Six years after the hopeless
battle of Serenity, former Independent Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) commands a
small Firefly class ship, Serenity. With
a crew of misfits, he ekes out a minimal existence by taking on small time,
occasionally illegal jobs.
After a space salvage operation
for a gangster named Badger (Mark Sheppard) goes south. Mal realizes he needs
to pick-up passengers to pay for more fuel.
A young doctor, Simon Tam (Sean Maher), a man of God with a mysterious
past, Shepherd Book (Mark Glass), and a strange named Dobson board the craft at
the Persephone docks, before Mal tries to make a deal on distant Whitehall with
a former client who once took shots at him.
On final approach to Whitehall,
Serenity encounters a Reaver ship but manages to evade the monstrosity for a
time. Soon, a mole on the ship threatens
the crew’s safety, and Simon is force to reveal a secret. His sister, River (Summer Glau) has been
brought aboard Serenity in secret. She’s a fugitive from the Alliance, and one
that the government very much wishes to see returned.
Now Mal must deal with fugitives
from the law, a tricky, untrustworthy client, and the return of the deranged
Reavers.
“Serenity,” the inaugural episode
of Joss Whedon’s Firefly (2002) -- now 20 years old -- begins to diagram a compelling, series-long
tension between the passionate, colorful nature of man, and the largely
uncaring nature of the ‘verse.
Stylistically, the episode visually
balances the intimacy and urgency of human, mortal life with the remote,
fearsome, and de-humanizing aspects of survival in space. Although its visual flourishes were appropriated
wholesale by the re-imagination of Battlestar Galactica (2004 – 2008) Firefly here spearheads a very distinctive
visual style. It is one which abundantly
reflects the adventure’s core theme: man’s struggle to remain free in a
“system” of life that no longer recognizes the individual as valuable.
Accordingly, “Serenity” premieres
with unsteady, hand-held footage of the Battle of Serenity, a campaign set six
years before the primary action of the series. The unsteady hand-held
camera-work provokes an instant sense of immediacy and closeness to the action.
This scene represents not only a reasonable facsimile of modern documentary war
footage, but a boots-on-the-ground perspective of mankind’s last stab at
freedom before the huge Alliance sweeps in and enforces cosmic “unity.”
To put it another way, this
preamble in Serenity Valley is all fire and heat in terms of its inspirational
dialogue from Captain Mal about “holding the line,” in terms of the herky-jerky
camera-work, and also in terms of the battlefield itself, where plumes of fire sporadically
and violently dot the war-torn landscape.
Almost immediately after this
preamble, the episode cuts six years to the future, however, and all that fire and
heat is gone, replaced determinedly by ice and cold. The camerawork now lands us in the vacuum of
space. No explosions detonate, no inspirational speeches are uttered and we see
suited figures moving about in slow silence during a deep space salvage
operation.
Importantly, there is no sound in
space, and Firefly is one of
the few programs to observe that scientific fact. But in terms of dramatic
impact, to transition from the hot, loud, messy war for independence to the
frozen, remoteness of quiet space after the conflict is thematically
vital. For in this unpleasant present,
the voice of independence -- of mankind’s very nature -- has been defeated and squelched
by Alliance rule. In fact, individuality
and liberty -- as represented by the free-ranging Serenity -- is hard to
pinpoint or locate in this realm. The
camera seeks it out in extreme long-shot, and must finds its focus in the
process. The ship is not immediately or easily visible.
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| From hot... |
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| ...to cold. |
Throughout the series then, Serenity,
and her colorful crew are visual signifiers of the Battle of Serenity’s noble ideals
or aesthetics. The ship and crew represent humanity: sensual, and passionate. The setting outside the ship -- in the solar system
at large -- is representative of the opposite set of values and therefore
dehumanizing and remote.
In a further attempt to promote a sense of
close-ness with the characters and their ideals, the premiere episode does away
with a typical TV sense of decorum. For
example, we actually get to see a toilet in Mal’s quarters. It might be the first toilet in more than
fifty years of TV space adventuring.
