What's so great about Firefly?

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Which is probably why posting on message boards has been so darned popular, eh?

Oh, a huge part of the Internet is the promulgation, aggregation and a general inundation of nothing but personal opinion - most all of which counts for jack squat. To the extent that any small fraction of it does have value, it's only entertainment value.

Masturbation will never go out of fashion - people don't do it because it's productive in any way; they do it because it feels good and because they can.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Which is probably why posting on message boards has been so darned popular, eh?

Oh, a huge part of the Internet is the promulgation, aggregation and a general inundation of nothing but personal opinion - most all of which counts for jack squat. To the extent that any small fraction of it does have value, it's only entertainment value.

Quite true. And yet here we all are doing nothing but sharing opinions on a message board. One of life's amusing little ironies (no doubt Whedon could find a way of getting a laugh out of it).

 

[Greg Cox]

Which is probably why posting on message boards has been so darned popular, eh?

Oh, a huge part of the Internet is the promulgation, aggregation and a general inundation of nothing but personal opinion - most all of which counts for jack squat. To the extent that any small fraction of it does have value, it's only entertainment value.

Quite true. And yet here we all are doing nothing but sharing opinions on a message board. One of life's amusing little ironies (no doubt Whedon could find a way of getting a laugh out of it).

"I'll be in my bunk . . . posting."

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

"...and the spelling is terrible."

 

[Kelso]

Firefly is a ridiculously entertaining series. I watched the first three eps. last night with a friend who had never seen it. Fun times. Count me among those who are still unrealistically optimistic for Serenity 2.

 

[Alex1939]

I like it cause it's shiny.

 

[saturn5]

I think Firefly is ok but I've never really got the huge fan following it generates, it's my least favourite of Joss' shows

 

[Vulpes]

I'm watching Firefly right now, and it's just as boring. Also, what's with all this dust? I don't care if it's supposed to be the frontier, someone needs to get some Pledge.

 

[Amaris]

I'm watching Firefly right now, and it's just as boring. Also, what's will all this dust? I don't care if it's supposed to be the frontier, someone needs to get some Pledge.

That's a rather odd complaint.

 

[Vulpes]

I'm a rather odd person.

 

[Amaris]

I'm a rather odd person.

Works for me.

 

[Forbin]

As for the Chinese cursing, it would have come off better if there had been any people of Chinese ancestry around. Without that, it came off as inorganic.

Why? Once certain phrases enter the language do your really need to see a person from the culture where they originated to justify their everyday use?

Oy vey, that would be gauche, amigo!

 

[Othello]

Which episode did you watch as the pilot? The one Fox Broadcast as the pilot or the actual pilot Whedon intended?

I really hate this line of reasoning.

Every single TV show I watched, I didn't start with the pilot, I would catch a random episode, say "Hey, this seems interesting" and then go back to the beginning.

Even "Lost", which isn't exactly a standalone episode type of show. Shows ARE capable of hooking people not 100% familiar with the concept. It's actually pretty problematic if they can't.

Eh.. it's not that a show can't be picked up it's just that a TON of people don't like to pick up a show in the middle even one that's not highly serialized like Lost.

Unless I watch from thebeginning I can pretty much guarantee I won't watch it...

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Going back a couple pages:

Exactly. Since the Alliance was not inherently evil, I have a hard time sympathizing with those who sought to bring it down.

But the Browncoats didn't want to bring the Alliance down, they just wanted the outer worlds to be left alone to run themselves how they saw fit. Whether you feel the outer worlds had the right to that was the whole point of the war.

 

[Forbin]

I'm currently eating a sandwich on sliced bread, and I think firefly is better.

 

[Mistral]

I've heard:

It's boring.

What do you need, an explosion a minute?

The FF Universe is unplanned.

Considering few tv writers are ex-Dungeonmasters, they didn't do too badly. Foreseeing future traps in your world-building takes lots of practice.

The Chinese aspect didn't seem real. There weren't enough Chinese people visible.

Two cultures hung onto enough tech to bail off Earth. China/US. Chances are, the cross-pollination occurs on border worlds with each culture having spheres of influence in the areas they each settled-which I doubt would be the same worlds. Only at the meeting points would the cultural exchanges influence day-to-day life.


The dialogue is childish.

All banter is a bit childish and Whedon used such banter to inject much-needed humor.
Possibly some of you don't talk that way-but I often do. Childish? No, funny. Humor cures all and makes tough situations easier to deal with-so what's the problem? All FF is is tough situations...

The whole civil war thing fails to make sense. Why include it?

The Alliance has right-wing tendencies even as it takes care of its people. Some free spirits didn't like this. Where's the dilemma?

 

[Greg Cox]

I have very little tolerance for renegades/rebels/rogues, UNLESS the thing that they are rebelling against is obviously evil and definitely deserves to be rebelled against. .

Honestly, I never saw FIREFLY as a show about plucky rebels fighting an evil, oppressive tyranny. It was a scifi western about hardscrabble, vaguely disreputable rogues and outlaws trying to make a living on the final frontier.

Sure, they occasionally ran into sinister government agents, but unlike, say, V or STAR WARS, that wasn't really the thrust of the series. I suspect that most of the crew would have snickered at the idea that they were some sort of heroic freedom fighters . . . .

And if there's one thing the STAR WARS prequel trilogy proves, it's that a good space opera needs a few irreverent Han Solo types to keep the good guys from taking themselves too seriously.

 

[Vulpes]

I've heard:

It's boring.

What do you need, an explosion a minute?

No, I need no explosions at all. Or bar fights. Or chase scenes.

I have a difference concept of "boring" than most people's.

 

[Gaith]

I suspect that most of the crew would have snickered at the idea that they were some sort of heroic freedom fighters . . .

Aye, but isn't the fact that they were failed freedom fighters one of, if not THE, central traits, of several of the characters, Mal included? Sure, apart from the pilot's opening sequence, that's backstory, but it very much informs the series as a whole, and to say otherwise, imho, misses the mark.

It was a scifi western about hardscrabble, vaguely disreputable rogues and outlaws trying to make a living on the final frontier.

Right, but what kind of living? What does Mal really want? I have a hard time connecting to a character who doesn't dream big about something. Would he like to settle down with Inara on a farm somewhere? Fight another war? Become a smuggling kingpin, with numerous gangsters at his command? Que, hombre, que?

And if there's one thing the STAR WARS prequel trilogy proves, it's that a good space opera needs a few disreputable Han Solo types to keep the good guys from taking themselves too seriously.

Proposed corollary: another thing a good space opera needs is a satisfying, hissable villain+/villainous opposition to the heroes' goals. Mal is cool and all, but I find him far more interesting when he's debating whether to protect River from imminent Alliance abduction than when he's just minding his own smuggling business. ANH Han Solo was awesome in part because he was an uncertain ally to Luke's quest, not because his podunk ship and precarious existence was the main focus of the story.

 

[Greg Cox]

I don't know. Depends on the story. I like a cosmic saga of good against evil as much as the next shameless pulp writer, but sometimes the fate of a few, well-drawn individuals, just trying to survive, can be just as compelling (or more so) than saving the entire universe from a doomsday bomb or whatever.

Look at BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, for instance. They weren't trying to clean up the west or overthrow a corrupt regime, but that was still a great movie.

Maybe it helps if you think of FIREFLY as a space western and not a space opera . . . ?