Shiny

Over the last week or so, my husband and I watched Firefly in its entirety, followed of course by Serenity. I wonder why it took me so long to finally sit down and watch it. I think over the last few years I became aware that Firefly existed, simply from being on the internet, and I understood it was cancelled before its time and had a cult TV status due to its fanbase. I already knew those things. The difference now is that I understand why people were so distraught over the cancellation.

Something I've noticed when I watch anything by Joss Whedon--he does ensembles well. I am basing this on my years of watching Buffy and Angel (and, of course, The Avengers, but let's talk TV). Whedon strikes a good balance in his works, even with (or especially because of) so many different characters. He shows you who these people are individually, and who they are as a group. The show is never just about one person, it's about many people, who together make a unit of some sort--family, crew, Scoobies, what have you. I suppose you can argue that those are all types of family. If you were to ask me right now who my favorite character on Firefly is, I don't think I could pick just one for you. And I think that's a good thing.

The thing I love about Firefly is you can try to break down the characters into basic categories, but there is so much to each individual that it becomes impossible to fit them into a particular trope. "Space western" doesn't encompass the dynamics between the people in this universe. You look at traditional western movies and you get several things: the good guys, the bad guys, the damsels in distress, etc. Nothing is that black-and-white in Firefly.

If I go on about all the nuances and themes and trope-breaking in Firefly, we'll be here all night.

To sum up....

Now that I've seen Firefly, I can understand the devastation the fans, Whedon, and members of the cast must have felt when it ended... because I feel a bit of that myself. Especially after realizing that had the show not been cancelled and had contracts for the movie worked out differently, certain beloved characters would not have died (grr... argh...).

See what I did with that last bit? Okay, I'm done now... the point is, there was so much potential cut short.

On a related note, I've never been one to go out and buy comics for myself. Sure, I'll read some of the ones my husband has, but I've never gone out of my way for them. However, now that I know the Serenity stories continue in comic book form, it's starting to look like that's going to change very quickly.