Christmas Gift Idea: Firefly & Serenity
By fred | November 28, 2008
As everyone knows it’s that time of year again, Christmas is coming and maybe you’re looking for a gift idea, to please the TVoholic in you, or one of your friends. To help you in your quest, or just to droll over those sets without having the chance to actually get them, as some of them can be quite pricey, I’ll give you a few ideas of complete series packs that any TVoholic should have…
Firefly - The Complete Series / Serenity (Collector’s Edition)
For many, there will always be a bitter taste and bad memories surrounding Firefly, because of the way it was treated by Fox. Rejecting the pilot, refusing to air the show in its intended format, airing episodes out-of-order and eventually canceling the show after only 11 of the 14 produced episodes, I don’t think anyone could have handled things worse.
But never mind those idiots, Firefly is a creation from genius Joss Whedon that pretty much tops every “brilliant but canceled” or “canceled too soon” lists anyone ever does, and with good reasons. The same ones that saw Firefly top New Scientist magazine’s website poll The World’s Best Space Sci-Fi Ever, with its cinematic follow-up Serenity coming in second.
Set in 2517 after new wars destroyed the world again, leaving people away from Earth-that-was without a place to call home and finding themselves in the same old situations, the show was a brilliant mix of western and sci-fi elements where people ride horses and travel in space ships from one planet to the other. Focusing on a group of people, all from different places with their own backgrounds, beliefs and motivations, the series followed the adventures of the renegade crew of a Firefly-class spaceship named Serenity, trying to survive taking one crappy deal after the other while escaping from the the Alliance.
It was a delightful mix of past and future into a new present, Western and Asian cultures into a brand new civilization; emotions, drama, humor and action all perfectly blended together into a unique and wonderful piece of art highlighted by what magically sounded like an old music from the future with its Sad Violin and the noise of spaceships in the back, that anyone who claims to like television must be familiar with.
And if try it, you’ll end up loving it. You have no choice, that’s the power of Mal, Zoe, Wash, Kaylee, River, Shepherd and everyone else, including Serenity of course. A definite must-have in everyone’s collection is this 4 discs set with all 14 episodes, in the right order and presented in widescreen as intended, with audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, gag reel, documentaries and interviews with cast & crew, and even Joss Whedon himself touring his beloved set and taking the guitar to play and sing The Ballad Of Serenity, the oh-so brilliant theme song.
And of course, you cannot have those DVDs without adding the feature film that continued the stories of our favorite crew, Serenity, with this collector’s edition including cast & filmmaker commentary, extended scenes, documentaries with interviews of cast & crew… A 2-disc additions that makes this whole thing complete.
Before Nathan Fillion was Dr Horrible’s Captain Hammer, before Adam Baldwin was Chuck’s bodyguard, and before Summer Glau turned out to be a Terminator, they were all more human and lovable than ever under the direction of master Joss Whedon, in (one of) the best series to ever grace our screens. If you don’t have them already, if you’re still unaware of the treasure that Firefly is, you have to do yourself a favor and buy them now!
Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me…
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain’t comin’ back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can’t take the sky from me…
There’s no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can’t take the sky from me…
Be sure to let us know what you think of this gift idea in the comment below, and check back soon for more ideas…
