#3 - "You can't take the sky from me."

NOTE: The "Characterization 101"-entry is on a temporary hiatus, until I return to my Roodepoort office. I'm "traveling" at the moment. :-D

 I'm much more confident that we'll share opinions this morning. I reckon, and I'm not alone, that Joss Whedon's Firefly was one of the finest sci-fi tales ever told. A young, brash me, would say, "The best ever!"

Never before was such a poignant cross between sci-fi and traditional westerns accomplished. Right now, I still hold a similar sentiment. Imagine the coolest western you've ever seene. Now add a beautiful mix of space waste, dystopian desolation, a class-ist society etc. and you have...
#3 - FIREFLY (2002/2517).

 Comparing it, briefly, to the Star Wars universe, I conclude that:

  • It is a far more believable setting
  • The aforementioned, alone, does not imply quality.
Star Wars is more mystical and fantastic in scope, certainly. You simply have to suspend your disbelief to enjoy most (almost all) series and films. So it's not fair to criticise ANY sci-fi by saying, "It's not very believable," but this is something most of us should know. Getting back to Firefly...


It definitely crafts a certain connection with the characters. I'd said it before, but its importance cannot be over-stated: A great T.V. series makes you feel as if the characters are your pseudo-friends after a while. That sounds emo, but it's not. I do believe that.

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WARNING: Spoiler






























WARNING: Spoiler

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EVERYONE knows about the series' TRAGIC outcome, right? For those who haven't seen it, those guys ARE NOT JOKING. It was BALLS. :-(



Wynand and I discovered it, once again, on TwoPlusTwo. Naturally, we knew about the shock ending. BUT, were we prepared, properly? Not in the slightest. I remember still getting up and double-checking the other DVDs to make sure we hadn't missed something. Nope. You think, "SURELY this cannot be!!! It was a FANTASTIC show, why the hell was it canceled after 16 episodes???" It's a little like questioning your first-born's unusually ENORMOUS size 17 feet. There's no sense in asking, "WHY????" It's in the past. It happened, and no amount of mewling is going to change that.

Still, it was crazy-shocking. Words cannot describe. Little wonder that until 2012, there was STILL a fan campaign to reboot Firefly - www.helpnathanbuyfirefly.com. The lead actor, Nathan Fillion, who plays Malcolm Reynolds, stated the following regarding Fox's decision to cancel:
“Yes. Yes. I would examine very closely Fox’s reasoning — I’m a little gun-shy. If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to Firefly, make it on my own, and distribute it on the Internet."

 Until next time, when I'll deliver the much-anticipated release about "Characterization", let's hope Fox plays nice. :-) 

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