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Firefly is a science fiction television series, which was first aired in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. It was created by Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Whedon and Tim Minear were the executive producers.

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Setting

The show is set in the year 2517 CE, following the depletion of Earth's resources and an expansion of the human race into the frontier of outer space. The show takes its name from the "Firefly-class" spaceship operated by the central characters; the ship's class name is itself a reference to the appearance of the ship, whose tail section lights up during acceleration. Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is the veteran of a war of resistance against the "Anglo-Sino Alliance"—an organization that attempted to achieve the unification of all the planets in the new solar system under a single imperial government. A central "core" of planets is under Alliance control, while settlers and refugees in the farther reaches of the system enjoy relative freedom from the long arm of the government but lack many of the amenities of a high-tech civilization. Mal now owns a small Firefly-class spaceship called Serenity, making cargo runs and performing various other tasks — legal or otherwise — to scrape together a living for himself and his crew.

Featuring a blend of elements from the space opera and western genres, the show depicts mankind's future in a way that is uncharacteristic of many contemporary science fiction programs. Unlike most traditional space operas, there are no alien creatures or space battles, and the ships of the Firefly universe are limited to slower-than-light travel. The dialogue and interplay between characters is central to the plot of the program, resulting in a story that is alternately serious and humorous. The show's visual and audio style also differs from contemporary shows: camerawork, including CGI shots, is often handheld, with the use of zooms, misframed shots, and less-than-instant focus another characteristic. Notable, also, is the lack of sound effects for actions taking place in airless space.

Some have noted that Reynolds' story appears to be modelled on the life of Jesse James; this may explain the unusual western theming for a science-fiction show.

Cast

• Nathan Fillion plays Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity's captain.
• Gina Torres plays Zoë, crew member and wartime friend of Reynolds.
• Alan Tudyk plays Wash (Hoban Washburne), the pilot of Serenity and Zoë's husband.
• Morena Baccarin plays Inara Serra, a prostitute (called a Companion - an honored profession in this society with much in common with a geisha) with special status on the ship and a mutual unspoken crush and love-hate relationship with Mal.
• Jewel Staite plays Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye, ship's mechanic. With no formal training, she keeps the ship, Serenity, running with an intuitive knowledge of mechanical things. She is portrayed as a futuristic flower child.
• Adam Baldwin plays Jayne Cobb, crew member. A dull-witted, violent, and treacherous bandit that Mal bought off while in the very process of being robbed by him.
• Sean Maher plays Simon Tam, a medical researcher and physician of the first caliber, on the lam after breaking his sister River out of a government research facility.
• Summer Glau plays River Tam, a stowaway. Previously suffered exploitation in medical experiments for unspecified reasons (but with strong hints of brain tampering to bring out a natural psychic ability), presumably by the agency whose operatives include the "men in blue gloves".
• Ron Glass plays Shepherd Book, a holy man, though there are hints that he is the agent of some organization with an interest in the welfare of River and Simon.

The show's plot pits these characters against various criminals and schemers, Alliance security forces, the violently insane Reavers, and the mysterious men with "hands of blue" who are apparently operatives of some rogue secret agency within the Alliance. The crew is driven by the need to secure enough income to keep their ship operational, set against the need to keep a low profile to avoid their adversaries. Their situation is greatly complicated by the very divergent motivations of the individuals on board Serenity. The show's brief run did not allow full elucidation of all the complex interrelationships of the cast and their external contacts.

Airing and cancellation

Though the show had a loyal following during its original broadcast, it was cancelled by the Fox in December 2002 after only 11 episodes shown in the USA and Canada. Low ratings were blamed for the cancellation; it was also suggested that Whedon's additional responsibilities on Angel after co-creator David Greenwalt's departure from that show was a contributing factor. In the hopes of getting another network such as UPN to pick up the cancelled show, fans formed the 'Firefly Immediate Assistance' campaign, but were unsuccessful in promoting the show's continuance. Fillion later appeared in the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while Torres and Baldwin took on recurring roles in Angel.

Fans attributed the low ratings in part to some actions of the Fox Network. Firefly was promoted as an action-comedy rather than the more serious character study it was intended to be; episodes were occasionally preempted for sporting events, and the episodes were not aired in the order that the creators had intended. Most notably, the two-hour episode Serenity was intended to be the pilot episode, as it contains most of the character introductions and back-story. However, FOX decided that Serenity was not a suitable pilot, and so the second episode, The Train Job, was rushed into production to become the pilot episode.

The sequence of episodes aired varied by locality:

• In the USA and Canada, starting on September 20, 2002, Fox broadcast the episodes on Fridays at 20:00 (except for the second hour of the pilot which was shown at 21:00). The order was 2-3, 6; 7-8, 4-5, 9; 10, 14, 1; with 11-13 unaired in the USA.
• In South Africa, starting on 2003-04-15, the SABC3 broadcast the episodes on Tuesdays at 19:30. The order was 2-3, 6-8, 4-5, 9-10, 14, 1a-1b, 11-13.
• In Mexico and South America, starting on 2003-04-19, MundoFOX broadcast the episodes on Saturdays at 18:00. The order was 2-3, 6-8, 4-5, 9-10, 13, 11, 14, 12; the pilot episode was not shown.
• In the United Kingdom, starting on 2003-05-12, Sci Fi Channel (United Kingdom) broadcast the episodes on Mondays at 21:00 (except for the first hour of the pilot which was shown at 20:00). The altered episodes of the first season were shown in the originally intended order.

Episodes

A box set of the first season's episodes, including those unaired in the USA, were released on region 1 DVD on December 9, 2003; and on region 2 DVD on 2004-04-19.

Nominations and awards

Firefly won the Emmy for Outstanding special visual effects for a series.

The pilot episode, "Serenity", won the Visual Effects Society's Best visual effects in a television series award, and was nominated for Best compositing in a televised program, music video, or commercial. It came second in the 2002 Hugo Best dramatic presentation, short form category; and was nominated for a Golden reel award by the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA in the Best sound editing in television long form: sound effects/foley category.

Nathan Fillion won the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA's Cinescape genre face of the future award, male for his portrayal as Mal.

The DVD won the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films' 2004 Saturn award for Best DVD television release; and was nominated for a Golden satellite award in the Best DVD extras category.

In 2003 the episodes "The message" and "Heart of gold" were nominated for Hugos in the Best dramatic presentation, short form category, despite not being shown on television in the USA.

Movie

Whedon said in an April 2003 USA Today interview that he hadn't given up on the show, and hoped to continue it in any format. For information on the movie based on the series, see Serenity.

See also

• Blake's 7

External links

• alt.tv.firefly
• dmoz/Google directory
• FireflyWiki
• Quotes from the show at Wikiquote
• Timeline
• The (100% hypothetical) Firefly Timeline
• Firefly series IMDb entry
• Serenity movie IMDb entry
• Serenity (2005 movie) official website

• Anti-heroes
• Episode lists
• Fictional universes
• Science fiction television series