I finally got to see the first half of the Firefly box set while I was on vacation in Florida. I didn't expect to like it, but I'm totally stuck on it. I will now ramble as to why it is the best sci-fi series I've seen in a while
1) It's not really a sci-fi series. It takes place on a sci-fi backdrop, but it really has very little to do with science fiction. It's all about the characters and relationships.
2) The special effects kick ass. It looks like a camera is filming the ship when it lands and takes off. The use of zero sound in space and the filling of that void with music is incredible.
3) They speak Chinese and say "shiney" instead of "cool".
4) They dress like comboys.
5) The pilot rocked. The way the set up the interactions between the characters was great. Watching the second episode, which was actually aired as the pilot, it became very clear where they had to hastily revisit issues addressed in the pilot to accomodate FOX's stupidity in reordering the air-dates.
6) The ongoing story flows nicely without standing out as a forced continuing storyline. You just get the feeling that events are carrying over from one day to the next. They mention events from several episodes ago and things just tie together very nicely. The captain does seem to become a solidly decent guy very quickly though. I think that probably has alot to do with FOX's objection to the heros being criminals.
So in short, Firefly rocks and I will be buying the box set and standing in line to see the upcoming movie. And I still haven't even seen all the episodes.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
It is a great show, & I'm glad you're a convert.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Yeah, Mal's a decent guy, but doesn't mind getting his hands dirty at all. My first indication of "this isn't Star Trek" was when he was trying to negotiate with someone's henchman, who of course refused. So Mal simply kicked him into the engine intake, and moved onto the next guy. That was totally unexpected for me, and right there they had me hooked.
B.J.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Yah, that was the one where they robbed the train then decided not to deliver the booty when they found out it was medicine.
In many ways, Firefly is exactly what Star Trek tries to be but isn't. The fact that the crew is small makes it possible to have truly ensemble storylines without the unrealistic notion of the same 7 people out of 1000 doing things every week. The way relationships are built up and dealt with on the show seem in many ways far superior to how they work on Trek. Much more of a family dynamic.
I think there are alot of subtle little relationship and plot points they were working up to (and maybe even got around to dealing with and I just haven't seen them yet) when the show got yanked. FOX is stupid. I hope the movie will deal with alot of these loose ends.
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
Welcome to the Organization of People Really Pissed Off That They Cancelled Firefly. Here's your comlimentary lynching kit, including such necessities as a torch, a pitchfork and a tinfoil hat to protect you from the stupidity rays emitted by the TV execs when we finally visit justice upon their wicked souless bodies.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Firefly is, of course, awesome. However: of course it's science fiction. Critics desparate to prove that something they like can't be science fiction because, well, they like it, and they are big time cultural elites who of course would not descend into anything as filthy as a genre make me want to burn down a library.
Uh, anyway, genre definitions are hot-button issues for me.
Serenity will be released in 165 days.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
So, what, about three weeks before Episode III? That's a really bright idea.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
I'm sure Whedon et. al. are not so deluded to think that "Serenity" will be a super-huge-blockbuster, or for that matter to make it into the top-anything list of box office sales for next year. If anything, it's a calculated gamble to be JUST good enough to a) make enough money for the suits to warrant either another movie or return to a TV series; and/or b) give some sense of closure to the fans if it's not.
Mark
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
There's another Star Wars movie?
(BAM)
So it looks like Revenge of the Sith is set for May 19, while Serenity is April 22.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
My point about the genre of the show wasn't that I care whether or not it's a sci-fi show, only that I think it's neat that it doesn't seem to need to rely on the fact that it's a sci-fi based show for it's insane coolness.
Maybe the release of the film is intended to pick up the Star Wars audience hungry and panting for a dose of space ships flying about, who can't wait another month for episode 3. Bah to those, I say. I want a movie which can only be fully appreciated after having seen the entire run of the series. Guess I'll need to get that box set post haste.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
(I hit Google just to doublecheck that Universal is the studio in question, and return number four for "Serenity" is a webpage selling Serenity-brand incontinence products, and I thought, oh man, this is a chestnut to file away for a rainy conversational day.)
((And, oh yeah, check out the creepy fawning.))
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Five months seems a bit overkill...
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
It'll give me more time to grab the box set and do a marathon session.
Posted by DoughBoy05 (Member # 1417) on :
Hmm I too had a run in with wwww.serenity.com ....what the heck! that aint Malcolm and it certainly isnt shiney
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
More like... oily. Ick.
A friend is lending me the Alias disks and I'm nearly caught up now. But just to break things up, I decided to pop in a Firefly ep. "War Stories". Holy Crap, FF was a tight show. Makes Alias look like a bunch of monkeys. And I like Alias...
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Just bought the FireFly box set last week and finished watching the last episode last night. I'm hugely impressed and severely pissed off. I've never seen a show that has 9 characters that have distinct, are three dimensional and actually likable. There isn't a thing about this show that I don't like! At this point I'd say that "Ariel" is my favourite episode, but I've always been a sucker for heist movies. ;o) Followed closely by "Out Of Gas" if only for the flashback of how Jane joined the crew. My favourite moment though has to be at the end of "Train Job" where Mr. Evil henchman gets kicked through the engine, classic! Then there's the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" moment in "Serenity Part-2", another great cliche dodging moment! Some other random plus points:- Bad guys can shoot straight and the heros get hurt, often and quite severly. I think by the end of it everyone on the crew had had some kind of serious injury or another. The continuity from one episode to the next flows wonderfully from one episode to the next without becoming a soap-opera. I could go on about this show all day!
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
