Firefly Retrospective/Review 

bro I wanna know more about your book - did you make a video talking about it yet?

They may have cancelled the show,but they can't take the sky from me😢

"I am a leaf on the wind....watch how I soar".

I love how they handled "no sound in space."

Firefly and it's movie serenity is one of the best pieces of art. It was criminal it was cancelled

Pound for pound Firefly is by far the best sci-fi that has ever been made, the characters are written so well and the cast was so perfect that we shall most likely never see such a fantastic combination again and that saddens me to my core, Most sci-fi is lucky to crank out one really good episode a season working with 20 plus eps, Firefly had nothing but good episodes (14 out of 14) with OUT OF GAS and OUR MRS REYNOLDS being worthy of every award in the verse, I will always be grateful to Joss Whedon for bringing this show to life, I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer but Firefly was his masterpiece.

You absolutely nailed it down. More than a decade later, and I'm still hurting.

Guitar twangs? In space? Cowboys? Nathan Fillion's face? A show made for me

Most narratives on youtube tend to be mundane and ego-bent. Yours has inflection and dare I say enthusiasm of sharing something your enjoy and admire. Feels like we had coffee over our favorite relatives. Thank you.

"you can't take the sky from me" The firefly lives on in dark horses comic series which now has currently released 5 volumes with a sixth one coming this year. I will never get bored of re-watching this awesome series including the movie, in my mind it is just excellent. so sad Whedon never got to fully realize it on TV.

That is the best "Firefly" commentary that I have ever seen, heard or read. Please do "Serenity" too.

Firefly reminds me of the submarine I served on for four years, 1977-81. The characters “outside the box” solution finding personalities remind me of the crew I served with. Firefly and the submarine service both have a mission where they operate independently. As in completely by ourselves with our own ingenuity. No one there to help when problems arouse. Most of the time going off patrol and into port for repairs wasn’t an option except in extremity.

I absolutely loved the series, even with the episodes coming out in the wrong order, rewatching them endlessly on Netflix, but I think what I loved the most about it was the... 'quoteability' of the show. Every episode was chock full of one-liners and seemingly off the cuff dialogue that was infinitely quoted to fellow fans. It also fits with the world-building that many of the best lines in the show almost require a visual element and some backstory. My personal favorite: "You wanna run this ship? Yes! Well... you can't."

I did not discover Firefly until a stint of disability put me surfing Netflix for weeks on end in 2010. I was immeadiately captivated by the show; the actors, the story lines, the setting, and the incredible dialogue. I was so disappointed when I learned there were only 14 episodes...and really pissed when I learned of the mistreatment and bungling by the network that led to it's cancelation. Josh Whealdon is a genius. Loved Serenity also! Great review.

Surprisingly, nicely put. Normally I watch these things and get bored but yours was fun, interesting and very well made. Thank you

Great retrospective, loved it! Man, Out of Gas, loved that episode so much. All the emotions...

Still angry at Fox over the cancellation of this show. Just an absolutely perfectly executed show. Cast, script, scenery, the whole nine yards. Gods I miss Firefly.

There is so much more you could (and should) have said about the writing and the cast, and more. I am most impressed by Summer Glau’s portrayal of River. There is so much range in her character it is like she plays different person every time, and she does it so well every time. I think Summer is the best, and most underrated, actress ever!

Firefly was a great season of TV, Out Of Gas is an example of great writing.

I really wish this show was brought back. I mean I really liked the movie but I do wish they would bring this amazing work of art back

RIP Ron Glass. Two of my fave characters: Shepherd Book and Detective Harris

Your review is actually good. Unlike others, your reviews, I have to say, are awesome. I would never normally even think about subscribing to a channel doing reviews.

Subscribed. Anyone who recognizes the genius and fun which was Firefly is deserving of my attention. Great video, concise commentary. Your comment about how after the pilot that every character was well established is one I've made. Typically a series needs almost a full season before the characters gel into their final forms, but with Whedon, he got them right from the start.

Objects in Space is my favorite episode.

I'm surprised by how well this commentary was written. Very well said and I wish you luck with your book.

