Serenity & Firefly

Until this past weekend, I had never seen an episode of Firefly. However, I was interested in Serenity, so when my friend Keith came down this past weekend for a visit he brought his set of Firefly DVDs. Although we weren't able to watch all of them, I did have the opportunity to see enough of them to add to my enjoyment of Serenity on Sunday night. I'm still catching up on the DVDs (of which Keith was missing the first, which he lent out to his brother and hasn't gotten back), but I have to say that I am loving the show and will probably buy both the complete series and the Serenity DVD when it finally does hit the stores.

Some general thoughts (a few possible Serenity spoilers as well). I beg that the show's long-time fans forgive me for mentioning something that seems like old news to them:

• I absolutely love Jayne's (Adam Baldwin's) character -- especially in the episode where he's a hero on a planet from which he's a fugitive. Actually, he strikes me as nothing more than an older, more mature version of Animal Mother, the character Baldwin portrayed in Full Metal Jacket, but I liked Animal Mother too, so it works out in the end.
  
• I really respect Whedon for killing two main characters in Serenity. One of my biggest beefs with sci-fi series is the fact that the major characters almost never die, no matter how pitched the battle. Star Trek managed to bungle this one even further by not having the balls to let the characters stay dead, having resurrected Spock and blatantly leaving the door open to resurrecting Data should they decide to do anything with the Next Gen crew ever again.
  
• Maybe it's because I haven't been able to watch the pilot or wasn't paying close attention to an earlier episode, but is this happening in just one star system or is it spread out over a sector of the galaxy? Either way, there's enough problems with the science -- whether it's a nearly impossibly configured solar system or the near instantaneous travel between systems, it really doesn't matter -- to make this more science fantasy than science fiction.
  
• Yeah, I know it's a western too, and all the rules of proper sf probably shouldn't apply, but that doesn't mean I have to just sit quietly and just accept the setup mindlessly.
  
• Like Wash (Alan Tudyk), I never get tired of hearing about Jayne got beat up by a 90-pound girl.
  
• However, I'm never able to look at Wash without thinking about the character Tudyk played in 28 Days and his saying, "Look at my package!"
  
• I know that Mal said he'd kill him if he ever saw him again, but does anyone out there really believe we've seen the last of The Operative? He's now such a natural fit for the crew that it's almost scary.
  
• What do you think the chances are that we'll see the Serenity attempt a trip back to Earth? I see it happening, provided that the fireflies actually handle interstellar travel.