Firefly was incredible and you're right, it was a combination of excellent dialogue writing and the perfect cast. Every one of them had the right sense of humor and timing and all managed to be believable from the stat. Even Star Trek TNG took a couple of years to hit their stride and get comfortable with their characters, but in Firefly they just plain nailed it.
I thought Serenity was ok but then I was hoping for more "Firefly" which just isn't feasible for a feature film that needs to be open to new fans. They had to rush the character development, which tv shows get the luxury of easing into more than movies. That's why a good sci fi tv show is worth it's weight in gold--movies just can't fit both plot and character development into 2 hours very well.

Ain't that the utter truth! Shows like Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5 and X-Files would not have been nearly as good had they only been a feature film or a mini-series.

all the bigger pity then that mmost scifi tv shows blow

You can pretty much apply that to all other tv show genres. You only get a few gems from time to time from all the different genres.

Ya the characters are interesting, Jayne makes me laugh.

What I found really amazing were the external shots of firefly as it sped around planets and was actually my motivation for this screenie lol

That's a very nice looking screenshot Bish. Yeah, the special effects in Firefly were first rate. The same SFX team that worked on Firefly also worked on Battlestar Galactica.

Indeed, the much-lauded "shakey-cam in space" which made BSG famous for it's gritty, realistic look on externals was pioneered in FireFly. Previously most sci-fi visuals had been too crisp and clean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0Cuvtbe7fI&feature=player_embedded

ZOIC are the folks to thank for great visuals in firefly/serenity and bsg

Ok, so who would you say was your favorite Firefly character? For me it would be Simon Tam. I really liked his intellectualism and his sense of maintaining decorum even out in the far reaches of space and the outer worlds. And of course his undying love and sacrifices he made for River were admirable.

Mal. Fillon did a great job. I loved the dual.
"Mercy is the mark of a great man."
Pokes the guy with sword...
"Guess I'm just a good man."
Poke him again...
"Well, I'm alright."


LOL
I love that bit.
The entire cast had great comedic timing though. Jane was cool too.