The Pop Pirate

My personal Firefly story

Previously, I told the story of Joss Whedon's tenacity in getting Serenity made. Now, here's my story of how I got into Firefly, and why I love it so, done as a challenge from Serenity: The Official Movie Website:

I don’t like TV.

Even “good” TV shows don’t generally excite me. Sure, some of them are good for a half-hour of entertainment- a laugh, a thrill or a scare. I can dig the intensity of Lost, or chuckle at the hi-jinks on Desperate Housewives, and I certainly laugh at Scrubs and Arrested Development. My wife can’t get enough of Buffy and Angel reruns, and I enjoyed them the first time around, and I always appreciated the cleverness of the writing and characters, but I never really got “into” them. Maybe it’s the supernatural elements of many shows, maybe it’s the formulaic plotlines, or maybe it’s the commercials, but television shows really just didn’t get under my skin.

And then there was Firefly. I admit I was a latecomer to the Firefly phenomenon. I’m a fan of good Sci-Fi movies (The Matrix, Donnie Darko, and Contact are among my favorites), but Sci-Fi TV never did it for me. Aliens played by humans in make-up and warp-drives always grated on my scientific sensibilities. I guess that’s why I didn’t catch it when it was on the air. In fact, I didn’t watch an episode of Firefly until May 2005.

I mentioned to a friend of mine that I had seen the first Serenity Trailer online, and asked him what he thought. He told me that he loved the series and that he was very excited for the film. I asked him why I should watch Firefly, and his response may seem strange to you, but it got me excited in my infinite science-geekdom. He said the four words that gave me my first impression of the show, which made me want to watch, but was only the tip of the iceberg of my affinity for the show. In his best “Comic Book Guy” voice he said to me: “Best. Space. Physics. Ever.”

So we bought the DVDs and started watching. My friend was right: Firefly does have the best space physics ever: nothing stops or goes without due force, things don’t combust without the benefit of air and of course, there is no sound in space. But this is just a symptom of the true appeal of the show: reality. Sure, it’s set 500 years in the future on a spaceship, but this is possibly the most real television show I’ve ever seen. It’s the characters, it’s the sets, it’s the props, and it’s the stories. They are free of the contrivance and artifice of even the best shows in TV land. Every person has three dimensions, every choice has a reason and a consequence- every action has a reaction. I love the one-liners and the wit. I marvel at the action and the special effects. I get lost in the banter and the conflicts. But Firefly truly gets under my skin; I get “into” it for one reason: it’s so beautifully, heartbreakingly real.

posted by Jeff @ 5:57 PM