The trend for overstatement in television is remarkable. Calling this or that the most stunning, dramatic, funny, or romantic event in history is bandied about without much thought going into whether it’s an accurate statement. So I hope you won’t think I’m unaware of the import of my words when I say that Firefly is the greatest television series that was ever created and canceled in its first season.
There are a number of reasons why it seemed unlikely I would enjoy Firefly. Firstly, it was described as a space western, and while space is one of my fondest fictional destinations, I’ve always been leery of westerns, as so few have ever captured my interest. I should never have violated the first rule of television – Trust In Joss – because I missed out on Firefly during its initial run. (Apparently, so did a lot of other people.)
That’s why it was fortuitous for me that I caught original episodes of it on the web. It opened up a whole new world for me. If I’d missed a show this great, who knew what else I’d been missing? Starring Nathan Fillion, Summer Glaus, Morena Baccarin, Ron Glass, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Sean Mayer, Jewel Staite, and the criminally underrated Adam Baldwin, nothing on TV has ever been this simultaneously funny, dark, poignant, stunning, and full of promise. If the first (and only) 13 episodes were this good, what might the series have lived to become?
Being a purist, I watched Firefly in the order it was meant to be seen – the 2 hour pilot that was shoved to the middle of its run was viewed first, and I didn’t think it was too long, or that the hero was too dark, or that it took too long to set up – I thought it was brilliant, and I still consider the two hour original ‘Serenity’ to be my favorite of the series entire, outstanding run.
I’ll be discussing Firefly further in depth in future blog posts, but you don’t have to take my word for it – you should head over to Hulu.com and catch up on all the Firefly goodness there is to be had.
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#1 by ThatBobbieGirl on August 25th, 2009
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“greatest series ever created and cancelled in its first season” I think you’re right on both counts. Greatest series ever made, period. And greatest series cancelled in its first season.
We watched it on borrowed DVDs and each episode simultaneously seemed like a whole movie and like it was over in five minutes. So much, so fast, and so well done. Pure Joss.
We’re currently living the amazement with a full set of Buffy DVDs, which we missed the first time round except for the first 2 years.
#2 by connie sanchez on October 16th, 2009
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you have no ideal how much i love firefly. i have sent copies to my sisters that live in new mexico. I fell in love with it when it was on tv. and even more when the movie came out. I just hope Joss will not let it stop there. I look forward to the next installment.