My Top 100 Movies -- 35-31

35. Office Space. A few years ago, when I wrote about Office Space, I gave it an A-. But putting my top 100 list together, I can't imagine what reservation I had about it that kept me from calling it an A. It is riotously funny in many different ways -- raunchy, satirical, outrageous, and familiar. Even at its most ridiculous, there's an element of almost painful truth in it. An all around fantastic comedy.

34. The American President. What a winning assemblage came together for this film. Rob Reiner directed a top notch cast that included Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, Richard Dreyfuss, and more. The script by Aaron Sorkin not only remains one of his best film efforts to date, but was essentially the inspiration that led directly to his outstanding television series, The West Wing. The film also boosts an amazing musical score by Marc Shaiman. The sweeping anthem of the main title was so inspirational and moving that countless other directors lifted it to use in their trailers for other movies, and countless other composers aped the style in subsequent years.

33. Juno. What snuck into the bottom of my top 100 list when I first saw it has only risen in my esteem since. Juno has just the right amount of realism underpinning it, but then gives in to a fun mix of very clever and very aware characters that "make you laugh and cry" in the truest sense of that old cliché. And it boasts a great cast, including Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, and J.K. Simmons.

32. 12 Monkeys. This is heresy in some circles, but I really don't care for most of the Terry Gilliam films I've watched. I tend to find them weird for the sake of being weird and thoroughly preoccupied with bizarre visuals over coherent story. But the reason I'm willing to keep giving them a chance is because of how much I liked this Terry Gilliam film. 12 Monkeys is a brilliantly labyrinthine and dystopian tale with fantastic performances by Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt. Every piece perfectly fits into the whole, and the result is a wonderfully clever, deliciously dark film.

31. Serenity. Before The Avengers put Joss Whedon deservedly near the top of the heap for all-time box office success, all of us in the know had been adoring him for almost 20 years. I gushed about his ill-fated series Firefly in a full series of episode reviews, but perhaps an even greater achievement was that he convinced Universal Studios to give the show a life after death in the form of a feature film that wrapped up many of the series' dangling plot threads, and let us see all the things that made Firefly wonderful one last time. As the t-shirt says, "Joss is boss."

Fear Itself

I'm not in a particularly creative mood today, so I'm going to link to this fun article on the "Nine Greatest Nerd Fears Today."

I will editorialize with these two comments:

1) These feel more like "geek" fears to me than "nerd" fears. I think if it's in pop culture, it is by definition not nerdy. Nerd fears would be more akin to finding out that the new game you were excited about was coded in a programming language you don't like or something like that.

2) For my money, their list would be considerably closer to accurate if it were in the reverse order. I know my #1 is the one that starts off this list, anyway.

Firefly Flashback: Serenity (The Movie)

Now we come to the most miraculous chapter in the story of Firefly, the feature film Serenity. Some way, somehow, Joss Whedon managed to convince a studio (Universal) to fund a not-lavish-but-not-cheap sci-fi movie based on a TV show that ran only 14 episodes. Well, okay, the quality of said show (and enthusiasm of its fans) surely did some of the convincing too... but the point is that it's hard to overstate just how improbable it was that a movie continuation of Firefly would ever happen. But it did. And it's good. Really good.

One of the most impressive things about the movie (to my writer sensibilities) is how perfect the first 5-10 minutes are. Following the original series pilot and the FOX-requested "second pilot" episode The Train Job, this marks the third time Joss Whedon has had to find a way to introduce all the characters and the premise of the universe. And while I might argue it isn't handled quite as deftly as it was in the two-hour Firefly pilot, it is handled much more quickly here, and without sacrificing clarity -- both "musts" for a feature film.

We start in a school room setting, where we're quickly told about Earth-That-Was and the Reavers, then segue directly into Simon's rescue of River, showcasing their relationship and giving the background on what was done to her. And then that segues into the introduction of the Operative, the villain who will be chasing them. And from there, it gets even more sophisticated, with one of Joss Whedon's trademark "one-ers," a single camera shot that takes us through all of Serenity, showing the full geography of the ship and quickly introducing us to every character on board. You know who the pilot, the engineer, the doctor, and so forth all are, because you see them doing those things. And it's all done in an entertaining way, with quick pacing and plenty of humor, for those of us Firefly fans who already know all this stuff and don't need the re-introductions. Really savvy writing; exposition is nigh-impossible to do this well.

This is just the first of many great balancing acts achieved by the script. We get a thrilling chase sequence in the opening act, the kind mandated in a "mindless action movie," but it's hardly mindless here; it shows the threat of the Reavers, establishes the character of the crew in general (and Mal in particular), and showcases the signature Firefly blend of adventure and humor. At the end of the film, we get a desperate "last stand" sequence so well set up that you really do believe any one of the characters could die. And in between? Fist fights, space battles, and everything else you expect in an action movie, but intelligently presented and motivated by the plot.

That plot manages in just two hours to give us closure on several dangling threads from the series. We learn what the experiments on River were really all about, and why the Alliance wants so badly to re-capture her. We learn the truth of the Reavers. You laugh. You cry. You cheer. You're stunned into silence. (When I saw it in theaters, there was an audible gasp following the infamous "leaf on the wind" line... and then stone silence.)

