The soundtrack for Joss Whedon's tragically short-lived TV show Firefly (2002-03) is a lot of fun. Composed mainly by Greg Edmonson, the music is a fascinating blend of east plus west, like the show's culture. You've got twangy banjos and ethereal flutes, pounding rhythm and delicate melodies. It's got such a unique flavor, just like the rest of the show.

"Inside the Tam House" offers a good example of the more eastern music, with lyrical melodies from strings and a flute laid over a trickling piano.

"Mal Fights Niska/Back Home" represents what I think of as the classic Firefly sound -- lots of strings and wind instruments and percussion. I like how this one starts a little slow, then switches to a more actiony vibe, because it definitely gives you the feeling of people facing each other, then starting to fight. Around 1:22, it then flips to the more peaceful and gentle "home" theme that makes me feel cozy and happy.

Hands-down, my favorite track on the whole album is "River's Dance." It's joyful and carefree, which the rest of the album isn't, for the most part. Definitely makes me feel like dancing!

I'm so glad that, although Firefly was short-lived, the powers that be saw fit to release a soundtrack to CD, because I have had many hours of enjoyment from listening to this.

If you've never heard this before, what did you think of it?

(This review originally appeared here at J and J Productions on August 21, 2015.) 

Today I've got a post up here on James' blog about the soundtrack to one of my favorite shows:  Firefly (2002-03).  How shiny, huh?

Easy. Firefly.  They canceled it before it really got started. 

Sure, I'd love to have had another season of Angel -- it had just refound its stride when it was canceled.  And sure, I'd love more Nero Wolfe adventures.  But Firefly didn't even get to finish its first season, and that is a crying shame.

 This is such a shiny show, what there is of it.  I didn't watch it in its initial run, so I myself am partly to blame for its cancellation.  Firefly aired the first year Cowboy and I were married.  He was finishing college, I was working my first full-time job, and I was already addicted to Joss's other two shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.  I didn't think I had time for another show, didn't really know what Firefly was about, didn't give it even one chance.

Then the Firefly 'verse came to the big screen in 2005 with the movie Serenity.  My brother-in-law, Noumenon, asked if I wanted to go see it with him.  I love going to the movies, and it's rare I get to see one with another person, so I said sure, anything to support Joss Whedon.  I loved the concept, the characters, the writing -- instant fan.  (You can read about my initial impressions here.)  But, clearly, a show that is literally about cowboys in space was just too oddball for the network execs, and they pulled the plug.  Evil, silly, annoying execs.  Grr.  Arrgh.

(I really want this shirt!)

What a summer for fun movies! I went to see Star Trek today, and treated myself to a cherry slushie since it's Mother's Day. Now, I didn't love this like I loved Wolverine, but that's okay. I didn't expect to. In fact, I was quite prepared to hate it if necessary, to erase the whole thing from my memory. Fortunately, I don't have to.

First and foremost, I have to say that the actors portraying Baby Kirk, Baby Spock, Baby Bones, and Baby Scotty (which is how I keep thinking of them) were amazingly good match-ups for those characters' original incarnations. Chris Pine, who played Baby Kirk, had Bill Shatner down pat. The swagger, the grin, the cocky smirk, the captain's-chair-sprawl-and-lean -- he did everything but imitate Shatner's oft-mocked dialog delivery. Of course, since Jim Kirk has ever been my favorite character, I may have been paying a wee bit more attention to details like those, both in the original series and in this ;-) I'd say I was second-most impressed with Karl Urban as Baby Bones. I've loved Urban ever since he played Eomer in the Lord of the Rings, and I have to admit I was really curious about this casting. But he had Bones' drawl, laconic attitude, and perpetually worried expression in spades. Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg were also great as Baby Spock and Baby Scotty, and also had ther moments where they were spot-on perfect, but they had a lot of help from prosthetics or a strong accent to get them into their characters.

Baby Uhura was a beauty, Baby Chekov was cute and smart, and Baby Sulu got a nifty sword. They were all acceptable. Bruce Greenwood made a lovely Capt. Christopher Pike, and I wish he'd had more screentime.

The real surprise in the cast for me was Eric Bana! He acted! Honest! I'm usually bored to tears by him, but he was actually having fun as the renegade Romulan -- he totally needs to play villains from now on.

