On the Bookshelf

Five hundred years in the future there's a whole new frontier, and the crew of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity is eager to stake a claim on the action. They'll take any job, legal or illegal, to keep fuel in the tanks and food on the table. But things get a bit more complicated after they take on a passenger wanted by the new totalitarian Alliance regime. Now they find themselves on the run, desperate to steer clear of Alliance ships and flesh-eating Reavers who live on the fringe of space.

Joss Whedon's Firefly is quite possibly the single greatest show ever made. There. I said it and I am going to stand by it. It is also possibly the greatest tragedy in television history that it only lasted for fourteen episodes. If you can watch this show and not fall in love, I am telling you that you have no heart - FOX, I am looking straight at you.

FOX, it would seem, had a vendetta against Firefly from the very beginning, even choosing to skip airing until later the pilot episode which sets up the entire story. However, during it's brief run Firefly earned itself a passionate and dedicated fanbase. So outspoken were the fans over the shows cancellation that they achieved having the show resurrected in the form of the sequel movie, Serenity.

Firefly is a space opera with a western twist, a concept that fans of the anime Cowboy Bebop will be familiar with. Five hundred years from now Earth is all "used up" and humanity has spread out into the 'verse to find a new habitable home. Planets were terraformed for habitation. On the central planets live the wealthy privileged in a society that is, at least on the surface, a utopia. On the outer rim live the poorer folk, farmers and miners and the like. Not all of the outer planets terraformed quite right. Some of them have quirks and some of these quirks can make people sick. Out on the edge of the black the Reavers hunt.

The most endearing quality of Firefly is the characters. Ship captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) is an ex-soldier who fought on the losing side of the war but still is not convinced that it was the wrong side. As a result he has no problems with doing things that might rub the Alliance the wrong way which is lucky for one of his newest passengers, Simon Tam (Sean Maher), who has just rescued his younger sister River (Summer Glau) from an Alliance experiment and is now on the run with her. Zoe (Gina Torres) is Mal's loyal second in command who fought alongside him in the war and is married to the ship pilot, Wash (Alan Tudyk), who likes to play with the toy dinosaurs that sit on the ship's dash. Jewel Staite is perfect in the role of Kaylee the ship mechanic, who, despite getting around in overalls and engine grease, is a girly-girl at heart. Jayne (Adam Baldwin) is the muscle of the crew despite having a girls name. Morena Baccarin is just unfairly beautiful in the role of the companion (read legal and high class prostitute), Inara. Book is a shepherd but there are hidden mysteries in his past. Finally there is the ship itself, Serenity, with whom you will surely fall in love. With each episode we learn more about these characters and the growing and changing relationships between them.

Even the opening theme is so addictive that is likely to crawl into your brain and stay there


There is the usual quirky language that people who have seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer might expect to see in a Joss Whedon creation. "Shiny" is the new way of saying that all is good and, well, shiny. "Gorramit", as you might guess, means "God damn it." In a unique twist, when everything fell apart on Earth That Was the last two super powers left standing were the United States of America and China, as a result even the most uneducated of people out in the 'verse can speak both English and Chinese. Whedon and his writers take full advantage of this fact to give out some of the most ridiculous swears and insults in Chinese, hence I was disappointed when I switched on the subtitles on my DVD and was given the line "speaks inter-galactic language." Nothing important and that you cannot guess at the meaning and intent of is ever said in Chinese so don't worry if you don't want to spend the time looking up the translations online.

Regardless of whether of not you have liked Joss Whedon's other projects, you must give Firefly a try. I promise that it is time well spent.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Terra

The plan had been to post a book review today but there was unplanned for busy-ness today and it's not quite ready. Instead I have decided to follow up yesterdays review of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog with a review of Horrible Turn, the fan made prequel to Joss Whedon's creation.

Horrible Turn, set sometime back in the early nineties, gives you an insight into the pasts of Billy and Hammer. Why did Billy go from thinking that "the world is a mess and I just need to fix it" to "have to rule it"? Where do Billy's issues with Australia stem from? What lead him to creating the persona of Dr. Horrible? Why is it that everyone cannot help but love the idiotic and obnoxious Captain Hammer? Why does Johnny Snow insist that he is Dr. Horrible's nemesis? And where did Bad Horse come from anyway?

