ON DVD: Firefly/Serenity

SERENITY - The Movie (2005)

FIREFLY - The Series (2002)

The in-laws talked about it first: "A Space Western." Huh?! They raved about FIREFLY, a short-lived, cancelled television series re-running on one of the more obscure cable networks...and now they were making a movie...

It didn't even register for me: No interest. At the time, I was completely absorbed in my own must-see TV/TiVo: The Apprentice, Surreal Life, and Desperate Housewives . (Truthfully, all but The Apprentice, which is over for the season now, have been disappointing of late.)

My husband, who sometimes still listens to his parents (with regard to TV, anyway), started TiVo-ing FIREFLY and watching it--generally, when I was reading or already asleep. And then one night, it must have been sometime in October or November, I was awake, and I watched with him -- and I was converted, too.

LOVE the show, LOVE the cast and the quirky, funny, sexy interactions between the renegade captain (HOT) and his wayward crew, including a prostitute, a preacher, a mercenary, an adorable mechanic, a fugitive doctor and his genius/psychotic sister, and the second-in-command/ captain's-best-friend warrier woman (also HOT) and her husband, the pilot (not SO HOT, but funny!). (Actually, they are all hotties, in very different ways, so it all works very well together.) It's kind of like what Han Solo & The Millenium Falcon might have been like, in the early days of The Rebellion in Star Wars -- the Wild, Wild West in space, right down to pistols, horses, western wardrobe and quaint talkin'. Hard to explain, maybe, but remarkable in concept and truly wonderful, each and every episode, and then the movie, too.

I ordered the series (FIREFLY) and the movie (SERENITY) on DVD for my husband for Christmas. Through October and November, we had been trying to catch up by TiVo-ing the SciFi Channel on Friday nights, but they are running the episodes all out of order. I was surprised at how excited I was, when the DVDs came--and then we had to pace ourselves, because we didn't want to blow through them too quickly. The DVDs are always great because of all the extra features and background. Still, it was a sad night when we reached the end of the series and then watched the movie, even saving the SERENITY Bonus Features to draw it all out one more night...it was the familiar sadness of finishing a really great book.

The FIREFLY/SERENITY production saga is quite a story, between the efforts and vision of the creator, Joss Whedon, and cast and crew, and the more limited vision of network executives. It was a monumental effort and accomplishment on the part of Joss Whedon and an enthusiastic fanbase (see the DVD Bonus Features and/or http://www.cantstopthesignal.com) that the movie was even made. (Here's another online Firefly/Serenity fun fan universe: www.FireflyFans.net.) There is still a faint hope that the series may be picked up again, but it's hard to imagine how they would be able to gather cast and crew to bring it back to life. Thank goodness for the DVDs!

P.S. - SERENITY is the name of the ship; FIREFLY is the 'class' or type of ship in this future universe. 'Gorram' is a bad word; 'Shiny' is a good word. For the whole experience, you really need to see the FIREFLY series before you watch SERENITY the movie, for everything to fall into place and make sense - and then you'll want to go back and watch the series episodes all over again, anyway!