Can Joss Whedon create a third genre-busting television series to march alongside the twin titans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel? Can he pull off the hat trick and transform himself into the fantasy world's Aaron Spelling; except with, you know, talent?

That was the question last night as Firefly, Whedon's new "science fiction Western" debuted on Fox. And as a longtime Buffy / Angel fan, I had high hopes. Those two gems keep my television action-drama desires vaguely satiated, but ever since Babylon 5's conclusion, there has been a gap in my heart where a good, edgy science-fiction show should be. (Sorry, never got into Farscape --- though I admittedly never gave it enough of a chance and hear nothing but good about it --- and both Voyager and Enterprise have generally left me cold).

I'm happy to say my hopes remain high after spending my first hour with the crew of Serenity, the "Firefly-class" starship which gives the show its name. I will admit that I was not immediately blown away into heights of geeky abandon, but for a pilot episode it was solid, and all the signs are quite good that Whedon intends to give us yet another delicious combination of talented (but little known) actors, well-developed characters, and fine, fine writing.

First, the style. All the press has said that it's a "Western" set in space, and they ain't kidding. Whedon has envisioned a universe where the highs and lows of technology exist side-by-side, and so in the first episode, we find ourselves catapulted between two frontier towns that could be right out of Gunsmoke, several orbital platforms that wouldn't be out-of-place in Star Trek , and of course, the rather unglamorous interiors of Serenity, which, by the way, is a cargo transport. And it's not the latest super-secret prototype hypercargo transport with advanced deuotronic overdrive; it's not the most heavily-armed, super AI-enhanced, biometrically maintained cargo relocating vessel in the galaxy, it's just a cargo transport. Refreshing.

For the most part, the style works, and as an overall aesthetic, it's hard to argue. Nobody wants to see yet another sterile-shiny-science fiction future, and the Western look definitely gives the show a distinctive flair. And true to form, Whedon appears to be interested in mining not just the superficial aspects of the genre he's chosen to pay homage to, but some of the themes and plots as well --- there's an actual train robbery in the first episode. Quite cool.

Next, characters. There's a lot of them. Nine of them on Serenity alone, to be exact. By necessity, then, we don't get to see all that much of any of them in the first episode, but every one of them seemed interesting, well-developed, and not-annoying; not a single Neelix or Wesley in the bunch. (Sorry Wil, but we know you're used to it. Nothing personal). My only real qualm lies with "River", a young, troubled, semi-psychotic and possibly psychic girl who has taken refuge on Serenity after escaping from the nasty Alliance, which, by the way, rules the known galaxy after having crushed those troublesome Indpendents (of which at least a few of our crew were soldiers for) in a bloody civil war. (Yes, finally another science fiction show where the ruling government is the bad guy. Roj Blake, call your office --- the Federation wants to talk to you!) River (played by the equally oddly named Summer Glau, a young ingénue if there ever was one) is a bit over-the-top with fairly standard-issue hysterics and cryptic mumblings in the first episode, which was slightly worrisome. However, Whedon is one of the few creative minds that I actually trust not to run overboard with such things, so I have faith that we'll be seeing River develop nicely as time progresses.