Shiny!
Imagine a Star Wars TV series about Han Solo and his exploits as smuggler and scoundrel before his hook-up with the Rebellion (and I'm talking about the pre-Special Edition badass Han Solo that "shot first"). You might be thinking, could that be George Lucas' recently announced TV series project? Oops, sorry Luc, but someone's beaten you to it. Not only beaten, but did such a good job in exploring and milking the heck out of that space pirate concept, any future Han Solo spin-offs seem redundant.
For all its homages and borderline plagiarism of Star Wars, Star Trek, Unforgiven, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Neon Genesis Evangelion... Firefly at first sure feels like a B-grade affair with stock Star Trek characters - honourable captain, reliable first mate, ace pilot, brilliant engineer, aloof medical officer, spiritual consultant and the obligatory muscle. But, like Buffy, as much as Whedon indulges in the cliches he also subverts them when you least expected him to. This he does by imbuing a real-world ruthlessness to the Firefly universe... stock character he may be, but the captain does not labour over issues of morality when the lives of his crew are at stake. He'll make a Greedo out of you (translation: shoots first, questions later) if you proved to be a potential threat.
Really don't wanna spoil anything... go discover yourself how funny Jayne and Wash's one-liners are, the language used for swearing, the silence of space, and how endearing nine dysfunctional characters can be within just 14 episodes and one movie. Badass, funny, touching and exciting ...highly recommended. - BMF |
