Why Firefly was good

I am watching something called "Browncoats Unite".  It is a 10th anniversary with some of the cast from the TV Show.  I have seen people who hate the show.  I've seen people who love the show.  I've seen people who are indifferent about the show.  I am going to talk about why I think people fell in love with the show.  It is so damn simple but so damn hard to do.  It made people care!

Obviously from my blog I am a pro wrestling fan.  The one thing that wrestling fans do is care.  Think about why people watch wrestling.  They CARE about the guys in the ring.  They care about the character the performers are portraying.  Firefly did the same thing.  In the brief period the show was on people fell in love with these characters.

The one thing that Joss Whedon does really well is write characters.  No matter what kind of person you are there is someone on the ship you can relate to.  Heck often you can relate to several characters on his shows.

I saw the movie, Serenity, before the show.  I remember the show being on Fox but when I tuned in to watch it it had been moved and I said fuck it I wasn't going to hunt a show down back then.  I remember, when Wash died feeling something.  I hadn't known this character for 90 minutes yet I felt something about it.  May be it was the reaction of Zoe but I don't think so.  I saw a little bit of me in him. That is something that Joss does so well, making you feeling part of you in his characters.

Watching the show I fell in love with the characters and even more so the "guest" stars.  As I write this "The Message" episode is on.  One of my favorite quotes, no just from the show but of all time, is from the episode.  "When you can't walk, you crawl and when you can't do that, you find someone to carry you."

It is one of those quotes that have stuck with me and reminded me that I'm not alone in this thing we call life.  Every episode has a great line or two.  My personal favorite character was Jubal Early.  He is an insane bounty hunter after River.  Some of the lines that Jubal says are amazing!

So why did Firefly fail if it is as good as I am saying?  Simple put it was the fact it was on the wrong network.  Fox.  Fox, the network that cancelled Family Guy.  Yeah they aren't real bright at times.

Fox screwed up the order of episodes.  They started the show at episode 3 because the pilot didn't have enough action.  To be fair network television isn't right for Joss.  Joss is slow building and all about character and dialog.  In that sense it reminds me of old Kevin Smith.  It is about the characters and the dialog.

Now let me say this, I am glad the show got cancelled.  Why?  Because I don't want to see the characters ruined.  I am going to use a wrestling reference because it is what I know.  Hulk Hogan "retired" and left the WWF in 1992 after Wrestlemania 8.  He was last seen "passing the torch" to the Warrior.  Instead of retiring two years later he showed up in WCW.  His character was different, he looked different (the steroid trial took place during all this) and the character of Hulk Hogan would be forever different.  If you look at the movie Serenity as the 3 episode finale it is all wrapped up.  Do we learn about some of the secrets?  No we don't.  We don't know about Book and his secrets but that is okay.  Sometimes there are secrets that are good not to know about.  I want the characters pure and unruined by others, the writers of the actual show, ruining them for me.  I know I am in the minority there but it is true.

If you like shows driven by dialog and characters give Firefly a try.  Ignore the sci-fi aspect of it boys and girls, it is about the characters.  Having stumbled upon this makes me watch to watch the show all over again and I think I just might.