Unfortunately I don't have a cooking update for this entry. Matthew and I have been dog-sitting at my dad's house for the last several days, and we've also had work for the entire weekend. However, I do have a great update for movie-watching! Technically, it's a television series, but it was completely new to me and it actually has a thought-out plotline, so I'm going to count it in my movie list. The series that I am fortunate enough to have come across is Firefly, created by Joss Whedon. Matthew received it as a gift a while ago but we just kept putting off watching it. Now that I've seen it, I can't decide whether I'm more glad about having seen it, or pissed off that it was cancelled after one season.
Firefly is an intelligent, entertaining, and captivating show. Every single character is well-developed, unique, and likable in some way. While there are still some unanswered questions about the characters, such as the extent of River's abilities, I know that if given more seasons the show would have artfully explained everything. Speaking of, River is definitely a favorite. This girl is mysterious without being disconnected from the audience. For instance, in the episode "War Stories," Kaylee is outnumbered by Niska's men and would've been killed if River hadn't picked up her gun and shot them all dead from a distance with her eyes closed. Impressive and scary as that is, River just smiles at Kaylee and walks away. Fox could have filled several seasons diving into the expanses of her mind and slowly revealing what the Alliance did with her mind, but instead they leave her story unfinished.
In addition, I like the universe that Whedon imagined. There's futuristic technology, like laser guns and warp drive, but the reality of human selfishness and corporate greed has also left other planets with only the most basic technologies. Hell, on some border planets they're still using horses and carriages! I also enjoy the incorporation of Earth politics into a show that takes place 500 years in the future. It makes sense that America and China were the greatest superpowers when Earth died, so the cultures melted together as people colonized other planets. I find it amusing that most of their slang and swearing is done in Chinese, but I wish they could have at least subtitled those moments instead of just putting "[Speaking Chinese]" at the bottom of the screen. The planets have western and oriental influences in their art, architecture, and customs, which provides for more variety in setting. Similarly, the show's depiction of space is phenomenal. Every single time the camera looks on the ship from space, there is no sound, just background music. This makes the most sense, seeing as there is no sound in space. Attention to details like this is part of what makes Firefly such a great show!
What I cannot understand is why Fox treated this show like crap. In addition to not airing the episodes in order, they also spaced episodes weeks apart, thus making it difficult to have an initial following. Still, I don't know if a second season would have gathered a following large enough to keep it alive. Firefly is one of those shows that is too smart for a large portion of society. We have shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Secret Life of the American Teenager going into yet another season, so that doesn't speak well for the typical tastes of viewers. I'm hoping to see the movie soon, and maybe one day someone with enough money will give all of us "Browncoats" another fix of this amazing show. Anyone who watches the season in order on dvd will admit that Firefly is addictive!
Rating: 5/5
Since each episode is approximately 45 minutes, the 14-episode series comes to about 10.5 hours of viewing time. I'll be generous and say that the average movie is about two hours (even though comedies and romantic movies are often shorter). That would give me five movies worth of time, and it's plot is strong enough to count for five movies! If anything, it's not unlike how the individual movies of a series could be watched as one congruent plot. So, I am now that much closer to my goal! My greatest hope though is that this entry entices more people into discovering and enjoying the world of Firefly. Later!
Movies: 14/100 viewed
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