Is Firefly better off cancelled?

[Joe Washington]

I know this question will receive some backlash from certain fans. And make no mistake, I am a fan of the show. But think for a moment. If Firefly had continued, it would have run the risk of a possible decline in quality over time. The show would also likely veer off into some Star Wars-like territory with there being a conflict between the Alliance and a new resistance movement after the events of the Serenity movie. To me, the show was better off exploring life after a revolution gone wrong, focused on a group of people finding home in the midst of an imperfect future. It being cancelled kept the show sticking to what made it work.

Thoughts?

 

[UssGlenn]

We will never know for sure what might have been, but Firefly definitely has the "died while young and beautiful" thing going for it like James Dean and Marylin Monroe.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Any show, no matter how good, will decline if it goes on too long. Most likely it will start to repeat itself, or at least run out of good storylines that fit with the concept.

I think if Firefly had gone 2 or 3 seasons, it would have kept up the quality, but might not have the cult following 1 season shows tend to have.

Orphan Black will finish with five 10-episode seasons, but holy crap what an amazing 50 episodes.

 

[Jedman67]

If Firefly had run for 7 seasons like TNG or 10 like SG1; chances are better than even it would have had it's fair share of duds and misses.
It was a nice show that could have been more if it'd been given another season or two, but alas it was not to be.

 

[JeffinOakland]

It had some problems. Some wrinkles that time would have ironed out. I think it could have been a great show.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Perhaps the Blue Hands would have been revealed to be cyborgs/aliens/AIs manipulating the Alliance toward some nefarious end. Maybe Dead Bessie really was an alien corpse and not a mutant cow. Would Earth-that-was have some role to play or was it really dead and gone? I'll never know -- I haven't read the comics or novels so I don't know what was likely planned.

 

[Timby]

Given how awful Serenity was, I'm perfectly content with the thirteen episodes of the series that we got. I feel the concept and style would have run into a very, very harsh wall of diminishing returns very quickly.

 

[JD]

I think the comics have shown that there were still plenty of stories that could be told. It is inevitable that the show probably would have gone downhill eventually but I think the concept was open enough and the characters interesting enough that Firefly could have gone strong for several seasons.

 

[FPAlpha]

I am pretty confident that Firefly would have been a great show full of funny, sad, epic and personal moments the same way the first season did. I agree with others that it would have had its share of duds or less than good episodes but every show has these.. heck, Breaking Bad had them.

However some of what was planned for the show was just chilling and you wonder what could have been. Serenity closed up the screen universe pretty good by distilling a few seasons of development in a single movie but there are others that they didn't get to make when the show was cancelled.

Do you all remember that single scene in the pilot episode when the crew is threatened by the Reavers and Inara pulls out a case with a syringe in it? Well.. as with most things Whedon he didn't do it just to do it or fill the episode. In a story that was planned this syringe contained a drug that a Companion could take if she expected to be raped and it would kill the rapist after the act. One episode would have the Reavers kidnap Inara and when the crew got her back they would encounter the Reavers ship with all Reavers dead and only Inara alive on board.. think about that for a moment

I adore Buffy and Angel but they were mostly pop culture shows.. there was drama but it was comparably light drama. Firefly was much darker than any Whedon show and it had a quite unique vibe so i will be eternally sad it didn't get its fair run because it might have made some Top 10 Best TV show lists or at least Top 10 Sci Fi show lists.

 

[tharpdevenport]

It's been many years since I read about it, but I recall that the movie shoe-horned in three seasons of ideas and cut it down a lot. So, the show could have gone on at least three seasons. But even if it decliend in quality some, so what? It started on a high. I'd rather have some episodes that are good, but not as good as the original episodes, then none at all.

 

[kirk55555]

I think it should have gone on for a lot longer. I don't think any show is guaranteed to go down hill after a certain period of time (Stargate SG-1's Seasons 9 and 10 were as strong as any of its earlier seasons). Firefly deserved a lot more then it got, and Serenity (which I love) showed it had more stories to tell.

 

[urbandefault]

In first run I had a hard time getting into it, probably because of the way it was programmed. I found it again a few years later and loved it.

There was a lot of groundwork laid for the characters' backstories that could have been explored if they'd had more time.

Serenity was good for a wrap-up, but not as satisfying as it could have been. There's only so much story you can tell in two hours.

 

[Mudd]

No, a lot of Star Trek shows would have been better off cancelled sooner. Most successful sitcoms would be better off being cancelled sooner. Whedon manages to keep things entertaining and surprising far longer than most writer-producers (I like BTVS from episode one until the end) and I'd rather have had a couple of seasons of Firefly to enjoy than yet another Trek series.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Given how awful Serenity was, I'm perfectly content with the thirteen episodes of the series that we got. I feel the concept and style would have run into a very, very harsh wall of diminishing returns very quickly.

Is Serenity an amalgam of what would have been another season like The Peacekeeper Wars?

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, Firefly's probably better off cancelled, leave the audience wanting more, that sort of thing. Had the show lasted into a fifth season we'd probably start bitching about it jumping the shark or whatever.

Would Earth-that-was have some role to play or was it really dead and gone?

Considering humanity left Earth for the new solar system in what I'm assuming were generational ships, it likely takes quite a long time to get between solar systems.

As it turns out I was recently wondering if Firefly had gone on would they every have done an Earth story, and I came to that conclusion explaining why they wouldn't.

 

[Gaith]

As a non-fan of Firefly (tried four episodes and the movie, didn't like the characters or care to continue), I'm biased to guess that more episodes would have led to more of its fans seeing what a slapdash, under-thought series it was, all style and no substance, rather than increase their numbers.

I think just enough of it exists to give fans something concrete to latch on to (plus an unnecessary movie), but that there were fundamental story problems and tonal specifics that would have kept most newcomers away. And hey, I get it - I'm a big Carnivàle fan. I love that show, but it's definitely not for everyone.

 

[Awesome Possum]

There were plenty of more stories that could have been told. I liked Dollhouse until the end, so I'd would have stuck with it till the end.

 

[Forbin]

While I'm a big Whedon fan, I think Buffy started fading in S6, and S7 was mostly awful. Angel was great for 2 seasons, then totally awful. So I'm guessing Firefly would have been wonderful for a couple of years, maybe as much as 5 years, but no longer. Still, I'd have loved to see it happen.

 

[Tim Walker]

Given how awful Serenity was, I'm perfectly content with the thirteen episodes of the series that we got. I feel the concept and style would have run into a very, very harsh wall of diminishing returns very quickly.

Like Star Wars, Firefly revolved around a single, dominant, epic conflict.

I think of the latest Star Wars movie as Star Wars-Recycled. I suspect that Firefly would have eventually led to Firefly-Recycled.

 

[Noname Given]

I think it should have gone on for a lot longer. I don't think any show is guaranteed to go down hill after a certain period of time (Stargate SG-1's Seasons 9 and 10 were as strong as any of its earlier seasons). Firefly deserved a lot more then it got, and Serenity (which I love) showed it had more stories to tell.

To each his own because as far as Stargate SG-1 is concerned it went downhill fast after it had it's 5th season on Showtime, and then did another 5 via the Sci-Fi/Syfy channel. When they had do drop the General Hammond character - and bring in Ben Browder and Claudia Black - Ugh. (YMMV of course)