Kip has a nice piece on Joss Whedon’s short-lived SF-Western Firefly.
I didn’t rave over that show as much as Kip does, but I was also disappointed that Fox cancelled it just as things were starting to get interesting with those nasty men with the blue latex gloves. They were “The Gentlemen” from “Hush” re-imagined as SF heavies.
He has wonderful quote from Whedon, where he explains Captain Malcom’s character:
Mal’s politics are very reactionary and “Big government is bad” and “Don’t interfere with my life.” And sometimes he’s wrong–because sometimes the Alliance is America, this beautiful shining light of democracy. But sometimes the Alliance is America in Vietnam: we have a lot of petty politics, we are way out of our league and we have no right to control these people. And yet! Sometimes the Alliance is America in Nazi Germany. And Mal canÃt see that, because he was a Vietnamese.
And boy, does that go a long ways towards understanding what I’d see as the objectionable politics of people I otherwise respect.