Firefly: The Cinderella story of Hollywood

by MissKitten 

If I say the words “Joss Whedon” to a random person in the street, the most likely reply I will get besides “Huh?," is “Buffy: the Vampire Slayer."  Not as many people as I’d like even know of the other brilliant show that goes by the name of “Firefly”, so I tend to get pleasantly surprised when I find a fellow Browncoat somewhere, anywhere. And maybe that’s exactly why I’ve come to love not just the show but also the fanbase of it. We’re not just a group of strangers bound together by something we love, we’re almost like one big family.

“Firefly” started its journey on Fox in the fall of 2002. Unfortunately it was off to a rocky start when Fox decided not to air the pilot, which introduced the ‘verse, the characters, and everything you needed to know to follow the story, but instead aired the second episode right away. Even more unfortunate was their decision to continue airing the episodes out of order, confusing a lot of viewers on the way. This also turned out to doom the show, which was canceled after only 14 episodes had been shot (and only 11 had been aired).

Normally a cancellation like that one, where the series hasn’t even been allowed to run a full season, means “the end” for the show, but Joss, as well as the fans, simply refused to give up hope. He walked from network to network, trying to find his baby a new home. Fans held fundraisers in the name of the show, spreading the word to everyone they could. When the series was released on DVD, sales went through the roof, and more box sets had to be produced to keep up with the demand. And finally in 2004, Joss landed a deal with Universal to make “Serenity," a major motion picture continuation of “Firefly," containing all nine of the original cast members — ten, if you include Serenity herself. This had never been done before, and while in later years this has happened with other shows as well, “Firefly” is still the Cinderella story of Hollywood.

To quote the capt’n himself, “We’ve done the impossible and that makes us mighty.”

The ‘verse

We are five hundred years into the future. The Earth that we know is now nothing more than ancient history, best known as Earth That Was. Instead, man has moved on to a new solar system and is spread out on different planets and moons, all terra-formed to function as similar as possible to what Earth used to be like.

In the beginning, each planet that was inhabited was independent from one another. Then the central planets formed an Alliance with one another, functioning as a kind of parliament, with representatives from each planet within the union. To start with, this was a peaceful union for the planets that wished to be part of it, but eventually the Alliance decided to make the remaining planets join in the union and force their ways upon each one of them. The non-allied planets resisted and the War of Unification began, with the Alliance fighting for unification and the Independents (more commonly known as Browncoats) fighting for Independence. The war ended in favor of the Alliance, after a particularly bloody battle taking place in “Serenity Valley” on the planet Hera.

The main story takes place six years after the battle, on a Firefly class transport ship named “Serenity”, where a crew of nine individual people struggles to make ends meet and to keep flying.

Characters

Firefly has not just one or two, but nine main characters (again, ten, if we count the ship itself), so to pick one or two characters to describe will not be applicable for this introduction. So I intend to introduce all nine, both by names and by occupation.

The Captain: Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) used to be a devoted Christian and a Sergeant for the Independent squad and was stationed on Hera, where the battle of Serenity Valley took place. When the battle was over, Mal had  not only lost his faith in God, but his faith in mankind also diminished. Determined to live a free life, he purchased a Firefly class vessel, which he named “Serenity” and hired himself a crew. Mal doesn’t hold the law in high regard, and often he and his crew take on less than legal jobs to make ends meet. But he still has a sense of morality, as well as loyalty. Mal’s loyalties lies within his crew. It doesn’t matter whether or not he actually likes the person or not; when you’re on his crew, you’re as good as family.

The 2nd in command: Zoë Alleyne Washburne (Gina Torres) fought alongside Mal in the battle of Serenity Valley and is now part of Mal’s crew. Her job entails going along with him on missions, as well as be in charge when Mal is “out of commission," so to speak. She’s married to the ship’s pilot, Wash, but is definitely the one wearing the pants in that relationship. Zoë’s a tough woman, fiercely loyal to her captain. Even if he tells her to kill someone, she will do it without hesitation.

The Pilot: Hoban “Wash” Wasburne (Alan Tudyk) graduated second best in flight school and was a fairly sought after pilot when Mal convinced him to come aboard Serenity. Although he often comes off as her complete opposite, Wash also ended up marrying Mal’s 2nd in command; Zoë. Wash is somewhat of a comedic character, and not much of a fighter, despite taking up arms when needed. His two trademarks are his Hawaiian shirts and his plastic dinosaurs.

The Mercenary: Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin) was originally part of a rival crew to Serenity. Mal, standing at gunpoint at the time, managed to persuade him to change sides by promising him more money than his current boss was paying him. Jayne’s pretty much the hired muscle that comes with Mal and Zoë when they take on a job. Unlike the rest of the crew, Jayne’s only loyalty lies towards money and if the price is right, he is likely to turn on the captain. His other love is his guns.

To meet the rest of the crew, get to know the bad guys, and learn the lore of "Firefly," check back here tomorrow, for Part Two of Firefly: The Cinderella story of Hollywood.