Is it absolutely perfect? No. Inara and Book have rather marginalized roles in the film -- particularly Book (whose mysterious past is teased again, to be left unrevealed). The fanboy in me wishes that Mal's contact after the bank robbery could have been Badger, just for one more connection to the show. And then there's Mr. Universe, a rather weird character who crosses over to annoying in my book, in that he feels like he's intruding on the poignant funeral moment at the end of the film. (Seriously, this guy gets "billing" next to major characters we've loved throughout the series?)

Still, these quibbles aren't sufficient to make a dent in the A grade I give the film. It's on my top 100 list. I've let that list fallen so far out of date that I couldn't tell you exactly where it falls, but I don't have to wait on my eventual update to know for certain this would still be on there. This unlikely additional chapter in the Firefly saga is one of the best -- even if it does make you wonder in a bittersweet way how all these plot revelations might have spooled out over a season or two of the show itself.

Ah, Firefly.

Firefly Flashback: Objects in Space

Objects in Space is the final (sniff) episode of Firefly. Many fans regard it as one of the best episodes, and I certainly felt that way the first time around. The first several, actually. But watching it recently, it didn't quite do it for me as well as before.

Make no mistake, I'm not saying it was a bad episode. Nor am I even saying it was "bad for Firefly." In fact, I'll go ahead and give the game away and tell you I'd rate it an A-. So what is it that I'm bagging on?

The very thing that once made me lovelovelove this episode, actually: the character of Early, the bounty hunter. Oh, he'll still entertaining. Still a worthy opponent for the crew of Serenity -- clever, chilling, comical, and menacing all in turns. My problem is that I now find him to be just a little too eccentric.

Joss Whedon wrote and directed this episode himself, and has a lot to say about it in the commentary he recorded for the DVD. Basically, he was playing around with a lot of existentialist philosophy in this episode, exploring the writings of Jean-Paul Sartre. "Is the room still her room when she's not in it?" kind of stuff. And it is at times funny and thought-provoking. Even at the same time, occasionally.

But at other times, it's also just plain weird, and feels like it would be better suited to a stage than a TV show. For example, the whole exchange: "Are you Alliance?" "Am I a lion?" Or the simple fact that Early is so open-minded that for a split second, he seems to actually believe that River turned into the ship. It strikes me as just a little too weird, weird for weird's sake.

Still, there's no denying the effectiveness of most of this episode. It includes some of the most profound moments of the series. There's River's anguish at feeling unwanted, and joy at the end to find acceptance. There's the horrifying moment when Early calmly threatens to rape Kaylee. There's Simon's heroic confrontation of Early (even if it does mess up River's plan).

So, like I said, an A- overall. Not at all a bad note to end the series on, if it had to be that way. But fortunately, there was another chapter a few years later -- the movie Serenity.

Firefly is certainly the best "only one season" TV show I've ever seen. It's one of my favorite series, period. Watching all the episodes again offered as many thrills as watching them the first time around, and I'm sure in years to come, and watch them all again many times more.

Firefly Flashback: Heart of Gold

Well, some episode of Firefly has to be the "worst" one. Sorry, Heart of Gold, but you're it. You're not a "bad" episode. You have plenty of good jokes, an interesting guest character (Inara's friend), and a couple of solid scenes that give insight into the main characters. It's just that your premise is kind of goofy (our heroes defend a frontier whore house? really?), and things don't quite gel the way they usually do on your show.

Here's what really does work for me in this episode:

This is our longest look at Jayne "in his element." And I don't just mean whoring himself senseless (though that applies too). This episode is all about a prolonged gunfight against a foe who can't be negotiated with or tricked. Jayne lives for this stuff, and this episode is the most use he ever gets of his extensive gun collection.

It's a great episode for the Inara/Mal relationship. We see that as good as Inara is at constructing and presenting a mask, it's still a mask with real feelings hidden behind it. She gets her heart broken in this episode, and announces her plans to leave Serenity as a result. (One has to imagine what would have changed her mind, had the show continued. Instead, she follows through on her threat/plan.)

There's a fantastic scene where Wash and Zoe discuss having children, and the extra complications that come with that because of the life they lead. And it's an especially melancholy scene to watch if you've seen the movie.

But here's what doesn't work for me in this episode:

The friction over the difference between a "companion" and a "whore" doesn't really play. I can buy off on the concept; I just don't think the writing does justice to Inara's character here.

The villain of the episode is a bit too cartoonish. He doesn't actually have a mustache to twirl, but when he's threatening to rip a baby out of its mother's womb, he might as well.

Several guest characters in the episode die in the climactic battle, and much is made of their deaths. There's even a funeral scene near the end to go with it. But it all feels a bit hollow compared to the far more effective death in the immediately preceding episode, The Message.

If there's a silver lining in the cancellation of Firefly (and it's damn hard to find one), it might be that this episode is as bad as the show ever got. Like I said, it's really not bad -- a B in my judgment. Many TV shows, even a few TV shows I watch on a weekly basis, manage about this level of quality on average; for Firefly, this was "bottom of the barrel." That's pretty gorram good.

Firefly Flashback: The Message

Firefly has a notoriously mixed up chronology. There's the intended viewing order (as presented on the DVDs). There's the mixed up order in which FOX aired them (which didn't even include the episode I'm talking about here). And then there's the order in which they were actually filmed.

