It’s in the S section

“Serenity” stirs-up an emotional response in those of its fan-base, since thousands stood by its side after its cancellation, ready to march in protest of its shortened life. The underdog is everyone’s favourite, and it is no different with the deeply-human band of rebels aboard the firefly. Joss Whedon deftly gave us something memorable and unique. It takes a good director to keep an audience guessing “What’s next?”

After reading several reviews, it can clearly be seen that one must understand that “Firefly” was about “life on the frontier…a story of people living in space but not living in grandeur and who are not living in great portent, but who are more the fringe people…people that the Enterprise would have just blown right past and never noticed.” (interview quote by Joss Whedon) Simply put, “Firefly” is character-driven; if you don’t like the characters, you will not like the story. It takes a creative mind to bring together the unknown future and the unfamiliar world of sci-fi, and place it on our doorsteps. Whedon allows us to say to ourselves “I know how those characters feel. Yeah, I get that.” People can relate to the crew of Serenity in ways one could never do in many other futuristic, space-trek productions.

If the characters and story were great, why was she canceled? When compared with the popular TV series “Battlestar Gallactica” one can determine why less viewers enjoyed “Firefly”. Plainly, there’s more to relate to. It is for the opposite reason that “Battlestar Gallactica” has grown – it is about the people of great portent. “Firefly”s struggle for survival never goes beyond Serenity’s crew, and the viewer’s thoughts are never provoked to broader issues which seep into everyday life. While Serenity’s crew is placed in situations where they must do everything to survive, Gallactica’s crew is placed in situations where they must make radical choices to maintain who they are, as soldiers, as the human race, as individuals.

What is unfair is that Captain Mal’s crew never had the opportunity to develop as Adama’s continuing quest has allowed. When Whedon moved the small crew of the firefly to the big screen, we were shown that she had maturing potential. It’s a shame she never had the chance to grow up.