Firefly: The Complete Series (Box Set)

Introduction

Did you see which way the bandwagon went? Not only am I unfashionably late to the Firefly party (by seven years), I'm also approaching it ass-backwards, having seen the Serenity spin-off movie first. It was the sci-fi movie to watch in the year of Star Wars Episode III, but even then I left it till I found it for a couple of pounds in a bargain bucket. I was, and still am a sci-fi nut, but that has been tempered of late by bitter experience. I used to lap up space opera, take in every show irregardless of quality, and have spent many a happy hour indulging in Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, and of course the granddaddy of them all, Star Trek. I also loved the modern iterations, with shows like Stargate and Farscape, and Babylon 5 regularly circled in red in the TV guide. But somewhere along the way, my enthusiasm for these shows began to wane, the writers began to hit that wall of diminishing returns, and with shows like Voyager and Enterprise, Andromeda and even nu-BSG, I've long felt that this is one genre that needs to be put out its misery.

However, apparently there is a new Star Trek movie coming out this year, and I have to admit, I am feeling the teeniest bit excited about it. I'm in the mood once more for a little space opera in my TV diet, and after several years of dithering, I've taken advantage of a bargain and nabbed the Firefly boxset. "It's completely different from the usual sci-fi," they said, "It's the best bits from Star Wars, the bits with Han Solo," they said and "It's sort of like Cowboy Bebop", they said, and quite understandably for those reasons, it's been on my to watch list for years. Also, coming from the creative intellect of Joss Whedon, the man who gave us Buffy and Angel, it should have that trademark wit and dark outlook. The movie was pretty fine as well, so I have high hopes for the series that inspired it. I am finally in the mood again to watch a little TV Space Opera. Don't disappoint me Firefly.

Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds was a sergeant on the side of the Independent Worlds during the last war against the Alliance of Central Worlds. He wound up leading a brave last stand during the final battle of the war, before his own side threw in the towel and hung him out to dry. Now he's the embittered captain of the transport ship Serenity, following a somewhat dubious career with fellow veteran Zoë Washburne. Her husband 'Wash' is the ship's pilot, the engineer is a rosy-cheeked optimist named Kaylee, and Jayne provides muscle, cynicism and aggravation. There's an ambassador of sorts on the ship, a 'Companion' named Inara, and early on in their adventures a priest, Shepherd Book, as well as fugitive siblings Simon and River Tam join them. Their mission is to keep their heads above water, taking jobs both legal and illegal, trying to stay one step ahead of the dictatorial Alliance, while avoiding the cannibalistic Reavers that roam the outer reaches of known space. The complete series of fourteen episodes is presented across four discs.

Disc 1

1. Serenity
Scavenging from a wreck is risky enough, but it's downright suicidal when it's an Alliance wreck, and the salvage is traceable contraband. Running low on fuel and money, and having lost the first buyer who got spooked at the Alliance brand on the salvage, Mal needs to find another buyer and take on some passengers to make a quick buck. Mal's not too fond of religion, but the preacher Shepherd Book comes bearing strawberries. The upright and manicured Doctor Simon Tam practically screams Alliance, but what's he keeping in the box? At least Lawrence Dobson seems like a normal enough, fare-paying passenger. Now the problem is, how to sell the contraband without the passengers becoming any the wiser? It's not easy when there's a mole on board.

The commentary on this episode features Executive Producer Joss Whedon, and Nathan Fillion, who played Mal Reynolds. This is recorded after the show was cancelled, but sour grapes are remarkably absent (probably because it was prior to the movie), although there is some mention of the hoops the network demanded be jumped through. It's a light, entertaining track that's well worth a listen.

2. The Train Job
It's Unification Day, a day that Mal usually spends in a bar, picking a fight with fans of the Alliance. They also find a new job before the barroom brawl, one that leads the Firefly Class ship to Adelai Niska, a wholly unpleasant man who wants a certain something stolen from a moving train. Mal's policy of not asking any questions is going to come back to bite him.

Another commentary already! This time Tim Minear joins Joss Whedon, and they explain how this episode became the second pilot, when Serenity was rejected, and how it was written over a frantic weekend. That's the network for you.

3. Bushwhacked
A friendly ballgame is interrupted by a proximity alarm. The Serenity has encountered a derelict, lost in space. Exploring the ship, the crew find a Marie Celeste scenario, with food still uneaten on the tables, and the ship's power simply allowed to run down. The ship looks to be completely abandoned, but when they find the sole survivor cowering in a crawlspace, Mal knows exactly what happened to the ship.