According to DVD commentaries, The Message was actually the last Firefly episode to be filmed. And before filming was completed on it, the whole cast and crew got the word that the axe had fallen and the show had been canceled. These extenuating circumstances add a major emotional weight to the end of the episode -- the funeral scene in which the crew of Serenity brings home the body of Tracey (Mal and Zoe's old war friend). The real funeral was for Firefly itself, and you can tell when you watch this episode. The cast is incredibly solemn -- perhaps too much so for what their characters would be feeling for this person in this situation. But I know it chokes me up when I watch it, so I'm not about to complain. And the music! Composer Greg Edmonson serves up a requiem for the show in that scene, taking the already high emotion to an even loftier place. It's all a fitting tribute, and a beautiful scene.

The rest of the episode is good too, but not quite as great. This is another "ripples in the pond" episode, like when Saffron came on the ship for the first time, and everyone had a unique perspective on it. The problem here is that this character of Tracey doesn't cause as many ripples. He means a lot to Mal and Zoe, who already have a past with him. He ends up meaning something to Kaylee, as the two nurse a bit of a crush for one another. Stretch things a bit, and you can say he means something to Book, as proper treatment of and respect for the dead falls squarely in his wheelhouse. But the ripples don't really reach any farther than that, and we haven't even covered half the main characters. Wash, Simon, River, Jayne, and Inara just don't have much to do in this story.

But it's hard to complain too much when what is there is strong. You do get caught up in Tracey's story (and so you can accept that the characters placed on the periphery this episode get caught up in it too). The "Fed" chasing him is a reasonably intimidating and persistent villain; one can imagine he might have become another recurring Firefly character if the show had continued. But most of all, you feel for Mal and Zoe, who are confronted with drak memories of the war, try to do the right thing here, and get nothing but trouble for it.

I rate this episode an A-. I don't think I would even put it in the top half of Firefly episodes, were I to rank them, but it's still an A-.

Firefly Flashback: Trash

We've come to the first of three Firefly episodes that never aired on FOX during the series' original run. It's also my favorite of those three. Hello, it's another heist episode! And Christina Hendricks is back as the wonderful character of Saffron. Of course I'm going to love it.

This heist doesn't feel quite as elaborate or entertaining as the one in Ariel, but it still has plenty of action and tension. It also focuses largely on different characters than the Ariel heist, with Wash, Kaylee, and Jayne taking key roles. (Along with Mal, of course.) There's also the fun twist at the end, of a sort of "meta-heist" to con Saffron herself, which brings Inara into the caper as well.

One great thing about having Saffron back in the mix is that this time out, the characters all know exactly who and what she is. As a result, a lot of the tension and fun in the episode comes in waiting for her to double-cross our gang, and seeing if they'll be smart enough to outmaneuver her. But she does get fleshed out a bit more in this episode too. Well, maybe. We definitely see her in a few vulnerable and more tender moments, but your guess is as good as mine as to whether any of it is genuine emotion.

As far as the comedy goes, this episode is one of the series' very best. Jokes about Saffron's trustiworthiness abound, bested only by the jokes on her multiple identities. Also, River can kill you with her brain.

That last reference is to a scene near the end of the episode that further pays off Jayne's betrayal in Ariel. Simon learns that Jayne tried to sell them out, and confronts him in a chillingly calm way.

My one quibble would be with the stale old framing device of beginning the episode after the action (in this case, with Mal naked in the desert), then flashing back to show how we got there. There was a time this structure seemed novel, but it's so long past that I can't remember it. Nowadays when I see it, I just think that the episode wasn't running long enough for broadcast time, or that the writers weren't sure the opening tease was enticing enough, so they constructed an artificial teaser to keep people from tuning out. It does generate a laugh here, I won't deny that -- it just still feels like sloppy and/or lazy writing to me.

Either way, it's still a solid, fun episode. I rate it an A-.

Firefly Flashback: War Stories

Given how short a run Firefly had, it's an unlikely but pleasant surprise that several guest characters showed up for more than one episode. I think the villain of this episode (and The Train Job), Niska, comes out on the bottom of the rankings -- but only because he's in the illustrious company of Badger and Saffron. His reappearance here is great not just because he's a compelling nemesis of a very different style, but because he shows that actions in the Firefly 'verse have consequences. Mal crossed him earlier, and now Mal most definitely has to pay for it.

This is the most brutal and graphic episode of the series, with multiple scenes of torture (including a severed ear). And as I noted in Out of Gas, few can sell pain as believably as Nathan Fillion. You cringe to see what happens to Mal in this episode... and cheer all the more because of it when he triumphs at the end.

Mal is far from the only badass on display in this episode, though. Zoe has the awesome moment where she doesn't hesitate for an instant when forced to choose between her husband and captain. Book gives us another taste of his dark side when informing us that the Bible isn't quite clear on the subject of kneecaps. Inara takes on a female client and the only issue made of it is how gorgeous and graceful half the crew finds her. (Ah, an enlightened future!)

And, of course, there's River's big moment at the end. This is the first taste we get of the River we would ultimately see in the movie. Until this point, River (and Summer Glau) has given us plenty of humor, and many moments of emotion and gravitas. But when she picks up a gun here and kills three people literally without looking, we see an entirely new side of her.

