Firefly: Why It Prevails, and Where It Falls Short

Firefly promotional poster, 2002

It’s the year 2517 A.D., and here’s how it is. The earth got used up, so we terraformed a whole new galaxy of earths…

But back in the year 2002, FOX Network is ushering in a sci-fi drama called Firefly amongst the annual autumn onslaught of television pilots. Firefly, from the hand of since-disgraced writer and director Joss Whedon, came to FOX right in the midst of his success with Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. It was set five hundred years in the future and rested on the premise that, yes, “the earth got used up”, as the very 2002-esque voiceover intro suggests at the start of each episode. From there, it followed a ragtag team of rebels who lived on the fringes of society in a spaceship and opposed the “Alliance”, the fictional government power who have taken control of many of these terraformed planets following a recent civil war. This crew of misfits was outfitted with a delightful cast, many of whom now hold illustrious acting careers, including leads Nathan Fillion (Castle, The Rookie), Gina Torres (Suits, 911:Lone Star) and Alan Tudyk, who shines in Sy-Fy’s Resident Alien as well as in his many voice acting roles such as Disney’s recent hit, Encanto. They were joined by other then-newcomers Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, and Morena Baccarin, with Alex Baldwin and seasoned actor Ron Glass rounding out the crew of the spaceship known as Serenity.

All things considered, Firefly basically set itself up for success. Nathan Fillion charmed as space cowboy Captain Malcolm Reynolds, and he and his castmates’ general chemistry was off the charts, most notably between Gina Torres and Alan Tudyk in their roles as opposites-attract married couple Zoe and Wash. Firefly more or less had it all: adventure, chosen family, a sense of righting wrongs, and, of course, spaceships. From the outside, it was a recipe for success. 

However, things didn’t quite work out that way. 

The problem arguably began when some of the episodes were aired out of order. The pilot episode, Serenity, was pushed back and the second episode, The Train Job, went on the air first. From there, other episodes were shuffled around and eventually, the pilot episode was the very last episode to be aired on FOX. One can easily speculate now that this was the main problem Firefly faced; after all, if viewers couldn’t follow the story, they couldn’t really manage to get invested in…well, anything, and we may never know what fate this little sci-fi adventure show might have faced under more favorable circumstances.

Firefly was canceled by FOX that same year, after airing only fourteen episodes totaling under eleven hours of air time. 

The real surprise came afterward, when Firefly managed to pick up what is largely regarded as a cult following. In the early age of the internet and fandom, Firefly became known among sci-fi enthusiasts and held traction in a way that remains surprising. Today, twenty years after its premiere and subsequent downfall, Firefly has spawned a major motion picture in the 2005 sequel film Serenity, as well as a lengthy list of comics, novels, short stories, reference books, and games. Its online presence remains very active, and many of its cast and creatives regularly attend conventions and panels catering to Firefly’s rampant fanbase. 

So, what is the appeal of this once-failed series and why does it seem to hold up in the minds of the masses? Is Firefly actually a masterpiece, undersold by its network and slated to be doomed in spite of itself? 

Yes, and no. 

In the two decades since Firefly began airing, everything has changed about the way we as a society take in media. Gone are the days when viewers rushed home for a Friday night favorite or risked missing the latest plot point due to poor timing. In their place, streaming allows easy, 24/7 access to all the media we can imagine- including the old hits we missed the first time around. This instant access formula has opened all kinds of doors for not only current shows, but also the old ones. Where a show like Firefly might have once disappeared into oblivion, streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+ have swept in and changed the landscape of television- for better or for worse. 

The results are complicated, for Firefly and for countless other shows that are now existing well beyond their original lifespans. 

Some would argue that Firefly really is a masterpiece, citing perhaps Fillion’s indomitable acting in the leading role, the cast’s delightful chemistry, or a quick-wit humor that prevails throughout the script. And they would be partially right; Firefly undoubtedly has its merits. Much of the material holds up very well twenty years later, and will probably continue to for years to come. There is just something that people love about the bones of the concept: a renegade cowboy, a spaceship, and a little tight-knit crew of chosen family. 

