As a long-time Buffy fan, I was really intrigued by the prospect of Whedon's new series, Firefly. I tuned in to the 'pilot'. This was 'The Train Job' episode. Major disappointment. What was this? A lame sci-fi Western? Spare me! The fate of one of the bad guys was amusing. Otherwise, not impressive.

When the buzz started to build for the movie 'Serenity', I Netflixed the now-canceled series. Watching it in order was much better. I didn't know that I was hooked until a scene in 'Safe', where River comes out of her shell and finds joy in joining a folk dance. It was really touching. Not much on TV does this for me. I cared about the characters and wanted to see what happens to them.

So much of series works well. The ship seems like a real place. The DVD extras point out that even for the cast this was true. The major story arc weaves through the episodic action with elegance. The crew bumps into each other and comes together with a realism that was lacking in the repressed, PC, Star Trek spin-offs.

In my mis-spent youth I put a lot of time into a sci-fi RPG called 'Traveller'. Firefly is a Traveller universe. Only better written than any of my campaigns. I'm looking forward to the movie.

What's the deal with the anti-bot software? It never takes my comment on the first try. I'm very careful about entering the code, but it makes me come back a second time.

Joe,

The Courtneys got hooked on SG-1 two summers ago while visiting some friends on vacation. We got to watch a lot of Season 1 with them.

We picked up the rest of the Seasons and have really enjoyed them as well.

best,
Dale