Also great is Wash's role in all of this. You could argue that his jealousy of the relationship between Zoe and Mal seems awfully (in)convenient to come up right here, right now. They all seemed to be getting along well enough so far. Yet you really have to accept this would have been an issue either at some point in the past or at some point in the future. Better that the series actually dramatizes it and we get to see it. And, as always with Firefly, some great jokes come with it too. ("She promised to obey?")

I rate this episode an A-. Maybe the minus shouldn't even be on there. I'm not sure I can exactly point to one "off" element of the episode to explain it; I just know that while I liked this episode a lot, I didn't love it quite as much as the many grade A episodes I've reviewed so far.

Firefly Flashback: Ariel

There's really just one thing I don't like about this episode of Firefly, and I'll lead straight out with it: Shepherd Book does not appear in the episode. It's not that he's a favorite character as such, or that I have a clear vision on just what role he might have served in this plot. And I understand the realities of television budgets; some actors are sometimes contracted for fewer episodes than others as a cost-cutting measure. But the problem is that there turned out to only be 14 episodes of the series. And mixed with the mountains of salt in that wound is this extra pinch -- that for Shepherd Book (and actor Ron Glass), it wasn't even that many episodes. Sigh. (Inara does only a little better, appearing only briefly at the beginning and end of the episode.)

Other than that, I find Ariel an exceptional episode of the series -- my second favorite, in fact. It's a heist! It's personal taste, I'm sure, but when a heist story is well executed (in film or television), I find it virtually impossible not to love. Adventure! Tension! Cleverness! What's not to love?!

And I do find this an incredibly well executed heist. First, bonus points in that the entire idea comes from Simon. He seems an unlikely person to embrace criminal behavior like this, but the fact he does so is a huge step for his character. He has a goal to achieve (getting help for River), and he won't let morality stand in the way. And it makes sense that he'd be really good at planning a heist. We've been told what killer "book smarts" he has, and now we get to see that in action.

We see Simon effectively coach Zoe, Mal, and Jayne in the parts they must play. We see a new side of Mal, that he will "take orders" when it's called for. We see Zoe and Mal work together effectively as they must have in their war days, improvising in the hospital when there are complications in the plan. And we get the hilarious "trying to train a monkey" thread of teaching Jayne to behave like a paramedic. Plus, you get some fun moments on the side of Wash and Kaylee building the phony medical shuttle. (Including a throwaway joke where they find in the junkyard the exact part that nearly cost them their lives in Out of Gas, and discard it without a thought.) All great stuff.

But the greatest element of the episode is that it dares to turn one of the main characters into the "bad guy." Jayne makes good on his threat of several episodes to sell out River and Simon (and, as stated explicitly in the pilot, turn his back on Mal when the money was good enough). No, it's not the first time that a hero became a villain on a Joss Whedon show. Nor the second or third. Nor for the longest period of time. Nevertheless, this is still territory that to this day few television shows dare to venture into. And even the ones that do rarely do it so well. What makes Jayne's betrayal here particularly interesting to watch is that he gets caught. Not only does the person he deals with turn on him, but Mal easily figures out what happened and punishes Jayne for it. The scene at the end, where Mal confronts and threatens Jayne, is incredibly effective. Nathan Fillion serves up Mal's anger in the most chilling way. And Adam Baldwin makes you actually feel bad for Jayne when you realize he seems willing to pay the ultimate price for his actions -- so long as the others never find out what he did and don't think bad of him.

Great stuff. Another grade A episode of Firefly.

Firefly Flashback: Out of Gas

Here it is, my very favorite episode of Firefly. The writing of this episode is simply incredible, like a flawless high-wire act in how beautifully it handles multiple timelines. This was two years before Lost would premiere on television, so an hour of television with a heavy flashback structure was a much more daring proposition then than it might seem now. What's more, this episode juggles not two, but three timelines: Mal trying to fix the ship in the present, the recent events that led to the ship's current state, and more distant flashbacks that show how the crew of Serenity first came together.

I've read that the Fox executives did indeed balk at all this, but fortunately the writers stuck to their guns and served up this dense and rewarding hour of television. Had they caved, might it have bought them one or two more episodes? Doubtful, but it wouldn't have bought them the rest of a full season in any case. I'm very happy for the uncompromised episode we did get, even if it probably did burn the last of the bridge Joss Whedon and his writers had with the network at this point.

Of course, it's not just Tim Minear's brilliant writing that deserves praise here. Director David Solomon filmed everything in a way that easily helps you through the story without the need for a single messy "24 hours earlier" card. Each timeline has its own color treatments, camera angles, and cutting rhythm -- all of which serve to anchor you at every moment of the story.

All the technique in the world wouldn't matter much if the content weren't also brilliant. Each flashback is an inspired look into the character it features: we see that Zoe did not even like her eventual husband when they first met; Jayne came into the group the same greedy mercenary he remains today; Kaylee has a serious rebellious streak under her innocent exterior. And then that perfect, sweet scene at the end, when we see the moment Mal first laid eyes on Serenity. I get chills just thinking about it.

There are endless and wonderful juxtapositions throughout the episode. We cut from past happy moments to present serious ones. Simon's joyous birthday celebration is shattered by the ship's disaster (and he ruefully mourns this fact later). And once again, the last scene gives the greatest juxtaposition of all: all the banter about how great a ship Mal was shopping for turns out to be about some other ship, not Serenity.

