Serial Serenity: A Chick’s Guide to Firefly – Introduction

For three wonderful months in 2002, the world glimpsed Joss Whedon’s vision of the future (500 years ahead, to be exact) through his series Firefly. An instant cult hit, this sci-fi western told the story of nine people on a smuggling ship just trying to scrape by. It merged the past with the future to create something relevant to us in here the present. It was wonderful. Us Whedonites knew Joss would always have a show on network television, and we were happy. Joss was king.Fox did not agree.

After airing only 11 of 14 episodes, Fox canceled Firefly to make room for what it thought the public wanted: more Reality TV. To that, I say “Booooo!” Fox killed something brilliant and my faith in the Hollywood Machine was destroyed forever.

[nms:Whedon Firefly,4,0]

Luckily for us, the Firefly vision refused to die. Small groups of followers became a rabid legion of change (I believe it is because of these self-proclaimed “Browncoats” that we have the movie Serenity). The mythology of the Firefly universe, exiled from television, continued to grow in other arenas. Hundreds of fan websites sprang up toting everything from fan fiction to cast appearance dates to merchandise. Firefly on DVD flew off shelves. As of this very minute, Nathan Fillion has over 22,000 friends on his MySpace account that still lovingly refer to him as Captain.

And that is where this series comes in. What will follow in 14 installments is a beginner’s guide to each episode of Firefly from the point of view of a woman. Let me first clear something up: I am very sweet on Nathan Fillion (who isn’t?), but that is not what this series is about. It is a girl’s guide to possibly the most well written and executed post-apocalyptic narrative to come our way in years. Firefly includes biting social commentary and a wellspring of strong female characters that can make us fangirls proud. And the eye-candy ain’t so bad, either.

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Rachel Bishop, originally from Oregon and currently living in Arizona, is a grant writer and consultant for non-profit arts organizations. She hopes to one day renovate an old theatre somewhere and turn it into an art house cinema joint. Rachel has a BA in Theatre and Media Arts and an MFA in Arts Administration. She enjoys movies, writing, using her label-maker, guacamole, and the Oxford Comma. She has been married to a self-proclaimed Zombie Cinema expert for 6 years, and has been the mother to a self-proclaimed 2-year-old for, you guessed it, 2 years. You can visit Rachel at her MySpace page.