I finally watched Firefly! (SPOILERS)

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Savage Dragon, Jan 5, 2009.

  1. Neopeius

    Neopeius Admiral Admiral

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    Firefly is a great, great series and probably could have gone two or three season before a decline.

    On the other hand, I'm grateful to Serenity because now I don't miss Firefly anymore.
     
  2. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    What on Earth are you talking about? I've been a Browncoat since 2002, and that is not how it went down at all.

    Firefly was cancelled because of poor ratings. It had poor ratings because Fox didn't air the pilot first and then aired the episodes inconsistently, constantly pre-empting them, and thus preventing the show from building up an audience.

    When Firefly was cancelled, Whedon immediately announced that he was working on a deal to continue it in the form of a movie, but most everyone thought that was it and the show was dead. It wasn't until mid-2004, a year and a half later, that Whedon announced a movie was going to be made after he convinced Universal Pictures to buy the movie rights from 20th Century Fox Studios.

    Firefly was not cancelled under terms by which the movie got to be made. Not at all.
     
  3. DarkHelmet

    DarkHelmet Admiral Admiral

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    The comic books (two 3 issue mini-series) are underwhelming at best. :(
     
  4. IndyJones

    IndyJones Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I interpreted that to mean that after Firefly was cancelled and Whedon wanted it to continue in some form, he gave up any chance of it returning to TV when he made the movie deal.
     
  5. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    A movie deal which probably would have had zero chance of success had the Firefly DVDs not sold as well as they did.
     
  6. Savage Dragon

    Savage Dragon Not really all that savage Moderator

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    That would certainly explain a few things.

    I saw that episode but it's not the last one I watched. Basically I watched the episodes in the order they are listed on IMDB.

    My situation is a little unique. Suffice it to say I am moving back to Canada next summer and will pick the set up when I move back.

    Same here. I can't believe I didn't watch it when it first aired. Then again I hadn't really heard anything about it and I certainly don't remember seeing any promotions for it.

    Why do people even bother selling their shows to Fox anymore? It seems like all Fox does is cancel any good shows they get a hold of.
     
  7. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I've literally never heard of that. Universal Pictures didn't buy the Firefly series itself, it bought the rights to make a film based upon it. Legally, there's no more a block to a Firefly TV show being made than there was a block to another Star Trek TV show being made after Star Trek: The Motion Pictures. 20th Century Fox still owns Firefly -- it is Universal that owns Serenity.
     
  8. Deckerd

    Deckerd Fleet Arse Premium Member

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    I think Indyjones is correct though. Whedon had abandoned any TV revival when he wrote the film screenplay.
     
  9. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Well, yeah, he abandoned any attempts to revive it on TV because it was just never gonna happen. But that doesn't mean that there was some sort of legal barrier.
     
  10. DWF

    DWF Admiral Admiral

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    Fox didn't pre-emt the show the local channels did and there's no proof that airing the show out of order hurt it, if anything the premise hurt the show more than anything else.
     
  11. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

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    ^No, airing the series' worst episode that they threw together in a weekend first can't have hurt it at all.
     
  12. DWF

    DWF Admiral Admiral

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    I thought Safe was their worst ep. not The Train Job, the series just didn't have a wide appeal, Sci-Fi aired the show in order and it still didn't grab people.
     
  13. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

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    Well, that's where you and I disagree, then. If they had aired "Serenity" properly and shown just the tiniest amount of patience, I still contend that the show would have lasted a lot longer.
     
  14. ATimson

    ATimson Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    They used to do that. But that was also six years ago. The only show that I can think of that was killed prematurely in the last couple of years, Drive, underperformed on a scale rarely seen on network television; its death was not unwarranted, unfortunately.
     
  15. ATimson

    ATimson Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    My recollection is that there was a legal barrier in the form of Fox (the network) retaining the rights for an unseemly long period of time. But since I can't find anything in a quick Google search, I could be misremembering. :)
     
  16. Evil_Kirkneivel

    Evil_Kirkneivel Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    The Firefly DVD sold so well it was in the top 100 at Amazon for sales. That's pretty good for a TV show with a flawed premise. :)

    Whedon did a great job of creating an ensemble cast where every character had a fleshed-out personality. There were no cardboard characters or stereotypes. This is not easy to do, and it's great to watch the result.
     
  17. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    It grabbed me. I'm also reasonably sure the Sci-Fi airings were partly responsible for the strong DVD sales. Sales that were strong enough to convince Universal to fund a theatrical film. Read into that what you will.
     
  18. trekkerguy

    trekkerguy Commodore Commodore

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    It wasn't just out of order it was all over the place. Constantly changed
    when it would be on and such. The show never had a chance. Those that
    saw it loved it, but those who didn't see it probably wouldn't get the chance to.
     
  19. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I believe it actually held the #1 spot for a while.
     
  20. Ensign_Redshirt

    Ensign_Redshirt Commodore Commodore

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    I'm just grateful for the 14 episodes and the movie we have.