I completely agree with you about continuity. We do tend to get bogged down with too much uninteresting stuff that doesn't matter instead of thinking of the merits of the show or movie itself. Anyway great vid

Still looking forward to hear your review of Space Above and Beyond.

The ship was purposely designed to look like a horse! Firefly is presently my second favourite series behind Babylon 5.

Out of Gas and Objects in Space are two of the greatest sci-fi episodes ever made.

Firefly and the movie were brilliant. The cast was a once in a lifetime coming together and impossible to reproduce.

2002 was not a good year for televised sci-fi. We lost Firefly AND Farscape the same year. Due to piss poor decisions by the networks. Oddly enough they bothe wound getting a chance to tie up a few loose ends, but still, I do miss Firefly somethin' fierce.

A great review I'll be sending on to the few uninitiated and it begs fur a follow up. Powerful verse. The movie is one of my favourites for so many reasons, one of which is the ideological through line to which the themes are treated. The scenario ties so much together with contemporary issues and the victory feels realistic.

It was so good, and we got so little ,but then again maby thats why we love and miss it so.😢

This is seriously on of my fave videos of yours rowan

you forgot to mention the Title Song one of my all time favourites. of any TV show.

Said it before, gonna say it again. No Firefly, no RDM Battlestar Galactica. No RDM BSG, no Expanse. Firefly changed the game and the movies and TV shows that didn't get the memo are the ones that are scrambling. I'm looking at YOU, Star Wars!

Out of Gas is my favorite Firefly episode and one of the best episodes of television ever.

Waht no mention of Jayne or even his cuning hat.. Loved seeing Serenity landing is the first eposide of the Battlestar Galactica re-boot + the Firefly visual style of the space shot's ie: kinda shakey camera and the zoom.

Another very overlooked plus is the cast commentary on the DVD box set. Sometimes I break out my DVDs just to hear that.

If I hadn't already subscribed to your channel, I would do so every time I see one of your videos. Thank you for making this :)

That music always makes me smile

Your response to continuity and canon was perfect. You just gained a sub for that alone.

Mel. I don't want him hurt just scare him. Jane. pain is scary

Ariel will always be my favorite. "Your patient should be dead." Simon Glares at him the entire time he walks away. And of course, that ending: "Next time you decide to stab me in the back, have the guts to do it to my face."

Hi Thanks for another great video, For me, Firefly is probably my second favourite SciFi show, after Babylon 5. If Joss Whedon had been able to realise his full vision, as JMS largely was, it might have been the other way round. I know some people have trouble with the idea of old west meets outer space, but it makes sense to me. If a new colony is created on a suitable world, they would only have the technology they brought with them, so they would probably fall back on older technologies. Making more horses is easier than making cars.

You can't take the skies form me.

Excellent review, I like your comparison of Firefly to The Expanse.

"I’ll tell you what, you buy this ship, treat her proper, she’ll be with you for the rest of your life."

Out of Gas is by far my favorite episode.

The most modern scifi series dad loved. I remember watching the DVDs with him many times after the series ended.

Where's my gorram brown duster?! I need to be in full regalia for this one... As side notes, "Out of Gas" is my favorite episode of the series and I've always thought the the bounty hunter in "Objects in Space" was related by training or association to the Black Ops Operative in Serenity. As the way they move, fight and the cadence of their speech was very similar and oddly singular when compared to every other character in the series. Perhaps that an improved version of them is what River was being made to become. Am I the only one who felt that there was a hidden story there????????

Huh, there's still Firefly content to this day...

Don't care who disagrees, never cared for Firefly, it was a highly derivative version of Buffy in space. They are basically a mix of Farscape and Star Wars with more humor but all the same parts. The swaggering rebel, the wisened old man, the young nobody who is secretly a badass fighter, the testy gunman/Chewbaca, the sex appeal character, etc...……..

I'd love to see a online MMORPG set in the Firefly universe!

They need to redo it, with the ORIGINAL cast (If possible). It's one of THE very best shows ever. On my personal top 3... 1 - Above and beyond. 2 - Firefly. 3 - Star trek TNG....