It might go without saying by this point how wonderful the actors on this show are in their roles, yet it would be wrong not to praise Nathan Fillion's masterful effort in this episode. Some actors can't "take a punch"; when they act injured, it's never quite believable. Mal's bleeding gut shot is an utterly credible and truly perilous obstacle in this episode. You shudder when he falls to the deck. You cringe when he administers his own adreneline shot. You groan when he drops the replacement part for the engine. You never doubt that he's in some serious pain. Nathan Fillion is a more recognized star now that the TV series Castle has become a hit, but even still it's less than he deserves.

The other thing that gets me watching this episode is the element of Wash's "recall button." Mal orders everyone else off this ship, but Wash sets up a special button on the bridge in case Mal gets the engine fixed. "When your miracle gets here...", push the button to call back both shuttles. Actor Alan Tudyk tells a wonderful story about this in the DVD special features (of he movie Serenity, perhaps?). When Firefly was canceled, and Joss Whedon promised them all that somehow, some day, he would continue the story, Alan Tudyk stole this button from the set and gave it to Joss as a gift. "When your miracle gets here, you push this button and we'll all come back." Even with all the emotion in the episode itself, that story might get me most of all.

Anyone who doesn't like this episode of Firefly doesn't have taste, doesn't like television... choose your appropriate condemnation. I don't stick plusses after A ratings for emphasis, but if I did, I'd empty my stash here. One of the best episodes of television, period.

Firefly Flashback: Jaynestown

"Jayne! The man they call Jayne!"

This episode is Firefly's best take on an episode structure that Joss Whedon had established well on Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- a breezy, comedic story that takes a late turn to deliver an emotional, dramatic ending.

Writer Ben Edlund delivered top notch work here. The first two-thirds of Jaynestown are almost wall-to-wall jokes -- and they're all funny too. First, there's the endless well of humor about Jayne's heroic status and statue. ("This must be what going mad feels like." "We gotta go to the crappy town where I'm the hero.") Second, there are several other amusing side elements. (Simon swearing only when it's appropriate. River's reaction to Book's unrestrained hair.)

Then comes the powerful punch of the ending, where Jayne learns that the problem with being a "Hero" is that good people will sacrifice their lives for you. This actually isn't the most vulnerable we would see Jayne in the course of the show (that's yet to come), but it is the most emotionally raw and true. And it's the first time we've seen him in any capacity other than "tough guy" or "comic relief." The writing serves this turn up perfectly, and actor Adam Baldwin rises to the challenge brilliantly.

If I had any reservation about the episode, it would be the way the ship and crew manage to escape so easily at the end. The son of the local villain intervenes somewhat anticlimactically, lifting the land lock on Serenity. But it's hard even to quibble with that, as you can easily argue that it was really Inara who made that possible, and it connects her subplot to the episode in any case.

So, another grade A episode of Firefly in my book.

Firefly Flashback: Our Mrs. Reynolds

Oh, how I do love this episode of Firefly. It's a perfect example of a story you can only do effectively when you have a strong cast of characters. The plot is simple (or at least starts out that way): Mal unknowingly marries a submissive woman from a backwater planet; complications and hilarity ensue.

The reason that complications and hilarity ensue is because there are eight other characters on the show, most of whom have an opinion on what has happened, and most of them different. Book is consumed with the moral implications of the situation (but not so deeply that he can't crack jokes about it). Inara is offended -- ostensibly because of how this civilian intrudes upon her profession, but in large measure because of her hidden feelings for Mal. Jayne is jealous it didn't happen to him. Wash and Zoe hit some minor bumps in their marriage when faced with a very different take on how a marriage "should" be. And so on. The character of Saffron is a stone thrown into the pond, and we get to watch the interesting ripples she creates.

Of course, there's an extra wrinkle in it all, as Saffron is not at all what she seems. She's actually an incredibly clever and skilled con artist that manages to get the drop on the entire crew. She becomes a very likeable adversary, and yet our heroes don't have to be too dumb for it to work. (Inara, for example, figures out the ruse but is still unable to stop Saffron.)

The performances in this episode are perfection. Many of the characters find mirth in Mal's situation that's so genuine, you have to believe the actors' own laughter and entertainment at this story is showing through. And what a find was Christina Hendricks as Saffron?! Years before more people would come to know her from Mad Men, she played this wonderful part that I think was just as nuanced and interesting. Maybe even more so. One of the many great losses in the cancellation of Firefly was in not getting to see Saffron come back for more adventures (though I'm very glad we got at least one more after this).

Firefly started strong, and then got just a little bit rocky in some of its first few episodes -- as rocky as it would ever get, anyway. But starting with this episode, I think it began firing on all cylinders almost each and every time. An absolute grade A episode of the series.

Firefly Flashback: Safe

Safe is a bit of a mixed bag episode of Firefly in my book. Of course, this is Firefly, which means it's still a very enjoyable hour of television. Still, some parts of it really work for me, and others don't.

Many episodes of the show did a great job of blending the Western and Science Fiction sensibilities of the show in a satisfying and smooth way. Here, they feel a bit too oil-and-water to me. It just doesn't mesh with the way I perceive the conceit of the show.

