Watched Serenity (thie firefly pilot movie) and The Train Job last night and loved them. Very cool.

I love the way they capture the western/frontier feel muc more than the movie (I liked it in the movie, it's great to have more).

I think the thing I really like about Joss Whedon's stuff is that he has strong characters, with interesting relationships to each other. Even the fairly stereotyped characters (Like Jayne; big, bumb, selfish, corrupt mercenary) are well fleshed out in the script and by the actors.

I also like his ability to use humour and still for it to remain very dark and bleak. I didn't really get that from Buffy, it was more genuinely funny. Where as in Firefly the humour is a welcome relief from the bleak desperateness of their existence. And it's very natural, almost as if that's why the characters themselves are doing it.

Serenity felt a bit piecemeal, in that they seemed to be trying to cram in lots of plot stuff to draw out in later episodes. But it still worked. It was slow but never boring.

A big thanks to Jarratt and Evie for lending it to me. I only started today because I have been competing with Natalya and her mothers day present (Black Books), which i haven't been watching as I feel I'd rather get OOS playing Obliion and Age of Wonders II: Shadow Magic.