As for the plot... it's about time travel. I tried hard not to think about it too much. Leonard Nimoy had a nice chunk of screentime and I was happy for him. Oh, and I probably should mention they had me in tears before the opening credits. Never after, though. I did laugh quite a bit, as did lots of others in the theater. And we clapped at the end :-D

A bit of spoilage:

So, um, Baby Uhura and Baby Spock? Yeeeeeah, what was up with that? I really felt like they just threw that in to spice things up a little and not let Baby Kirk get all the kissing scenes. Totally unneccessary, IMHO, and I wish they hadn't gone there, as it has all sorts of implications and repercussions that I don't want to think about. Now, Baby Uhura catching Baby Kirk hiding under her roommate's bunk in his tighty-whities? That worked for me, because sometimes Uhuhra does get this glint of amusement in her eye when interacting with Kirk, and this works as what she could be remembering.

And, they're sooooo going to have to do another one, because Amanda Greyson is still alive in the series. Yeah, need to fix that. Also, Jim needs a brother. And a dad. Ahem.

So anyway, if I hadn't had my yearly slushie, I'd have given it two Warheads, because it got a bit soggy in that bit where Baby Kirk was running around the Ice Planet Hoth.

Oh, a note about the Romulan ship and Spock's shuttle -- was anyone else thinking Firely? The Romulan ship really reminded me of something the Reavers might fly, and Spock's shuttle's rear section was really remeniscent of Firefly-class ships like Serenity.

So, I'd totally see this again on DVD, and I'm all psyched to rewatch the original series now. I believe I can watch all of them for free on cbs.com, so I may just start going through the series from the beginning -- there are actually quite a few eps I haven't seen, even though I've loved Classic Star Trek for a couple years longer than I've loved Combat! (not that I've seen all the eps of that, either). Also, I might see if I can get this soundtrack, cuz it had lots of percussion and horns, which I love.

Duuuuuude! Joss Whedon has created a brand new art form! Okay, not exactly, but sort of. He's created an online episodic supervillain musical called "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," and it's available for free until July 20, so you have to go check it out RIGHT NOW! Actually, only part one is available right this moment, with part 2 coming online tomorrow, and part three on Saturday. But you have to go watch part one right now because it is full of Jossful hilarity. Funny lines, silly songs, and oh, did I mention Nathan Fillion?!?!?!?! Yes. Nathan Fillion.

Mmmmm. Nathan Fillion. Here, have a random picture of him just because. It's not him as Captain Hammer, but it's a fun picture anyway.

I think I'm gonna go watch about 9 eps of Firefly. Okay, maybe 2. As many as Dano's naps will allow, let's put it that way.

Many thanks to DKoren for pointing me to this site!

(Oh, and yes, that's Doogie Howser in the title role. Just FYI, in case you ever watched that show. I didn't, but you might have.)

How shiny is this? Firefly is in space! An astronaut took a copy of the series DVDs with him to the international space station!

(Thanks to Noumenon for the link.)

Shiny! The merest hint of a possibility of Firefly making another flight fills me with giggly expectancy! Read a tidbit about it here and see if it does the same for you!

Amazingly enough, although I haven't watched an ep of Firefly for an entire week now, it's still clicking around in my brain a LOT. So since I'm in the mood, here are two lists of my favorite Firefly-related things...

My Three Favorite Eps
1. "Out of Gas"
2. "Jaynestown"
3. "Objects in Space"

My Favorite Characters
1. Mal
2. River & Kaylee
3. Jayne
4. Simon & Wash
5. Zoe
6. Book
7. Inara

I like Mal best for rather obvious reasons, I suppose. I mean, he fits the mold of guys that I like: he's broody, handsome, broad-shouldered, wears a holster...what's not to love?

As for River and Kaylee, I probably identify with them the most. River's not like the people around her, she has trouble communicating with them sometimes, and she has a reeeally close relationship with her brother, all like me. Kaylee is very cheerful most of the time, and likes to cheer people up and decorate her surroundings, all very me.

Jayne, well, what can I say? He's a total rogue, goes rather evil now and then, has some of the absolute funniest lines in the whole show...I think if I got to play a character, he would be the most fun.

I didn't really like Simon at first, cuz he's all snotty and preppy. But there's a scene in a later episode, "Trash", between Simon and Jayne that 100% reversed my opinion on Simon and made me like him a lot (for fear of spoiling this ep for DKoren, I can't say more than that). And in the movie, he's pretty cool. Wash, on the other hand, I liked a lot from scene one. He's hilarious!