The idea is that future technology has allowed dozens of planets and moons to be terraformed -- more than could be effectively colonized so much as "settled." The Western part of the show is the frontier planets and moons, on the borders of the 'verse, where lack of high technology required the settlers to sometimes resort to low tech solutions. But they will have some laser pistols, some rare advanced comforts. The main thing is that no matter how rough an existence they're carving out, they still are aware of the "civilized" worlds and their technologies.

And that's where this episode breaks down for me a bit. In Safe, a group of backwater settlers brand River as a witch. Literally, Salem-style. They want to burn her at the stake. And this makes absolutely no sense to me. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find many places on Earth today where people would want to burn somebody as a witch. (Sure, they'd kill you for all sorts of other stupid reasons, but because you're a techno-pagan in congress with demons? Not so much.) So I just don't buy that 500 years in our future, there could be a group that somehow regressed 500 years into our past. Even if it does set up the admittedly awesome rescue at the end of the episode. ("Yeah, but she's our witch. So cut her the hell down.")

But aside from that, it's a good episode, full of tantalizing character material. It's a particularly great episode for Simon. His joyously aggravating "why can't they just get together" romance with Kaylee is in top form. And we get a greater understanding -- both in the present and in flashbacks -- why he cares so deeply for his sister River. (And yes, that is Zac Efron playing "Young Simon" at the start of the episode.) We also see a tougher Simon for the first time, neither dandy nor pushover, as he stands up to his abductors.

Much is also revealed of Malcolm Reynolds' character, though in a more "read between the lines" kind of way. You get a taste of the kind of military leader he was in the way he reacts to Book being shot. He acts quickly, willing to potentially sacrifice some of "soldiers" to save others, and doesn't care how his decisions may be perceived by his crew. He also does something he personally doesn't want to do (going to the Alliance for help) in order to get the job done.

Speaking of Book, among the many episodes that hint at his secretive background, this is the one that makes a full-blown mystery of it. Whoever he is, whatever his past, he's important enough to receive top-notch medical care from Alliance military just at the flash of his ID card. It's a mystery that was never explained in the series, but was later addressed years later in the comic, "The Shepherd's Tale." (Personally, as is often the case with a mysterious backstory, I found the actual story to be less compelling than what I had imagined -- that Book was once an Operative like the one who chases River in the movie.)

So, once you buy into (or agree to ignore) a somewhat shaky premise, you get the usual, pleasant Firefly cocktail of humor, character, heart, and adventure. I rate this episode a B+.

Firefly Flashback: Shindig

Shindig makes my Firefly top 3. It's a great example of taking an incredibly simple "stock plot" and letting these characters provide the wrinkles that make this telling of the story unique.

The episode is simply Mal trying to make a social connection, and accidentally landing in hot water by running afoul of local customs. Star Trek: The Next Generation did this exact plot in the first season ("Justice") -- in fact, about as many episodes into its run as this episode was into Firefly's. And yet that Star Trek episode -- sorry, TNG, you know I love you but... -- really just stank, while this hour of television soars.

The humor in this episode feels effortless even when it's clearly being staged by the writers. ("You couldn't buy an invite without a diamond the size of a testicle, but I happened to get my hands on a couple." "Use of a sw-what?") It's partly that the writers know better than to take such a stock plot too seriously, but partly that the comedic current of Firefly had already been well-established by this point.

But again, it comes back to how wonderful the characters are in this episode. For Kaylee in particular, this hour represents a full meal. The audience feels her heartbreak when Mal casually insults her desire to buy a frilly dress. We smile at her joy to attend the party. We're crushed when she's tormented by the privileged woman there, and cheer when someone at the party comes to her defense. We laugh when her technical know-how makes her the belle of the ball, and love her wistful gazing at her dress as she remembers her experience at the end of the episode.

Mal and Inara have a wonderful arc together in this episode. The former convincingly argues the difference between disrespecting Inara's profession and disrespecting Inara herself. The latter showcases that her skills extend beyond frippery and seduction; she has some claws that can come out when needed.

Even the guest characters in this episode are outstanding. Badger, in his second appearance, is a perfect blend of villain -- oafish enough that you can believe Mal outfoxes him, but menacing enough that he remains a credible threat. Atherton is a brilliant heel to boo and hiss at. Even minor characters like the noble Mal is seeking to do business with, and the old man that defends Kaylee at the party, get true zinger lines that would never be wasted on a guest star on any other TV show. (And it's okay, because the main characters get as good or better!)

This is top notch Firefly, in my opinion -- an absolute grade A episode.

Firefly Flashback: Bushwhacked

You could really hold up any episode of Firefly as an example of the greatness of the show, but the third episode -- Bushwhacked -- makes a particularly interesting example, I think. It's one of my least favorite episodes of the series. (Only one other ranks lower, in fact; we'll get to that in time.) And yet it's really still a solid episode of television that surpasses what most other series put on the air week in and week out.

What have I got against Bushwhacked? Well, there's a lot about it that feels unfinished and unfulfilled to me. This is the big "Reaver episode." (In fact, with FOX not airing the pilot until the very end of the TV run, this almost felt like it became the only Reaver episode.) And yet, no Reavers actually appear in the episode.

