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It seems odd to me that they'd release a "best of season X" DVD set. I mean, the people who like the show enough to buy the DVD are going to want to see all the episodes, right? I'm not sure what the thought was on that one.
In any case, Bekenn, I'll give in another chance. The CD set that I rented has the following episodes on it:
Premier DNA Mad Scientist A Human Reacion Nerve The Hidden Memory Family Ties
Which of these do you consider good examples of the general quality of the show?
Also, just so that I can get a bead on how your tastes in fiction run, who would you say are your five favorite SF authors?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I got mad when they cancelled Wonderfalls. What a great show. =(
I never cared about the cancellation of Firefly though, because I unfairly dismissed the show after seeing the intro to one episode and thought: A western in space? That's just dumb!!!
Then I changed the channel.
As it turns out, it was probably a wonderful show. To bad I never got the chance to see how good it was.
Incidentally, FOX would never sell the rights to it (I'm assuming 20th Century FOX is making the movie...) to another network--the possibility of it succeeding under someone els's hands and embarrassing the FOX network is something the puny executives who cancelled it are very concerced about. This is why few shows that become popular after their cancellation ever return.
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Noem, that's a pretty good selection of the first season. There are good episodes you'll miss, but the two best episodes of the season are Nerve and Hidden memory.
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Noemon: Agreed; ADV's whole attitude toward the DVDs is just ridiculous.
Those episodes taken together are a good sampling of the general quality of the show, though personally I'd replace DNA Mad Scientist with The Flax or They've Got a Secret.
It's a moot point, though, because you really should send that set back and get the complete season 1 set. Once you've done that, find a way to sit through the first two or three discs (don't worry -- there are only two eps per disc (stupid ADV... grumblegrumblegrumble)) and the rest of the season should be more to your liking, with some exceptions; Jeremiah Crichton, in particular, should be avoided at all costs. I also highly recommend skipping I, E.T..
Posts: 293 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Hey, Speed! I am so glad you enjoyed the Firefly DVDs. And trust me, you don't have to make it up to me or anything. I love the show so much that sharing it with others is enough payback. I mean, Vána and Lime had my set for MONTHS and it didn't bother me too much. *grins* Just got it back yesterday, and am looking forward to watching it all again. Oh, and I feel bad that I never let you know that I did get your package in the mail, and squeed terribly! Thanks! I love just about everything Final Fantasy related.
quote: One thing I didn't quite get--in the deleted scenes portion of the special features, the final "deleted scene" is from the final Episode, Objects in Space, scene #6. The blurb about it says "This scene was actually aired in the orignal broadcast, but has been deleted from the episode's DVD release. All of the episodes on this DVD appear as Joss Whedon originally conceived them so this reference to Inara deciding to leave no longer makes sense".
The thing is, this scene was in the episode, and did make sense in the context of the rest of the episode. So...what am I missing here? Did they intend to put a different version on the DVD and fail to do so? If so, what was Whedon's original conception of this episode? I take it that he didn't intend Inara to leave?
The scene that made it into the DVD version of the episode is the scene as it was originally intended. Because Fox showed the episodes out of order and didn't show the full run, during the broadcast we never learned that Inara was thinking of leaving. So for the broadcast version of the episode, some dialogue was changed slightly so that it wouldn't be confusing.
quote: By the way, I rented Farscape season 1 (well, the best of season 1, anyway) and watched the premier episode. Is that episode indicative of the quality of the rest of the show? I ask because I found it to be...well, pretty bad. Predictable, with really wooden dialog. I didn't find the aliens particularly convincing either. I'm debating whether to watch another episode before returning it to Blockbuster.
The major reason I didn't wibble TOO much at being without my Firefly DVDs so long was because I was rening Farscape from Netflix. Oddly enough, I really enjoy the pilot of Farscape, though I agree that it pales in comparison with the pilot for Firefly. Farscape definitely has a touch of the cheesy at times, but the storyline gets pretty intense, and the continuity from episode to episode is amazing. I love the arc-iness of it. I also love the silliness it can have. I think Firefly is more of a character show, whereas Farscape can be more of an idea show. Not that it doesn't have strong characterization -- it so does! -- but that the individual episodes tend to revolve around some idea or concept. Farscape, at times, has actually got me thinking and wanting to write essays about science or ethics or politics, whereas Firefly makes me want to write essays about storytelling and characterization.
And now I am going to go get my groceries for the week, and then curl up in front of the TV with some junky food and some Firefly.