If you love Firefly and crave more stuff like it look up RollPlay's TTRPG campaign, "Swan Song" here on RU-vid. It's not explicitly or perhaps even intentionally similar to Firefly, but it quickly ends up with an extremely familiar tone and universe, and a different but similarly compelling cast of oddballs. The show ended years ago and RollPlay is no longer a thing, but like Firefly it stands on its own (if the format doesn't put you off).

great opinion piece. I happen to agree with you on almost all of it.

I just finished binge watching Babylon 5. Now I got my next show to binge. Thanks for reminding me it exists. I probably haven’t watched it since about 2005. I dated a girl that year and loaned her my DVDs. I took her to the movie Serenity with a bunch of my friends.

To me Firefly is much better than any Star Trek show.

I love Firefly. No aliens. Space cowboys. Well presented, thanks from Florida’s Space Coast.

Criminals is subjective.

American SF is sometimes called the successor to The Western. Starships and aliens replace cowboys and Indians. There's a nice exchange somewhere in James Blish's Flying Cities series where a character asks if The Space Okies are criminals, and Amalfi says they're not, but they're not respectable and the cops don't like them much. The same was true of the Firefly crew.

It's almost 20 years. I still miss this show. I know Serenity wrapped things up, but I still want more...

Great show that should of had a much longer run!

I have seen this show two times now, third time comming up soon. Same for the movie.

Uuugh never gonna be not bitter about them taking this show from us. Whedon probably would have dragged it out past it's natural end point, but damn we woulda gotten at least three or four seasons of absolute bangers first.

Best show ever

Totally did not know about this show. I was gonna say how come Castle looks alot younger here 😁

Best review of Firefly I've seen, by far.

Don't diss serenity! It's my favorite spaceship.

I will always hate FOX for cancelling Firefly and Almost Human.

"No power in the 'verse can stop me"....from continuing to watch and love this show!

Hey Rowan J Coleman, you using shots form TV program "Prima Cool" from Czech republic...shining xD

Good luck with launching your novel.

Fox didn't want to air a 2-hour pilot, so Whedon and Minear wrote "The Train Job" as a second pilot.

The crew of the Serenity are not criminals. They are outlaws. Criminals live within the confines of society and break it's laws. Outlaws live almost entirely outside the confines of society and it's laws. I can not stress this distinction enough.

I totally agree on the continuity point. Storytelling is more important than continuity, especially when you are doing commentary on current issues and using current special effects.

Loved this show

Another great series that got screwed AND got its own film! I have both the series and the film. Love them.

Am I a lion? I never thought of myself as one, but you might as well. I have a mighty roar.

On top of everything you just said, Zoe Washburn is pretty much my perfect woman and she was in a healthy marriage with the guy most similar to me. So I enjoyed that wish fullfilment. Firefly is a top 10 all time show and Serenity is my 5th favorite movie ever.

A magnificent episode

I think the ship Serenity is beautiful. I can see why it's called Firefly. If I could chose a spaceship to live on it would be either Serenity, or the Raza from Dark Matter.

There are fans for Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, And many many other franchises. No other fanbase is as rabid in our loyalty to any show as a Browncoat (Firefly Fan) is. I am a fan of all the franchises I mentioned before and then some as well. But Firefly and its companion movie Serenity are by far my favorite. We hold a fancy dress ball every year in a major city around the USA based on the episode Shindig. It's called the Browncoat Ball and everyone else there is also a Browncoat. It's like hanging out with 200 people you KNOW are cool as hell because we all love Firefly. I really don't see this with any other franchise. I'm not talking conventions because those are everywhere. Even if we've just met, we know we have that one thing in common and the rest falls into place.

Firefly and Farscape are amazingly unique sci fi. Though farscape had a far far better run than poor firefly did. I am also so glad that The Expanse got picked up. I think that show has some very good episodic legs to it for sure.

As a long-time Star Trek fan, I still consider Babylon 5 and Firefly as the best science fiction television series ever put on television.

I'm guessing Rowan isn't old enough to have seen the British series _Blake's 7_ when it was originally broadcast in the late 1970s (as opposed to seeing it years later, and comparing it with all sorts of stuff that had followed it, using more advanced resources)

I miss that ship and all the jobs on it and the jobs that could have been.

