Sarcastic Chimp said:
During my (short) time on Escapist, I've noticed that alot of people really like Firefly and Serenity. From what people say, it sounds vey good. But (if you do) what do you like about it? And do you think that I should buy the series for £12.00 ($17.20)?
Well, here's my piece:
Firefly is a sci-fi/western story about a crew of freelancers piloting a "Firefly" Class spaceship who are just trying to have a little adventure while making money.
The crew of nine is quite a diverse cast of characters, each with their own interesting quirks and personalities with competent actors who brought out each with memorable performances, and their actions carry most of the series.
The other things that really made the show(to me) were the sense of mystery behind the antagonistic Allied Imperial government's motives(the source of the heroes' plight), and the overall tone of togetherness of the characters.
A lot of sci-fi nuts love the fact that the show has a more realistic approach to the genre, with only commercial spaceships and the odd laser gun breaking that approach on occasion. Otherwise, the weapons are all firearms with bullets, there's not an alien in sight, and there's absolutely no sound while in space. I personally don't care that these things are absent, but that's just me.
Other highlights include Joss Whedon's unique style of dialog, and his other screenwriters following suit for the episodes, and the music consisting of western-style adventure jaunts and intense pursuit scores. Add that with some entertaining gun combat, and you've got quite a nice chase epic going.
Unfortunately, it ends at a mere 14 episodes(Whedon originally intended it to last for seven seasons...which would've kicked unprecedented amounts of ass).
Then the film Serenity was released as a conclusion to the series. To say the least, it contains just about everything that made Firefly so popular, and rounded off the end with almost all the loose ends tied off.
Indeed, watch this ONLY after watching Firefly, as certain "events" occur that could detract from the emotion of series.
The biggest flaw I saw with the film was that several of the scenes that were deleted contained just about all of the character development pertaining to the character, Inara. So her involvement with the movie is drastically undercut. Otherwise, it is a compelling action movie with an engaging story and some of the greatest action scenes I believe I've ever seen.
And if you liked these two media, then you might also like the two short volumes of graphic novels that tie-in to the story, each written by Whedon himself so it loses none of the mood. There are two volumes, Serenity: Those Left Behind, which links the series to the film, and Serenity: Better Days, another tale of when the whole crew was together. Most would agree the comics could have been better, but with a few more volumes intended to be released(in order to tie up further loose ends), they are still a good read.
Hope this helps you. And yes, that is a terrific price. I whole-heartedly recommend it.