Firefly is a wonderful TV series that debuted in 2002 and unfortunately, only ran for 14 weeks. The plot revolves around a crew of space pirates, plus a companion (high-priced call girl), priest, and a fugitive brother and sister. The brother is a doctor, which the ship Serenity really needs, but the sister is really wacked out due to experimentation performed on her by the evil Alliance. The crew consists of Captain Mal Reynolds, pilot Wash Washburne, his wife Zoe, who served with Mal during the civil war against the Alliance, bad boy Jayne Cobb, and mechanic Kaylee.
Kaylee is a naïve, friendly woman played by Jewel Staite (who also played Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis (a much different role) and is my favorite character. Other actors of note on the series are Nathan Fillion, the captain, who now plays Castle on the series of the same name; Ron Glass of Barney Miller fame playing the priest; and Adam Baldwin as Jayne, who now plays the first officer on The Last Ship (which I reviewed last fall). There were also two appearances by Mark Sheppard, who now plays King of Hell Crowley on Supernatural (which I have also reviewed here). On Firefly, he was a weasley criminal with whom the Serenity crew had business dealings.
The show boasted complex characters, thieves with a conscience, and the promise that none of them might be what they seemed. Although Gene Roddeberry called Star Trek “Wagon Train to the Stars”, Firefly comes much closer to that idea. It also has probably the best them song in sci fi tv history.
When I first learned of the series, I wasn’t sure I could watch it, knowing that there were only 14 episodes, but it was well worth it. The wacked-out girl, River Tam, annoyed me a bit, but that was part of the fun. The action grabbed me, as did the personalities. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it on Netflix. Good times.