By Darren Johnson
Campus News and Nu2u
I was going to write this month’s “It’s New to You!” column on the 2002 sci-fi Fox show “Firefly,” which only lasted one season and, after fans rebelled against the abrupt cancelation, was revived with an excellent 2005 movie called “Serenity,” but then I started to feel that such a review would be futile.
While the show (on Hulu) and the movie (on Netflix) surely fit the mission of this column – telling you about hidden gem shows you likely haven’t seen before – I started scrolling around the streaming services and started feeling overwhelmed. There are so many shows now, how will I ever get to them all? I mean, I like to read books, too. And I have to earn a living.
Look at the chart below. In 2002 – the year “Firefly” hit – there were only 182 mainstream scripted shows. Back then, there were much fewer reality and live shows, as well. There also were no YouTube shows yet, which generally aren’t counted as mainstream.
Now, there are nearly 500 mainstream, scripted shows being produced. Plus there’s a lot more reality TV, which isn’t scripted (at least not officially), plus live shows like “Live PD,” as well as very good shows on YouTube. Traditional media and new media are now both producing full-fledged shows. I’d complain nostalgically that the quality is down, but it isn’t. TV is better than ever.
Whereas in the past I felt that I could credibly stay one step ahead of you, dear reader, now I find other people giving me recommendations I’ll never get to.
I mean, people told me to watch “House of Cards.” I waited, and then the Kevin Spacey fiasco happened, and longtime fans said the show kind of fell apart at the end. “Homeland,” same. “Dexter” fell apart. I did see that.
To be the most efficient with my TV time, I’m finding it’s better to keep mining the early 2000s for shows that already ended. To find shows that had their hype, and then didn’t. And that may deserve to be hyped again.
“Firefly” recorded 14 episodes to air on Fox back then. In that era, Fox wasn’t known for such high-end shows. They were home to “Cops,” “The Simpsons” and “America’s Most Wanted.” They didn’t know what to do with a classy production. They aired the shows out of sequence. They kept changing the opening preamble. Eventually, Fox axed “Firefly” before episodes 11 through 14 could air. The show made it to DVD, with the missing episodes, and sold out quicker than any other TV-show DVD ever, due to fan word-of-mouth.
Someone gave me a DVD copy back then, saying I had to see it, but I never got to it and lost it in a move. Something about it didn’t appeal to me on the surface; and, obviously, it hasn’t appealed to mainstream audiences. Maybe it’s because the crew mostly wears brown, old-timey clothes and their ship is so dark and ugly. It looks like Walter White’s living room.
But I realized later why this show didn’t appeal to me at first glance – it’s so unique, and most people’s lives are so harried, including mine, I didn’t feel I could truly commit to it. To learn about these characters.
Picking up a new “Star Trek” series, on the other hand, is easy. We already know about the Federation, the Prime Directive, the Klingons, etc. But “Firefly” requires learning an alternative reality.
Set 500 years in the future, “Firefly” is about a ragtag team of smugglers who go on a series of capers in a different solar system filled with Earth-like planets, some primitive and some modern. The premise is that the Earth was failing so millions of humans went to this part of the galaxy and used new technologies to terraform its planets. The central government is called the Alliance. Our heroes were former rebels who had fought against them in a civil war, and lost. Now they are mostly on the run.
“Firefly” is as good as the best original “Star Trek” episodes but offers us something different. There are no space aliens, no beaming people, no food replicators, no warp speed. Laser guns are rare. Most people still use standard gunpowder weapons. Some planets operate like cowboy towns from the Wild West. The Captain (played by Nathan Fillion) speaks in a cowboy manner. Most characters mix in some other, unknown-to-us language here and there. There are lots of gunfights, unlike in later “Star Trek” series, where the cast would mostly hang around in the Holodeck all day with a virtual Sherlock Holmes and other ridiculous premises. It’s a wonderful new world created by Joss Whedon (best known for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “The Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.”).
And then the movie “Serenity” gives us the closure Fox didn’t. It’s too bad that it bombed at the box office. They could have made this into a franchise, as I insist the second through fourth “Star Trek” movies are the best movie trilogy ever. “Serenity” had that same potential. However, binge-watching the show on Hulu and then the movie on Netflix should make for a fulfilling weekend. These characters are a fun bunch and stay with you. You’ll care about them.
Darren Johnson has written “It’s New to You!” for almost a decade. He has an MFA in Writing from Southampton College. Maybe someday he’ll put his money where is mouth is and write a better sci-fi script than the movies he reviews. Contact him at nu2u@cccn.us.
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