[ August 15, 2004, 08:32 PM: Message edited by: ghost of xnera ]
Posts: 72 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I was just rewatching Shindig, from the second disk. Near the end of the program, Kaylee is sitting in her room, listening to music remeniscent of that playing at the ball the night before, eating little cracker thingies and gazing up at her dress, which she has hanging at the foot of her bed. Hanging above her bed is a tapistry or wall hanging or whatever with vaguely Chinese looking patterns on them, which is to be expected, given how common Chinese-derived culture is in this universe. What is funny is that the designs also look a *whole* lot like some of the aliens from Space Invaders.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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They hooked me at the end of the pilot (which fortunately was one of the first eps I saw), when the Alliance agent is holding a gun to River's head and Simon's waffling... and then *bam*, the dude is dead, courtesy of Mal.
Then, just to make sure I was REALLY hooked, they fed me piles of fantastic, natural dialogue in subsequently aired eps.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Yeah, I was impressed by that too Twink. It wasn't until The Train Job though, that I was completely convinced.
You know, I'm not really familiar with any of Joss Wheadon's work (his name is something like that, right?), but based on the strength of Firefly, I rented disk 1 of season 1 of Angel. I was surprised at how much less interesting it was to me. I may rent the second disk, just to give it a chance to develop, but the first disk didn't feel very inspired.
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Yeah, I know that, I just haven't actually watched either of those shows (well, until I rented the Angel DVD I hadn't, anyway), or any movies that I'm aware of his involvement in.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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He wrote Alien: Resurrection? What's everybody's opinion on that one? I've never seen it. Alien 3 was so bad that I decided I wasn't going to keep up with the series anymore, but now that I have a reason I'll have to rent #4.
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The first season of Angel is just okay, IMO. I actually stopped watching it for a while and picked it up again in second season. It gets better after that. Seasons 2-3 of Buffy are probably his best work next to Firefly. Though now I find myself suddenly wanting to see "Hush" (season four of Buffy) again.
Posts: 72 | Registered: Aug 2002
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That's too bad. That looked like the direction that the series was going though. Thanks for the information though--you saved me the bother of watching it myself.
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Well, from all that I've read the general consensus seem to be that Alien: Resurrection isn't as good as its predecessors (the third movie possibly excepted). I however liked it. Though that may have something to do with the fact that the film featured one of my long time favourite actresses Winona -- bless her thieving heart -- Ryder.
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I can't tolerate Buffy or Angel, or much of anything else he's worked on aside from Firefly. So while I'm hopeful with respect to the movie, I'm not going to go in expecting to be blown away.
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I'm not sure about Alien Resurrection, but for some other movies that Joss has written scripts for (X-Men, for instance) they didn't follow his scripts or intent. Only 2 lines of his from X-Men survived and they ruined one of them with bad delivery.
I'm a big fan of Buffy and Angel (AND Firefly). You need to watch them in order, though. Buffy first, and start watching Angel when you get to Season 4 of Buffy. Watch them in tandem, since that's how they aired.
The first season of Buffy isn't very great... it has awesome moments but it's by far my least favorite season. HOWEVER, it does get better and it's still fun to watch.
You've gotta get used to the first season of shows sucking sometimes, or at least the first few episodes. My husband and I are watching Babylon5 now, and I had a difficult time getting through the first few episodes. The acting is so overdramatic, it's hard for me to ignore. Now that we're about midway through the season, though, I'm starting to really like the show. The acting is getting better and I'm more forgiving of the WAY Over DRAMATIC parts.
I had heard the show was good, though, so decided to hang in there. My husband was a lot more forgiving of the show and liked it from the start.
Anyway.... Joss Whedon is pretty much a genius. If you liked Firefly (how could you NOT???) try Buffy and Angel. I happen to think the pop culture references were pretty funny. The shows are pretty deep as well. I'm a member at a Buffy board where people STILL discuss the show in serious and also in silly ways.
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Yeah, first seasons *are* often pretty bad, and pilots even worse. Exhibit A: Encounter at Farpoint. My god that was a bad episode. What was exceptional about Firefly was that even the pilot was fantastic.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I have to assume that they put shows in spots like that because they want them to fail for one reason or another. Maybe the person who approved the series in question pissed off the guy who determines the schedule or something like that. They did the same thing with DS9, airing new episodes at times that seemed almost purposely designed to be when the intended demographic wasn't watching TV.
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![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
And trust me, you don't have to make it up to me or anything. I love the show so much that sharing it with others is enough payback. I mean, Vána and Lime had my set for MONTHS and it didn't bother me too much. *grins* Just got it back yesterday, and am looking forward to watching it all again. Oh, and I feel bad that I never let you know that I did get your package in the mail, and squeed terribly! Thanks! I love just about everything Final Fantasy related. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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