Firefly: You Can't take the Sky from me

by Christopher Barr

“We’ll never make Firefly again, because that was a thing that existed and is now gone.  And Serenity isn’t Firefly, and whatever comes next won’t be either.  But I would love to tell more stories of this universe…”    Joss Whedon

Firefly was this TV show that had a very unique tapestry of characters and locations and visual themes.  These themes certainly were familiar in some cases but Joss Whedon and Co. were able to display them in a very original and refreshing way.  Star Wars was clearly an influence but Star Wars was an influence on most things science fiction.

My first encounter with the space western drama Firefly was through the 2005 film Serenity.  I can’t recall if I was aware at that time of the TV show or not.  I did enjoy the film and the crew of Serenity but at the time of that viewing it felt like something was missing.  I would later learn that Joss used his film to tell this thrilling story as a film but also close off a lot of loose ends from the unfortunately short lived TV show that was cancelled in 2002.  So a couple years went by and a friend recommended that I watch the show.  I bought the Complete Series on DVD and started to watch it and was hooked immediately.  Unlike the misfortunates the ‘Browncoats’ (loyal Firefly fans) and other viewers had during the time it was aired, I was able to watch it all in order and the movie again after, which is now one of my favorite sci-fi flicks.  For some absurd reason Fox Entertainment didn’t air the pilot show Serenity first and subsequent episodes were aired out of order as well.  Douchebag TV execs.

According to then, Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman it “was a numbers thing”, never really stating why they were aired out of order.  It’s unfortunate that all the politics got in the way for a show that could easier have gone on to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, seven seasons status.   

The War to Unite the Planets was six years done, and the victorious Alliance was spreading its control further and further throughout the galaxy. Those who had fought for independence and so bloodily lost had no choice but to live by Alliance law. Some never would, and those few found themselves drifting--flying to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, to the worlds less civilized, some barely settled, where the Alliance might not control their lives. These were hard worlds, and work was where you found it. Those who got by lived by a simple creed: Any job, anywhere. -- Intro, "Serenity"

The year is 2517 and mankind since developed the technology to boldly explore the stars and the endless depths of space.  China and United States, the only two surviving superpowers, joined forces into a central federal government known as the Alliance.  This pan-Asian and Western fusion resulted in their cultures melding into one English-Chinese linguistic ethos.

The rebel crew of a Firefly-class spaceship called Serenity live on the outskirts of space avoiding the governmental authority of the Alliance as they fight for survival.  The Alliance has forcibly unified various colonies in the star system into a central government.  The crew of Serenity consists of nine iconoclasts that were on the losing side of a civil war, the Battle of Serenity Valley sealing that loss, against the Alliance.  They travel from job to job, maintaining their aging ship and avoiding capture.  They smuggle illegal goods from varies outlying terraformed  moons and planets taking aboard passengers that would like to keep a low profile for whatever reason.  Captain Malcolm Reynolds tries to balance his ship’s crew and their various clandestine jobs as they move from place to place avoiding the Alliance, space pirates and the vicious atavistic Reavers.  These Reavers are a group of nomadic, cannibalistic humans that have become savagely animalistic and like zombies, don’t negotiate with their victims, they’re only interest is hedonistic barbarism.

 

The amazing crew of Serenity has its captain, Mal Reynolds and then there is Zoe, who is a Browncoat, along with Mal, who both were Independence fighters in the Unification War.  She is his second in command and married to the head pilot of the ship, light-hearted, Wash.  Then there is Mal’s muscled, mercenary on the ship, Jayne and the ships engineer mechanic, the lovable Kaylee.  They comprise of the ships operating crew.  Devastatingly gorgeous Inara is a ‘companion’, a very classy escort who resides on one of two of Serenity’s small shuttles.  Sheppard Book is a permanent traveller on the ship and serves often as Mal’s moral and spiritual compass and military tactical advisor.  Simon is the ship’s doctor and is on board to avoid the Alliance who are after him but mainly his little sister River, who is a gifted prodigy and government experiment, with psychic ability.

In the third episode of the series, ‘Bushwhacked’, an Alliance Commander says to Mal, “Seems odd you’d name your ship after a battle you were on the wrong side of.” and Mal confidently replied, “May have been the losing side.  Still not convinced it was the wrong one.”  I thought what he said was very telling about the heart of the government control side of the show.  The government believes what they are doing is right or at least for the greater good and the people beg to differ.  This show and its characters represent the very small, awake side of society that question the government’s actions and are the ones willing to fight for their freedom in spite of laws and rules.  They would rather not die but are willing too rather than be colonialized and assimilated into the Alliance’s agenda for intergalactic domination.

Mal is not just a man in himself.  He is a man that suffers and strives for happiness in a world that his utilitarian brand of ethics isn’t entirely welcomed.  He’s a man intelligent enough to see that good and bad exists in a gray area when dealing with human rules.  He’s able to be a strong man with conviction because he knows what’s good and bad is often relative to those in power at that time.  So he stays in the shadows of space and lives the life he chooses to live, in spite of the suffering involved.  He’s a man in between one massive group who are ethically bound to the rules and regulations of the Alliance and on the other end he has the Reavers who are themselves morally and ethically bankrupt.  These binary opposites are brought together beautifully in the climactic scene at the end of the film Serenity.  Pure brilliance on his part, as a captain, as a man and as a utilitarian.  Mal knows, especially in the case of the Reavers, allowing that kind of madness to spread is not acceptable, his life and the lives of his crew are worth dying for if it means preventing the spread of such insanity. 

This is what we hope to get from a TV show, something that speaks to our humanity and our idealism.  Our desire for a better place to live with the people we care about, without having to worry about the insanity in the world.  We all just want a piece of serenity. 

From the film Serenity

Mal: "Ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. Know what the first rule of flying is? Well I s'pose you do, since you already know what I'm 'bout to say."

River: "I do. But I like to hear you say it."

Mal: "Love. Can know all the math in the 'verse but take a boat in the air that you don't love? She'll shake you off just as sure as a turn in the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughtta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home."