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.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
Nice to have you in the house, cubby.
2 - JulieG
Might he be reading Mike Resnick occasionally? For the epitome of sagebrush SF, Resnickk's Santiago would be hard to beat (and would serial-ize splendidly.)