Much praised and much missed after its premature cancellation, Firefly is the first SF TV series to be conceived by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy and cocreator of Angel. Set five centuries in the future, it is a show where the mysterious personal pasts of the crew of the tramp spaceship Serenity continually surface. In fact, it's a Western in space where the losers in a Civil War are heading out to a barren frontier. Mal Reynolds is a man embittered by the war, yet whose love of his comrades perpetually dents his cynicism--even in the 14 episodes that exist we see him warm to the bubbly young mechanic Kaylee, the preacher Book, the idealistic doctor Simon, even to the often demented River, Simon's sister, the psychic result of malign experiments.

Firefly is also about adult emotional relationships, for example Kaylee's crush on Simon, the happy marriage of Mal's second officer Zoe and the pilot Wash, the disastrous erotic stalemate between Mal and the courtesan Inara. Individual episodes deal with capers going vaguely wrong, or threats narrowly circumvented; character and plot arcs were starting to emerge when the show was cancelled. Fortunately, the spin-off movie Serenity ties up some of the ends; and in the meantime, what there is of Firefly is a show to marvel at, both for its tight writing and ensemble acting, and the idiocy of the executives who cancelled it.

On the DVD: Firefly on DVD is presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 with Dolby Surround Sound. It includes commentaries on six episodes by various writers, directors, designers and cast members as well as featurettes on the conception of the show and the design of the spaceship Serenity, four deleted scenes, a gag reel, and Joss Whedon singing the show's theme tune, more or less. One of the things that emerges from all of this is how committed to the project everyone involved with it was, and is--unusually, you end up caring as much for the cast and crew as for the characters.

This very quickly became my favorite tv show of all time-and i watch a lot of tv.
It's so hard to decribe it to someone but if you at all like sci-fi/funny dialogue/great plots/extremely quotable lines then you should definitely see this. wild west crossed with space but much more about the characters than the landscape- and such great characters. As the review, and Captain Malcolm Reynolds says; 'We are just too damn pretty for god to let us die'

There is one bad point to this series though, the shortness of it! after watching it you will as like become obsessed and start incorporating Firefly lingo into your everyday speech, 'cool' replaced with 'shiny' Fox are forever known as 'the Alliance' and you will have an unreasonable hope that Joss Whedon makes either another film or TV series

this is the best T.V show you will ever see, you don't have to be a Whedon fan or sci-fi for that matter. a second to none script and superb characters make this show as good as any thing you'll have seen before or since give it a shot i doubt you'll be disappointed... shiny :-)

Why do most of those that give this series only one star always start by saying " I'm a real SF fan having grown up on blah, blah and this (Firefly) is just **** ".

Well, me to - having grown up with the Masters (Asimov, Bester, Clarke and so-on to Zelazny) BUT I think this is pretty good stuff.

Granted the first few episodes were not so bright (but did you see the first normal Stargate SG1 episode - HA), but then it got into a rhythm. Good stuff.

Watch the series and then re-run the movie Serenity ; it makes a lot more sense the second time through. Well worth it.

This really is great sci-fi/dark comedy. A great cast who fit their characters brilliantly. Not for nothing is Nathan Fillion highly thought of by Empire Magazine. Try it. Given the number of very positive reviews, it is highly unlikely anylone would be disappointed.

OK there are at currently 316 5 star reviews of this.

The next question must be Why?

This is proof in point that 316 people can be wrong.

The only redeeming factor about this show is its leading cynical world weary character. The universe of firefly is ill conceived, highly inconsistant and illogical. Or to be more concise just plain ridiculous and stupid.

I am a fan of science fiction and have enjoyed the twilight zone, star trek, star trek next gen, babylon 5 and the new battlestar galactica.
I count as my favourite films Solaris and 2001 a space odyssey. I am also widely read in the masters of the genre so i believe i know what i am talking about.

The main difference between these attempts at SF and Firefly is that they at least grant the viewer with having a mind attributed with a semblence of wit and intelligence.

There is little if any semblance of SF in this series. Whedon's lack of knowledge of the SF genre is obvious as supported by the stupidity of the plots and lack of any valid scientific content.

This is just another zombie horror series in the guise of wild west in space. Or to be more concise: lowest common denominator.

I find it hard to believe that there have been so few negative reviews of this abysmal series. But looking at it from a positive point of view maybe the more serious minded SF fan have stayed clear of the odour. Luckily i didn't fork out hard earned cash for this detritus, somehow i managed to watch in a bemused fashion 2 and a half episodes before i returned it to my friend........ I offered him condolences.

The thing i find least surprising about this was that it was cancelled. The film version fares no better i may add. I thought there couldn't be a worse series than the original BSG but no here it is. Don't believe the hype about this show, instead show that you are not gullible.

If you have access to a barge pole i would recommend using it in this case, if not borrow one. You have been warned.