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Last weekend, our gaming session ended by a late-night viewing of the pilot episode of "Firefly," and I immediately went out and ordered the entire series on Amazon. I have a perverse skepticism when "everyone" seems to be raving about something, so it was only when a close friend insisted we all watch that I was willing actually give it a chance.
Yesterday afternoon, I came home with a budding migraine and went to bed. Of course, after a long afternoon nap I couldn't fall asleep last night, so I ended up watching episodes 3 through 8, a couple of them with my daughter curled up next to me on the couch. (She ended up getting sick last night, including an episode that required towels and Pine-Sol to deal with.)
I really like the characters, especially because you can't figure them out all at once. I like the way they handle Inara, the licensed companion. I like the fact that these people have to depend on each other, but don't always like - or trust - each other. I like the fact that the captain isn't a generic hero, although he usually manages to do the right thing eventually. I like that Zoe can hold her own in any brawl but has a sweetly sexy relationship with her slightly goofy husband. I think that Summer Glau, the actress who plays Rain, is doing some amazing things as her character is slowly revealed.
From the pilot episode on, I keep thinking of the original Battlestar Galactica. It first hit when Mal and Zoe were striding across some generic piece of southern California backlot toward their rendezvous with Patience, their holsters strapped just above their knees. I swear they looked like Apollo and Starbuck heading toward yet another lost human settlement that looked like an old west town. Like the Galactica crew, the Serenity crew has limited resources, no external allies, and most of the places they visist are far below their own tech level. Inara is what Cassiopeia should have been, instead of quickly backing away from her background as a "socialator" and making her a medical technician.
There's an unpretentiousness about the series that I like. This is quality work: very nice performances, snappy writing, twists of plot and characterization -- but none of it feels forced.
I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series, but already depressed about the fact that it comes to an all-too-sudden end.
Yesterday afternoon, I came home with a budding migraine and went to bed. Of course, after a long afternoon nap I couldn't fall asleep last night, so I ended up watching episodes 3 through 8, a couple of them with my daughter curled up next to me on the couch. (She ended up getting sick last night, including an episode that required towels and Pine-Sol to deal with.)
I really like the characters, especially because you can't figure them out all at once. I like the way they handle Inara, the licensed companion. I like the fact that these people have to depend on each other, but don't always like - or trust - each other. I like the fact that the captain isn't a generic hero, although he usually manages to do the right thing eventually. I like that Zoe can hold her own in any brawl but has a sweetly sexy relationship with her slightly goofy husband. I think that Summer Glau, the actress who plays Rain, is doing some amazing things as her character is slowly revealed.
From the pilot episode on, I keep thinking of the original Battlestar Galactica. It first hit when Mal and Zoe were striding across some generic piece of southern California backlot toward their rendezvous with Patience, their holsters strapped just above their knees. I swear they looked like Apollo and Starbuck heading toward yet another lost human settlement that looked like an old west town. Like the Galactica crew, the Serenity crew has limited resources, no external allies, and most of the places they visist are far below their own tech level. Inara is what Cassiopeia should have been, instead of quickly backing away from her background as a "socialator" and making her a medical technician.
There's an unpretentiousness about the series that I like. This is quality work: very nice performances, snappy writing, twists of plot and characterization -- but none of it feels forced.
I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series, but already depressed about the fact that it comes to an all-too-sudden end.
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