Top Ten Tuesday #19

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish in June 2010.

April 4, 2017: Fandom Freebie — top ten fandoms I’m in, 10 reasons X fandom is the best, must have merchandise for x fandom, etc. etc.

How to pick just ten when Firefly is one of the most perfectly conceived and well made shows ever? (And it’s even a Sci-fi Western, yes they somehow pulled that off.) So instead I’m going to countdown my favorite characters from the show, and because Firefly is a needs to been seen, I’m going to do this post all clippy. I’ll also try my best not to use any spoilers, but be warned just in case I let one slip.

Firefly Character Countdown

10. Simon – A handsome, well educated doctor from a wealthy family. A lot of girls would swoon, but not me. One of the main motivators from the larger plot arch of the series and the movie, he’s necessary but he’s not my favorite. However he does occasionally have a good line. And you gotta love his commitment to protecting his sister.

9. Inara – A Companion, guild-certified high class prostitute, who rents a shuttle from Serenity to have a mobile business. Again necessary to the plot and as a love foil for the Captain, but I just don’t like her that much. She is smart and independent and professional and in control of her sexuality- everything a good feminist roll model should be. Maybe that’s why I don’t like her that much, it too overt, too obvious. I know Joss Weadon is a feminist and he really does a good job of creating strong feminine characters, but in Inara he goes over the top.

8. Kaylee – The ships mechanic and sort of mascot, who is eternally optimistic and bright (both in her clothing and personality and intellegence.) I do like Kaylee, and the only reason she is further down on this list is that the other characters are just that much stronger. If the show had lasted longer we may have gotten to have more Kaylee episodes.

7. River – The troubled younger sister of Simon, who seems to have some interesting talents. Talents the government wants, and they will do anything to get River back into their custody. The show and the crew wouldn’t be the same without her. She gives them all (except Jayne) a little sister to put up with, to defend, to unite around. Plus the mystery surrounding her keeps the plot jumping.

6. Shepherd Book – A man of faith searching for his place in the ‘Verse, who stumbled across Serenity and who can’t seem to let go of the family he found there even if the Captain is hostile to his religion. Book has a mystery around his past, and is full of experience and wisdom for the crew. Without Book there would be no moral center at all, and I get the idea that this already drifting crew would really be lost.

5. Serenity (The Ship) – I couldn’t do a character list without mentioning the ship herself. One of the great things about the show is how even the ship has a character arc, a history, a personality. And she is beautiful, I just love this ship. Serenity may not be the Enterprise, but she feel like some place I could call home.

4. Wash – The spunky, hilarious, often childlike ship’s pilot. Nearly every line that Wash has in the show is funny, and in a way that feel totally natural. Sometimes a show will have a comic relief character who really feels forced, and who doesn’t really belong with the others. Wash is part of the Serenity family, he belongs, and his skill is necessary to get them out of a lot of sticky situations.

3. Zoe – The strong and talented warrior woman who is second in command of Serenity. She has some seriously great lines like “Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing,” and the famous tag line “Big Damn Heroes.” Zoe could be a really dark character, but she knows when to get down to business and when to take it easy. Still not someone who want to mess around with, she’s always half a second from violence.

2. Mal – The Captain, the whole show kinda belong to him. While some of the others play supporting or motivating role it all revolves around Malcolm Reynolds whose strength of character keeps the whole thing together. There are times that literally things should not have worked out, when it was all going to pieces in a hurry, but it was Mal who willed them to happen. A lot of it is summed up in the “First Rule of Flying” that he gives River Tam at the end of Serenity, which I will include below.

1. Jayne – He’s a true chaotic neutral, which makes him the kinda of gruff bad boy you always fall for in fiction. (And if that’s not your thing remember there’s plenty of other characters to swoon over.) Even the show knows how awesome Jayne is because they gave him his own hero song in the episode “Jaynestown.”