posted
So twinky lent his Firefly DVD to me, and I got it in the mail today. It sat on my desk for about ten irrisitible minutes befofe I just couldn't help watching the first episode.
And I love it. It's brilliant! The characters were interesting, the plot detailed enough to prevent total prediction. There was nothing really wrong with it, nothing that grated, nothing. That is so rare these days. I think its fabulous. Now I just have to restrain from watching it all this weekend instead of writing the essay that was due today.
This is a thread to appreciate Firefly, for being so great and twinky for being so generous (and great too!)
(and yes, twinky, you may have your DVD back on the 21st. I can guarantee I'll be done before then!)
Seriously, Teshi, I knew that you'd love it--how could you not really.
I hooked a co-worker of mine on it the other day. Just popped it into my computer and watched the first half of Serenity with him over our lunch hour. He never had a chance.
Anybody know when they're going to start promoting the movie? I'd expected a preview to be released by now at the very least.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I think I'm going to be the last Hatracker to finally watch Firefly. I'm not saying I'll never watch it. It's just one of those things that everyone is so excited about, I have to be a drip. Like back in the 80's when everyone was watching Mork and Mindy and we didn't have a working TV. I had to pretend I liked it that way.
Okay, I'm not getting what the second great thing is here.
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But I edited my post at 6 some and you first posted at 7 some. Or was this one of those deals where you pull up a topic and go to eat dinner, and then you come back and reply but life has moved on? I hate that. Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Firefly is the best TV series ever. And I don't even like or watch TV. Welcome to the cult, Teshi. Endless internal quoting will take over your brain shortly.
Dangit. Now the theme song's in my head again. It takes days to go away...
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I'm in the running for the last spot as well. I might see it at some point, but I'm in no rush. Besides, I can't afford another TV-based addiction right now.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Haven't watched that one yet. I'm rationing them (I know I know)! Also, I have to complete an essay by Sunday and if I procrastinate any longer I'm going to end up loosing six marks instead of four and Politics is presently my highest real-course mark and I don't want to lose it.
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Wow, I'm impressed! I don't know that I'd have the self control for that.
If it's any consolation, I consider Bushwacked to be one of the two weakest episodes of the season. Still quite good, and still well worth watching (and there is one sequence in particular that I love), but not as good as most of the other episodes.
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I'm actually pretty curious to read your thoughts on each episode as you go along, if you'd be interested in posting them.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I work that way too. It's very annoying. And people say "Just tell yourself not to procrastinate then!" But it doesn't go like that.
And you know, I'm starting to wonder if you're actually me in disguise, Teshi. This whole procrastination thing, the new addiction to Firefly, you play the piccolo and know who Johan de Meij is... *casts suspicious looks*
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I actually play the flute (among other things). I just ended up being piccolo because no one else wanted to do it. I was never really any good.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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As requested by Noemon. I promise the others won't be this long, this is just my reaction to the show as a whole having seen the first episode:
1. "Serenity"
The Firefly sales pitch to the executives: “I’ve got this great idea for a TV show: think Wild West, only in space.”
This is clearly what the original Firefly brilliant idea was; the music ( ) and costumes (Simon’s waistcoat, most obviously, and Mal’s low slung gun belt) give it away. In the first episode at least, even the dusty planets give it that “out west” feel. Even the names give off the smell of sand: Jayne, River, Mal, Wash etc. The Wild West influence was the first thing I saw.
The other thing ‘Firefly’ reminds me of is ‘Blake’s Seven’, which, for those who do not know, is an old British SF show with a similar idea: criminals in a space ship constantly on the run from a dominant autocratic government, led by an ex-freedom fighter. I happen to really like ‘Blake’s Seven’, and ‘Firefly’, although clearly owing a lot to Roj Blake and his motley crew’s fruitless battle against the Federation, is the next step-up, and I don’t just mean in technology.
I think what makes Firefly special besides the Wild West thing (or perhaps as a result of) is the fact that it’s not clean and spiffy. SF television has endured years of top-notch ships, gleaming consoles and flashing lights. Firefly, with its nitty-gritty worry of running out of fuel, falling apart and re-rigged technology, low tech/high tech societies with plenty of ethnic influences and blood-and-guts gore (as opposed to the almost completely bloodless horror of Star Trek, for example) is totally refreshing.
Firefly has what Enterprise should have had. People have seen enough of good governments and clean pressed uniforms, regulations and wars with advanced and polished aliens who live in shiny metal just-off-the-shelf spaceships. Firefly, of course, turns everything on its head. The evil Alliance are the ones in the shiny ships. Our heroes are the underdogs in the falling-apart ship, on the run, constantly out-numbered. Heck, they don’t even have laser weapons, just good ol’ bullets.
I think that because the creators and designers didn’t have to worry about making up alien cultures, they could go all out on the human society. As a result, we actually get humans with culture; the Chinese (?) influence is a nice touch to the Wild West that brings it “up to date” as it were.
The characters although being a tiny bit stereotypical, manage to avoid it. It’s nice to have the most actiony female not married to the most actiony male. The characters make me want to have useful talents. However, there did manage to be enough non-techies or medics to make me feel at least a little better about myself (I’m what Stargate calls a “socio-political nerd”).
The only thing that didn’t feel totally real was River’s genius. Sure, she’s a little messed up and can recognise the ship she’s on from the hospital room, but translating ‘Mal’ to ‘bad’ shows only a good education to me, and not genius as it was probably intended. I don’t know- that’s all I got from this episode.
