I’ve never given this show much thought, pretty much expecting it to be more or less another Stargate SG1 type show. After seeing Serenity on HBO, I DVRed a eleven episode marathon on SciFi and have gotten to about episode 4 or so.
So I have to say I’m fairly impressed. The characters are interesting as is the terraformed single non-Earth solarsystem universe.
Favorite moment so far:
In the train robbery episode, Mal gives back the money to a hired goon and tells him they will stay out of each other’s way. The goon says he will hunt them wherever they go and a disappointed Mal kicks him into the engine.
He then repeats the offer to the next hired good who “speaks for everyone when he says they are totally on board with that plan”
The show does remind me of a live-action version of elements of the animes Outlaw Star, Trigun and Cowboy Bebop:
-Mishmash of Old Western, Asian, Bladerunner-esque cyberpunk and other cultures
-Rag-tag group of misfits on a crappy old ship
-Terraformed solar system
-Crime syndicates, corrupt oppressive governments
-Weird anachronisms
and so on
Also, the new Battlestar Galactica borrows heavily from Firefly’s style:
-quiet outer space
-lots of hand-cam and snap-zoom shots
The same f/x team did both shows, which accounts for the similarity in style. In fact, if you look closely in the Battlestar pilot, you can see Serenity in the fleet. (-:
If you’re up to episoode 4, you’re just about to hit the real meat of the series. I’ll bet your opinion goes up even more by the time you hit, oh, episode 8 or 9.
I also DVRed the Sci Fi channel marathon. I wish I had been on board when this was in first run, but I’m having a blast with it so far. And I’ve only watched two episodes. To me, it’s like a TV series based on the the Biran Daley Han Solo adventures from the 80’s.
Looks like the DVD set is going to be on my Christmas list.
Don’t you people read? It’s been a winning formula since Jason, Herakules, Atalanta, Orpheus, Castor, Pollux
and Argus sailed the Argo 2,400 years ago.
The “ragtag group” formula was well-established (some might even say “tired”) by 25,000 - 15,000 BC, with the Lascaux cave paintings, featuring the exploits of Handprint, Man With Spear, and Fornicating Bull.
It’s the “ragtag group travelling in a vehicle through uncharted land” motif. It’s unclear to me where the Lascrauxians were travelling, and in what conveyance.
Fot those of you who are new to Firefly, the episodes go on up untill the last episode, no 14. Then the series was abruptly cancelled. Joss Whedon, the maker of Firefly, later made a movie, called Serenity, intended for the big screen, that starts where episode 14 ended and then brings the whole story with the same characters to a grande finale.
So the correct order of watching is: 14 episodes of Firefly, then the movie Serenity.
Give me a rather large sized break - Paramecium were doing this ragtag misfits gig long before cave painting was even a glimmer in some protohuman’s miniscule brain!
(And don’t forget the rope.)
It’s been a winning formula at least since 
