Great analysis but I love the fact that no one is acknowledging the fact that this was done from the prospective of someone from 2039 were everyone is living in bunkers and there was an *attempted reboot in 2032* that was just glossed over lol. Love it

Canceling the show just showed what kind of material the tv networks would avoid in the days to come. No wonder there aren't any great scifi series that actually brought everything to the table and brought it perfectly as Firefly did. Best show ever definitely. Great video

17:53 "My theory that good worldbuilding allows an environment to be a character" Reminds me of reading an interview with the cast of the original Star Trek, where they said the main character wasn't Kirk or Spock, but the Enterprise herself. Really gave me a new angle on things. I wouldn't say Serenity was the _main_ character, but she was definitely _a_ character.

I always like to think of this show in terms of the line: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." How many shows had intriguing, if not great, first seasons, only to become something you watched out of compulsion or habit 2 or 3 seasons later? It's hard to know what would have become of this show if it had more seasons, but I enjoy it for what it is. Its not often that I will watch an entire hour long video essay here, but ya got me here.

Okay, a little ramble; so, about a month ago Aldi had some mangos 50% off and I went "oooh, mangos!" reflexively in Kaylee's voice, even though I haven't really thought of Firefly in the last couple of years. Then KZfaq threw up your vid about Max Headroom while eating said mangos, and after liking it very much (both the vid and the mangos) I checked out your channel and found the first two parts of the Firefly analysis and started watching, reigniting my love for this little show. Finished re watching it yesterday evening and right after you uploaded the combined analysis. Still agree with all of it, I think it's very well thought out, and very witty. Keep up the good work!

Alright dude, you got to keep this up. This was the most enjoyable Firefly overview/discussion/etc I've seen yet.

I always felt that the brown coats were more like the people who would have existed if America lost the Revolutionary War and was not based on the Civil War. You eloquently explained why I felt that way even though I didn’t spend anywhere near the amount of time analyzing this. Thank-you so much for this.

Here's some nuance on Jayne I noticed you might seem to have missed. Sure, he's a (mostly) amoral thug and isn't very bright, but he cares about the crew almost like a surrogate family. His main issue with Simon and River is that they are a threat to his family, even if said family doesn't see it the same way. His betrayal of Simon and River wasn't just a chance to collect the bounty, it was an effort to get them off the ship before either River went nuts and started hurting the more vulnerable members of his surrogate family or the Alliance caught up to them and things went badly for them all. Evidence of this is the fact that he could have jumped ship at any time and turned them in. It's not like he was raking in the loot working for Mal--although I have to admit he appeared to be doing a lot better with Mal than when they first met.

Thank you. I’ve been mourning my Whedonesque fannishness for a few years. It loved it all so much and so much didn’t age well across his creations. This reminds me why I was in love in the first place

I'm in awe of the accuracy of your analysis. Thanks for that and all the laughs.

This is the shiniest gorram retrospective on the entirety of Firefly that I've seen. Well done. Will you be doing something similar for Serenity?

On a practical level, what really boggles my mind is how exquisitely ALL the characters are dialed in (by the writers) from the very "first" show (the real first, Serenity), and how utterly inhabited those characters are by the cast. I don't think nine actors, of varying experience (including nil), have ever grasped their brief so masterfully so quickly. (although I suspect the astonishing characterizations of the actors and their dynamic helped the writers immensely in creating compelling real characters)

54:20 I have to disagree I think Mal's ethical code is something that he at will chooses to bend or break whenever it suits him, being that he's a scoundrel. He's an honest man but he's definitely an "always cheat, always win," kind of guy, and we love him for it.

That was very good, your arguments won me over!

So I spent ten minutes reviewing your chart at 7:55, and I was surprised to learn some things, like how few members of the crew Wash had meaningful interactions with.

A really excellent explanation and love letter to Firefly. An wonderful way to spend an hour. Thank you.

Here's my unpopular opinion. I loved Firefly. I hated Serenity. Not only do I not re-watch the film with every rewatch of the series I try to ignore that I remember what happens in it. It said to me that Firefly running one season may have been a blessing in some ways.

That web is the best description of anything, ever.

I am a man who does not cry much, but I did indeed cry at the conclusion of your video about Kaylee. Yes - she is the point of the whole world, and is worth defending. She represents the worthiness of the truth and the good. Well done indeed.

NEVER noticed the lack of 'steering wheel' in that shot! Bwahahaha. Makes me love the show more! And...there will never be enough Dr Who!

Thank you for the hard work that obviously went into this. You really nailed a lot of the nostalgia for me personally.

Thank you. You hit the nail on the head...and exposed our hearts at the same time.