Later, the camera lingers on Inara washing up with a cloth and a basin
of water, partially disrobed, and again, the approach is passionate, or
sensuous. How often, in outer space
drama, do we witness characters bathing or using the bathroom? During this montage of Inara washing, the
footage both briefly pauses -- or freezes -- and jump cuts to other angles as
if time itself has skipped a track. The
point of such non-conventional techniques is to visually mimic human imperfection
or emotional intimacy. A moment can’t
actually be extended, in other words, but it can feel like it is extended when we fully experience it, and part of
film’s magic as an art form is that it boasts the capacity to express that idea
through the manipulation of time and image.
Here, it’s like we’re watching a stolen moment of vulnerability.
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| Things you don't usually see in space adventure TV: a toilet |
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| ...and a bath (in a stolen, extended moment...). |
At one point in the opening episode,
Serenity encounters the Reavers: a group of humans who have reacted badly, nay
psychotically, to the dangers and remoteness of space. The message is plain and
fits in neatly with the series’ philosophy. The Reavers have surrendered their
humanity in this inhuman realm, and embraced the bleakness, emptiness, and
danger. They are murderers and rapists,
pushing out further every year, responding to the Alliance’s regime of order
not with passionate humanity, but with nihilistic chaos. There is a difference, after all, between a
committed “opposition” dedicated to its belief system, and a kamikaze suicide
run. The Serenity represents the former,
the Reavers the latter.
In terms of outer space’s remoteness
and lack of intimacy or individuality, Mal notes that its signifier, the
Alliance, is known not for helping people, but rather explicitly “getting in a man’s way.”
So the philosophy here is
anti-State to be certain. But more than
that, it is pro-individuality in bent. Consider that the series concerns a
group of very different characters working together, despite those differences,
to survive. Each one of the characters views
the universe differently but seems to agree on only one point: the Alliance
infringes too much on mankind’s right to dictate his own path. The crew of Serenity may be “lost in the woods,” as per the episode’s
dialogue, but “the woods” is nonetheless where it wants to be. Outside the woods, the Alliance has usurped
liberty and freedom. The Alliance
doesn’t recognize its citizens as individuals with rights and protections, but
only as “precious commodities” who
should be subjected to the government’s whims. The Alliance, we learn, has “played
with” River’s brain, to unknown ends, a fact which precipitated Simon’s
rescue.
“Serenity” sets up many of Firefly’s
thematic precepts, but also introduces the dramatis
personae, both in terms of the ship’s crew-members, and its new passengers,
Simon, River, and Shepherd Book. Like
the others, each of these non-crew characters possesses their own (sometimes
secret) reasons for wishing to remain in the “woods.” Much of the joy in watching the series comes
from learning more about these characters, and their mysterious pasts.
Most notably, Mal is presented
strongly in “Serenity” as a “man of honor
among thieves,” to use Badger’s (Mark Sheppard’s) words. But delightfully he’s also a man full of
contradictions. For example, Mal
deplores the Alliance for getting in a man’s way, but can just as easily face
down a crew-member and tell them that his ship is a dictatorship, not a
democracy. “We don’t vote on my ship,” he declares. Isn’t the very thing he hates about the
Alliance the idea that it doesn’t hear or acknowledge his voice? He recreates that dynamic on a small scale on
his ship, but is often blind to that fact.
We also learn that Mal is both
a.) anti-religion in general, based on his interplay with Book, and b.) not
capable of viewing Inara’s role as respected “companion” as something that
empowers her. A bit of a traditionalist, Mal is uncomfortable with the idea
that a woman can be strong, good and also highly sexual.
In terms of technology and
tactics, “Serenity” introduces a lot of series lingo and information. We learn about Serenity’s typical escape
ploy: a “crybaby” satellite that can be deployed to emit a distress signal and
misdirect Alliance cruisers. We are also
beginning to get a feel for the ship’s capabilities including “hard burns” “full
burns,” and a “crazy Ivan.”
In short, “Serenity” is a
splendidly thought-out, cerebral introduction to the characters and world of Firefly. More significantly, the premiere episode introduces the visual conceits
of this outer space adventure, and its thematic perspective,
Next week: “The Train Job.”
