If you never saw Joss Whedon‘s short-lived series “Firefly” when it was running on US television last fall, now’s your chance. It’s, um, well, hard to explain… a science-fiction western? It takes place 500 years in the future, in a universe populated only by human beings (so far as we know), just after a civil war reminiscent of the American Civil War. Our hero, Captain Mal Reynolds, was on the losing side; now he does his best to keep his beat-up starship and crew alive, taking on whatever work they can find – legal or il-. The crew includes a variety of types and backgrounds; I won’t say more so as not to spoil anything. Suffice to say that, thanks to sharp dialog, great stories, and very high production values, you come very quickly to care about these people and what’s going to happen to them. No, you don’t have to be a Buffy fan to like it.
The show was untimely cut off by Fox after only 12 episodes, in spite of a large and growing following. Three additional episodes were shown in the UK; all 15 will soon be available on DVD, with commentary on every episode, and probably some nice extras as well. Buy the DVDs
Best news of all: the Firefly movie, Serenity, with all the same cast, is fantastic, and will soon be available on DVD.