Got my hopes up

[Ninurta]

I didn't have time to watch FireFly what was it about and why was it so good at the time? Did it offer anything new in science fiction writing?

it was a "Space Opera" in which tales of the old west were set in space of the far future, around 2500 AD.

The actual setting was "the 'Verse", a pentuple star system complete with "planets" and "moons", designation for which seemed to be often interchangeable. "Interstellar travel", after the initial colonization from Earth to the 'Verse, was confined to stars withing the pentuple star system.

Most of the planets and moons were terraformed. A terraforming accident went wrong on Miranda, the outermost planet or moon of the system, giving rise to "The Reavers", the most predatory race of humans to ever exist.

The initial episodes were set 6 years after the end of a war in which the "Alliance" also known as "Federals" of the central planets seized control of the entire system, opposed by the "independents", also called  "Browncoats" of the outer planets. Malcolm Reynolds (captain of the Firefly) and Zoe Washburn (First Officer) fought together for the Independents during the war. Their last action of the war was fought in Serenity Valley, from which the Firefly ship "Serenity" was named.

Serenity is a cargo / transport space ship. The crew of Serenity. a truly mismatched bunch, haul cargo and occasionally illegally salvage space wrecks. Some of the cargo is strictly legal and above board, sometimes it's in a "gray area", and at other times about as illegal as it gets. They take whatever cargo they need to survive, no questions asked. Sort of like the old "BJ and the Bear" trucking show.

Of course the gray areas and illegal cargos sometimes bring them into conflict with the Alliance conquerors.

The crew was composed of:

1. Malcolm Reynolds, Captain. Fiercely protective of his crew, even the ones he didn't like.

2. Zoe Washburn, Second in Command. married to the pilot of the crew, even though she didn't much like him either at first.

3.Hoban "Wash" Washburn, pilot. A gifted pilot.

3. Kaylee Winnet Frye, engineer. Loves Serenity as if she were her own child, and fiercely protective thereof.

4, Jayne Cobb, the muscle of the outfit, a former mercenary. It could probably still be fairly said that he's a current mercenary. Not overly bright, but tends to cut to the chase in his efforts to understand a thing.

5. Inara Serra, a "Companion". More or less a Space Hooker along the lines of a Geisha. Her role is to provide the ship with a degree of respectability, as Companion is, in this verse, an honored profession.

6. "Shepherd" Darriel Booke, a religious cleric who finds himself among thieves and cutthroats as part of the crew. Shepherd Booke is the conscience of the crew, since many of the rest are notably lacking in that quality. He has a shadowy past, and it's presumed that he was at one time an "Operative" for the Alliance before he took up religion.

7. Simon Tam, ships surgeon. Simon had a brilliant future in medicine on the central planets before he "sprung" his sister from Alliance experimentation. He, along with his sister, are now on the run from the Alliance, which is how they find themselves part of the Serenity crew.

8. River Tam, sister of Simon Tam. A bit off in the head due to the Alliance experimentation on her which had the effect of scrambling her brains. After Simon rescued her, the Alliance is hard after retrieving her. This circumstance brings some of the dramatic conflict into the series, often with other crew members.

I thought it was a great show, and was saddened after it's cancellation after only 13 episodes (14 if you count one mega episode as two separate episodes). On the flip side of that, the short runs makes it eminently bingeable, because it doesn't go on and on and on.

I went so far, several years ago, as to create a "'Verse" add-on for Celestia. Never put it out in public, though. It was created from the astronomical data contained in "the 'Verse in Numbers", a PDF file cataloging all of the stars and "moons" of the "verse available on the internet, and would put the Firefly 'Verse in motion on your computer screen with the possibility of visiting each moon or planet and entering orbit there.

So, yeah, paint me up as a fanboi.

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