The last time I saw Firefly, it was it's original airing on Fox, and I had no idea how rabid this fanbase was. It was a fun show, with awesome music (A western in space, who could pass that up) and interesting characters. Well, this year has kind of turned into a year where I watch some of the Joss Whedon hit series. First it was Buffy, then Angel, then Dollhouse, and I said I would rewatch Firefly so here we are. This is actually the first time I've seen the first episode, considering when Fox started the series it was the Train episode. Looking forward to watching this series with a new mindset.
Honestly the real pilot is arguably the best episode. The people at Fox were insane to screw around with it so much. (The Train Job is a decent pilot, too, but it doesn't compare at all.)
I remember watching "The Train Job" when it first aired back in 2002. I was a big fan of both Buffy and Angel so I was understandably excited about Whedon taking on a sci-fi adventure series. I recall liking the episode, but not really being blown away by it until a particular scene that I'm sure will be discussed at the appropriate time. After that, though, I went off to college and since streaming TV wasn't a thing back then, I lost track of the show. Fast forward to a couple of years later, I think after they announced that Serenity was officially happening. I went out and bought the DVD set, sat down to start watching, selected the original pilot, hit play, and... I ended up watching the entire series in one go. I was hooked. When I finished one episode, I just had to watch the next one right away. That had never happened to me before with a show.
I just finished the first episode. I think of the 4 Joss series I've seen so far, Firefly had the best premiere. Maybe it was just the look of the series was great, but these characters really are so well defined in episode 1. I think I could do without Jayne though, considering I agree with Simon, what is Jayne's role on the ship. It's basically to act all badass and kind of get the crew into trouble. I'm sure I will like him as the series goes, but right now, he's kind of that badass character who I don't know yet. I also just found out the movie is available at my local library. I wasn't sure if I was going to see the movie again, but if it's available and I don't need to pay for it digitally, I'll probably get to see it after all. Also, as someone who loves watching Ships travel through space (The Expanse, Farscape), I forgot just how awesome Serenity was. Really adds to the western feel of the show.
Firefly left the most lasting mark on me personally (my love of the series having resulted in an opportunity to indulge my creativity and love of writing as part of the fan-continuation project virtual Firefly: Still Flying), but it's not my favorite of Whedon's works any longer (Dollhouse having supplanted it). It is the one Whedon series for which I've collected the most memorabilia, since I've purchased autographed glossies from Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, and Summer Glau and will hopefully be afforded an opportunity in the future to acquire the same from the remainder of the series' surviving cast.
Love Firefly. Great characters and the western atmosphere added something unique. The theme song is super catchy too! While I love pretty much everyone, Kaylee is my favourite. She’s such a sweetheart.
The thing about the fan base being rabid was that they became obnoxious - they used to pop up on unrelated forums bugging you to watch it - I wrote to Fox and asked that it was cancelled to make them stop.
After having just watched Dollhouse, that was a show that was a victim of network meddling. By the time it got interesting (late season 1 and season 2) the writing was already on the wall.
I remember watching Buffy/Angel and being told about Firefly by a cousin who lent me his DVD set, ended up watching it all over the course of one weekend. My fav episode was Ariel but honestly I don't think I disliked any of them so many good ones to choose from.
This isn't really accurate, because then-incumbent FOX Television chief Kevin Reilly gave Joss a lot of support and greenlit a second season when he absolutely didn't have to. Reilly did joke about how fans would have bombarded him with protests if he hadn't given the series a second season, but that's all that it was: a joke.
Never saw it on TV but heard about it years later so I bought the DVD and watched the series. I thought it was really great and loved the characters. Too bad FOX didn't get it.
Firefly is one show that really hit the ground running. No real stinkers in the first season, and a lot of standouts. Characters fully formed from the start, and all of them great. I already hated Fox for canceling almost every other good sci fi show they ever aired, so it was no surprise that they were stupid enough to axe one of the best they ever aired. Tomalak, did you watch the original 2-hour pilot before The Train Job? It really should be first. Fox was insane to pull it. When they finally aired it after the series had run (minus, IIRC, 3 episodes they never aired), they billed it as "See how it all began!"
The first five episodes were Joss's idea then? I was told it was the network who was like give us these 5 episodes and then we will let you tell the story you want to tell. A lot of the first half of the season felt meandering, and when they finally got into a story arc for the series, it was going to be cancelled anyway.
There may have been some network input on the show early on, but it wasn't an adversarial relationship the way that it had been with Firefly. Dollhouse Season 1's ratings were okay, but wouldn't have been strong enough to justify a second season had anyone other than Reilly been in charge of the network.
I first tried to watch Firely when it was originally airing, but I was really confused when I saw The Train Job, since it seemed I had jumped into the middle of the story. So I never ended up watching any more, and I didn't find out about Fox airing it out of order until was already over. Once the DVDs came out I bought it, my mom and I watched it, in order, and we both loved it. We even got my sister and brother in law into it. We went and saw Serenity in theaters, and I've read most of Dark Horse's comics. I also bought the first novel, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
During its original run, I loved it but could never figure out all the habitable planets and the relative quick travel between them. One solar system would never work; the habitable zone can only stock a few planets. Only after watching the Blu Ray set, did I figure out that humanity left Earth and probably colonized a multi-sun system group each with multiple planets and moons which were terraformed. Example: the Alpha Centauri group at a distance of 4.3 light-years, made up of the binary formed by the stars Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, plus the faint red dwarf Alpha Centauri C, also known as Proxima Centauri. A spaceship drive with 0.1 c speed could get around the "core system worlds" planets/moons in minutes/hour like around Star A, and to get to the "outer system worlds" (companion binary Star B) planets/moons in the day range. A long haul to Proxima (Star C) for example could take 2-3 months (cross a "reaver" void to find probably only one planet in the small habitable zone). The Firefly system could have even more than three stars, but astronomically, that is rare.
After watching Train Job, I can kinda understand why they used that as a pilot. It was a little more quicker paced with more action, and in the early part of the season it really was about doing jobs and avoiding the alliance. I don't agree with that, considering the first episode actually shows why Book, Simon, River, and Inara are on this ship in the first place, but I can kind of compare it to The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before. One of the things I'm watching for now is trying to understand this overall universe. So the Alliance is basically the central hub of this specific system? The planets seem pretty near each other though, which like @Henoch said, I am curious about. Also, I know this show aired in 2002, but I am kinda of getting a little bit of an Expanse vibe from it. Again, watching Train Job we see that society suffering leading Mal to realize the job just wasn't worth it. Serenity is like the Roci, basically an independent salvage ship, and take your pick what the Alliance is. I think if given more time Firefly could have been a well realized universe, much like what I like about The Expanse now.