I CANNOT believe (!) that I have just watched TWO hour long reviews - back to back - of old TV shows that I loved - and you do it MASTERFULLY!!

We say 'Don't watch it' because, like us, you will love it, and it will break your heart! 14 episodes are more than enough to force you to grab your chest with the devastating agony of losing a beloved part of your life. You become so invested in the lives of these 9 people that are suddenly no longer a part of your own life it causes you to mourn the losses as if they had all died.

Damn good vid! Particulary the part about the significance of the Southern vs Civil war elements of the show, because for Non-Americans that's an aspect quite hard to get in its whole dimension...

Okay. This was fantastic. And, I hadn't thought about Kaylee being quite the kind of pivot point for the show, but you're right. Pair any other characters up, and there's a way they can clash with each other. But, no one fought with Kaylee. Basically, no one dared!

This show has left a hole in my heart if feel incomplete

Wash holding nothing like a joystick after a complicated maneuver was immediately noticed by most. We took it as honest depiction of the stress he was under.

This is an excellent retrospective, awesome job.

Great video, thanks for your insights. I've long said that the first episode has the best set of character introductions of any series I've seen, which makes the crime of dumping it at the end of the broadcast run even more baffling and unforgivable. Kaylee is definitely the best ❤️

Not sure that Mal's willingness to shoot the unarmed Operative is a change from or a contradiction of his speech to the doctor. The Operative is not a member of his crew. We also see him during the series, happily kicking an unarmed thug into a rocket engine. Otherwise great discussion of the series.

These were really great mate, thanks for making this.

Well written, well presented. Amazing job.

Thank you for all the very hard work and skill in putting this together. I am happily crying.

Thank you! This is one of the best videos that I have ever seen on this platform! It's amazing and is everything I thought about such an miraculous show. Plus a few more things that I hadn't considered. We all would do well to try and live/love as Kaylee does!

Some of your question around 49:00 were addressed in the licensed comics. I particularly liked Book’s story, even though I’m of the opinion that it isn’t as cool as the mystery incubating for a decade in my head (and presumably many other fans’ heads).

Can I just give this 1 million likes?

My favorite character Interaction is Jaynes protectiveness of Kaylee. Several times when Kaylee is in distress, Janye can be found wondering who to wreck. My biggest frustration/regret is that Jayne never confronted Juble over a terrified Kaylee

I watched "Firefly" all through it's "Redheaded Stepchild" mistreatment by Fox TV. (These Teenage Mutant Fox TV Programmers treated "Futurama" the same way once their short-term memories were exhausted.) I didn't "see" all of it until I bought the DVD set. It makes me wonder how Fox TV, with it's 12-25 target audience was able to start/nurture/support "King of the Hill," "Bob's Burgers" and "The Great North." (Does this make Fox TV a "cartoon network"?;) I have started watching far too many Fox TV "live action" shows that were tossed in the dumpster just when they were starting to get interesting. So, I have "voted with my feet" and left that benighted network for other high-numbered cable TV channels with more varied content. As far as Zombies go, I'll take ONE "Train To Busan" (2016) over "The Walking Dead" any day.;)

Dinner with Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan would be EPIC!!!!!

Absolutely loved FireFly! I even bought the series along with the movie Serenity too! I still have to watch the shows every so often and I still love to watch them over and over! Just a sad shame it didn’t get to run least a couple more seasons though! Liked Serenity, but hated seeing characters killed off!

Everything's shiny, Cap'n. Not to fret.

You touch on the importance of "The Message." For me, "The Message" is almost a classic tragedy. Tracy is right up there with Oedipus- a flawed character brought to a bad end to evoke an emotional response in the audience.

Beautifully done. Bravo.

Okay. I'm 3/4 through and "Sam Gamgee and his assistant" had me rolling on the floor and shooting coffee out of my nose.

We are each here for just a few moments. Kaylee got that.

This is so good as a big video, I've been obsessed with your Max Headroom video, and this on top of it is fantastic. Hope what you have next is wonderful as well!

One of the best video analysis ever!

Really good stuff, Cameron. I truly enjoyed watching this!

Happy to see you’re posting again!

Love your long form videos, Space Feather! Subbed! 😎

I love your personality shown In a thorough passionate well thought out perspective.