Disc 2

4. Shindig
The Serenity heads back to Persephone, with the crew looking for some R&R, while Mal looks for some more work. R&R for Inara means more work as a companion, accompanying aristocrat Atherton Wing to a high-class ball. It's something that puts Mal's nose out of joint before they even land. He has to go to the same ball to meet Warwick Harrow, a man in need of some discreet offworld transportation, but seeing Inara treated like property gets his blood up. The thing about the upper classes though is that they don't have barroom brawls; they have duels.

There is a commentary on this episode from writer Jane Espenson, actress Morena Baccarin (Inara), and costume designer Shawna Trpcic. It isn't as accessible or entertaining as a Whedon track, but it makes up for it in terms of information overload.

5. Safe
Mal has a shipload of cattle to sell, but their destination isn't the friendliest of planets. Their customers aren't exactly the most legal of tradesmen, while the hills are populated with superstitious folk who have a habit of kidnapping visitors. So it is that River and Simon are snatched from the town, while the Serenity crew get caught in the middle of a gunfight between the ranchers and the lawmen. When Shepherd Book is shot, and their doctor absent, Mal may just have to abandon the siblings to their fate in order to save the preacher.

6. Our Mrs. Reynolds
When the crew of the Serenity help out a somewhat quaint community with an outlaw problem, they're happy to partake of the celebration that ensues. Mal isn't expecting to get a wife from the deal though. But they do indeed have a stowaway on Serenity, the grateful townspeople have gifted Mal with Saffron, and Saffron is happy enough to have a husband who doesn't smell of livestock. It's cause for great amusement on the ship, but Mal isn't seeing the funny side. Besides, Saffron has a whole different punchline in mind.

7. Jaynestown
Their next stopping off point is a planet whose chief export is mud. They also have a strict no guns policy, which makes Jayne nervous. Actually he's more nervous than he should be, as when he was last here, he made quite an indelible impression, one he doesn't want to be reminded of. While Inara visits with the Governor's son, in order to 'initiate' him, Mal and the others try to quietly pick up some contraband. That discretion lasts until they see the grand statue dedicated to Jayne in the town square.

Disc 3

8. Out of Gas
There's been an explosion on Serenity, the propulsion is offline and life-support is down. The ship is adrift in a rarely frequented backwater of space, and the crew have abandoned ship in the two shuttles. All except Mal Reynolds, who currently lies, slowly bleeding to death in the cargo bay. It's the sort of situation that could move a man to reminiscing.

Executive producer Tim Minear, and director David Solomon come together to talk about this episode. It's a more technical commentary, looking at the making of, all the way from the script to the final edit.

9. Ariel
Simon Tam comes up with a get rich quick scheme when they visit one of the core worlds. Alliance hospitals, as well as being guarded fortresses also have a major stock of drugs on hand, drugs that will fetch a pretty price on the open market. The Doctor has the plan worked out to the finest detail, and it has the added benefit of allowing him access to technology that will tell him what the Alliance did to his sister. It's foolproof, only he hasn't counted on the fool that is Jayne.

10. War Stories
It turns out that Adelai Niska (The Train Job) can hold a grudge. He seizes his chance when Serenity wanders into his web trying to sell some of those expensive drugs they liberated previously. Uncharacteristically, Wash and Zoë are having a rough moment in their marriage, which is why the easy-going Wash accompanies Mal to the planet for the deal, which is when the two of them get nabbed by Niska's men, and taken back to his space station to experience the dubious delights of his torture chamber.

Nathan Fillion (Mal), and Alan Tudyk (Wash) get together to comment on the episode, and it's a nice scene specific commentary, with plenty of amusing anecdotes, and wry quips about being tortured.

11. Trash
When the episode begins with Mal, stranded, naked, in the middle of a desert, it poses a couple of questions. The story began earlier, when Mal's 'wife' Saffron showed up again. Before he had the chance to shoot her, she offered him the deal of a lifetime, a nice juicy, lucrative bit of theft. Questions answered then.

Disc 4

12. The Message
Stopping off at a post office to catch up on their mail, Jayne is delighted to receive a parcel from his mother. Zoë and Mal on the other hand get a corpse in a box. Tracey was a fellow veteran of the war, now he's asking for Mal and Zoë to take him on his final journey home. But there's a shady lawman that needs the corpse…

The commentary from Alan Tudyk (Wash), and Jewel Staite (Kaylee) is a little more gappy with its scene-specificness, but there is something of interest here, especially worth noting is that this was the last episode to be made.

13. Heart Of Gold
A whore is pregnant, and a rich firebrand man of the people wants an heir, which means that a whorehouse needs protecting. It's Mal and the crew of Serenity to the rescue, which puts a smile on Jayne's face at least, even if it causes friction between Inara and Mal.

