Thursday, June 30, 2005
Blatant and biased Firefly post
Originally posted on ZuckerBaby's Meanderings on March 22, 2003
As you might have gathered, I do tend to be enthused (some would say obsessed) about much in pop culture - especially those rare telly shows that transcend their small screen status, and really take me into another world.
Firefly is one of those shows. It does help that it was conceived and written by one of my heroes, Joss Whedon, but having recently viewed it in almost its' entirety (I don't want to watch the last episode because, well, it's the last episode and that's kind of depressing) I am more than impressed. I am downright stupified by the series. In fact, I think it's shiny.
It took me a while to see Firefly, partly because I wasn't entirely sure I could believe Nathan Fillion playing a hero (or, more precisely, antihero) after the sheer horror of his turn as Caleb (you know, the agent of the First. Misogynistic evil skin crawly icky bad guy) in the last series of Buffy. But when the series finally made it onto Australian screens, I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, the channel showing it made the same mistake that Fox had done, showing it out of order (and also, changing the times, nights, weeks it was on!) and I wasn't really captured by it. Luckily, however, a friend gifted me with a box set of the series upon my return from New Zealand, and now I am a dyed in the wool Firefly fan.
And as such, I present to you, an introduction (which contains a number of minor spoilers, but I've tried to keep that to a minimum):
The Firefly universe is set 500 years in the future. The main governing body of Earth settled worlds (there aren't any aliens, and humans are expanding out into the universe by terraforming planets) is the Alliance, made up of the two remaining governments, those of China and the US. The Alliance itself is essentially controlled by a major conglomerate of corporations, the most notable of which is Blue Sun. In recent times, there has been a civil war, with the Alliance defeating those who fought for Independents forces (colloquially known as Browncoats). The anniversary of this victory is Unification Day (or U Day).
There is a tremendous mishmash of cultures, with everyone sprinkling Mandarin (usually curses!!) through their English, and other wonderful touches such as Bao and chopsticks regularly appearing at meals. In addition to all of this tremendous, lush background, the frontier spirit that is apparent on the terraformed worlds is embodied in the filmic Western setting - everyone rides horses, has sidearms, speaks in that southern kind of drawl. The outlying planets are mostly desert and scrub, with wide wide open spaces and tiny shanty towns, and most of the little people have a somewhat cavalier attitude towards the law. The Alliance planets are much more futuristic and traditionally sf in feel - all towering highrises and metallic surfaces, along with packed cities and totalitarian rule.
Amidst all of this, we have the crew and passengers of the Firefly class ship, Serenity. Captain Mal Reynolds (played with relish and lovely tight pants [and occasionally none at all!!] by Nathan Fillion) fought with the Independents, and lost all hope the day that the Alliance truimphed. He bought Serenity to do a little honest trading (and a hell of a lot of dishonest smuggling) and keep one step away from Alliance rule. His second in command is Zoe Warren (a strong, capable, beautiful and above all soldierly Gina Torres), who fought with Mal in the Independents forces. Her husband is 'Wash' Washburn (Alan Tudyk), the pilot and resident smartarse (in a crew full of smartarses - it being a Joss Whedon show and all). There's Jayne (Adam Baldwin - thankfully not one of "the" Baldwins), an amoral gunloving psychpath. Always useful to have on board a very small transport ship!! And the lovely heart of the crew, Kayly (Jewel Staite), the mechanic whose sweetness and positivity brings light to the dark places in which the crew often finds themselves.
Inara (Morena Baccarin), a registered Companion (along the same lines as a geisha, I think), is not a passenger, nor is she really part of the crew. She travels on Serenity in order to conduct business. She rents one of the shuttles, and her presence on board brings a certain level of respectability to Serenity. The passengers, taken on for the quick cash that they bring, are few. The preacher, or Shepherd, Book (Ron Glass) is a steady man of the cloth, gentle and spiritual, but with some mystery as to why he is travelling and what is in his past. There's Simon Tam (Sean Maher), a high class gentleman, who trained to become one of the best surgeons in the 'verse. And finally, there's River (Summer Glau), Simon's sister, a fragile and fractured genius, whose recent past holds a world of pain and torture, and whose presence on the ship is a danger to all.
This is a richly imagined world, with backstory told in shorthand that allows you to believe totally in this universe. The little notes and flourishes in the set design and dialogue tell you more than any amount of exposition ever could - Mal, with his gunslinger attitude and dusty ranch clothes, drinking out of a tin cup and delicately eating his meal with chopsticks. A bamboo steamer set into the middle of the dining table. The conversation dropping into Mandarin and back into English so naturally (there are no subtitles for the Mandarin - though some of the fansites do have the translations. My favourite exclamation from Wash is "Mother of God and all of her wacky nephews!!") Mal in a tavern brawl, getting thrown out of a holographic window that shimmers and reforms behind him. Even the twangy guitar and gravelly voiced (yet strangely effecting) theme song brings another facet of the Firefly reality alive.
The special effects are clear and so lifelike. The direction of both the live action and the CGI is that of hand held cameras - Joss Whedon wanted this to feel like 'found footage'. The ship is big enough for a cargo bay, but the rest of the interior is small and cramped, with exposed pipes and dirty floors. The lighting is, once again, 'found'. Scenes are lit from the lamp in the corner of the table, from the strip lighting above the walkways. This makes all of the interiors feel real and connected and believable.
There was only ever one series of this inventive, lush, dark, funny show made - and that run was cancelled by Fox halfway through. Thanks to the dedicated fanbase, a box set of the series is now available, and I would urge you to run, don't walk, to purchase said box set. Firefly is absolutely worth it, and you really need to get familiar with it, as the feature length movie Serenity is coming out in late 2005.
