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Now, if you're among that fan base, you probably know that I reviewed the DVD set somewhat unfavorably. I say that not just because I am a raging egomaniac, but because I have never received so many outraged e-mails for a lukewarm review as I did when I made the mistake of calling Firefly underwhelming. (An assessment I stand behind, by the way.)

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Originally posted by LeeH:
You know, I'm no fan of the 'splosions and all, but I don't think Joss put 'em in there just to hook the non-fans. He's a fanboy geek himself, and likes that sort of stuff--and with a $50 million budget, was able to use such things in a way that was unaffordable for the tv series. If you look at "Buffy" and "Angel," you see a fair share of the violence and pyrotechnic thing.

Me, I'm happier with less violence and more character one-on-one. I know Joss likes the latter, but I think he enjoys the former as well, especially given the bleak vision-of-the-future that is his in this 'verse. I don't think it's just about bottom line and seat-filling, for him.

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Few viewers to glow over Fox's Firefly
by Phoebe Flowers
Film Writer The Associated Press
Posted December 14 2003

In one of the features on the DVD of his short-lived series Firefly, creator Joss Whedon calls the show "the source of more joy and pain than anything I've done." Whedon, rightfully beloved for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel, may well have felt such passion about the occasionally amusing but forgettable sci-fi/western hybrid. But little of it comes through on the 14 episodes presented in the four-disc set -- three of which never aired.

It's not that Firefly is a bad show, by any means; it's just largely unremarkable. A few of the episodes -- not coincidentally, the ones that Whedon himself wrote and directed -- showcase enough spark beneath the rote plot lines to give you hope that the series could have matured into something more compelling. At the very least, more shows would presumably have better developed the nine (nine!) lead characters.

As it is, none of the talented cast ever gets much of a chance to shine. Nathan Fillion, who had a crucial role in the last season of Buffy, plays Malcolm Reynolds, the captain of a spaceship 500 years in the future struggling to fly below the radar of a totalitarian regime. He and his crew flit around doing jobs of varying legality and, in the pilot, taking in a young doctor, his psychologically wounded sister, and an older preacher who would be more mysterious if you really cared what the mystery was. Because this modern world has reverted to a wild-west aesthetic, the characters distractingly and unconvincingly say "ain't" and "shucks" a lot. Bad English, it seems, is timeless.

Better than the episodes themselves are Whedon's commentaries on several of them, as well as a handful of behind-the-scenes features, all of which showcase what a bright, funny, talented guy he is. But Firefly is a disappointing addition to his often excellent body of work.

Firefly -- The Complete Series, not rated, 135 minutes, $49.98.

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and an older preacher who would be more mysterious if you really cared what the mystery was.

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