Firefly - The Complete Series Review

This late, great TV series created by Joss Whedon, who also created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, remains one of the best TV series ever created for TV, even more than four years after it's premature cancelation by Fox Television.  Featuring a cast that clicked from the very first episode, this 14-episode series had humor, action, drama, intriging characters and even romance.   The series is set in a future world where humans, having outgrown earth, have ventured out into the depths of space to settle a new solar system run by a meddling conglomerate-style government called the Alliance.  The only super powers left are the United States and China, who have merged into one entity.  When the crew of the spaceship, Serenity, take on passengers to try to make money between smuggling jobs, illegal salvage operations and legitimate transport runs, they get more than they bargained for when they accept Dr. Simon Tam and his cargo.  His cargo container contains his teenage sister, River, who he kidnapped from the clutches of a covert Alliance experiment on geniuses, but his sister is not mentally well and the Alliance are in hot pursuit because they want her back and will kill anyone in the way of that goal.   That plot starts the series and what follows is fifteen hours of quality television from a TV show that features a future world with an underlying western theme.  Yes, you read that right.  And the writers, cast and crew pull it off amazingly well.

While the entire cast are exceptionally well-cast in their roles, Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcom 'Mal' Reynolds steals the show with his deft (and deadpan perfect) performance as the hero who can veer into mercenary territory and then go back to being the good guy without missing a beat.   Adam Baldwin is also amazing, and extremely funny, as Jane Cobb, the completely mercenary and proud-of-it guy who's always on the lookout for what's in it for him, yet he makes the character so delightfully enjoyable to watch that you can't possibly dislike him.   Jewel Staite as the sweet ship's mechanic, Kaylee Frye; Gina Torres as the tough-as-nails yet sexy first mate, Zoe Washburne; Alan Tudyk as the endearingly dorky yet cool ship's pilot (and Zoe's husband), Hoban 'Wash' Washburne; Morena Baccarin as the sophisticated and sexy professional companion (similar to a courtesan from 16th Venice), Inara Serra; Summer Glau as the emotionally damaged teenaged genius, River Tam; Sean Maher as River's smart yet stuffy protective older brother, Dr. Simon Tam; and Ron Glass as the kind yet mysterious man-of-God, Sheperd Book all fill out their roles perfectly.   Give this series your time and you'll be very glad you did.  Follow up these fourteen excellent episodes with the massively underappreciated movie Serenity to get the rest of the story.