But in 2022, there are also downfalls to the resurrection of a show made in early aughts, and they are some of the big ones. 

There’s the looming presence of Joss Whedon, which makes the top of the list and permeates the series in a number of subtle ways. Whedon has been accused of multiple kinds of harassment dating back to his time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and some of these accusations are of events in the Firefly writing room. Whedon categorically denies them all- but they are numerous and, frankly, believable. 

Firefly includes a number of outdated tropes and questionable dialogue, some of which it’s easy to speculate falls back on Whedon’s shoulders. In one glaringly obvious example, our hero Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Fillion) spends much of the series in an arguably lackluster will-they-won’t-they opposite Morena Baccarin’s character Inara Serra. Inara is what the series calls a “Companion”- essentially, she’s a sex worker, and the viewer is led to believe that in this futuristic society, Inara’s role is highly respected and even revered. It appears to be an attempt at juxtaposing the 2002 view of sex work in the real world. But when Captain “Mal” Reynolds-a generally shining example of a rogueish but ultimately good-hearted character- starts categorically taunting Inara about her profession and canonically referring to her as a “whore” more than a few times across fourteen episodes, the five hundred years of progress that we are supposedly viewing on screen seems reduced to something categorically closed-minded. 

It’s not just Mal’s treatment of Inara, though. Alex Baldwin portrays Jayne Cobb, who is a brutish, manly sort of character perhaps meant to provide a contrast to the prevailing morality of the other main characters. The results are almost exclusively bad- save for a couple of comical moments, Baldwin’s character is mostly just an annoying, misogynistic, and sometimes outright gross portrayal that falls flat and then some. Aside from sexually taunting Inara, objectifying almost all of the female characters, and a particularly disturbing scene in which he all but propositions Summer Glau’s River, canonically seventeen at the time, Jayne is also just generally obnoxious and forgettable. Opposite the other characters- like Jewel Staite’s portrayal of twenty-year-old plucky spaceship mechanic Kaylee, or Alan Tudyk’s Wash who memorably plays with toy dinosaurs when he isn’t piloting- Jayne feels entirely out of place. 

These and other brief characterizations leave Firefly feeling tonally inconsistent and sometimes bizarre. We’re meant to believe that society has advanced so much that space travel is the norm and medical mysteries are instantly solvable, but when Inara takes on a female client, it’s worthy of several scenes and half the crew’s attentive gaze? Or that in spite of all this time and progress, Mal is really that hung up on Inara’s supposedly very respectable sex work? Or even that out gay actor Sean Maher’s well-dressed and sophisticated character Simon Tam couldn’t possibly be gay himself, and instead would engage in an awkward, half-hearted romance with Jewel Staite’s Kaylee? 

In short, Firefly and its appeal to the masses is complex. Like other outdated shows, many elements prevail and many simply don’t. Perhaps the most common sentiment among “Browncoats”- the slang for those on Mal’s side of the canonical Unification War, and the name diehard fans have adopted for themselves- is that Firefly should never have been canceled. But when we reflect on the elements of Firefly’s story and characterization, we have to ask ourselves if perhaps its short lifespan is actually the thing that makes it so good. Is it not possible that, if Firefly had gone on for season after season, all of these little pitfalls might have opened up to something much bigger, and much worse? 

It’s possibly for the best that we’ll never really know. Among Firefly’s flaws, there are messages of love and hope that shine through, and in the age of instant, easy media consumption, it’s ultimately up to the viewer to decide which of these prevail. Both Firefly and the sequel film Serenity are currently available to stream on Disney+, should you want to decide for yourself. 

Firefly lives on for better or worse in the hearts of diehard Browncoats and newcomers alike; in the words of Captain Malcolm Reynolds himself, “Love keeps her in the air.”