Flying Fires

I first read about the show Firefly a few years ago on my former home page, Slashdot (which has now been replaced by the much cooler digg). I thought the title sounded lame, so I never bothered to check out the series. It was cancelled after about a dozen episodes anyway, so what did I care?

Now, thanks to the magic of Netflix, I found out that I really *do* care. After watching the first nine episodes, I have to say that this show is really growing on me. It's often described as "a western in outer space", but I haven't seen many westerns (only recently did I watch Stagecoach, and I like to think Back to the Future 3 counts too) so I don't know if that's accurate. All I know is, it's pretty cool stuff. It focuses on the exploits of a ragtag bunch of smugglers aboard a Firefly-class ship named Serenity. They make a living by picking up odd jobs for cash while trying to avoid the galactic police force (well, that's kind of what they are, but it's more than that) called the Alliance. I really like the captain, because he does what most people would probably want him to do. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy who, unlike other no-nonsense captains, really does what he says and backs it up with bullets. He reminds me of Han Solo (the Han Solo who shoots first, mind you) and Indiana Jones. Or perhaps he just reminds me of Harrison Ford.

Anyway, if you're looking for a really cool TV show to check out, give it a try. I did, and it's a good thing too. :)