Firefly

I saw the pilot/season premiere on DVD last night, and it looks promising.

Even though I'm a couple years behind the curve, the upcoming movie Serenity is supposedly based in this world. I thought I'd catch up and see what I've missed before I see the movie, and I've heard good things about the cancelled series.

Joss Whedon, the writer and director, has created a sci-fi world loosely based, it seems, on the anime Cowboy Bebop, which focuses on bounty hunters in space. The characters, so far, have been fairly well established in the first 90 minute premiere, and the atmosphere of the series has been set. Similar to the new Battlestar Galactica, the zooms and views of ships in space are similar, which leads me to wonder if the crew on Battlestar saw Firefly as an inspiration to create a decrepid, dank world of future spaceships that feel used, unlike the sterile ships of the Trek series.

The visual effects of the show are pretty good. Not garish in any way, and the ships and environments have been appropriately weathered from age and flight. I look forward to seeing how the series progresses. It's a shame that FOX likes to cancel decent shows, and keep crap on the air.