I would also like to state the No-Sound-In-Space thing is really realistic and cool. Makes ya laugh when you think of Star Wars with no sound! Thanks for pointing these things out!

It's gotta be the horses.

One thing that makes it different for me is the dialog. It sounds real. So many other shows sould like they're stringing a bunch of sound bites together or some such. Nothing ever really flows. Not the case with Firefly. Even when Kaylee is going on about the engine, it still makes sense.

I think it's the way thought and intelligence is applied throughout. Certain constants from our history are applied to the future; the haves and have nots, greed and corruption, civil rights. No character is a cliche or even approaching one. There were (and are) endless possibilities for storylines in that universe.

It's more than the usual "Crew drifts along, crew encounters problem, crew tries to solve problem, gets through the difficulties involved and comes out successful, often having learned something important about humanity."

And to go with all that deep thought, there are some great moments of humour to offset it all.

Well I gotta say that this applies to Joss's other shows as well but for me it would have to be:

1. A cast that genuinely appears to get along with each other and wants to make something of the show not just their career.

2. Genuinely likeable characters, even (maybe especially) if they're the big bad.

3. The mix of humour, drama, highs, lows, tradegy, surprises, suspense,
quotability, etc.

4. An EXTREMELY loyal fan base.

5. Even if it's a bad episode it's still better than some other shows whole seasons.

6. No aliens as stated above.

7. For all the scifi/fantasy elements they still have a sense of reality.

That's enough for now.

John