This is some Passion of the Nerd level stuff, but I'll throw out a couple points of personal - alternate takes. :) Trash is awesome, so is YoSafBridge. I think 'Our Mrs. Reynolds" through "Trash" is one great episode after another, with the bookends of "Serenity" and my persona favorite "Objects in space" also great, but the others between the bookends and the Christina Hendricks episodes, while good, I don't think quite rise to the level of great. I have particular difficulty with "the Message", since there's a bit of idiot-ball miscommunication at play the could have been avoided with "Tracy! I have a plan!", and I'm not cool with Nandi getting "fridged", both because it's removing a potentially recurring character that fit into an intriguing space in the Mal-Inara web as you've drawn it, and because where Whedon is concerned killing characters off has gotten old. Gender-flippped Jayne: both Patience and Saffron fit. Speaking of Jayne, not all bad. He's entirely sincere when he says (referring to Saffron) "damn it Mal, I'd treat her right", which we can see when he's sitting there brushing his new friend's hair in "Heart of gold". I suspect he has a strong female presence in his family. I would have liked to have met them. And Kaylee's for that matter. I can see Gina playing Mal and Nathan playing Zoe, though the former more than the latter. Which would give the Mal-Inara relationship a bit of a dynamic. And Wash's bit about the legs and the part just above it works just as well with Captain Tight-Pants. :D Inara is pretty much the only one I can't see flipped. While I am also frustrated at the lack of a Book episode, which I assume would have come between "Objects in space" and the season finale, I would really like to know more about the role companions play in Alliance high-society that gives them such status. I'm not sure Whedon et al. actually thought that out much beyond "space Geishas are cool", but nevertheless. Oh, and following up on what Jeff Thomsom wrote previously, the inspiration may have come from southern veterans after the war, but the dynamic is more like revolutionary veterans if the British had won, distant government in London and all. IMO, at least. But that's the fun thing about these kinds of videos. You don't have to agree with everything to gain insight from them. Well done.

Also, fun side note is that in ANY SHOW in his early career Badger (Mark Sheppard) played a similar character that just happened to dress similarly, just about all the shows had Joss Whedon ties, they happened to be named Badger BUT NOT A SINGLE ONE WAS A CROSSOVER! HMMMM!

Awesome video.... Thanks. You are on my crew.....

Hello from the UK, and thanks for an absolutely frigging awesome video. Cheers.

I followed the same path as András. And so glad I did. firstly it caused me to realize that Endgame's Morena Baccarin was also fabulous in Firefly. 2ndly it has been both edifying and entertaining. I would love to see your analysis of, the also short lived, "Pushing Daisies".

Just chef's kiss, all of this. Subscribed in case you release any more top tier, must see videos. Even about things I'm unaware of in the year 2039.

Also, look up Green Mansion Girls or basically the Chinese version of the top hierarchy of their Geisha system. To shorten it, I used "Geisha" as a way to describe Inara but no the Green Mansion society girls is more or less literally Inara's description down to all the girls on the outer worlds that left the guild and went "freelance". Fits in with the Chinese theme far more even though I have no evidence to prove how much of a direct basis it was! You can make what you will looking it up!

So much I liked here, but my fav is the nuanced view of character. 95% of youtube show reviewers hold the opinion that character portrait is the entire point of cinema. This dude smashes that in the face, and I couldn't agree more.

I also love this show ❤ I binge watch it and the movie at least once per year. And I always knew why I love it so much: It feels warm, cozy and very human. Sure, you can deep dive into all of it, like yot did. Great job by the way. But I always saw the essence of it. Warmth, heart and character. It always feels like reuniting with friends and revisiting a place where you feel comfortable. Joss Whedon created something great with wunderful characters and dynamics. Im happy to know Firefly. It will always have a special place in my heart.

Six months and only 9,000 views! Criminal.

I really enjoyed this video and your breakdown of the show and the characters and the interplay. Very well done.

You're very good at these. I hope you keep it up 👍

This is an incredibly well done tribute to a great show! Thank you for the hard work you put into this!

KZfaq algos got one right. Great vid.! Great craftsmanship, all the way - through and through.

Wow, I'd never heard of you before and then just as I finished watching your Max Headroom video, this went up.

You nailed this. From every angle, especially the landing. How are you not famous? That's the first video of yours I've watched and the first time I was ever moved to donate. I cannot wait to see what else you have created. Thank you for whatever insane sleep or life deprivation it cost you to produce this.

Holy crap. This channel is so good and criminally underrated. Keep up the the good work!