14. Objects In Space
River's acting weird, well weirder than normal, and it's resulting in tensions among the crew. It's the perfect moment for an intruder to take advantage, even out there in the middle of nowhere. Jubal Early is a bounty hunter with a penchant for deep thought, a fondness for his own voice, a delight in casual cruelty, and he's just snuck on board looking to collect on the Tam siblings.

Joss Whedon comments on this episode, and in a departure from the earlier, jovial commentaries, this is where he focuses on this episode, and what it meant to him, as well as the process of putting it all together.

Picture

The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer is pleasant enough. The image is clear and sharp, and at the upper end of television quality of the period. The only thing that niggles is a tendency for grain in darker or murkier moments, but by and large there's nothing to complain about. Firefly delivers good sci-fi on a television budget, although it must have helped not having to prostheticise a bunch of aliens, or vampires. The future society draws on a wide variety of styles, both current and historic, so while the Western milieu is most prevalent, you'll also find plenty of Asian influence (the Alliance is a one of American and Chinese cultures), and historical periods like the Baroque are invoked. There are a wide variety of planets, and plenty of cultures to play with, and it all looks lush and vivid on screen. The cinematography is excellent as well, with a page taken from the Star Wars ethos of lived-in technology for the good guys, and clean lines and modern tech for the villains. The lighting and set design is always moody and evocative, and each episode is a visual delight.

Sound

In an ideal world this would have been a 5.1 show, but we at least get a DD 2.0 English Surround track, with optional HOH subtitles. There's enough of a surround presence to elevate it beyond the usual television broadcast, and action and music is suitably vibrant. Music plays a fair part in the stories, and a wide variety of styles are apparent, again marrying with the diversity of cultures and stories that take place. My set had a brief audio dropout 36 seconds into episode 5, Safe.

Extras

4 discs are presented inside an m-lock case, and get the usual animated menus, unskippable logos, and an annoying lack of a Play All option.

There's an eight-page booklet in the case, detailing the episodes on the discs, and the extra features. Aside from the episode synopses, it's all pretty redundant.

All of the commentaries are subtitled in English, but they have to be discovered in the Language Select screen for each episode. These discs certainly make navigating them a challenge. I liked the commentaries on Joss Whedon shows like Angel and Buffy, and the ones on Firefly are no exception. They're always entertaining and informative, and I invariably wind up listening to them all the way through, even when I just intend to sample them.

The rest of the extra features are all together on disc 4.

The 3-minute gag-reel offers screw-ups, clowning around, and Nathan Fillion's butt.

There are four deleted scenes on this disc, two taken from the pilot, Serenity, one from Our Mrs Reynolds, and one from Objects In Space. In total they run to 12 minutes.


Here's How It Was: The Making of Firefly lasts 29 minutes, and is pretty much self-explanatory. Joss Whedon, the cast and some of the other members of the crew reminisce about the series, the issues with the network, the ethos of the show, and what might have been had it continued.

Serenity: The 10th Character lasts 10 minutes and looks at the design and the realisation of the ship, and what it meant in the show.This is complemented by a brief 1-minute tour around the ship.

Other fripperies include Joss singing the theme tune, and Alan Tudyk's audition tape.

Conclusion

I loved Firefly. It's brilliant television, with amazing storytelling, endearing and interesting characters, and sharp and witty writing. In sheer design, scope and imagination it's awe-inspiring, and it's such an intricate and well-constructed universe that from the first episode it feels like a complete, and fully formed entity. Stop me if you've heard this all before. I've read of the love that fans have for this show, and I almost feel like a cliché in the way that I have fallen for it as well. I may have missed the boat completely on this one, but the next time I go shopping, the next coat that I buy will be brown.

Having said all that, I'm shocked that the show lasted as long as it did. If ever a show was screwed over by a network, it's this one. Apparently, Fox showed this widescreen show in pan and scan when it was first aired, but that's the least of their crimes. Firefly is an arc driven show, there are story arcs and character arcs running through it, and the overall story develops as you watch it from week to week. Except Fox showed the episodes out of order, and even missed some out altogether. Anyone following River's story must have been scratching their heads in confusion; she must have seemed completely bipolar, as her personality would have flip-flopped back and forth each week. Apparently Firefly was constantly pre-empted as well for other programming that the network deemed more broadcast-worthy. Surprisingly, you won't find 'Fox Network Executive' as the dictionary definition of a moron.


