Title: Firefly: Series Premiere
Episode: “The Train Job”
Stars: Alan Tudyk, Summer Glau, Ron
Glass, Gina Torres, Nathan Fillion, Jewel Staite, Adam Baldwin, Morena Baccarin,
and Sean Maher
Writers: Joss Whedon and Tim Minear
Director: Joss Whedon
Created By: Joss Whedon
Executive Producers: Joss Whedon and
Tim Minear
Running Time: 45 minutes without
commercials
Media: Fox Network Original TV Series
Premiere (NTSC VHS Screener)
World Premiere Friday, September 20,
2002, at 8pm (ET/PT) 7pm (CT)
Network: Twentieth Century Fox Network
(Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: Not Available At The Time Of
This Review
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
Perhaps one of the most eagerly
anticipated new genre series set to premiere on non-cable broadcast network
television is Joss Whedon’s “Firefly.” Set approximately five hundred or
so years in the future, “Firefly” at least in part refers to the type of
vessel our protagonists fly around in. It is a “Firefly” class mid
bulk carrier without weapons named “Serenity.” The crew is a mixed
bag of frontier fugitives trying to make a living on the outskirts of known
space a few years after an interstellar civil war crushed a separatist movement.
Now the known galaxy is governed by a totalitarian regime referred to simply as
the “Alliance.” Captain Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) leads
his eclectic mercenary crew made up of specific types. We have the prostitute
with a sense of duty (Morena Baccarin), a preacher who ever so slightly appears
that he might have something to hide to accompany his wisdom (Ron Glass), a
young doctor who no one really trusts completely (Sean Maher), and his
mysterious sister (Summer Glau), who is wanted by the Alliance for reasons not
yet made known in the series. The series also features genre veterans Adam
Baldwin (Independence Day & The X – Files) and Gina Torres (Cleopatra
2525.)
The pilot sets up that our Captain is a
veteran of the civil war and has chosen a life on the fringe as a way of
maintaining freedom from the Alliance. Our crew takes on a mission from an
underworld boss to steal some Alliance goods from a train. If they fail to
follow through, they will be hunted and killed. The heist happens to be aboard a
train with some armed Alliance grunts delivering a much needed antidote to a
plague ridden mining outpost on a newly terra formed planet. When it is
discovered that the goods they have been contracted to steal could cost the
lives of everyone on that planet, our Captain must make a difficult decision
that will undoubtedly complicate the lives of his crew as well as himself for
some time to come.
Joss Whedon has proved himself to be
one of the most talented writer and producers working in television today with
the already highly successful “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”
series breaking new ground with an innovative mix of humor and dark fantasy. Now
Whedon, who penned “Alien Resurrection” has turned his eyes back to the
future and the stars and resurrected the spirit of the classic western TV series
and combined it with what may or may not be a space opera. Now this is not a new
idea by any means. A lot of sci-fi owes a great deal to the western genre
because both are very archetypal. The original “Star Wars” is in many ways
essentially a western and what is “Robocop” or “Mad Max” if not
variations on “The Man With No Name” combined with a bit of the revenge
motif like “Death Wish,” which in itself if you watch the Bronson original,
is very much indebted or inspired by the western genre. The premiere episode does a
good job of letting the viewers know just who our protagonists are and they are easy
to relate to because they are types drawn from the likes of classics like
“Stage Coach” and yet the human drama feels very new onto itself. The
screener I was allowed to review presented the episode in a widescreen (1.78:1)
format too. Hopefully this will be true of the broadcast version for both
digital and analogue viewers alike.
A creative choice Whedon has followed
is to set this new series in what is essentially a human’s only universe like
the Asimov “Robot” and “Foundation” novels. The CGI special effects are
above average for a network TV show and most of the production design and
costuming is outstanding in mixing the familiarity of the past with the exotic
possibilities of the future. The “Serenity” herself looks a bit like
the “Drazi Sunhawk” as seen on “Babylon 5” and the Alliance
infantry soldiers look like they are wearing the same outfits used in
“Starship Troopers,” which have cropped up already in other television shows
and feature films, most recently “Impostor.” However this is a small caveat
that I feel will disappear as the series grows and defines itself.
What I hope we will see are more exotic
worlds and a more subtle usage of western motifs since we do not need a cowboy
hat to make us draw parallels to our own mythological American heritage circa
the mid 19th century. Overall I enjoyed “Firefly” very much and
think the series shows a lot of potential. It is also nice to see a new possible
space franchise develop on non-cable broadcast television. Some might find the
country tunes composed by Whedon to be a little off putting at first, but I have
to say it grew on me and by the time the first episode ended I was hooked to see
the next. “Firefly” will premiere on the Fox Television Network with the
first episode entitled “The Train Job” on Friday, September 20, 2002, at 8pm
(ET/PT) and 7pm (CT). Don’t miss it.
© Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.