The intrepid crew of Serenity comes across a ship after the Reavers have already ravaged it and moved on. We deal only with the aftermath of their attack. In fact, no one even realizes it was Reavers until a good ways into episode, and the Reavers never do "come back" as feared. And there are other areas where the setup doesn't quite match the payoff. The Reavers leave a booby trap bomb behind that latches onto Serenity -- but Kaylee deals with this so easily that her work isn't even depicted on screen. They find a survivor on the ship driven to madness by Reavers; when Serenity's crew encounters him, he's easily subdued; yet later, when the Alliance crew faces off with him, he's somehow turned in a dangerous killing machine that's more than a match for multiple armed troops.

So yeah, more than a few holes in this one, if you ask me. And yet, as I mentioned, still a really solid hour of television. And that's because of the greatest strength of Firefly -- the characters. Their behavior, their interactions; the wonderful performances of the amazing actors. The story might not be compelling, but that's easy to overlook when there are great moments like Jayne pranking Simon about the space suit, River's wonderment at the void of space, or Mal's chilling descriptions of Reavers and their victims.

And then there's the best sequence in the episode, in which the captain of the Alliance cruiser interrogates the crew of Serenity. It's a montage of one-on-one interviews where each of the characters is utterly themselves -- perfect little bite-sized glimpses into who each of these people are. Lots of laughs, too. The juxtaposition of husband and wife, Wash and Zoe, is especially great.

So all told, I grade Bushwhacked a B. The show really doesn't have much to be sorry for when this is nearly the most they have to be sorry for.

Firefly Flashback: The Train Job

I think the second episode of Firefly, The Train Job, is a great example of why the series was so fantastic. It was an episode that was basically crippled from conception. Joss Whedon and Tim Minear wrote it over a weekend at the demand of FOX executives, who had decided not to start the show with the original two-hour pilot, and who had basically give them a command to come up with a new, "better" pilot by Monday morning, or lose the show.

They had to start all over again, crafting a plot contrived for more action beats than the first episode. They had to reintroduce all nine characters all over again and explain their relationships, since viewers would be starting here. They had to do everything in half the screen time they'd done it the first time around.

The result isn't flawless. In fact, it ranks in the bottom 5 for me, if I list my favorite episodes in order. And yet, I still call the result an A-. Compromised, "bottom of the heap," and it's still that good compared to most television.

So what are those minor flaws? Well, one is that the character exposition isn't handled quite so deftly here. I honestly don't know how it could have been done any better given the situation. But with only minutes to spare, and with the "best" ways to introduce the characters already used up in the true pilot, everything here had to be done in a "second best" shorthand. There are a few lines in the first act that sound overly manufactured, like characters are saying things that don't come out quite natural just for the benefit of an audience they shouldn't really be aware of.

The other (again, minor) flaw I think comes at the climax of the episode, when Malcolm Reynolds kills Niska's brawny thug by kicking him through the engine of his ship. Don't get me wrong -- it's funny. I laugh every time I see it. I even think it may have been one of the highlights of the show when I first saw it air on TV, a kind of moment I hoped to see more of in future episodes. But the thing is, it makes Mal seem completely cavalier about killing, an attitude I came not to believe when I later learned more about his background in the war. It's a funny moment; I just don't think it's quite truthful.

But these are minor quibbles in an otherwise very enjoyable episode. The heist itself is fun and adventurous, and does an excellent job of fusing the western and science fiction elements of the show's premise. There's plenty of snappy dialogue. There's the nice "criminals with hearts of gold" twist of returning the stolen goods at the end of the hour. And there's the added bonus that the kingpin they cross here in this episode comes back to haunt (and hurt) them later in the series.

So, as I said, a solid A-. (And the first time around, when I didn't know the true beginning I was missing, it seemed better still.) Classic Firefly. Great even when it's not at its very best.

Firefly Flashback: Serenity

Ah, Firefly.

Among many great television series to be canceled before reaching a second season, Firefly remains my favorite. In fact, it sets the bar for brilliant-but-canceled so high, I suspect it will never be surpassed. I hope it will never be surpassed; as a fan of quality television, losing Firefly hurt so much that I don't know if I could go through it again.

The losing, I mean. Not the actually watching Firefly. On that count, I in fact could go through that again -- and very recently did. I got the thrill of watching Firefly in its entirety with someone who had never seen the series before. I figure this is as close as you can get to watching it for the first time yourself, and I loved every minute of it.

I'm now a full season and then some into my re-watching of Lost, and have been blogging about it every step of the way. I figure that a show I love (loved -- sniff) even more than Lost deserves equal attention. So here comes the first of a series of Firefly episode reviews!

It all starts with Serenity. (Except when FOX aired it, when it didn't.) ((Also, I mean "Serenity" the pilot episode, not the feature film. Though we will get there.)) This two-hour kickoff to Firefly is the perfect showcase of why losing Firefly was so sad -- the show was fantastic right out of the gate. There was no sense that the show had growing to do before finding itself. There was no need to apologize to a would-be viewer and reassure that "later episodes will get better." There was no sense that some characters weren't quite right. Serenity presents everything that would be good about the series right there at the beginning.

Series creator Joss Whedon wrote and directed this first episode. It crackles with his fantastic dialogue, and is filmed in his signature style. The actors -- regulars and guests -- all give razor-focused performances that define the show right out of the gate. Relationships are king on Firefly, and this pilot episode does an amazing job of showcasing them.

