since I had nothing to do this weekend(read: nothing that I felt very much guilt at pushing aside), I rented the Firefly tv series. I thought about buying it, purely on the high reviews it got from all of my friends. But I decided I’d rent it first and see.

And I’ll tell ya, I will not buy the set.

Now don’t get me wrong off the get go here, don’t start screaming for my beheading. I’ve just got to say I enjoyed it. Just not enough to ever buy it, or care if any more episodes happen. It just wasn’t that great of a show for me to get involved with. Let me repeat this for all of you shaking your head in disbelief at the heretical nature of my comments: Firefly isn’t that great of a show.

The first and foremost issue I had with it was just the general tone of the peice. Very cowboy bebop. and I’ll tell the straight up truf here. Cowboy Bebop is everything and more that Joss Whedon could have hoped for Firefly. Cowboy Bebop is better than Firefly.

Second. Let’s talk about the ’slang’ chinese that is tossed in there occasionally. Making up your own curse words never works in fiction, and it comes off as sloppy and childish. As it did here, even when the slang was just borrowed from Chinese. In one of the interviews I saw, it was because America and China became one big conglomerate before going into space. Ah, yes! Makes perfect sense that there’d be chinese in there! Except for the fact that the only times that chinese was mentioned was the occasional swearing and the occasional comeback. Seems to me, mr. whedon, that for this particular juvenile gimmick to work, you’d have to make sure that there was an equal amount of chinese and english if your basis is true. There isn’t though. So why put it in there at all? Gimmicky Chinese swearing doesn’t work in Firefly.

Third, and this isn’t really a problem I have with the show, just a general observation. Why do people love this show? I’ll tell you: it’s because Joss Whedon is a masterful character writer. Wow. Look at the other shows on TV, there is no good or evil. There’s no moral or ethical right that any one is following. Yet, here, on the Firefly, we have a captain that struggles to do right by his crew if not by the law. He’s an admirable character. That’s why people love this show, a displaced need for someone to look up to. They’re not finding it in society or other tv shows. Just an observation. People like Firefly because the characters are brilliantly drawn. Of course, they’re not evolving at all, but that’s because it’s a tv show.

Anyway, let’s sum up shall we?
People like firefly because of the characters mainly, gimmicky chinese swearing NEVER WORKS, Cowboy Bebop is a better space show, and finally Firefly isn’t that great.

and now for the hate comments.

out away from the light pollution, the night is a beautiful thing. especially tonight in the slicing clear coldness….the landscape, hard edges and sharp corners smoothed over by moonlight.

it’s something we don’t remember enough to look at.

and the stars…ye gods, the stars.