Interesting analysis. I agree with a lot of it, even if your favorite episode is my least favorite and your example of a not so good episode is one I like a lot more. But I especially agree in not really understanding why someone would tell people not to watch it even though they love it themselves. I may relate to that viewpoint more than you do, though - as someone who experienced the show before the movie existed, or was even likely to ever exist, I was a lot more understanding of it back then. The truth is that while the characters and their relationships were always most of what made this show enjoyable, and it's true that the episodes are largely self-contained, there is a lot more of a continuous story than was normal at the time. Not that it was unheard of - Babylon 5 arguably had more of a continuous story and it came out almost a decade earlier. Firefly had evolving relationships in which the events in previous episodes affected how characters related to each other in subsequent stories and at least three characters outside of the crew who showed up more than once. The beginning (at least) of many episodes contained references to the situation at the end of the previous episode, which often provided the motivation for whatever was happening at the beginning of the episode. If all of this weren't true, the reordering of the episodes by FOX wouldn't have been such a big problem. But even more, there were multiple hints at larger stories which promised to be really cool but were not likely to have been advanced all that far by the end of the first season even if Firefly hadn't been cancelled mid-season. As it was, there was very little movement on any of them. The movie ties together and provides a satisfactory explanation and conclusion for at least two of those. It progresses and hints at the future for a couple of others. It fails to even acknowledge at least one I can think of and acknowledges but then purposely refuses to otherwise address at least one other. But having a coherent end to some of the story makes it easier to accept that some things remain unresolved.

*lower my cowboy hat* *wipe a tear* This guy gets it. Great points and presentation both! I wasnt even planning on watching the video, just skim through it, yet I ended up devouring the whole thing while nodding profusely. What a mighty fine shindig!

A masterclass in character development. Truly excellent. Thank you.

What an amazing video. Thank you

Great stuff. This deserves more views.

This is an excellent essay. Very well done.

Thanks!

Great analysis!

amazing video. I am glad that I found your channel.

I wish I could remember who said it but I remember hearing once that a sign of a good character is being able to imagine what the character would be doing off camera, not the actor but the actual character. I can do that with each of the main characters here. I understand why they would be doing the things I imagine them doing.

This is a fantastic, amazing, nuanced analysis of this show. It's more a love letter to Firefly, than anything....and I'm totally here for it. Hard to believe I got to see this for free. Thank you kindly.

This video is very well crafted. GOOD JOB! Yes, I've commented here before. About a year ago.

Just discovered this fine channel: the guy's fab!!! More, please. Mikey from Greece.

"Metaphorically, don't actually go outside." I actually lost it right there. :D

I have in my mind a story I would want to write, but after reading Peter Watts Blindsight and rewatching again and again Firefly I know I would be not good enough to write something that well crafted... Every time I eat a strawberry I feel like I can catch this feeling Firefly gave me. Maybe after some Proust, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, and buch of freaks from scifi genre :) I will find the language in myself to describe the lens flare that Firelfy is constantly making in my soul :)

Excellent series review! I really like your answer to all the Firefly Questions - Kaylee I love the series but didn't like the movie nearly as well, until... I realized why River and Simon's characters were so different from the series. Because the movie Serenity was a dream, just one of River's nightmares. That explains why Simon was able to penetrate into the top secret lab and rescue her, and why she is now a super assassin instead of a timid, although genius girl. Her nightmare has her friends die and makes her the hero to save her brother instead of him taking care of her. If we view the movie Serenity as a dream, the series could begin again with her waking up crying until she realizes it was just another nightmare.

the relationship between malcom and the doctor felt like they stripped away the character building of the show. the doctor and river went from crew back to square one of randos tagging along on the ship

This needs more views

I really enjoyed this.

My GOD i love this show..

Lots of great insight. At first, I was a bit peeved at the generational differences between the narrator and myself, but it has added to the flavor

Even though Mal said that the doctor was his hero in a sarcastic way, i dont think he was lying.

Hermoso analisis!!!

You made me laugh, get argumentative, laugh, tear up and ultimately agree. Great video!

I love the documentaries styled as if they were made in the future it’s a really cool concept that I personally haven’t seen before and I love it

It should be no surprise that Joss Whedon stages Shakespeare plays in his home for fun.

Those are Steve Swansons personal DVD's he took up to the International Space Station. He left them in the ISS library for future astonauts to watch and they all come back Browncoats. 😁

I actually disowned my twin brother at 23 telling him WHILE HE WAS SHOPPING FOR PRESENTS THAT I ONLY HAD A DVD PLAYER! HE BOUGHT THE BLU-RAY 2-DISC DIGITAL COPY! It was April 2013 when BLU-RAY was BARELY A THING!

You should really put a "sorry, not sorry" spoiler alert on this for the 52:53 comment about the Mouse's 2032 re-boot (curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal, lol). Thanks for a great follow-up to your Max Headroom essay. Looking forward to future analyses... (how about one on the Princess Bride?!).

Thank you! That was lovely, it made me want to go watch Firefly all over again /Hug.

My linguistic proficiency can't completely address all the layers of awesomeness of this presentation. If there was only content like this on the internet AI would come into being by itself. Probably the good kind, as in morally conscious. Please keep this up!