time, but every member of the crew filled important roles, both with the storytelling and the possibilities. It's a shame Whedon & Co never got to explore more of the possibilities.
When it comes to the 2005-movie ending the story of our beloved crew; Whedon took on an impossible job to give his fans some sort of closure. It couldn't possibly be done in a single movie, and he stumbled (as had to be expected), but he got there. That's an impressive feat. He managed to take the reavers into the story, tie up the mystery of River and deliver a couple of fighting scenes that are remarkable in several ways. I've rated the movie on its own earlier, which isn't easy on the back of a TV-show storyline, but I think it's much fairer to rank it along with the episodes we got from the show and keep in mind Whedon never got a fair chance to develop it as it should have been.
"Firefly" isn't perfection, all episodes aren't amazing and all stories aren't able to keep you on the edge of your seat, but overall all we can do is rate it based on what we got served and don't blame Whedon for Fox' mistakes. It might not be perfection, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is as close as we'll ever get in my lifetime. It's the show every other show have to compare against, and the best evidence quality doesn't ensure a long healthy life.
★★★★★ Overall Quality
★★★★★ Revisit Value
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