Looking Back On Its 20-Year Legacy: Why ‘Firefly’ Was Great
Image Source: IGN India
In the age of streaming, it’s easy to sit back on a weekend and binge your favorite shows from an earlier era. One of the unfortunate things to carry over from those earlier television eras are cancelations. It seems weekly that we hear about another cancelation by Netflix, or with the recent drama over at Warner Bros., hearing about some other show they are canning to get a tax break. Regardless, whenever word of a cancelation comes through the internet, it triggers memories of one of the saddest cancelations in TV history: Firefly.
Firefly debuted on Fox back in 2002. It was only given a single-season run, and still, over 20 years later, its influence and relevance are strong. It’s set several hundred years in the future, where humanity sought a new world because we were too populous. They found a system with numerous planets and hundreds of moons. They quickly began settlement and terraforming, but the evils of humanity’s past had come with them. A fascist, capitalist government took root, and while the more sunward planets thrived, the outer planets and moons became backwaters. Their isolation and self-reliance instilled a sense of independence in the settlers, leading to resistance to unification and war. The Browncoats, as the independents were called, eventually lost the war. Among their ranks was one Mal Reynolds, and in a new Verse (what they called the system they lived in), he turned to smuggling and fighting for the little man neglected by the Alliance.
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The show was received with mixed reviews by critics. Some bought into the quirky mix of futuristic sci-fi with western tropes. Others, not so much. What was typically lauded about the show was the writing, which the show’s creator is well known for (despite his recent downfall and abusive behavior). Undeterred, the show grew a passionate fanbase, and it was the efforts of this fan base that managed to save the show’s cancelation into irrelevance. When the show was canceled after its singular 14-episode season, fan support managed to get it shopped around for another studio to pick it up, similar to The Expanse. Unfortunately, no studio picked it up. However, the fans’ support continued, and it was authorized for a DVD release. Fans didn’t stop there, though, and their continued support managed to get the attention of Universal, which produced a feature film titled Serenity. All of this was accomplished in an era before social media.
What made the show work and garnered such a cult fan following was a combination of its genre mashup, writing, and acting. The world-building is phenomenal. How fun is it to have cowboys and spaceships? While some critics couldn’t move past that, it helps deliver the premise home that outside the more sunward planets and moons controlled by the Alliance, people are struggling to make their way in the harsher, slightly abandoned outer planets and moons. It’s actually quite similar to Star Wars. Did people forget Tatooine, a desert planet with earthen hovels for living spaces but advanced technology in the walls and droids walking around? It’s not hard to imagine a mashup like Firefly, and the show drew inspiration from sources like Star Wars. It worked really well for the show. Train robberies, but with a spaceship. Cattle drives through space in a cargo hold. It’s got a mix of everything, even fantasy, with Summer Glau playing River Tam, who has some sort of extra-sensory perception.
Image Source: IMDb
The acting and writing were great too. Nothing can excuse the abuse to which Joss Whedon subjected his employees, cast, and crew. In terms of his writing, he definitely has talent. It was still early in his career, having come off the success of Buffy, and some critics thought his writing could have been better. Like the genre mashup, it may not be for everyone. Whedon certainly has a particular style of writing. His dialog is superb, and with a solid cast, that dialog comes through beautifully. Nathan Fillion’s dry delivery of lines of a man who once thought he lost everything but comes to discover his found family. Adam Baldwin hilariously portrays grunt Jayne Cobb. Morena Baccarin, who portrayed Inara Serra, also saw widespread career success after the show. And each character had a back story that was rich, entertaining, and sadly unfinished because of the cancelation. Shepherd Book’s character had this mysterious background before becoming a man of faith that involved a reputation, access, and skill set that everyone else on Serenity knew not to dig into or test. Their stories all deserved their time in the sun.
Despite its short life, its influence is felt far beyond its run. There’s no question that the space western esthetic inspired the show The Mandalorian, which has had incredible success and a new season just around the corner. The lone ranger feel of The Mandalorian, traveling from planet to planet, taking odd jobs until his life is invariably changed and propelled on a new course when he meets a certain spectacular individual. Din Djarin has a certain swag and mystique, like Mal, and is quite the gunslinger. The found family motif plays out well in both as well.
Parallels can also be drawn to shows like The Expanse for world-building and cult fandom. The Expanse was enjoying incredible success on SyFy, but by the end of the third season, it had fallen victim to the usual SyFy original experience and was canceled as well. Fans weren’t having it, though, and they mounted a massive #savetheexpanse campaign on social media. It was so successful that Jeff Bezos, then in charge of Amazon, pushed to get the show on Amazon Prime Video, and it worked. The Expanse enjoyed another three seasons before ending. There is still a call for it to continue, as it ended short of the run of the books that inspired it, but whether it will is still unknown. One has to wonder if the fan efforts for Firefly had been able to utilize the reach of social media, Firefly might have had a different history.
Image Source: IMDb
It’s not without its faults. There’s valid criticism surrounding the show. In the Verse, China and the United States are portrayed as superpowers that sent people from Earth. As a result, people speak in a code-switching style that blends English and Chinese. However, there’s relatively little Chinese or Asian representation in the main cast. The production value was also lacking, though this was primarily due to a singular season. It’s easily contrasted with the feature film that came a few years later. Finally, Serenity had a larger budget. Though one can speculate that should the show have continued, it would have enjoyed a larger budget.
Through it all, it’s a show that has touched millions, inspiring later works that built off its legacy and enjoyed more success than ever. In addition, it explored contemporary issues through a controversial lens at the time. Portraying a group of insurgents and lawbreakers against an oppressive, imperialist government, and as the good guys trying to help people survive and get by, was certainly a deliberate choice in a different time, again echoing things like Star Wars. People have expressed interest in reviving the series here and there, but until such a thing happens, if ever, we’ll always have the one season and film to get our fill of the Verse.
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Source(s): Wikipedia
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