Firefly: TV Shows That Were One Season Wonders

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By Josh Holman

Mal “Here’s how it is: The Earth got used up, so we moved out and terraformed a whole new galaxy of Earths. Some rich and flush with the new technology, some… not so much. The central planets, they formed the Alliance and waged war to bring everyone under their rule. A few idiots tried to fight it, among them, myself. I’m Malcolm Reynolds, captain of Serenity, she’s a transport ship, Firefly class. Got a good crew. Fighters, pilot, mechanic, even picked us up a Preacher for some reason, and a bona-fide Companion. There’s a Doctor too, took his genius sister out of some Alliance camp so they’re keeping a low profile, you understand. You got a job, we can do it… Don’t much care what it is.”

The landscape of television history is littered with the ghosts of shows that only lasted one season(if that) and were then unceremoniously dispatched and quickly forgotten by most everyone save for the most hardcore of fans. Then there are the shows that only gain followers and recognition with the passing of time, we call these cult hits. It is my firm belief that Firefly is the cult leader, and so far, nobody or no show has been able to change that view.

Firefly wasn’t supposed to work. It was a mixture of space sci-fi action and old western shows. Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle said it was a “ forced hodgepodge of two alarmingly opposite genres just for the sake of being different” and I will be the first to admit that when I initially heard about it, I was skeptical as well. As much as I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, I had a real hard time wrapping my head around the premise of the show. As it turns out, thankfully, we were both very mistaken. Whedon proved, once again, that he can spin a yarn with the best of em. I used to be a huge fan of Joss Whedon and his work before I heard all of the allegations about how horribly he treats women, now I’m simply a fan of his work.

The year is 2517 and the Captain of the Firefly is Malcolm Reynolds, better known as Mal. After years of fighting on the losing side of a bloody civil conflict called the Unification War. Mal and his crew now take on an assortment of missions, legal or otherwise, although the legal ones are now few and far in-between. The winning side of the civil war, known as the Alliance, has firm control over all the central planets in the galaxy, so Malcolm tends to stay near the outer planets. The two primary or “core” planets as they’re known, have all the sleek, super cool futuristic technology that one tends to find in sci-fi space shows, while most of the outer planets resemble the old west in the 1800’s.

While the major storyline arc is that of River Tam and Simon, her brother, make no mistake, Mal is the man. River was taken by the Alliance when she was a child after they convinced her wealthy family that it was in her best interest to join other child prodigies at a special, private school where she would participate in activities that could help stimulate and grow her mind. We learn that while in their care, she was subjected to awful experiments that left her with schizophrenia and she often complains of hearing voices. We also learn the real reason the alliance wanted her in the first place was because she was what is known as a “reader”, or someone with psychic abilities. River is played by Joss Whedon favorite Summer Glau.

Malcolm Reynolds is portrayed by the always hilarious Nathan Fillion, who plays the part of the sly old war dog to perfection. In fact, one of the gifs I see most often, is that of Mal looking a bit perplexed, with his finger raised, about to say something but unable to do so. Mal and his right-hand woman Zoe are veterans of the Unification War where the resistance was known as the “browncoats”. After the defeat, Mal bought Serenity as a means to keep ahead of the alliance and to maintain some semblance of freedom. With the purchase of Serenity, Mal now has a ship to crew. Enter Hoban “Wash” Washuburn as the pilot and husband of Zoe. He is portrayed with nervous hilarity by Allen Tudyk. “I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar” is one of the greatest lines from someone piloting a ship in television history. While the cool and calculated Zoe is played by Gina Torres(Suits).

Rounding out the cast is Inara Serra, played by Morena Baccarin(Homeland, Deadpool). Inara is a companion, which is sort of a mixture of a geisha and a courtesan. She is also Malcolm’s love interest. There’s actually an the entire world where companions are trained. Of course everybody wants to go on a mission there. Then you have Jayne Cobb who is played by the magat Adam Baldwin(Independence Day, The Patriot), Jayne is the muscle guy, the one who likes guns ‘n grenades but isn’t the brightest bulb. I personally love everything I’ve seen Mr. Baldwin in, but his politics are a disaster. Next up is Kaylee Frye, the wacky mechanic who proclaims that “going on a year now I ain’t had nothin twixt my nethers weren’t run on batteries” because Simon won’t give her the D, which she clearly craves. Kaylee was a kind of child prodigy herself as she could just kind of figure out how things fit together.

Kaylee is played by the adorable Jewel Staite who I first encountered on the show Flash Forward in 1997. Then there is Simon. Simon is just… hmmm well, Simon. Clinical, sterile Simon. It seems his only function is to be Rivers protector and nothing else. Who cares that Kaylee is just sitting there all pretty and funny and sweet. Not him, not Simon, not yet at least. And lastly you have the shepherd, who is like a preacher/priest who shares his wisdom with the crew but not much about his past. Shepherd is played by the late actor Ron Glass. Mal loves spending time with the shepherd but hates listening to his sermons. That’s what war can do to a person. It can make a non-believer believe or it can turn the faithful into an atheist.

While most episodes feature a heist of the week theme bad guy, everyone always has to worry about the ever present danger of the reavers. The reavers are cannibalistic space tribe scavengers who only eat people alive and have a thing for raping others to death. Nobody from the show seems to know where they came from(hello Serenity movie) and everyone tries steer clear of them if possible. The reavers seem to be hopped up on a mixture of goofballs, PCP and bath salts. And they really like to cut up their own faces.
Christina Hendricks appears in two separate episodes, 5 years before she found fame on Mad Men and you could tell, even then, she was a special talent.

This show is really funny and so damned entertaining, yet Fox only allowed it to air 11 of its 14 already filmed episodes before abruptly pulling the plug. The studio never even gave it a chance as it stuck it on the Friday night slot at 8 p.m. AKA the place where shows go to die.

I know the premise can be off-putting, but the show is great and if you give it a chance I reckon you’ll love it too.

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