A possible rip-off of a definitely complete rip-off? Doesn't the fact that Firefly was well-written, well-cast, well-produced and actually worth watching somewhat mitigate the possibility that in your eyes it may have "ripped off" a deservedly virtually forgotten shot-on-video bit of flotsam that was - nine weeks out of ten - complete and utter tripe?
Yep. I watched every episode of that tacky bargain-sale crap B7, BTW. Not proud of that, but it's true. And BTW, any claim that Whedon ripped that trash off requires disregarding or misunderstanding virtually every aspect of plot, character, premise and theme. It's arrant nonsense.
Sounded like it had more in common with Farscape with the main character having a slightly different genesis, but the ship is similar and the crew is full of different kinds of outlaws. But Farscape was much better IMHO.
Farscape and Firefly both owe a lot to Blake's 7, a show that was well ahead of its time and that's only hampered by a low budget, resulting in cheesy costumes, wobbly sets, and frequent use of British quarries, much like Doctor Who. The stories and characters themselves are wonderful and the show is worth watching on its own, contrary to certain naysayers. It's just a shame it's not available on DVD in the US.
I'm not that familiar with B7, but from what I do know, they don't seem to be that much alike beyond the basic premise of outlaws on space. The characters all appear to be totally different, in terms of personality and characteristics. I don't see a hooker, a priest, or a fugitive doctor and his sister in the character list on Wikipedia. And I don't see anything about B7 having all of the Western elements that Firefly/Serenity has. I skimmed through the descriptions of the first handful of Blake's 7 episodes and I don't see a lot of similarities there either. Just because two shows have a similar premise, doesn't mean one is rip off of the other. Don't you need almost exact duplication for a plagiarism case to actually make it to court?
About one out of ten is worth watching. Most of it's a lot of rushing back and forth while members of the damn gang get captured and require freeing. Pretty monotonous and idiotic. "Hey, I invented the Daleks!" I suppose Whedon may have indicated a debt to the show somewhere, but it is nowhere evident.
This may be my own private TZ, but I could have sworn I read a or the story or premise for it and it was the same story as Serenity where the government, who they were always against too, dumbed down or peaced out a planet and it backfired and they all became violent. Sometimes I don't trust reality though. As it happens and this has nothing to do with it, but I submitted a Klingon story about the same thing almost called ' The Price of Peace' to Trek not having read that before though.
The Alliance in Firefly shares some similarities with the Terran Federation of Blake's 7 but Blake's 7 deals more with the political struggle whereas in Firefly it's more like the background for Mal driving by in the General Lee with the confederate flag on the hood while honking Dixie. In terms of overall presentation though I don't think Firefly generally stands out as much like B7 (with maybe an exception for the episode Ariel). The cast of Firefly seemed to have more of a heart of gold than some of the bastards on the Liberator. I think Farscape shares more elements in its struggles against the Peacekeepers and their mysterious stolen vessel Moya more similar to the Liberator from Blake's 7. Scorpius and Grayza seem to owe a nod or two to Travis and Servalan from B7. Whedon's troubles aside I'd like to see him back with a TV series someday. I imagine making movies has perks with I'm assuming more money and I think it's easier for movie directors to pull off their visions but his shows were special. TV has come a long way since Buffy though it'd be interesting to see how one would fare today.
More original than The Orville. Oh, what's that? Opinions are subjective. Looks like it goes both ways. Except while Terry Nation may have created Blake's 7, it was Chris Boucher (writer of three great Doctor Who serials) who made the show as great as it was (subjective, of course). Only if you don't look for it.
That's a generic enough idea that it's not impossible for two different creators to come up with it independently.