Firefly product reviews

Prior to this show, my husband and I had already been massive Joss Whedon fans. Although we didn't watch Buffy religiously (we came to the party late on that one), we own all of Angel on DVD. We also really enjoyed his latest series called Dollhouse.

By the time we had our hands on Firefly, we already knew it had been cancelled. Partly I wasn't expecting much, since it was canned so quickly while his other shows got a good amount of seasons. Still, right from the start I knew I was watching something special. Yup its cowboys in space, but there is so much more to it. I loved the dirtiness of the future, the rough and tough reality of 500 years ahead. I loved the way the language was changed. It was a gritty world and the characters all carried a secret.

I was sorry to see the end of this series. I was sorry the film didn't re-boot the series like we all hoped. But what we have in this DVD is gold and I haven't lost my faith in Whedon to deliver more magic in future.

When it first hit the TV screen, I admit I only watched a couple of episodes, and thought it was a bit naff... but like anything worthwhile in life, it sometimes takes a bit of patience and 'just the right mood' to really give it a go... and once I did, I found I actually really liked it. Sure, it's a spaghetti western set in space, with a huge multi-planetary gang of 'bad guys' trying to take over everyone's life... but then, we could say that about today's global political system, just multi-national, instead of multi-planetary.

I really didn't get into the right frame of mind to see this series until after I went to see the big-screen adaptation, named after the ship itself, Serenity. The movie was brilliant, though by necessity slightly different from the storyline presented in the series... you just have to accept that, with the change in format and timeframe. Though the delightful Jewel Staite (playing Kaylee, the ship's mechanic) makes me go all wobbly in the knees, my favourite character would have to be Wash, the pilot... that fella makes flying interplanetary spacecraft in a combat situation look as easy as driving the car down to the corner dairy for milk... what a pilot! When I grow up, in my new clone body, I want to be just like him.

There is everything one could want in a sci-fi series here, from space combat and stunning hand-to-hand fight scenes, right down to the mushy interpersonal dramas between various characters, especially the sexual tension between Kaylee and Dr Simon Tam, and between Inara (the bonded Companion resident on-ship) and Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds (the captain and lead character), plus of course all the other little dramas that pop up, including an enforced marriage, a train robbery that turns sour, finding a town that worships Jayne (the onboard warrior), plus many more... 4 DVDs worth in fact, comprising all 15 episodes made of series 1... that's a stunning 11+ hours of viewing pleasure.

Overall, despite U.S. audiences giving it a bit of a dud response, causing the studios to withdraw funding and cancelling production of series 2, I actually found it a stunningly good series, full of action and drama in every episode. This series has earned itself an 'M' rating, suitable for audiences 16 years and over, because of the occasional brutal torture scene or graphic gunfight, but don't let that put you off... the graphic violence is tame compared to what we see on CNN or the news shows, so it's still a great view. It's just a darned shame that we are unlikely to ever see a series 2 of it, unless someone has a few spare million to spare? Please? Go on, you know you want to...