Collected Thoughts

I laughed my ass off when Mr Big Bad Tattooed Cossack went into the afterburner -- that brilliant comedic timing, along with the happy femslash vibe and, of course, Gina Torres, is what earns the show enough slack that I'll keep watching.

Ironically, the original Trek was conceived as a Western in space (I believe Wagon Train in space was Roddenberry's phrase), but I know what you mean. The Trek universe is cleaner than Disneyworld 5 minutes before the gates open, even in places that should be dirty.

I didn't, however, think Firefly had much in common visually with Farscape, which comes across so deliciously vivid -- cinematic, some of the Save Farscape folks have called it, aptly I think. One thing about Westerns is that they always seem hopelessly, inescapably Hollywood, even when they're shot on location instead of on a studio set.