We see the history bonding Mal and Zoe, the fateful Battle of Serenity Valley. (It does make you wonder, given how cool some of the action in the Serenity movie is, what we could have seen here if the war wasn't presented on a television budget.) It's a particularly powerful sequence for Mal; even though he's a fun personality in the show's present, you see him even more open and breezy here in the past, and see that spark die in his eyes as he watches the Alliance ships land in the valley to effectively end the war.

There's Wash -- always witty, and yet not just comic relief. In the escape from the Reavers, he his the most cool and focused person on the ship.

We have the barely tamed animal in the group's midst, Jayne. The mercenary stays loyal to the crew in this episode despite temptation, but acknowledges that one day someone will make an offer he won't be able to refuse. (And we actually see this later in the show.)

Kaylee is firmly set up as the one character that everybody loves and rallies behind. When she's shot by Dobson, it's the most tense moment in the pilot. It cements him as a loathsome villain. And then it leads to one of the biggest laughs in the episode when Mal actually pranks Simon about Kaylee's death.

Inara is a fascinating focus as well; her role as "companion" is prime for all the other characters to have different opinions about. She makes ripples in the pond.

We meet rigid Simon, ever loyal to his poor sister River. River wouldn't become the graceful killing machine that got Summer Glau her job on Terminator until later, but the method-to-the-madness incarnation here is still compelling to watch.

Shepherd Book is the overtly religious character in the mix, though not the only source of spirituality by any means. He councils without condemnation, and tries to teach by example.

And this compelling group of characters are all aboard the "tenth character," the ship Serenity itself. It's no massive ship like an Enterprise or Galactica. It's home to a family, not a few characters like a Tardis. It's rundown, not cutting edge. It doesn't even have weapons. It's a very different setting for television science fiction.

We see the mashup of scifi and Western sensibilities. We're introduced to the already-formed dialogue of this (uni)verse, curious slang mixed with Western patois, spiced with Mandarin Chinese. Composer Greg Edmonson strikes a similar blend with his compelling musical score. The plot has action, intrigue, reversals, wit, and drama.

In short, it's a grade A episode of a grade A series. I don't know that the sad saga of Firefly would have gone differently if FOX had deigned to air this episode first, but you can surely see how the entire enterprise was doomed from the outset if their executives watched this and didn't see it worthy of kicking off the series run.

Say It Ain't So!

A YouTube ode to Firefly. If you've never seen Serenity, beware a major spoiler at around 1:15.

Taking Back the Black

You have to be very careful what you say when you have devoted fans. Or when you're Nathan Fillion. Doubly so if both. (But this is a problem most of us won't have to wrestle with.)

In a brief interview with Entertainment Weekly last week, Nathan Fillion was speaking of his passion for Firefly. Speaking non-literally, I would assume, he said that if he won $300 million in the lottery, he'd use it to buy up the rights to Firefly, and proceed to make it again on his own dime.

Many fans, of course, chose to take this literally, starting up a campaign pledging money for him to do just that.

Now don't get me wrong. I love Firefly more than the next guy. But our beloved Captain Tightpants was speaking poetically about the show I think of on a weekly basis when I think, "Castle is okay and all, but really, this show is a hit and no one would give the brilliance of Firefly a chance?!" Actually, this article explains rather neatly why this doesn't actually have any chance of working.

Though the same article also mentions a former producer and writer of Firefly, who instantly offered up their own "I'll be there"s if Serenity should ever take flight again. It also mentions how the ratings Firefly pulled when it was canceled would be more than respectable for a network show today.

Sigh.

Old Fogie

I write tonight's post as I often do, around midnight. Right now, many people are waiting in line to see the new Indiana Jones movie. In time zones farther east, some are already getting out of midnight shows.

I'm trying very hard not to get my hopes up for the film. I'm trying not to even start thinking things like "please don't suck pleasedontsuck," as I've heard a friend or two say, because to me, that's just a particular form of getting hopes up. Of course, it would seem to run counter to that notion that I'm talking about the movie tonight when I'm not even reviewing it now.

But really, my subject is not the Indy movie itself. It's the fact that people are waiting in line to see it at midnight. Even if I was majorly eager to see the film, I just wouldn't be there at midnight for it.

Oh, there was a time that was different. I've attended many midnight premieres in my life. It wasn't George Lucas completely screwing up the Star Wars prequels that changed that, either. It was age. And actually, The Fellowship of the Ring.

I did like The Fellowship of the Ring. Not as much as many. (Certainly not as much as a former co-worker of mine, whose review of the film the day after seeing it was, "I never want to not be watching that movie.") But I did like it. Yet I saw it at a midnight premiere. Remember, this was a three-hour movie. Plus 15-20 minutes of previews and ads and crap. Plus, I saw it at a movie theater that was 45 minutes from the place I was living at the time.

I got home from that movie past 4:00 in the morning.

And I had to be at work a few hours later.

I was miserable that whole following day. I wasn't that old in a grander scheme of things, but I was old enough that my days of all-nighters like that were behind me. I was exhausted, bleary-eyed, frayed, frazzled, pick your adjective. It didn't matter that I'd liked the movie, I just could barely make it through that day. And that was pretty much the day I vowed "never again."

I've gone to a couple movies at midnight since then. But they were always on weekend nights. Always at various "flashback movie" presentations, where midnight was the one and only opportunity to see the film.

Tonight's premiere of Indiana Jones fails on both those counts. And I don't think there's a movie that could get me to change the "policy."

Serenity 2?