I admit, that's quite a strong thing to say, but I have an example for you to illustrate what I mean. You see, I'm very fond of science fiction. I'm one of those folk who think that SF tells us a lot about who we are and why we are. On a deeper level SF productions (films, novels, series) tell us something about the time and civilisation we live in, e.g. what can "Aliens" in retrospect tell us about the eighties. Of course, a lot of rubbish has been produced over the last few years, Firefly not being one of those. Who
what
Firefly? Of course, you've probably never heard of Firefly. Well, that's just my point. You see, Firefly is that great series created by Josh Whedon, the man behind Buffy and Angel, the man who perfected the idea of telling stories about vampires whilst actually telling us about family, friendship, well, life actually. By telling stories about the dead, he upheld the living a mirror. Well, this man made a SF series about a crew on board the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity.
Captain Malcom Reynolds is a former galactic war veteran who is the captain of the Firefly class transport ship "Serenity". The other people on the crew list are: ensign Zoe Warren, Zoe's husband pilot Hoban Washburne, muscular former combat soldier Jayne Cobb (Buffy viewers may recognize him for being one of Whedon's favourite vampires), young engineer Kaylee Frye, former Alliance medical officer Simon Tamm, his teenage sister River, priest Shepard Book and companion Inara Serra. They all have their reasons for being on board Serenity, as the spaceship crew travels across the outskirts of outer space looking for food, money and anything to make a living on.
Main concern for the Serenity crew is to keep out of reach of the Alliance, an interplanetary organisation controlling the human inhabited part of space. The Alliance didn't get control until a bloody war was waged on the resistance, the latter consisting mainly of the so called brown coats, captain Malcolm Reynolds being one of them. It was at Serenity that a last stand of the rebels was crushed by the Alliance, leaving the rebels either dead or on the run.
Whedons universe is a melting pot of cultures, non of them being alien. It is a relief to watch a SF series without prosthetics. Indeed, Firefly is best subscribed as a western in space. It is the language that lets us know that we're not in the now; only a few factions have survived the struggles for power, China and America being the most dominant. As a result everybody speaks with a strong southern American accent mixed with Chinese. This Chinese can be pretty handy since it is a great way to avoid sensor ship. Now, "Gao yang jong duh goo yang" (Motherless goats of all motherless goats) is a curse no network will find offensive. Nor is "Ai ya, wo mun wan luh" (We're in big trouble!). However, the often used "gorram" is a good example; it can be used either as "goddamn" or "shit", like in the sentence "This here gorram ship ain't worth a dime", or "You keep talking that gorram in ma face will turn your skin blue!".
What makes Firefly really good though is the cast and characters. They're all very good actors, and the characters are developed very well. To establish this Whedon took his time in setting up the story line. It is because of this that the network got reserved. They wanted an easy action packed funny series where viewers could hook on to right from the first episode. Firefly is just that, but at the same time it brings a quality and originality that is unparalleled, and that may take some time to get used to. And that is what the network got really nervous about. So what did they do? Pull the plug. Just like that. Therefore Firefly didn't even make it one season. It's only 14 episodes, leaving the viewer with tantalizing questions like, why is that little girl River so dangerous, who is this priest, what's with the "hands of blue", how solid is the marriage between Zoe and Hoban? Of course, you don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about here. So please: watch the series and tell people about it. Let them know that networks can be very, very stupid.
PS: please don't copy the Firefly DVD's. Every DVD sold will prove Josh Whedon right!
Captain Malcom Reynolds is a former galactic war veteran who is the captain of the Firefly class transport ship "Serenity". The other people on the crew list are: ensign Zoe Warren, Zoe's husband pilot Hoban Washburne, muscular former combat soldier Jayne Cobb (Buffy viewers may recognize him for being one of Whedon's favourite vampires), young engineer Kaylee Frye, former Alliance medical officer Simon Tamm, his teenage sister River, priest Shepard Book and companion Inara Serra. They all have their reasons for being on board Serenity, as the spaceship crew travels across the outskirts of outer space looking for food, money and anything to make a living on.
Main concern for the Serenity crew is to keep out of reach of the Alliance, an interplanetary organisation controlling the human inhabited part of space. The Alliance didn't get control until a bloody war was waged on the resistance, the latter consisting mainly of the so called brown coats, captain Malcolm Reynolds being one of them. It was at Serenity that a last stand of the rebels was crushed by the Alliance, leaving the rebels either dead or on the run.
Whedons universe is a melting pot of cultures, non of them being alien. It is a relief to watch a SF series without prosthetics. Indeed, Firefly is best subscribed as a western in space. It is the language that lets us know that we're not in the now; only a few factions have survived the struggles for power, China and America being the most dominant. As a result everybody speaks with a strong southern American accent mixed with Chinese. This Chinese can be pretty handy since it is a great way to avoid sensor ship. Now, "Gao yang jong duh goo yang" (Motherless goats of all motherless goats) is a curse no network will find offensive. Nor is "Ai ya, wo mun wan luh" (We're in big trouble!). However, the often used "gorram" is a good example; it can be used either as "goddamn" or "shit", like in the sentence "This here gorram ship ain't worth a dime", or "You keep talking that gorram in ma face will turn your skin blue!".
What makes Firefly really good though is the cast and characters. They're all very good actors, and the characters are developed very well. To establish this Whedon took his time in setting up the story line. It is because of this that the network got reserved. They wanted an easy action packed funny series where viewers could hook on to right from the first episode. Firefly is just that, but at the same time it brings a quality and originality that is unparalleled, and that may take some time to get used to. And that is what the network got really nervous about. So what did they do? Pull the plug. Just like that. Therefore Firefly didn't even make it one season. It's only 14 episodes, leaving the viewer with tantalizing questions like, why is that little girl River so dangerous, who is this priest, what's with the "hands of blue", how solid is the marriage between Zoe and Hoban? Of course, you don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about here. So please: watch the series and tell people about it. Let them know that networks can be very, very stupid.
PS: please don't copy the Firefly DVD's. Every DVD sold will prove Josh Whedon right!