Firefly

This portal is devoted to fans and cult of Firefly the TV series. Share or learn the latest Firefly scoop and trivia; compare notes and opinions, find links, link to informative sites or your own Firefly-obsessed blog. Firefly is a... [more]

This portal is devoted to fans and cult of Firefly the TV series. Share or learn the latest Firefly scoop and trivia; compare notes and opinions, find links, link to informative sites or your own Firefly-obsessed blog.

Firefly is a Joss Whedon Space Western named for the model of space ship -- "Firefly-class"-- captain Malcolm Reynolds (former soap star Nathan Fillion) adopts to carry out his outlaw interplanetary trading (piracy).

The show follows the exploits of Reynolds, a still-loyal ex-soldier for the "wrong" side, and his fellow renegade veteran (Gina Torres, who did a stint as Cleopatra in the Hercules series). The ship, a bit of a junkbox with Torres' husband as pilot, takes on crack mechanic Kaylee, and then some supposedly paying passengers: a girl, River, who turns out to be a psychic, government weapon on the lam; her brother Simon (conveniently a doctor), a hot-headed soldier of fortune (Jayne, played by Adam Baldwin), and occasionally the cortisan Inara (Morena Baccarin). In taking on passengers, the Firefly inherits each one's "baggage" and spends more time evading these attendant aventures than ever making a living.

Among other fun characteristics that make the show unique, the pirates speak a markedly idiomatic vocabulary. The show has spawned a comic series and a film, and fans hopefully await a film sequel -- no sign of that yet.

Little known fact: Firefly was also the name of a pod model in the 1960s Gerry Anderson marionation series Thunderbirds. Tribute or trip-up?