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Hulu has Firefly, and now you can watch it

hulu_firefly1.jpg

As reported previously, all 14 episodes of Firefly are available for free viewing (with forced commercial interruptions) at NBC's new site Hulu.com, which opens to the public tomorrow. And now that the writers' strike is over and writers will get at least something for these, you may watch to your hearts' content.

And not only can you watch them, with surprisingly fast streaming speeds (although that may change as more people start watching), you can e-mail them to friends or even embed excerpts or entire episodes in your own website or blog. Not too shabby, and a great way to spread some Firefly love to them what needs it told. The controls are easy to use, there are options for fullscreen and "lower lights" (which dims the rest of the page to improve your contrast) and more. And room to add reviews, which I expect all of you to do.

Picture quality? Not bad. Not as good as the downloadable episodes from iTunes or Amazon, I don't think, but your mileage (and graphics card) may vary. Fullscreen version is a little pixelated, but still very watchable. I'll be curious to see how well it performs on, say, a Friday night.

A side note: I haven't watched any episodes in a while, but Teresa is working on a Niska Barbie so we needed to review and research. We watched "War Stories," and I freely admit I fell in love all over again. Every single line, every gesture revealed something about the characters and moved the story forward, packing huge amounts of subtext into every scene. OK, the ExpositionFest of Book, Zoe and Jayne deducing where the boys were taken was a bit much, but there's so much to love in this show… I'm preaching to the choir. Go watch 'em all over again.

3 Responses to “Hulu has Firefly, and now you can watch it”

  • RobinInSeoul says:

    Still in private beta until the 12th. Also, only available in the US, unfortunately.

  • QMx Andy says:

    I've been a beta tester for Hulu for a while now. I applaud the concept – free on-demand TV with *very* limited commercial interruptions. Also, being flash-based, it works on just about every computer, unlike Netflix's WMV-based player.

    It's a great way to catch up on those Family Guy and American Dad episodes I missed; but the quality still falls short of even standard DVD. So, for now anyway, I'd recommend hanging on to your boxed set! ;-)

  • TVChick says:

    Rarg! I'm a beta user, but I can't get signed in!!

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