The genius of Joss...

... and an introduction to Firefly.


The book by Candace Havens and the DVD-release of Firefly.
In the last three post or so I've been jabbering on about movies, (as you might have noticed.) Todays rant is no exception, as I'm going to babble on about a guy named Joss Whedon. Joss-who you say? He's the creator of Buffy, the vampire slayer . Yup, that's right. I'm a Buffy-fan. Surprised?
Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion on the set of Serenity.
A couple of weeks ago I was wandering around Sciencefictionbokhandeln (The Science-fiction bookstore) in Stockholm, and came across this book about Whedon called "Joss Whedon- The Genius Behind Buffy" by Candace Havens. (ISBN 1-932100-00-8) After a small amount of consideration for my personal economy I bought it, went outside and started reading. I 'd just finished an essay on Buffy in my gender-studies-class, where in I discussed the potential feminist ideas that is represented in Buffy as a body and character. However I didn't know much about Whedon himself, and this would be an excellent opportunity to learn more about the creator of two of my favorite shows, Buffy and Firefly. I'm not going to give you the Joss-life-story here. Read the book. Anyway, impressed by the things I read, and mostly by Whedons attitude towards storytelling, I decided to watch Firefly again.
Serenity, a character by itself.
I'd watched when it was aired in 2002/2003, and I remember liking it very much. Since then I've mostly just forgotten about it, I guess. After watching it again though, I was convinced and still am that this is one of the most brilliantly written shows. Ever. To quote the description on the DVD-release: "Five hundred yeas in the future there's a whole new frontier, and the crew of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity is eager to stake a claim on the action. They'll take any job, legal or illegal, to keep fuel in the tanks and food on the table. But things get a bit more complicated after they take on a passenger wanted by the new totalitarian Alliance regime."
Think of it as a crossover between classic western and science-fiction, with a touch of mystery. The dialogue is just brilliant, the characters and story-arc likewise, set-design and effects are just great! And it's damn funny to. It's never about saving the universe, it's about surviving in it. It's ordinary people (some of them anyway) who are just trying to make a living, sometimes legal and sometimes illegal.
Serenity, in the episode Trainjob. Yes, it's a train-heist.
The crossover to western isn't as weird as it sounds. Space has just become another frontier. People are poor, and make their living on farming mostly. War has ravaged the galaxy. It's not a utopian future, and not really the opposite either. Science-fiction realism, perhaps. There's no blowing up the Death Star or overthrowing the evil Emperor. An ordinary group of people have more pressing matters to attend to. Food on the table, or finding some work. Another brilliant move is (just like the ol' Star Wars-movies did with the Millenium Falcon) to give the spaceship, Serenity, a personality. The ship is a character in itself.
The cast of Firefly.
The cast's very very good. A nine people ensemble. My favorite is River, I think. She's on the far right in the picture above. And the Captain's great also. Oh, oh and the pilot, Wash! He's the funny one. Like when he has an argument with his wife and says "Just tell me the truth. I'm a semi-muscular man. I can take it." And of course his first scene in the show when he's suppose to pilot to the ship, but plays with dinosaur-toys on the bridge instead. Very funny!
Fox Television canceled Firefly before the entire first season had aired. Stupid, gorram Fox. However, Firefly is being made into a movie, called Serenity and will premiere this september. Watch the trailer here.