Firefly

With Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, it was about female power.

With Angel, it was facing your demons and seeking redemption for your sins.

Joss Whedon combined the supernatural, demon mythology, and the inner and outer struggles of good and evil: using them as metaphors of life. But in the short life of Firefly, it was different.

The series was a sci-fi western that took place in the future, following the crew of Serenity, led by the roguish Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillon); whose has only one goal: find a crew, find a job, and keep flying.

Aired on the FOX Network Friday nights at 8pm, Firefly received critical acclaim and a strong, devoted following of fans known as "Browncoats". However, it was cancelled after eleven episodes.

Firefly follows the Serenity crew as they’re willing to take on any job— legal or illegal such as transporting people to their destination or committing crimes such as robbery. However, according to Mal in the pilot "Serenity", what they’re doing is "perfectly legitimate". Still, they must stay one step ahead of the powerful Alliance and the monstrous Reavers.

Joss Whedon shows us that in the world of Firefly, nothing is ever black and white. There’s ambiguity and shades of gray.

Like Buffy and Angel, Firefly has complex, compelling, flawed characters. Another is that they’re completely different from one another. For instance, you have Book (Ron Glass), a shepherd who is a man of God, who Mal once was. But after losing the war against the Alliance, he lost his faith and has become cynical and angry. Mal makes you want to hate him because he says he looks out for himself. But throughout the series, you see that Mal does have a heart because he is loyal and faithful to his crew, seeing that he still has humanity within him.

What makes Firefly intriguing is that these protagonists aren’t interested in saving neither the world nor the galaxy. The crew of Serenity are criminals, but they’re still people trying to survive and get by in the world— whatever it takes. They’re misfits and outsiders, but soon slowly becomes family and friends to one another. The key to Firefly is the relationships between these characters.

Watch some thrilling heroics from the crew of Serenity on Firefly: the Complete Series, out on DVD.