It's a fascinating premise, and one that makes absolute sense when you put some thought into it. Should the day come that we actually get into space and start exploring, space really will be a frontier, and any settlers to new worlds aren't going to find roads and hospitals and cities and towns conveniently constructed for them when they arrive. Any new world will literally be like the New World, wild, open country, pristine and uninhabited. Settlers will have to eke out a living much like the settlers in the West did two hundred years ago, and getting from A to B would be easiest accomplished on something that could handle that rough terrain. Helicopters and hover-cars require technological support and refined fuel. All a horse needs is vegetation to eat and water to drink, so it would make sense that future settlers on other worlds would appear similar to the settlers of the American West. Similarly the only law that people would have would be the law that they take with them. Thinking about Firefly's premise, the only farfetched extrapolation would be the idea that the settlers would revert exactly to old Western clichés of cattlemen and whorehouses, instead of going in a completely new direction. But then again, who doesn't love a good Western? And if you're going to mix and match styles and genres, it's a terribly pleasing way of doing things.

Coming at Firefly from the other direction, I had a couple of misapprehensions about the show. For one thing a lot of the characters shown in the movie I took to be series regulars, or guest stars with recurring roles, and I was surprised to find that they never actually made an appearance in the series. The second thing was the Reavers that played such a great part in the movie story. They're cannibalistic hunters that live at the edge of known space and prey on humans. While the movie story was enjoyable and entertaining, they did, to all intents and purposes, appear to be this universe's vampires, and following the film, I was under the impression that Firefly was really just Buffy or Angel, but in space. I must admit it did actually put me off buying the series for a while, and you can imagine my surprise when we don't actually see any Reavers in the show. We see a Reaver ship in the pilot episode, and we see their aftermath in Bushwhacked, but that's it. Instead the show concentrates on a whole variety of character stories and adventures, and in that respect turns out to completely different from Joss Whedon's earlier two shows.


Another reason that gave me pause was Nathan Fillion. The first time I saw him… well the first time was a blink and miss it appearance in the movie Blast From The Past, but the first time I noticed him was when he played the evil preacher in Buffy's season 7, the guy who poked Xander in the eye. Now that's the sort of moment that stays with you, and for the life of me I couldn't see such a memorable villain actor carrying a show as a hero. That's two stupid reasons that stopped me watching this show for this long.

Oddly enough, Firefly does put me in mind of Star Trek. It's practically legend now that Gene Roddenberry sold Star Trek to the network as Wagon Train to the Stars. In execution, Star Trek turned out to be markedly different, but I wonder if the show had matched the pitch, if it would have been more like Firefly. Certainly you can see the crew of Serenity as a mismatched group of traders/mercenaries, travelling from town to town in the Old West. Firefly also has very humanist stories at its heart, something that it has in common with the first two years of Star Trek. It's hard to remember now, with twenty odd years of technobabble and special effects, but the very first Star Trek episodes were very much stories about characters, about people, and things like warp drive, phasers and transporters were just gimmicks to get the story from A to B. Firefly has that same ethos. You're not supposed to worry about how the spaceship works, how the weapons work, and the babble is kept to a minimum. It's really about getting to the hearts of the characters and how they relate to each other, and that's something Firefly does supremely well. I'm also reminded strongly of Titan AE. That was Fox Studios second, and last traditional animation, and it boasts a screenplay written in part by Joss Whedon. Other than the plethora of aliens, it could be set in the Firefly universe. In fact I have a hard time now looking at the Valkyrie, with its mismatched and rough around the edges crew, and not think of the crew of the Serenity.


I love the realism about the show. A lot has been said about the fact that in Firefly, space is silent. You don't hear the spaceships, you don't hear explosions, and there's no whooshing sound as a ship flies by. The fanciful tech is confined to holograms, artificial gravity to save on harness budgets and actor anatomies, and a spinny thing in the back of the ship to make it go without chucking tons of reaction mass out the back. What I also like is that it takes a page out of Alien's book. The crew of Serenity aren't gung-ho explorers or space-going superheroes. They're people who just happen to live and work in space, and they are just as apt to talk about mundane matters as they are the arcane intricacies of interstellar trading. Seeing the cast sharing a meal, laughing and joking around the dinner table harks back to the similar conversations that the crew of the Nostromo had, the only difference here is that no-one's chest bursts open. It feels just as realistic and honest though.

Firefly is great television. It has an excellent cast, nine varied and interesting characters, and we have 14 diverse stories here, episodes which cover the gamut of styles and emotions, yet hardly put a foot wrong. If ever a DVD collection could be said to approach perfection… I could find only one flaw with Firefly, that it was cancelled. I would have loved to see these characters develop further, their back stories explored in greater detail, and quite frankly, as good as the Serenity movie is, it isn't really enough. If like me you're one of the stragglers, late to the Firefly party, or just haven't considered watching it up till now. You really ought to make the time and invest in this series. You won't be disappointed. Oh, and the only significant thing it has in common with Cowboy Bebop is the grade I've given it.