You Can't Take the Sky From Me

I am a geek.

I wear that moniker as a badge of pride. I have even been a volunteer over the course of years at pop culture conventions. I consider myself something of a multi-fandom kind of girl, I like a variety of shows without being avidly passionate about many. I like Dr Who, Star Wars, Star Trek (yes that’s right both, I get how some can’t understand that but too bad), Stargate, Lord of the Rings, Marvel, Disney (though are the last two the same thing these days?) and many more. I am an avid reader, even having gone through a comic book phase. The point is, I enjoy a lot of fandoms, and I’ve had the wonderful pleasure of meeting many people involved in these fandoms over the years, both as creators and fans.

My longtime favourite though is the best space western ever - Firefly.

The closest thing I’ve had to a fangirl moment was the time I realised I was breathing the same air as Nathan Fillion and my breath caught in my throat for a second.

I am a loyal brown-coat for life. I was hooked immediately by this show, but then with only thirteen episodes I guess you had to be. I was also totally devastated when I realised they’d cancelled the show. Then when you read about all the issues with behind the scenes as far as network stuff not production stuff goes, you just shake your head in wonder. It is almost like it was destined not to be, except for the fans. We will always be loyal to our Captain Tightpants and his crew, Wash’s demise will always be too soon, and there are certain lines I will never get tired of quoting:

And of course...

Sadly, I could go on, but no-one likely wants that.

The quotable quotes weren’t the only thing I adored about this show. I loved the story arcs, and the humor. For me it was a tightly written piece of escapism, and a lot of fun to boot. There were powerful character driven episodes like War Stories, just plain fun heist stories like Trash, and flat out humorous ones such as Jaynestown.

The ensemble cast worked so well together and each character had their place, somehow balancing each other out, so the story didn’t get all bent out of shape in one way or another.

It is quite clear when I start to talk about it that I am a fan and when I start down the rabbit hole of fandom it just makes me want to go and start watching it all over again.

Which, incidentally, I did when I started this piece.

It was lovely to see such an evenly gendered cast and playing such interesting characters. All the women had strengths and were portrayed as being exceptional in their differences, Zoe was kick ass, Inara was absolutely comfortable with her sexuality, Kaley held a wonderful optimism even though many looked down on her for being a mechanic, and River – well she could kill you with her brain. The men also had a wide variety of types and not all were dominant to the women. It may not seem like much, but to me it meant heaps. We are beginning to see more and more strong female roles but back then in a show like this, not so much.

The saddest part of it all was that there was so much left to explore when the show ended. I had so many unanswered questions, sure some stuff was followed up in the movie, Serenity, but it still so many stories untold and the movie caused many a tear – you know what I’m talking about.

Of course, no show is perfect and whilst I’m a fan I can’t say this show was that. Perhaps the thing that bugged me most is how Mal sometimes treated Inara in that casual misogynistic way. Having a companion on his ship opened doors that otherwise would have not been so easily opened, yet he still made disparaging comments. On the other hand, he also fought a duel for her in a round-about way in Shindig, when Atherton’s words effectively equated Inara to property. Complicated relationship much.

There was another specific thing I loved about this show and that is the relationship between Zoe and Wash. It isn’t often you get a solid relationship without dysfunction highlighted. Added to that, theirs had something of a flip in it where Zoe was the archetype more traditionally given to a male. Wash being so comfortable with who he is and who is wife is, even celebrating that, only makes it better.

I could break down so many episodes but this isn’t really the forum for that, instead I’ll get to the point; if you like your visual entertainment to contain tightly written and diverse characters, entertaining story-lines, well developed world building and of course a few heroics, then you should also totally check out Killjoys. This show moved to take place alongside Firefly in my fandom heart.

Where Firefly is a space western, Killjoys is bounty hunters in space. Well that is where it starts yet it ends up being so much more.

Dutch, Johnny and D’avin are a trio of bounty hunters each with their own skill set; Dutch is a trained killer, Johnny is the brains, brother D’avin the brawn, and they all get well developed story arcs.

From the beginning, there are aspects of this show that tell you there is an overarching story in the wings slowly being developed; from Dutch’s somewhat unknown past, to D’avin’s missing memories and what was done to him, all set in a space and time on the brink of class war.

Killjoys seems to know from the beginning that it’s lifespan is limited so paces the story out allowing the fans to reach a satisfying conclusion. Through the journey, there are the inevitable ups and downs, character clashes and even a couple of those cringe moments where I felt a character did something that wasn’t really right for them, in order to further the story. Fortunately, this was not so grand in the scheme of things and I was able to let the story keep sweeping me along.

I found myself addicted to these characters. I needed to know what happened next. I wanted to know whose ass Dutch was going to kick this week, and how the boys complicated sibling relationship would end up.

Killjoys has these three at its core, but around them was an amazing cast of supporting characters; Pree, Khlyen, Turin, Delle Seyah, Zeph, and Fancy Lee. These guys make up the good and the bad, and boy are they wonderfully layered. Without them, their complexities and the wonderful way these characters were woven together and played by such amazing performers, the story just wouldn’t be so damn engaging.

Unashamedly here I have to espouse my love for my favourite character Pree (Thom Allison). At first, we’re introduced to Pree as the flamboyant and savvy owner of the Royale bar, however he is much more than that (his past surprised me when revealed), and the continual development of his character is just amazing.

I’m not going in for spoilers because I really want you to delve into the wonderfulness that is this show.

Apart from the obvious show structure and character makeup (larger ensemble core for Firefly) there is one other difference, the style of action. Now I love my action, when I write my novels I choreograph my action scenes, for two reasons – to make sure they work and because it’s fun. I love action scenes and Killjoys is loaded with them, far more that Firefly. Like the westerns that inspired it, Firefly is more about gun slinging, and Killjoys has far more hand to hand, visceral modern action. I suspect though if River had been allowed further development we would have seen much more of this in Firefly, as hinted at in War Stories and expanded on in the movie, Serenity.

In short if I had to pick my top two shows ever, these would be them, and I truly believe if you are a fan of the Verse, then you will love journeying through the Quad. Oh, and seriously, though Serenity is a great ship, I would choose Lucy any day of the week.