Firefly

On a whim and because it was cheap, I recently picked up the “Firefly” box set.

I was turned onto the fact that it might be a good show by it’s inclusion in a “Top 10 Cancelled TV Shows” article Tom put on “…pish” a good while ago, a list from which I’ve already gleaned gems like “The Tick”, “Sports Night” and “The Ben Stiller Show”.

So far, having seen 11 of the 14 broadcast episodes, this has to be the best show I’ve seen in a while.

I’m not a fan of sci-fi as a rule and while I can sit and watch Star Trek and the likes, they tend to be full of sweeping, clumsy social comment which I find pretty repetitious and boring.

Firefly is a different kettle of fish. Following the adventures of a salvage ship crew who tend to enjoy a wee money making caper, this is very obviously a “Space Western” with no strange aliens or lengthy dull bits about photons, particle accelerators or dylithium crystals.

It’s basically a really well written and performed show about a largely good natured misfit James Gang trying to make a buck and avoid conflict with the feds which reminded me by turns of Cowboy Beebop and “Alias Smith and Jones”.

A shame it was cancelled after just 14 shows.

Joss Whedon, who of course went on to score a huge hit with “Buffy…”, created the show and even wrote and sang the theme tune, Dennis Waterman style (Although they did get a pro in to re- record it), and there are also writing and production contributions by Ben Edlund, creator of “The Tick”.

And here's something I didn't know until just now. "Serenity" a movie based on the show directed by Joss Whedon and featuring the original cast (hurray!) will be released Sepetember 30th, so happy days.