Serenity vs. Star Trek

[miniglik]

My husband loved Firefly and Serenity. He's watched the box set probably three times. But he says of Buffy that he's not into the whole goth thing -- but he'll watch if I want to.

My husband still hasn't forgiven Fox for Firefly. It was his favorite television show ever (well, that or the live action The Tick -- heh). And he used to make company watch and rewatch it.


Buffy really isn't Goth, as someone said.

Oh, and if you don't get into it much, I still recommend you try the season four episode "Hush." It' one of the best episodes of television I have ever seen.

 

[Jeri]

...by the end of Season 2, you realize that you've gone through an emotional rollercoaster as you find yourself laughing, crying, experiencing anger and frustration and resolution, often all within one scene...

Interesting; thanks!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Have you determined whose penis is longer yet?

Yeah, a while ago.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Okay I have moved it up the list to purchase if: "dvd set in bargain bin at Target".

It will never be on tv here.

Also, sadly, I have all the seasons of Bab5 and am yet to watch more than a couple eps. Trek just takes up the majority of my tv viewing time, especially as I am morally obligated to continue the education of the boy. I keep thinking once we finish DS9 I might get to Bab5..

If it helps, I'm another of those that really liked the TV show, then rented the movie and really didn't like it at all.

 

[Nebula1400]

Have you determined whose penis is longer yet?

Yeah, a while ago.

Good. I have a pair of scissors...

 

[Jeri]

miniglik, of course, we have "The Tick," too. I heart Batmanuel.

Ok, I will keep all that in mind; thanks.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Have you determined whose penis is longer yet?

Yeah, a while ago.

Good. I have a pair of scissors...

Ah have experienced two great pains in mah life, and nothing else troubles me any more...

 

[miniglik]

If that's the best you can do, don't try to keep up with me.

Oh you're trolling, very funny.

No, I'd say that's closer to an accurate characterisation of your reply than of mine. I'm serious - if mocking and childish attempts to misdirect of the "oh, if Kirk robbed a bank/Han Solo rip-off" variety are your best contributions to this topic then I can't converse with you as an equal.

I have to say, as much as I like New Kirk (and I really, really do), I think his one flaw is not quite fitting the mold of the franchise.

I find him likable on the superficial level that characters like Cruise's "Maverick" in "Top Gun" are likable - he's a familiar stereotype and Pine plays him very well, bringing a lot of informal charm to the role. Pine is great.

How the character will hold up - or have to change - when they're required to write a story featuring him as the man in charge of a deep-space vessel with a crew of hundreds will be interesting to see.

I agree that Kirk may fall flat as a character if he's, well, given a role like Shatner's Kirk, because the character needs something personal to fight against to be interesting. Well, really, ANY character needs that. It's why I always hated Trek style television. No one had any overriding pathos guiding their actions and making them act in unique and interesting ways. Sure, they had quirks, but these were dependable quirks that didn't grow or change. And I have little-to-no faith in Orci/Kurtzman to improve on this.

However, as a stand alone, I think this Kirk WAS interesting, in that he was flawed yet accessible, and this plot didn't treat him like The Hero. In fact, the plot treated him much the way a Joss plot treated Mal.

Sure, it's all downhill from here, but I gotta judge the character on what I've seen so far.

 

[Nebula1400]

miniglik, of course, we have "The Tick," too. I heart Batmanuel.

Ok, I will keep all that in mind; thanks.

The creator of "The Tick," Ben Edlund, went on to write for both "Angel" (a Buffy spin-off) and "Firefly." He represents the kind of talent those shows had in their stable of writers. Every one of them is now writing for the current most successful cutting-edge TV series (plural).

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

That's certainly true.

 

[miniglik]

miniglik, of course, we have "The Tick," too. I heart Batmanuel.

Ok, I will keep all that in mind; thanks.

The creator of "The Tick," Ben Edlund, went on to write for both "Angel" (a Buffy spin-off) and "Firefly." He represents the kind of talent those shows had in their stable of writers. Every one of them is now writing for the current most successful cutting-edge TV series (plural).

