I wonder how many familiar faces from past Whedon shows will pop up in The Nevers? I just looked up the main and recurring cast that has been announced so far, and I don't see any, but that doesn't rule out some of the showing up later.
Currently watching Jaynetown. I'm hoping this episode makes me like Jayne because right now he kinda reminds me of early TNG Worf. Also, I forgot how much Chinese they integrate into this show. It's so random, but it's part of this universe. Ron Glass in this episode reminds me of Albert Einstein. Too funny.
There's a few episodes I do vaguely remember from 2002, like Train Job and Our Ms. Reynolds. Then there were some that were entirely new to me with Safe and Shindig. Well, I just watched another episode that I do actually remember from the original run, and so far it's my favorite episode of the season. That episode is called Out of Gas, and it might be the best disaster type episode of the genre I've seen. One of the things I remember very well from Firefly was the ship itself, Serenity, was almost a character herself on the series. Well, in the episodes I've seen so far, I really didn't get that vibe, until Out of Gas. If the series is all about "Keep Flying", as Book's intro says, we've spent more time on planets so far than on the actual ship herself. The thing I love about this episode was we see how and why Serenity is so important to Mal and how he built the crew. I loved the flashback with Kaylee, where he already hired the mechanic but it was the wrong mechanic and it was actually the girlfriend who was the smart one. Again, we got to see not only Kaylee shine, but how Mal is close to Serenity to make sure he hired someone to keep her flying. A lot of the episode was about survival, but then we get to the end flashback where Mal first lays eyes on her and it was love at first sight. I really do miss sci fi shows where the Ship in itself was a character. Forgive me for another Expanse reference, but The Rocinante is kinda like Serenity in that respect. Treat her well, and she'll always bring you home. I'm also glad this episode really focused on our core characters rather than just being another planet episode. Like I said, of the 8 episodes so far, Out of Gas was the first one I could really call Classic Firefly.
My wife (who, ironically, met me on a firefly forum) is fond of saying that people obsess too much about the show, that it's not as unbelievably amazing as people claim and it was ultimately just a neat little story which happened years ago, etc. In exact terms, I can't entirely disagree with her, but the thing I think she misses/has forgotten or maybe just didn't care so much about to begin with is the potential for what could have been. Firefly was given a *half* of a season to prove itself. Not even a full season. And while I can certainly name plenty of shows that eclipsed its quality, I don't think I know a single one that did so in that little amount of time. And the reason I see it that way is because of the episode Out of Gas and the episode Serenity and the episode Objects in Space. All of the Firefly episodes were fun and entertaining enough - which is usually the best case scenario for a new series because it takes time for a show to build up the potential for anything more than that. But those three episodes I still count as among the best television stories I've ever seen. To have 3 like that in such a short season with a totally untested show was a real achievement, imo. God only knows what it could've become with more time.
There are a handful of scifi shows that I started watching that were cancelled during the first season. Firefly is the only one of those I still think about and wish it could have lasted. It was a shame that the movie didn't do better, but at least it gave some kind of sense of closure.
It's quite realistic. China is going to take over as the main world power in the next few decades as the western zombified, apathetic consumer culture accelerates. It's the last days of Rome for the west right now frankly.
I’m really looking forward to Objects in Space. I was looking at the air dates for these episode and the final 3 of the season didn’t air until July of 2003, 7 months after the rest of the series. I found that rather surprising but it’s why I never saw those in the first place.
The more of this series I watch the more I actually like Malcolm Reynolds. Yeah I know I said a couple nights ago that I didn't like how he treated Kaylee in Shindig, but even in that episode he still found a way to make her happy. The thing I love about him though is how loyal he is to his crew and how the crew reciprocates. That scene in Ariel where he locked Jayne in an airlock ready to dump him for going to the feds, that was an incredible scene. Now I'm watching the next episode and the return of Nishka and this scene with the crew rescuing the captain is so much fun. Speaking of Jayne, am I supposed to like Jayne because I don't. I find him annoying, and he gets the crew into trouble more than he's actually useful. I was hoping Jaynetown would make him likeable, but I was actually rooting for Mal to go through with dumping him. I also rented the movie Serenity from the Library today so it will be a complete rewatch. Yes, I know Wash dies in the movie (And I think it was that which started the whole Mame thing on the Internet)
He pays in Shindig for mistreating Kaylee and he realizes he screwed up which is why he took Kaylee to the ball with him (he could have taken Zoe which he usually does on "away missions"). His loyalty and the loyalty he gets back from the crew is the core of the show. If you are loyal to him he will do everything for you, most likely even risk his own life because Mal knows that having a good crew who you can rely onto might be the difference between life and death in the world he lives in. I love how Firefly subverts genre tropes and after the torture he fights his torturers, starts to lose and Zoe is the cliche trope "He has to do it himself!" to which Mal goes "No he doesn't!" I just love this and scenes like that are spread out over the entire show. Jayne is a comedy relief role mostly due to his let's say slower approach to events happening but then it comes to a fight he is very useful which is why Mal keeps him around. The producers talked about the plans they had for him which would see Jayne quit the crew for a while and start competing with Mal by getting his own crew and ship only to fail miserably and return to Serenity and Mal (would have surely been a hilarious storyline). What i liked about Jayne is that he is predictable.. he's in it for the money and feels loyalty only for as long as he's paid. He even flat out states this to Mal in the pilot and Mal accepts this as Jayne is a known quantity. However as the show progressess and Mal nearly airlocks him i believe he started to get closer to the crew and actually care about them. Serenity was great.. some ass spoiled Book's death in advance on the internet back in the day and i was pretty upset by it but figured it was ok as that would probably be it. When we saw Wash die it was a massive gut punch.. an absolute fan favorite killed so suddenly was completely unexpected (but kinda the point) - being a Whedon production one should expect this but still a hard blow. Imagine this happening in the show and having to deal with the repercussions for far longer.
That scene utterly gutted me. I'm usually good at seeing where things are going in movies. That came out of nowhere. To this day it's hard for me to watch, even knowing it's coming.
I've been hesitant to put this out there because of my involvement in it, but if anybody wants to check out Virtual Firefly: Still Flying, they can contact me privately.
I never liked Jayne, so I don't think that was ever expected. I understood Jayne quite well with "Out of Gas" and "Ariel" being prime examples of his motivations. Though, its spelled out pretty explicitly in "Serenity Part 2."
Yeah, I've never had the sense with any of the writing that we're "supposed" to like anybody. The characters are who they are, and people have different tastes. What one person finds endearing, another may find annoying, etc. Admittedly, I've seen and read fiction where the writer seems to be pushing an agenda with a character or seems overly enamored of the character, themselves. Firefly didn't suffer from this. I did like Jayne for what he was, a fairly simple, not too bright mercenary good in a pinch as long as he's getting paid. There's something to be said for transparency at times.
Maybe suppose might have been the wrong word. Maybe gaging fan popularity might have been closer to what I’m going for. Posting here and hearing other comments, it sounds like Mal, Zoe, and Kaylee were the most popular characters. I’m liking all the characters except for Jayne and I’m a little bummed we won’t know more about Book.