Firefly (TV series): Difference between revisions

The [[science fiction television]] show '''Firefly''', created by [[Joss Whedon]], the creator of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and ''[[Angel (television)|Angel]]'', was first aired in the [[United States of America|USA]] on [[September 20]], [[2002]]. The show takes its name from the ''Firefly''-class [[starship]] owned and operated by the cast; the class name is itself a reference to the appearance of the ship withand itsa tail section that blinks when accelerating for interplanetary flight.

The show is set in approximately [[26th century|2500 CE]], following the depletion of Earth's resources and an expansion of the human race into 'the frontier' of outer space. Captain Malcolm Reynolds is athe veteran of a war of rebellionresistance against "The Alliance" — an organization that attempted to achieve the unification of all mankind under a single imperial government. A central "core" of planetary systems have fallen under Alliance control, while settlers and refugees in the further reaches of space enjoy relative freedom from the long arm of the government but lack many of the amenities of a high-tech civilization. Reynolds now commandsowns a small ''Firefly''-class starship called ''Serenity'', making cargo runs, smuggling, and performing various other tasks --- legal andor illegalotherwise tasks--- to scrape together a living for himself and his crew. (Some have noted that Reynolds' backstory appears to be modelled on the life of [[Jesse James]]; this may explain the unusual [[Western movie|western]] theming for thea science-fiction show.)

The cast form the owner (Reynolds), crew (Zoë, Wash, Kaylee, Jayne), and passengers (Inara, Simon, River, Book) of the ship ''Serenity''. They range from the respectable (Inara, Book) to the suspect (Reynolds, Zoë, Jayne) to the outlawed (Simon, River). Zoë is a wartime friend of Reynolds; Jayne, also a former rebel, is a dull-witted, violent, and treacherous bandit that Reynolds bought off while in the very actprocess of being robbed by him. Inara is a prostitute --- an honored profession in this society --- with special status on the ship and a mutual unspoken crush + love-hate relationship with Reynolds. Simon is a medical researcher / physician of the first caliber, on the lam after breaking his sister River out of a research facility where she was being explioted for unspecified unspecified reasons (but with strong hints of brain tampering to bring out a natural [[psionic]] ability). River's status on the ship is that of a stowaway, since Simon brought her aboard in suspended animation and passed her container of as medical equipment. Book is a holy man, though there are hints that he is an agent of some unspecified organization with an interest in the welfare of River and Simon.