Firefly had some good ideas, but its whole "space western" (or more accurately, "space American Civil War") motif was in my (admittedly unpopular) opinion slapdash and awkwardly executed. I cannot take a show seriously that expects us to believe, in the far flung future, in an entirely different solar system, anyone will actually utter the phrase "twixt my nethers" in common parlance.
I mean... that's just stupid.
Compare it to the anime Cowboy Bebop, which in my opinion did it correctly, blending the themes of the Western genre without forcing in the tropes and idioms in ways that threaten to break immersion.
> Firefly had some good ideas, but its whole "space western" (or more accurately, "space American Civil War")
“Space Western” is more accurate; except for a couple of flashbacks, the Civil War analog was past-and-background, just as is the case with the Civil War itself traditionally in the Western genre.
> Compare it to the anime Cowboy Bebop,
I'd rather not, since (despite the Western genre being an influence on both), they are so radically thematically different that there is really no point in comparison.
You’re also forgetting that it was supposed to all take place in one solar system, was it something like 80 planets?
I liked the idea of a Chinese culture, was this in parallel?
The western idea was a bit too TV friendly.
True the arcs weren’t that perceptible I realised them as Serenity rushed through them all; I did like the Han Solo angle of not independent of a huge state enterprise. Although a bit about what a “confederate” vibe implies
I mean... that's just stupid.
Compare it to the anime Cowboy Bebop, which in my opinion did it correctly, blending the themes of the Western genre without forcing in the tropes and idioms in ways that threaten to break immersion.