Plot-wise, although I could predict a little of what was going to happen (the passengers on the ship were all on the cover but one ) there were enough things going on that were unexpected to, not keep me guessing, but keep more utterly involved. I had to close my door because I kept giggling and exclaiming and people would think I was a little odd, if they don’t already.
This show could have gone a long, long way. It’s a total shame that it didn’t. I only wonder (and this is only baseless speculation) if the television network people were wary of making too much of a big deal out of it because of its subversion of the government themes? Don’t eat me, I’m only speculating!
posted
That was fun to read--can't wait for the others.
I've heard of Blake's 7, but I've never actually seen it. I'll have to see if Netflix has it available on DVD.
I feel like the show was very much an intentional reaction and rebuttal to the Star Trek franchise, and other similarly "shiny futured" shows. In Star Trek there are sex object characters, but they never actually have sex. The first glimpse we see of Inara is her plying her trade. I can't recall ever seeing anyone go to the bathroom on a Trek series, or even heading in the general direction of a toilet. In Serenity, an early shot shows Mal finishing up and folding the urnial back into the wall in his quarters. In Trek (and, to be fair, in most heroic TV shows), the plot is arranged so that the hero gets to keep his hands clean--the villain dies without any action on the hero's part, or even in spite of the hero's attempts to save them. In Firefly Mal is perfectly willing to kill when necessary, and isn't going to agonize over it after the deed is done. There is no sound in space in Firefly. I'm sure there are other examples of the sort of thing I'm thinking about, but this post is getting too long as it is.
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Yeah, after I clicked "Add Reply" I was surprised at how short my post actually was. I think that the fact that work kept interrupting me, keeping me from just typing it in a single go made it seem longer than it was.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I only saw about 5 minutes of the new Battleship Galactica, but I saw some space scenes that seemed heavily influenced by Firefly. There was no sound, and it was made to look like it was filmed with a hand-held camera, complete with zoom.
Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
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Porter, there are definitely some stylistic similarities between the two shows, probably due in great part to a lot of the same people working on both shows. Others will undoubtedly be able to tell you more about it--it's something I'm only peripherally aware of.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Wouldn't surprise me - it was a good series, but an old BBC production which means it probably wouldn't be listed on a "current titles" sort of service.
This episode begins with what is a familiar SF scene; the smoky bar. Only this time, the heroes are playing Chinese Checkers, drinking out of what looks like filthy glasses and looking perfectly at home. They then proceed to start a Wild West-style bar fight (“an honest brawl between folk”).
This kind of sums up the only thing that bothers me, or rather my more gentle side; to Mal, it’s not even about honour or self-defence, it’s about picking a fight. I know, I know, it’s his character, but he needs a good smack upside the head.
Other than that, I really liked this episode. It did a great job of setting up the evil criminal nemesis and his short-lived Kronk-style sidekick in a totally modern take on a traditional theme. The moral problem was a great addition, as was the solution.
Also: Why do evil people invariably have accents? I have an accent! We’re not all bad, you know. Do we sound more evil or something?
The Alliance’s Soviet theme is kind of cool. Very bureaucratically evil
My favourite line from this episode: “Sir. I think you have a problem with your brain being missing” and “whatever happens remember I love you” (but it’s better in context) and “did he just go crazy and fall asleep?”
The characters were more developed in this, especially Jayne, Inara and Book (the Shepherd?). River’s plot was advanced slightly, although not in a direction I really loved-it’s a little cliché, the poetry-affliction, but I’m keeping an open mind on her. I hope for great things. So far, my favourite character is Simon. He reminds me of me in this situation: “Oh! Crime! Huh.”
One extra question: How do the people on the train not notice that a massive ship is flying above them?
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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No, but the train certainly seemed plenty noisy. If I was flying in a plane, for instance, and there was another plane flying above mine, I bet I wouldn't notice.
I acutally never thought of either of those things when I was watching the episode.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Betcha didn't watch it twice in a row like I did, though. First time for fun, second time for analysis .
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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No, you're right, I didn't. I've seen it maybe five times total (once on TV and then a bunch of times when I was introducing people to the DVDs), and I only ever watch it for fun. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Don't censor yourself on my account, silly. If I don't want to read what you write in this thread because it might affect my enjoyment of the episodes, it's not like I'm under any obligation to read it.
I just meant that if we ever discuss the series in person, I probably won't be interested in helping you pick nits. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Don't worry. I'm a writer, not a speaker. Verbal discussion is limited to: "I love that bit!" and quotes, if you're lucky.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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3. "The really scary and gory one!" aka "Bushwacked".
This one was terrifying! I had to look away a lot!
Noemon, you said you didn't like this one so much... I don't know. It was certainly more grusome that I like, and less character-based, but nevertheless gripping. If this is the worst it can get, then it's doing pretty well!
My only dispute might be that at one point there were three or four different "tense moments" going on silmultaeously. That was a bit over the top.
I have to say the highlight for me was the interviews with the crew. They were pure gold, especially Zoe and Wash . My favourite quote from this episode would be that scene as a whole.
My comment above about River was during the episode. I guessed from the beginning that the tests were some kind of supernatural-power inducement, now I'm 95% sure... of course it could be total coincidence... I love it though, that's what I was hoping for, but I didn't want to comment because I might have been wrong (like I was about the train and the windows ).
Anyway. Very scary. Will not be watching this one twice!
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) there were enough things going on that were unexpected to, not keep me guessing, but keep more utterly involved. I had to close my door because I kept giggling and exclaiming and people would think I was a little odd, if they don’t already.![[Angst]](graemlins/angst.gif)
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