You'd think I'd like Zoe more than I do. I mean, she's a warrior chick who gets to shoot guns and yell at poeple. Just like I always want to do, right? But somehow I never quite connect with her character, she just doesn't keep my emotions interested.

Book has the same problem. He's cool, no doubt about that. He's a Shepherd with a mysterious background, obvious knowledge of Alliance ways...but he never grabs hold of my attention for very long.

And Inara, well, she's just kind of boring, isn't she? Her character doesn't go anywhere until the very very very end of the movie Serenity, and even then she doesn't grow much. She's just always around, being alluring and knowledgeful and helpful.

I'm slightly happier tonight. I got season one of Five Mile Creek in the mail, and watched the first episode. It made me all glowy inside. I grew up watching this show on Friday nights with my family. We'd rent a VCR and a tape of 2 Five Mile eps and watch them while eating pizza. Good times. It's fantastic to find out that something I loved so much as a kid is still just as wonderful as I remember it being. I don't really know how many seasons it ran, just that there are 20 volumes of the videos, so like 39 or 40 episodes. Season one only has 13 eps, so I'm figuring there are at least two more seasons.

Hey, didja know this is the show that really got Nicole Kidman noticed? She's in the last 15 eps or so. My favorite role for her too--she's all wild and tomboyish.

Still bummed about having no more new Firefly eps to savor. At least I haven't listened to any of the commentaries yet, so that'll be new and different. I think I'll hold off on those for a good long time.

I'm depressed. Quite depressed. I conjure I'll be grumpy and listless for quite some time to come. "Honestly, there could be tears."

See, I've fallen in love. Shiny, right? Very shiny. Except I fell in love with a tv show that only ever got 14 episodes and one movie made (so far, at least), and I have watched all the eps in the space of eleven days, ten of them in the last three nights.

I never do that. Never ever ever. Were I left to my own ways, I'd've made those 14 eps last me a whole year. At the very least. But the Chameleon is only here until the end of the week, and she fell in love with this show too...and since I went and bought it and all, we just spent our three days off watching eps and falling deeper and deeper under the spell of a man who already rules half my 'verse.

Joss Whedon.

Because, of course, the show I fell in love with is his Firefly. I'm already a lover of Angel and a follower of Buffy, and now...I'm a 'Browncoat'. I might even sign me up on the official roster (and yes, there is one--I remember seeing it when on my mad quest to find hot pictures of Mal Reynolds last night).

You remember me seeing Serenity last fall and liking it muchly? So I got my name on the list at the library to get the first disc of the series. Got that just before Christmas, we watched it after our Christmas Eve party here, and I was so hooked, lined, and sinkered, I went and ordered it online. And the soundtrack.

So now I'm in the depths of black, blotchy despair. I've seen all the episodes. No more new Mal moments. No more rampaging Jayne. No more Kaylee being clever or River going crazy brilliant.

Oh, you can bet I'll be rewatching these eps for months to come. And rewatching. Who knows, might even write me some fanfic eventually. Once I stop pouting.

You scored as River Tam. The Fugitive. You are clever and dangerous, which is a nasty combination. The fact you are crazy too just adds to your charm. They did bad things to you, but you know their secrets. They will regret how they made you.

Which Serenity character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

I can live with that. She's my second-fave character after seeing the movie...and I pretty much knew I wasn't gonna end up as Mal...I think I like him cuz he's all the things I ain't...

Went to see Serenity tonight with Noumenon. All I can say is: WOOOOOOOOOO! Way to go, Joss! To be honest, I've never actually seen an ep of Firefly, because it originally aired when I was addicted to Buffy and Angel and didn't have time for another show to soak up my rare free time. What an idiot I was! How could I miss such a great Joss world?

I had a basic idea of the premise, but I was totally unprepared for the magnificent Jossness of it all! I mean, someone has finally taken the whole idea of "cowboys in space" literally!

And now I cannot wait for the first disk of Firefly to arrive at the library for me. Because I need more! (I always thought that Nathan Fillion was too boyishly cute to be a baddie anyway)(Oh, and any time Adam Baldwin gets to play with explosives and guns, it's all good)(Also, playing "Guess Who Guest-Starred as a Villain on One of Joss's Other Shows" is way fun!)(And when has David Krumholz playing a nerd not been delicious?)

My fave line: "This is the Captain. We have a slight problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some turbulence and then... explode. " (Capt. Malcolm Reynolds over his ship's intercom)

My second-fave line: "Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint. " (also Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)

Joss Whedon, you rock my world!

(PS So do you, Cowboy!)