Firefly is strangely similar, or identical, to Outlaw Star. Which came out two or three years before this series

I wonder how the Alan Tudyk written episode about them collecting hunting dogs would of been like, compared the version i made in my mind!

And yet "The Orville" is slated to get renewed for a 3rd season. There's no justice.

I miss Firefly.

Its just such a great show and in the current climate of reboots and revivals I cant believe Firefly has been passed over

I love this show

Wait given that Disney owns (or is going to own) all of Fox's media assests maybe one day we'll see some new stuff for firefly (fingers crossed) and bare in mind folks star wars movies maybe ruined but the TV shows are way more competently made..... So there is hope. Joss Whedon be willing.

A cross between Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love" (the western parts) and Blake's 7.

I really liked firefly but I wish Alan Tudyk's character had more screentime

I need to go back and watch it again. I thought it was alright but nothing special but I hardly remember it now. I do remember the firearms bugged me to no end, though.

The thing too with Firefly is the "philosophy" behind it too!! And really starting with Serenity (the ship) herself!! In the deleted scenes Zoey talks to Simon and explains to him that the pain during the war Mal and her suffered was so terrible, with the dead bodies of friends and the mental abuses they went through, that Serenity is named after the battle in which Mal and Zoey lived through!! And her words about it was that "Serenity was so bad that you just learn to live there!" Thus states A LOT about Malcom's mental state as he was the one that named the ship!! And further Serenity isn't a "pretty ship" for a reason!! It is old, beat up and falling apart, kind of again like Malcom's mental state!! The punishment of war HAS taken its toll on him!! BUT it has many things about the ship herself most people are NOT aware of!! For starters it is Malcom's last bit of freedom, and it is also his "nothing flashy" look at "get away" with things.....kind of like the Alliance flies right by it (as Captain Kirk would) because there is "nothing to see here" so the ship is "camouflage" of sorts, which when doing crime is the PREFECT vehicle to do that in!! It literally only gets a bad rap because it is "nothing to look at" which makes it an even MORE likable little ship!! Then the major thing people OVER LOOK about Firefly is, that parts of the crew are actually the fractured parts of Malcom's soul!! You have to watch the show a few time through and THINK ABOUT IT as you listen to them, but honestly when you do you really sense you are seeing parts of Malcom's "world" in other characters!! Like Inara is Malcom's lost sense of love, Kaylee is Malcom's lost sense of family, Zoey is Malcom's lost sense of duty and honor, Wash is Malcom's lost sense of humor, Jayne is Malcom's lost sense of "can do" attitude, and Shepard Book is Malcom's lost sense of faith. But honestly it doesn't end with Simon and River either, because has you watch River is the "severe crazy" caused by the Alliance that Malcom knows all to well, and Simon is the "power struggle" to maintain control or River as he tries to figure out WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO HER!! And that same struggle IS Malcom Reynold's in a nutshell which is why he is protecting them, because he doesn't feel all alone on a ship full of people that fail to understand the mental damage the war has caused Mal to be WHO he is!!! And when you have watched it as much as I have you really get a much darker picture of the damage and loss Malcom has been through!! And you see it in HOW the crew reacts to certain things!! In the show Objects in Space when River sense Malcom and Inara talking, Mal is seriously concerned about Inara leaving and asks her "When are you going to tell the others?" and how he says it, it is almost heart broken!! And in one episode at the start you see River and Kaylee playing (fighting over an apple) in the cargo hold has the show opens and Malcom yells "Shut UP" as though they are two kids or at least two of his "kid sisters" or something, screwing around showing his sense of "family"!! I could literally go on pointing out cues like this throughout the whole show...but go back and watch it again and LISTEN close to how things are said and WHO he is talking to!! Even the way those lines are delivered seems to have more "weight to it" the second or third time around!! Though Malcom once told Joss Whedon that "I am NOT that dark of a person" meaning that Malcom's character originally was supposed to be MUCH, MUCH MORE DARK than what we were given by Fox!!! And you really see it in the movie Serenity at the end of the movie when Malcom comes out of the door to find everybody hurt and bloody!!

One of my all-time favorite shows. So sad that it's managers never took it seriously.