Geekdom and my late initiation into the glory that was Firefly

I've always been a Joss Whedon fan. I started watching Buffy when it first aired my last year of high school and I enjoyed Angel as well. But I was actually living in Japan when Firefly had it's all too brief run on Fox. So I never actually saw the show and didn't go to see the movie precisely because I hadn't seen all the important stuff that led up to it. But then my good pal Charlie decided to remedy that situation by getting me the Firefly boxset and Serenity DVD for X-Mas. I must admit, I let them sit around for a while, because I was not quite in the mood for a TV series. Then one day this week I needed something new to watch while I was eating dinner and decided the first episode of Firefly would be a good solution. I assumed it would only be an hour long (forgot about the whole pilot episode thing) and that I could turn it off and watch another episode a different day. Foolish, foolish thinking on my part.

I was immediately sucked in and sat glued to my TV set from 7:00pm until 3:30am. At which point I finally had to turn it off because I needed to get up the next morning for school. I then rushed back home the following day and proceeded to watch the rest of the series and the movie. I am now an official Firefly fan. Not that this should come as a surprise!

So, a couple of thoughts I had while watching the series. 1) I think Joss Whedon ripped off quite a bit from the Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop which was made long before this series--it's also a futuristic, sci-fi, western about bounty hunters in space. Um...sounds like blatant concept plagiarism to me. And I've seen Cowboy Bebop, so I know there are definite similarities. But I don't hold it against old Joshy. I just hope he's acknowledged his debt to the anime. 2) Things set up in the pilot and things that happen later in the series are a bit "off". For instance, in the pilot there is some noticeable tension with Jayne and Kalee. He's seemingly jealous of her interest in Simon and when she gets shot he checks in on her secretly to make sure she's all right. I thought initially the show was going to set up some kind of love triangle with those three. But it never materialized, which was a tad disappointing. I thought in some ways that would have given Jayne's character a bit more depth. Instead they sort of turned him into the schlocky action side-kick with no brain. Kinda redundant, but oh well. 3) I really wanted to learn more about Shepherd Book and what his secret past was (they set this up in the series) but then they kill him off in the movie with these questions unanswered. I get a little irked by narrative threads that are left hanging. 4) I CRIED, CRIED, CRIED, when they totally and unexpectedly killed off Wash! He was such a cutie pie. I really loved the chemistry between him and Zoe, they were a great couple. But I'm thinking that the actor wanted out of any potential future movie projects or something. 5) Okay, Nathan Fillion is one hottie Canadian. I really liked his outfit in the show. Yummy. And that boy has a sweet tatoo on his hip! And the most juicy man-bottom I've seen in total naked glory on screen in a while. For all the fellow fans, they know of which episode I speak....hoo-boy!

I am now forever indebted to Charlie for this gift. Definitely the best of 2005!

Addendum: Well, that and Monkey's decadent and quite delectable box o' Trader Joe goodies. I'm trying to restrain myself from eating all the tasty little ginger spice cookies in one sitting. So good! Especially with a nice cup of tea. Mmmm!