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CastNathan Fillion as Malcolm ReynoldsGina Torres as Zoe Alan Tudyk as Wash Morena Baccarin as Inara Jewel Staite as Kaylee Adam Baldwin as Jayne Sean Maher as Dr. Simon Tam Summer Glau as River Tam Ron Glass as Book CrewCreated by Joss Whedon.The complete IMDB listings can be found here. The official website can be found here. Buy the series. You can buy it from this Amazon.com link if you feel like supporting this site, or you can buy it somewhere else. Not buying it just isn't an option. (Unless, of course, you've bought it already.) Original AirdateFirefly originally aired in the fall of 2002.PremisePeople who fought on the losing side of a war put together a ship and crew to perform various illegal smuggling operations. Apart from the two vets, there's a nutty pilot, a strong but simple workhorse, a mighty cute mechanic, a professional companion, a man who booked passage using Shepherd credentials, a doctor, and a victim of experimentation by the winning side of the war. 15 broadcast hours were produced. It appears that Fox network executives then decided to throw them all into a giant hat, reach in while blindfolded, pull out twelve entirely at random, and broadcast them in the order they were pulled. The DVD release fixes this, by putting all of the episodes in their proper order. In addition, it has extras that include a gag reel, deleted scenes, a tour of the set, Joss Whedon singing the theme song, a "Making of" special, Alan Tudyk's Audition, a segment on the ship itself, and commentaries on Serenity (by Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion), The Train Job (by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear), Shindig (by Jane Espenson, Morena Baccarin, and Shawna Trpcic), Out of Gas (by Tim Minear and David Solomon), War Stories (by Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk), The Message (by Alan Tudyk and Jewel Staite), and Objects in Space (by Joss Whedon). High PointTrash is an excellent episode. Of course, Fox never aired it, possibly because it was a highly entertaining and action-filled hour with violence and nudity that included elements to reward long-time viewers and draw them deeper into the series. Low PointThis is the complete series. Fifteen broadcast hours, twelve of which were actually broadcast on the home network. This DVD set I have should have two more disks, and it should be marked "The Complete First Season." The ReviewThis is the most mainstream use of the western/sci-fi hybrid structure I'm aware of. It's funny, it's got strong character and story driven portions, it has a complex but believable world, and it's extremely well made. Past events often impact the behaviour of characters in any subsequent episode. There were some elements of the show that have been used elsewhere, but it never once felt like a rehash. I give it 6 out of 6 for originality. The effects were very well done. Physical effects are frequently used instead of CGI, and I think that's the way it should be until CGI artists figure out the laws of physics and find surface textures that don't make everything look shiny. I give it 6 out of 6. The story being told was an excellent set-up. However, when reviewing this as an entire series, I just can't justify giving it full marks. The writers did a fantastic job, but the network cut them off too early. Watching this as a complete series is like reading the first fifty pages of compelling thousand page novel and then stopping. I can only justify giving it 5 out of 6. The acting has no learning curve. There are nine central characters, all of whom seem to have been completely defined by their actors before the cameras began to roll. Any change in the behaviour of the actors in the course of the series is a result of character growth and development. Sean Maher as Simon Tam never seems to belong. Summer Glau as River Tam exudes Cassandra Syndrome. Nathan Fillion as Malcolm Reynolds is always competant and guarded, falling only for situations that demand sympathy of others. Adam Baldwin's Jayne Cobb is generally pretty stupid, crude, and violent, but even he has his moments of clarity (such as when he was the only crewmember to recognize the name "Lasseter," or the first crewmember to pick up on inconsistencies in Shepherd Book's cover story.) Every actor had his or her role laid out and performed from the start. I give it 6 out of 6. The emotional response this produced was excellent. It sucks the viewer in, and plays us all. My father has fallen asleep in every show I've seen him watch for the last two years, except this one. He gets tired of any show if he sees more than two or three episodes in a week, except this one. We watched the first 6 broadcast hours with my mother in a 24 hour span. Neither of them has watched any single show that much before, but for this show, they'll do it and love it. Keep in mind that these are two people who don't watch sci-fi. In fact, this is the only science fiction they've ever expressed interest in. Their general distaste for the genre is overcome by everything else about it, particularly the style of humour. I have to give it 6 out of 6. The production is by Mutant Enemy. If they had budget limitations, they masked them well. We've got more than just a well made show, here. We've got a show that combines action blockbuster styles with French New Wave surrealism and Soviet montage elements seamlessly, still somehow producing a coherent, individual style. This may, in fact, be the best produced television series I've ever seen. I give it 6 out of 6. Overall, this is a fantastic show. In my opinion, it's the second greatest television series of all time (behind American Gothic), and it deserved far, far better treatment than it was given. Find it. Buy it. Watch it. I give it 6 out of 6. In total, Firefly: The Complete Series receives 41 out of 42. Forthcoming ReviewsPotential forthcoming reviews are listed here. If you have any preferences, let me know. The Babylon 5 reviews of seasons three and four will likely wait until April, as I won't have time to watch a full season of TV in a short enough span to review it until then. The good news is, seasons three, four and five should be reviewed by the end of May. In the meantime, there should be enough books and movies on that list to keep things interesting.
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