Horrible Turn will answer all of these questions. Of course, it all starts with a girl. Billy has a crush on the Australian foreign exchange student, Katie. When he, Wade (presumably Moist), and Kennard "Kenny" Hammerstein (Captain Hammer) discover that the prize for winning the maths competition is a trip to Melbourne (which Americans never seem to pronounce correctly), Australia, Billy sees an opportunity to spend more time with Katie. There's just one problem - Billy is pretty sure that the Evil League of Evil has marked the maths competition for their next attack! Fortunately Billy has invented Potion 10! A formula derived from flowers that will make everyone love each other. But Billy's plan depends heavily on Hammer and Johhny Snow. Are they intelligent and trustworthy enough to follow through?

Horrible Turn doesn't quite manage to achieve the same level of wit and humour that we see from Joss but it is in it's own right a very funny, well filmed, and well thought out prequel to the Dr. Horrible story, complete with Whedonesque tragedy. The songs are catchy and the singing is pretty good. My favourite musical piece from Horrible Turn has to be Hammer's song about how handsome and perfect he is while pulling out some great dance moves, closely followed by Billy's final piece where he creates the Doctor Horrible persona. In place of the Bad Horse Chorus we now have the Outback Sirens and the early nineties setting makes way for the usual gags about brick sized mobile phones being described as being "so tiny!" I loved the sexy cougar librarian.

Much of the plot, particularly the songs follow in the same formula from Dr. Horrible, such as Katie's solo being their version of Penny's Song sing of past loneliness and new hope, Billy's final song being their version of Slipping/Everything You Ever and Everyone's a Hero becoming Everyone's a Winner as Kenny discovers his new charismatic hold over people to match his ego. However, the blogging aspect is completely non-existent in Horrible Turn. It might have been interesting to see how the could have corporated it into the nineties setting. In Dr. Horrible Billy likes creativity and I wondered if perhaps they could have had him keep a diary but such a plot would probably have been too messy to incorporate into the sixty minute run time.

If you enjoyed Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, you have to give Horrible Turn a try. For a fan made project it is of excellent quality and you will definitely get a few laughs out of it.

Follow this link to go to the Horrible Turn website and watch the show. Be sure to watch past the end of the credits for a song from Johnny Snow and bloopers!

Terra

My mind has been set on the creations of Joss Whedon seeing as just today it was announced that his television show Dollhouse has not been renewed for a third season. One thing lead to another and I found myself revisiting Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Dr. Horrible came into being thanks to the writer's strike in 2008. Joss, along with his brothers Jed and Zach, called on Neil Patrick Harris (squee!), Felicia Day (squee!), and Nathan Fillion (OMG! Squee!) to help bring their musical vision to the screen.

Your computer screen that is.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is an internet musical television show comprising of three segments, and coming in at just under forty-five minutes all together. It tells the story of Billy, or Dr. Horrible as he is better known, an aspiring super villain who blogs about his ambitions to join the Evil League of Evil, fix all the problems in the world by being the one who rules it, and winning the affections of the kind hearted and community minded Penny. Standing in Billy's way is Captain Tightpants, I mean, ahem, Captain Hammer (wrong Nathan Fillion show, sorry) who not only keeps thwarting Billy's criminal attempts to impress Bad Horse and earn a place within the ELE, but steals Billy's love interest!

The dialogue packs all of the usual Whedon humour and wit, which I love. The characters are just delightful with NPH as the not so horrible wannabe villain Dr. Horrible and Fillion as the obnoxious, cocky, and not always the brightest, self styled super hero, Captain Hammer.

The music is catchy and I always end up singing along and then later humming the tunes back to myself. I find it impossible to pick a favourite song. I'll be listening to one song and be thinking that song is the best but then the next will start and I am instantly in love with that one. Owner's of the DVD while be delighted to find that even the commentary is a musical. In Commentary! The Musical the actors sing about the show, their refusal to sing about the show, who is better, and games on their phones. Even the extras get to jump in and share in the spotlight and Moist (Simon Helberg) finally gets to sing his piece. Again, I find it hard to pick a favourite song but it did get me playing Ninja Ropes.

Funny, tragic, and entertaining all in one, Dr. Horribe's Sing-Along Blog is quite possibly the best thing that resulted from the writer's strike. Go to the Dr. Horrible website for more information on how you can view the show!

Terra