{"id":5456,"date":"2009-09-10T06:47:17","date_gmt":"2009-09-09T22:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=5456"},"modified":"2018-03-14T11:21:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T03:21:21","slug":"serenity-and-firefly-%e2%80%93-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2009\/09\/10\/serenity-and-firefly-%e2%80%93-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Serenity and Firefly \u2013 Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"blog-firefly-01\" One wildly popular TV series that I watched but never quite got interested in was Joss Whedon\u2019s Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/a><\/em>. The long running series starring the (very) delicious looking Sarah Michelle Gellar ran for seven years, the last of which was in 2003, and coincided with my first year in Perth.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not quite certain why that series and its spin-off Angel<\/a><\/em> never worked for me. But there\u2019s another of Wheldon\u2019s creation that I like a lot, and it\u2019s Firefly <\/em>from 2002. This very short-lived science-fiction series \u2013 at 14 episodes, it lasted for about half the normal length of a typical season \u2013 related the adventures of a nine crew members on board the Serenity<\/em>, a Firefly-class space transport vessel. The crew are fugitives from the law, take on mercenary and criminal jobs, and throughout are typically short of money, on the run at the fringes of habited space, and trying very hard not to let their beaten space ship fall into pieces.<\/p>\n

The series is an odd mix with influences from more genres than you can count. It\u2019s part Wild West \u2013 complete with ammo belts, horses, cowboy hats \u2013 part science-fiction as it\u2019s set in the 25th century, and part space opera of a world that\u2019s governed by supreme authority \u2013 the \u2018Alliance\u2019 \u2013 that while is largely benevolent has elements which serve the \u2018greater good\u2019 but at great expense of individual liberties.<\/p>\n

Like the reimagined Battlestar Galactica<\/em> series, there are subtle grey tones in the dilemmas posed in many episodes, with many unraveling like morality plays. The different brands of ethics come by way of the different backgrounds and motivations of each of Serenity<\/em>\u2019s crew \u2013 which is the<\/em> highpoint for me in the series. It\u2019s an eccentric bunch, but the series, short as it is, gives each character ample time to tell each person\u2019s back story.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Malcolm Reynolds, the captain of the Serenity<\/em>, and whom I\u2019ll describe as a dark version of Han Solo complete with revolver sidearm. He\u2019s a war veteran but was on the losing side, and holds thinly concealed contempt for the Alliance government who kicked his butt. His crew comprises his executive officer, Zoe, who served under him in war and retains unquestioning loyalty and respect for his person\u2026 except when it comes to marital matters with her husband, Wash, a genial, morally upright and extremely skilled pilot of the Serenity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Mixing it up is Jayne, an all-for-money and nearly amoral mercenary (or \u201cHired Muscle\u201d as the Wiki entry puts it) who states matter-of-fact that he\u2019s not sold out his Captain so far only because the bribe money is insufficient. And there\u2019s Kaylee, the ship\u2019s engineer whose duality is especially so striking: she enjoys her job as grease monkey, but is also a person Ling chirped as sooooo sweet, innocent, good-natured and a person who cannot see evil in any person.<\/p>\n

The other cast members are also prominent but all except one play untraditional roles. There\u2019s Simon, who was previously one of the Alliance\u2019s most valued and brilliant doctors but gave it all up when he smuggled his gifted sister, River, out of an institution that was experimenting on her. There\u2019s the 25th century fatherly Christian pastor, Derrial Book, who starts out straight but grows to better understand his faith and the complicated ethical situations his companions get into as the stories progress.<\/p>\n

And the last character is Inara, a \u2018companion\u2019 which really is a futuristic version of the Courtesan. In a ironical twist, she enjoys better social standing than the Firefly <\/em>crew. Her presence among the crew lends legitimacy in the ports of call and cities they visit, and she is treated with a lot of respect wherever she goes \u2013 despite the fact that she is in essence a prostitute.<\/p>\n

Continued in the next post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One wildly popular TV series that I watched but never quite got interested in was Joss Whedon\u2019s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The long running series starring the (very) delicious looking Sarah Michelle Gellar ran for seven years, the last of<\/p>\n

Read More Serenity and Firefly \u2013 Part 1<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-at-home","category-entertainment","wpcat-6-id","wpcat-10-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}