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March 9, 2004

Firefly

Sick days are good for catching up on those shows and movies you always wanted to see. While sipping tea in bed yesterday afternoon, I watched the first disc of Firefly, Season One. I remember planning to watch this show when it was originally aired, but the television set and I are not generally on good terms with one another and I usually end up missing the few shows I'd actually like to watch.

My first thought was, "Man, these battle scenes are so dark. I can't see what's going on." Then it occurred to me that I've said that exact same thing for four out of the last five movies I've watched in the bedroom. I'm blaming innocent cinematographers for my inability to adjust the brightness and contrast.

The second (and more relevant) thing I thought was, "What's up with the space western?" I realize that every one else in the universe has hashed this out to death, but I had never read a Firefly review and I was taken unawares. Gene Roddenberry might have called Star Trek the "Wagon Train to the stars," but Joss Whedon took the theme to a new extreme. Between a showdown, saloon fight, train robbery, and a drawling cowboy lingo, you could channel surf past an episode of Firefly and mistake it for Gunsmoke.

Which is not to say that I didn't like the show, but the space cowboy theme was something I had to get past, not an enhancement. I'm just not that enchanted by the lure of the Old West. At least the Firefly version of a space exploration team is not as bland as Enterprise. I read a few reviews post-viewing and saw some complaints about lack of originality, but I'd like to toss this out in response: Never, in the history of moving pictures, has anyone been outright penalized for depicting a familiar story — (here's the most important part) as long as it was done well. Just look at every single Disney fable/animated feature for proof that the most tried-and-true stories can make successful films.

Firefly is funny in a way that Dave and I have always thought television should be funny — there's a scene involving a thug and a Firefly engine that plays exactly as it should, but you still sit there and say, "I can't believe he did that!". And there are no prosthetic foreheads. I'm a diehard Star Trek fan, but I was getting a little tired of the prosthetic foreheads. Oh and I know the Firefly creators foreswore the use of sound in space, but really, that little whooshing pop as ships go into warp/hyperdrive/etc. is so satisfying. When I work for NASA, all of my spacecraft are going to have little whooshing .WAV files that play on the PA when they jump into hyperspace. And sadly, the Alliance has really bad hats. If imperialist fashion has taught us anything, it's that you can rule the Universe, but only with a snappy hat and a well tailored coat.

I want to point out for our American readers that Blockbuster charged me $5.50 to rent the first disc of Firefly. (I'm normally a Netflix-only sort of girl, but I needed a movie fix fast.) There are four discs equaling a $22.00 rental fee for the entire season. If you're the type of person who chronically returns movies late, you might be better off buying the set and selling it on eBay when you're done.

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