As you might have gathered, I do tend to be enthused (some would say obsessed) about much in pop culture - especially those rare telly shows that transcend their small screen status, and really take me into another world.
Firefly is one of those shows. It does help that it was conceived and written by one of my heroes, Joss Whedon, but having recently viewed it in almost its' entirety (I don't want to watch the last episode because, well, it's the last episode and that's kind of depressing) I am more than impressed. I am downright stupified by the series. In fact, I think it's shiny.
It took me a while to see Firefly, partly because I wasn't entirely sure I could believe Nathan Fillion playing a hero (or, more precisely, antihero) after the sheer horror of his turn as Caleb (you know, the agent of the First. Misogynistic evil skin crawly icky bad guy) in the last series of Buffy. But when the series finally made it onto Australian screens, I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, the channel showing it made the same mistake that Fox had done, showing it out of order (and also, changing the times, nights, weeks it was on!) and I wasn't really captured by it. Luckily, however, a friend gifted me with a box set of the series upon my return from New Zealand, and now I am a dyed in the wool Firefly fan.
And as such, I present to you, an introduction (which contains a number of minor spoilers, but I've tried to keep that to a minimum):
The Firefly universe is set 500 years in the future. The main governing body of Earth settled worlds (there aren't any aliens, and humans are expanding out into the universe by terraforming planets) is the Alliance, made up of the two remaining governments, those of China and the US. The Alliance itself is essentially controlled by a major conglomerate of corporations, the most notable of which is Blue Sun. In recent times, there has been a civil war, with the Alliance defeating those who fought for Independents forces (colloquially known as Browncoats). The anniversary of this victory is Unification Day (or U Day).
There is a tremendous mishmash of cultures, with everyone sprinkling Mandarin (usually curses!!) through their English, and other wonderful touches such as Bao and chopsticks regularly appearing at meals. In addition to all of this tremendous, lush background, the frontier spirit that is apparent on the terraformed worlds is embodied in the filmic Western setting - everyone rides horses, has sidearms, speaks in that southern kind of drawl. The outlying planets are mostly desert and scrub, with wide wide open spaces and tiny shanty towns, and most of the little people have a somewhat cavalier attitude towards the law. The Alliance planets are much more futuristic and traditionally sf in feel - all towering highrises and metallic surfaces, along with packed cities and totalitarian rule.
Amidst all of this, we have the crew and passengers of the Firefly class ship, Serenity. Captain Mal Reynolds (played with relish and lovely tight pants [and occasionally none at all!!] by Nathan Fillion) fought with the Independents, and lost all hope the day that the Alliance truimphed. He bought Serenity to do a little honest trading (and a hell of a lot of dishonest smuggling) and keep one step away from Alliance rule. His second in command is Zoe Warren (a strong, capable, beautiful and above all soldierly Gina Torres), who fought with Mal in the Independents forces. Her husband is 'Wash' Washburn (Alan Tudyk), the pilot and resident smartarse (in a crew full of smartarses - it being a Joss Whedon show and all). There's Jayne (Adam Baldwin - thankfully not one of "the" Baldwins), an amoral gunloving psychpath. Always useful to have on board a very small transport ship!! And the lovely heart of the crew, Kayly (Jewel Staite), the mechanic whose sweetness and positivity brings light to the dark places in which the crew often finds themselves.
Inara (Morena Baccarin), a registered Companion (along the same lines as a geisha, I think), is not a passenger, nor is she really part of the crew. She travels on Serenity in order to conduct business. She rents one of the shuttles, and her presence on board brings a certain level of respectability to Serenity. The passengers, taken on for the quick cash that they bring, are few. The preacher, or Shepherd, Book (Ron Glass) is a steady man of the cloth, gentle and spiritual, but with some mystery as to why he is travelling and what is in his past. There's Simon Tam (Sean Maher), a high class gentleman, who trained to become one of the best surgeons in the 'verse. And finally, there's River (Summer Glau), Simon's sister, a fragile and fractured genius, whose recent past holds a world of pain and torture, and whose presence on the ship is a danger to all.
This is a richly imagined world, with backstory told in shorthand that allows you to believe totally in this universe. The little notes and flourishes in the set design and dialogue tell you more than any amount of exposition ever could - Mal, with his gunslinger attitude and dusty ranch clothes, drinking out of a tin cup and delicately eating his meal with chopsticks. A bamboo steamer set into the middle of the dining table. The conversation dropping into Mandarin and back into English so naturally (there are no subtitles for the Mandarin - though some of the fansites do have the translations. My favourite exclamation from Wash is "Mother of God and all of her wacky nephews!!") Mal in a tavern brawl, getting thrown out of a holographic window that shimmers and reforms behind him. Even the twangy guitar and gravelly voiced (yet strangely effecting) theme song brings another facet of the Firefly reality alive.
The special effects are clear and so lifelike. The direction of both the live action and the CGI is that of hand held cameras - Joss Whedon wanted this to feel like 'found footage'. The ship is big enough for a cargo bay, but the rest of the interior is small and cramped, with exposed pipes and dirty floors. The lighting is, once again, 'found'. Scenes are lit from the lamp in the corner of the table, from the strip lighting above the walkways. This makes all of the interiors feel real and connected and believable.
There was only ever one series of this inventive, lush, dark, funny show made - and that run was cancelled by Fox halfway through. Thanks to the dedicated fanbase, a box set of the series is now available, and I would urge you to run, don't walk, to purchase said box set. Firefly is absolutely worth it, and you really need to get familiar with it, as the feature length movie Serenity is coming out in late 2005.
# posted by ZuckerBaby @ 6:48 PM 
