Firefly

Firefly airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Check local listings.

The miracle of shows created and produced by Joss Whedon is that they so rarely give you what you expect. One of the reasons I was particularly bitter about the end of the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was that it gave me exactly what I expected (and feared) – Xander clumsily professing his love for Willow, as if the mere words could bring her back from the insanity that gripped her. (Ugh.) When Whedon's shows are at their best, however, it is impossible to predict what will happen next. In a sort of giddiness that has become rare since I embarked on the road of shlock cinema, at the beginning of the hour I know that the only thing I can expect from Whedon is the unexpected.

Firefly continues that tradition in its very premise. When Whedon told fans he wanted to make "a Western in space," most of them assumed he was speaking metaphorically. After all, Gene Roddenberry said similar things about Star Trek, and the similarities held by that series to Westerns were in its pioneering spirit, the storylines, and in Kirk's roundhouse punches. Joss Whedon, on the other hand, takes the literal trappings of the Old West and puts them side-by-side with spaceships. The inhabitants of his eclectic universe are tossed between gunfights on horseback and the unfortunate side effects of explosive decompression in outer space. It's a logical idea, really: the first colonists of other planets would live a dichotomous life between low-tech farming and the advanced equipment that got them there. Why not take that a step further and return the human race to a time of gun-slingin' outlaws, frontier justice, and the occasional bar brawl? Americans have been in love with the Old West since it stopped being just "the West," and with any luck the show's creators will be able to capture the spirit of adventure in the best Western stories.

Firefly also bucks the trend in its portrayal of space travel and the universe around us. Most space operas (including Star Trek, Babylon 5, Andromeda, and a host of others) tend to portray their ships whizzing through the galaxy like cruise ships with sterile, plush interiors. Very little is seen of the galaxy's garbage scows, and in the Trek universe even those look a little too well-kept. Whedon's universe, by contrast, actually looks as if people live in it. I often wonder whether Serenity (a "Firefly" class ship, from which the show takes its name) will make it to its next destination. In fact, one of the better episodes thus far, "Out of Gas," makes it clear that this crew could be one part away from not making it home – that is, if they had a home outside of the ship itself.

Conspicuously absent from Firefly's universe are the wealth of alien cultures that seem to define other shows. Whedon's creation of a science fiction universe without aliens is yet another example of the restraint he has shown in crafting the series. It's almost as if he's trying to squeeze the very best stories from his writers by forcing them to work within harsh restraints. Judging by the episodes we've seen thus far, I'd say it's working. Don't get me wrong, I like a good Klingon story as much as the next geek, but a decade's worth of mediocre Trek episodes that relied mostly on latex masks to provide novelty make me glad that someone has removed that particular crutch.

Whedon and his crew have a knack for putting together ensemble casts: the cast of Buffy was the first clear indication, but the folks who appear every week on Angel proved that they could do it again, and Firefly makes it obvious that this is talent rather than luck. The casting of some of the characters against type makes for some particularly delightful moments: Kaylee (Jewel Staite), the ship's wrench jockey, is sweet without being cloying, and just knowing enough to be able to tease Simon the doctor (Sean Maher), whose lack of confidence makes him the opposite of nearly every starship doctor yet put on screen. (The notable exception of "The Doctor" from Star Trek: Voyager merely highlights the fact that Voyager had so very little to offer.) These are merely my favorites in a thoroughly talented crew: Adam Baldwin may go down as my favorite Baldwin ever for his portrayal of the crudely mercenary Jayne; Nathan Fillion routinely justifies his part as Malcolm, the ship's captain; Morena Baccarin is a surprisingly adept and subtle comedienne. Anyone who compares her to Star Trek: The Next Generation's Marina Sirtis (as seems to be done fairly often) is clearly not looking any further than Baccarin's dark hair and eyes.

The setting and cast would count for very little were it not for the talented bunch of writers who give the characters such marvelous things to say and do. Whedon himself contributes of course, but the majority of the episodes have been written by people he knows and trusts from their previous work on Buffy and Angel. Their experience shows. In their first seasons, most shows struggle to establish characters without painting in ridiculously broad strokes. Firefly has avoided those broad strokes while still managing to clue viewers into who these people are and why they do what they do.

All of this character development could soon go to waste, however, if Fox decides not to pick the series up for the remainder of the season. With its fate still undecided, the viewer ratings of the next episode, Ariel, which airs Friday November 15, are critical to Firefly's survival. If ever there were a time to watch a show – preferably with your friends who have a Nielsen box – this Friday would be that time.

–Chris Holland

posted by Chris at 1:58 PM