I noticed that the movie Serenity was coming out, and I had previously heard how good the show Firefly was (before it was cancelled), so when I saw Amazon was having a half-off sale on Joss Whedon DVDs, I picked up a copy.

Damn, it’s good.

That said, I can totally see why folks didn’t take to it. It’s a little… eclectic. When I heard people describe it as a “Western in space” I didn’t think it was so literal. I mean, they’ll ride horses then hop into their ship… or they’ll haul cattle in the spaceship… or they’ll pull a train heist on a mag-lev train using their ship… It’s very much, very literally, a “Western in space.”

But it’s so good. You really get to know and like the characters, which is something sorely missing from many television shows nowadays. And the eclectic nature of the show is itself a draw factor for me, though I can see that it would be more of a turn-off to the standard boob-tube-watching population.

Plus, Tim Minear worked on it, and he (as well as Joss Whedon) always seems to work on shows that I get to love then promptly get cancelled. There are only two redeeming factors - first, I get to watch the show nonstop without commercials; second, they’re coming out with a movie just in time.

If you get a chance, check it out. It’s like finding buried treasure.