Firefly is an American series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, also creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The series is taking place in the year 2517 on several planets and moons, after the arrival of humans in a new star system. This is the story of a group called “Serenity”, a “Firefly-class” or “Firefly shaped” spaceship.
There are two main planets present during this series : one predominantly Western, and the other pan-Asian. The characters were relatively free from their central government. But some areas of the space were inhabited by cannibalistic groups of nomadic humans that have become savage and animalistic.
The show is a fusion of Occidental and Chinese cultures, because the author created a Sino-American alliance representing the alliance of two very powerful states that expanded up into space. This is also why some experts have noticed the use of Mandarin Chinese language and characters.
The title “Firefly” was chosen for this series because Whedon decided to create “Serenity”. This spacecraft had the shape inspired by the shape of a firefly insect. Its particularity was that the tail section was a bioluminescent insectoid abdomen that lighted up during acceleration.
Even though the production had very high expectations for this series, by mid-december 2002, the Fox Network canceled Firefly after only eleven of the fourteen produced episodes were aired. The series had an average of 4.7 million viewers per episode, and was 98th in Nielsen Ratings. But the sales of the series DVDs have been way more successful than the television series, and it counts a large fan club.
It also won many awards : one Emmy Award for outstanding Special Effects for a Series in 2003. It also won two Saturn Awards in 2003 and 2004 for the Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award, male and for the Best DVD Release. Finally, it won five SyFy Genre Awards in 2006, for the Best Series/Television, the Best Actor/Television Nathan Fillion, the Best Supporting Actor/Television Adam Baldwin, the Best Special Guest/Television Christina Hendricks for “Trash”, and the Best Episode/Television “Trash”.