{ the jaunty magpie }

More Firefly Tenth Anniversary nerdery is afoot! I said I'd be doing a whole gorram month of Firefly-themed posts, and I meant it! Consider it a long overdue ode to the best damn sci-fi/western series ever (because there were so many before it...?), and simply because it's so close to the Magpie's heart. And I didn't have a blog in 2002. Ten years ago, the show would have been hitting a middle-point of its 14 episode run, vying for viewers during a month already fraught with holiday breaks, but still celebrating its survival of the initial Octagon of September network premieres. Much like settlers on a lonely plain, the show wouldn't survive the winter of December 2002, with its last episodes going unaired, but thankfully available on DVD, where it would see its full glory realized, post-mortem.

One of the main reasons why Firefly's cult status thrives after a decade is its writing. It was funny and with the typical Joss Whedon quirkiness, but it could turn suddenly and become sinister. And then before you know it, you're a little misty eyed because some personal nerve was touched. It was always about people and the need for camaraderie, set against the bleak, cold expanse of space. But space could be a comfort as well, a welcome escape, much like the open, unexplored plains of a young America. So, in that sense, Westerns and Sci-Fi aren't such strange bedfellows. And we'll just ignore that Cowboys and Aliens movie ever existed, shall we...? 

I collected my favorite quotes from one of my favorite Big Damn Hero, Capt. Mal Reynolds, which I think perfectly captures the mix of humor and heart behind Firefly. Don't ask why, but I decided to illustrate him as a little LEGO figure, because Big Damn Hero translated perfectly to Little Damn Piece of Plastic. So let us give thanks to our favorite Big Damn Heroes, and the fact that Firefly continues to Keep on Flying in the hearts of fans, even after ten years.     

Jaunty Fine Print: graphic by Denise Sakaki, quotes from the series Firefly and film, Serenity