It's about time I did some more of this blogging, before I forget how to write intelligible prose. See? I just used a semicolon in a title. That can't be good.
I resigned from GBdirect a week and a half ago, and once my notice period is up I'll be out in the big wide world trying to find contracting work. It's scary, but I think it's time for me to take some risks.
Firefly
On a whim I bought Joss Whedon's Firefly series on DVD yesterday. He's the man behind Buffy, so I was willing to trust that this would be good. So far he hasn't disappointed me.
This is a science fiction series about the crew of the transport ship Serenity, who make their living ferrying passengers, scavenging wrecked space ships, and stealing things. There's a big scary oppressive interplanetary government call the Alliance, something like the Federation in Blake's 7.
The interesting thing is that the sci-fi parts of this are kept out of the way of the stories and the characters quite effectively. There's lots of stuff to do with space-ships of course, and some cryonics and so forth, but when they land on some planet to effect a crime, they could often be riding into town in a western.
So to sum it up: this is a cowboy story with space ships in. They have the cowboy hats, old fashioned looking guns, the occasional job shipping cattle or chasing about on horseback. Even the music is all country, with a banjo sneaking in to the opening credits.
There are a few special characters thrown in to keep things interesting. A beautiful ‘companion’ who tags along to find new customers, and a rather strange girl who seems to have special mental powers. It looks like the story could have developed in lots of interesting ways, although there seems to have only been one series produced (of 14 episodes) and no sign of any more. They are making a feature film of it though.
Another thing: the characters often speak in something that is supposed to be a ‘galactic language’ (according to the English subtitles). It sounds like it could be Chinese, with the tones and all, and they seem to have hanzi popping up in the sets a lot. They use it especially for swearing, which makes me wish I knew some Chinese. The whole Chinese feel to some parts, mixed with the cowboy stuff, gives the whole thing an interesting texture.
Ah, and something else I want to mention: this is one of the few bits of sci-fi film that I've seen where they have the courage to not have the rumbling engine of a space ship heard through vacuum. Whenever you see a ship from a vantage point in space, or from another ship, there's no sound from engines or explosions, which is exactly how it should be. They fill in the blanks with bits of guitar, which works for me.