Popspotting #79: Firefly (June 28, 2011)

It's been over a decade since the crew of the Serenity first took flight on FOX. The short, sporadic, eleven-episode run of Joss Whedon's "Firefly" is now the poster child for all smart television that's prematurely killed by stupid networks. A "space western" may have been impossible to categorize, but the show is impossible to resist, with colorful, fleshed-out characters, brisk and brilliant writing, and a tragically huge sense of potential that sadly was never realized. The 2005 movie "Serenity" helped to continue the story, but fans are still eternally left wanting more.

It’s been over a decade since the crew of the Serenity first took flight on FOX. The short, sporadic, eleven-episode run of Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” is now the poster child for all smart television that’s prematurely killed by stupid networks. A “space western” may have been impossible to categorize, but the show is impossible to resist, with colorful, fleshed-out characters, brisk and brilliant writing, and a tragically huge sense of potential that sadly was never realized. The 2005 movie “Serenity” helped to continue the story, but fans are still eternally left wanting more.

Helping to keep the spirit of “Firefly” alive are annual charity screenings of “Serenity” called “Can’t Stop the Serenity.” They’re staged all around the world, most recently in Los Angeles, Boston, Dallas, even Vancouver, Canada, and Newcastle, UK. (Next stop, Pittsburgh, PA and Madison, WI.)