firefly

i posted that the science channel is re-airing firefly, but to me, firefly is not science fiction...it is simply a series set in the future with spaceships and therefore is classified as science fiction...true science fiction requires science to be the focal point of the story...for me, the epitome of science fiction is star trek, especially star trek: the next generation...if it were possible to have such a thing as an opposite to star trek, it would be firefly (there are many other reasons why they can be considered opposites, and it is explored very well in this mini-essay about firefly being the anti-trek...this post will be more about why firefly isn't true sci-fi)...

in star trek, most episodes revolve around finding some kind of space anomaly or new world that causes an issue or conflict for the crew that requires a scientific or technological solution...the almighty star trek engineer, usually data or geordi la forge, spits out line after line of techno-babble to create some space time warp bubble to go back in time to fix something - blah, blah, blah...the main thing to understand is that the story is about the science and you have outlying moral, political, and social issues that are weaved into it as a side story...in firefly, the opposite is true...the problems they face have nothing really to do with science...

most episodes focus on them trying to find work to earn enough money or trying to complete whatever job they found...a good example is the episode "out of gas"...what seems to be a trivial broken part causes a large explosion on the ship, causing it to lose power and no way to keep up life support...if it were a star trek episode, you would have a team of engineers rerouting to secondary systems and bypassing this and that until the ship got up and running again...in firefly, the part is broken, and kaylee says, "sometimes a thing gets broke, can't be fixed"...the solution is simple, you need another part...the dilemma is do you abandon the ship or do you stay with the ship and hope that someone finds you in time...there is no science...there is probably more sci-fi in your typical episode of 24, csi, or bones with all the unbelievable computer hacking, digital enhancing, and general sleuthing technology on the shows...firefly is just a drama series that happens to be set in the future on a spaceship