Firefly/Serenity

Well, being one of the few people at UVic with a full cable package, I make sure I take advantage of my situation. In the fall, I had an ever important, schedule binding addiction to "Law and Order", in either the original or SVU dosages. Having this aforementioned access to cable television, I get to watch 3 hours of Law a day. 3 hours a day! Anyways, it was a great addiction, and I'm still able to tell you what channels, at what time, and if you can see it in your respective time zone on said channels.

Well, the Bravo network kind of threw me for a loop the other day. They broadcast the classic Law and Order, which is my favourite, and they were showing the later seasons until suddenly, out of nowhere, they jumped to season one of the series! I guess that's all well and good when you don't really broadcast the show in any order as it is, but season one starred a very young Chris Noth. For those of you unfamiliar with names, he is now more famous for his role as "Mr. Big" from Sex and the City. Which is precisely the reason why I can't watch the first season of Law and Order. I just don't like the guy, and definetely can't see him now as the serious police officer. Thanks Bravo, thanks a lot.

All was not lost, however, as in my channel surfing to fill the gap created by Chris Noth, I stumbled upon the Sci-Fi network, and a rebroadcast of the cancelled TV show "Firefly". I had just watched the movie "Serenity", which is based on the show, so I was excited, and thus a new addiction was formed. Although it only made it through one season on Fox (ugh... Fox...), fan reaction to the cancellation got the movie made (kind of like when fan reaction got Family Guy back on TV... Fox has a really bad track record) and also allowed for unaired episodes to be broadcast in Canada.

Normally, I am wary of any show that gets air on the Sci-Fi network, but this stuff is surprisingly great. Firefly is created by Joss Whedon, the guy who created "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Now, before you hold that against the guy, remember that he is also the one who wrote the script/story for "Toy Story", and you can't tell me that it was only a good movie because it was animated.

Firefly is very well written, and the actors protray their charaters as real people, and do it with excitement for the roles. After seeing the last three Star Wars movies, one feels like science fiction will be dead forever if the actors are always forced to read crap like that off of the paper, but Firefly seeks to make amends for those wrongs. The universe that Whedon created has depth, and it comes out in both the large and small details in the series, be it the script, art, scenery, and so on. The best way I can describe it is as seeing a show where what life would have been like if Han Solo had his own TV show. With some cowboy influence in there for good luck. And legal prostitution. But only for good one liners.