Firefly

When Firefly initially premiered, I found the concept uninteresting, even though it was a creation of Joss Whedon's (Bully the Vampire Slayer) brain. A space western? Seriously? I had odd images of Space Balls meets The Young Riders and that just wasn't a pleasant thought. Several years later as I discussed a mutual love of science fiction with a friend and she lent me the DVD collection. The show quickly entered rotation in my work-from-home Friday marathon life.

The odd concept really does work. Firefly is set in the distance future after Earth was used up and science allowed the formation of livable worlds on previously uninhabitable rocks in space. Asian culture and American Western features are mishmashed together to create an advanced yet primitive world.

If you're familiar with Whedon's work, you won't be surprised by the fast-paced snappy dialogue. Mandarin Chinese and English are entwined effortlessly - I can't even begin to imagine the amount of work the actors must have taken for it to feel that natural. He's also great to utilize familiar and unfamiliar actors, pulling in a core fan base from the beginning.

The show didn't even last a full season on Fox - many episodes didn't even air - but the original fans are still rabid with their love of the show. The episodes are beautifully shot and the characters have a depth that's rather remarkable considering the short run. Firefly ended with more questions than answers about the mysterious character of River Tam, but thanks to a myriad of mostly unbelievable circumstances a follow-up film (Serenity) was released and had a good run in theaters.

I'm glad I was convinced to check this one out.