Good point! I should have said that. Joss writers are all very much Edlund-like.

(Edlund is well loved in our house. I have been tasked by the spouse to go find Edlund at SD Comic Con this year -- he writes for Supernatural now and has been there before with them -- and see if there's any way I can get one of our Tick graphic novels signed. This might make the expense of my trip worth it to my spouse.)

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I liked the both, but I don't think they are in the same league, nor were they meant to be.

Firefly's Serenity was made in large part to give it's cult following a reasonable ending to the unjustly short-lived show.

Star Trek was made specifically and unapologetically to target a whole new audience, and had alot bigger and better 'WOW!' factor.

Star Trek is a summer blockbuster category movie. Serenity was pretty much a cult movie category movie.

 

[Borgminister]

Like 'em both, sue me.

 

[M'Sharak]

So if Kirk had murdered someone or robbed a bank it would make him an interesting character?

If that's the best you can do, don't try to keep up with me.

Oh you're trolling, very funny.

I, on the other hand, am not amused by in-thread accusations of trolling, and particularly not from someone who entered the thread with this little gem, trolling the OP:

Hahaha, what a surprise to see a Star Trek basher being a Firefly/Serenity fan.

I think Mal is a bigger asshole than Kirk, the guy literally threw that kid to the wolves in the film. I think there was a bit of a difference between the guy from Serenity and Nero too, Nero killed 6 billion Vulcans for example while the sword dude was just a guy with a sword working for the government.

Knock off the personal swipes, address the content of the post, and if you feel you absolutely have to call someone a troll, use the 'Notify Moderator' button found at the lower left corner of each post, and let the moderator take it from there. No more in-thread accusations, 'K?

 

[The Doctor]

I may be the only one, but I prefer Serenity the movie over firefly the series. Mal was far closer to his original characterization from the pilot before his edges were filed off for the series proper.

As for comparisons between Star Trek and the above...

Well, that's pretty much impossible to do, in my case. Star Trek is part of my youth, an experience like the original Transformers cartoons. Sitting there in the cinema watching Trek was like being back on the floor in the basement of my parent's house watching syndicated episodes of Trek over a bowl of Honey-Nut Cheerios.

 

[xman]

There is a special tier of hell reserved just for people like you and Sector 7.

X

 

[RAMA]

Sorry, Aike, but while I liked both Serenity and Star Trek the former is a great deal better written and the characters considerably more intriguing that Abrams and company could manage for Trek. Better dialogue, too.

I consider Buffy a kid's show.

That's a fundamental lack of understanding on your part, as it's far more adult than Abrams' Star Trek.

I've watched maybe 3 1/2 episodes of Buffy. I'm not really a fan of "fantasy" shows anyway. I've seen enough to know its not as serious as say "Enterprise". Its Whedon's dialogue that actually rubs me the wrong way. I could barely make it through a few Firefly eps. To each their own I suppose.

I would like to add again that I did enjoy Serenity, its just not as good as ST. I have the Serenity DVD. I prefer the more focused storyline of the movie over the TV show.

RAMA

 

[stonester1]

Although, as I talked to someone the other week about the rather mysterious current popularity of vampires in all kinds of fiction it occurred to me that conjuring up a scientific rationale for the existence of vampires would involve a lot less cheating on what we know or have strong reason to believe about the Universe than making up ways for spaceships to fly faster than light to planets of pointy-eared creatures who are interfertile with human beings.

Here's a question, though. Why do we need a "scientific rationale"? Why can't we just accept that it's FANTASY, here are the rules, such as they are, and go with it?

Good fantasy, science fiction, or hell, any genre, is best when character centered. The rest is window dressing.

And Buffy is some of the best character centered storytelling you'll find.

I get irritated by how anal some of my fellow science fiction fans are, God love you all...

 

[The Wormhole]

Serenity is compelling entertainment done with the depth and complexity Trek IX wishes it had.

 

[seigezunt]

Serenity is compelling entertainment done with the depth and complexity Trek IX wishes it had.

I suspect that Trek XI doesn't care or wish for anything like that, as it's doing quite well.