What's so great about Firefly?

[Nerys Myk]

The characters are snarky and sarcastic and glib to be sure, but I'd hardly put in in the same writing category as sitcoms.

I dunno, for some reason I'm thinking specifically of the sitcom "Roseanne"...

Hell yeah! Probably why I liked FF - Roseanne was pure genius. (Though I may think that because it was essentially the house I grew up in...)

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?

Well, a major weakness of FF was the idea that human culture had become an amalgam of US and Chinese cultures - but there were no Chinese/ Asian people anywhere, except occasionally as background. The Tams were ostensibly of mixed Western/ Eastern heritage, but that would have worked a lot better if they had actually been of some sort of Asian ancestry. Considering the actual distribution of Asians to Caucasians on earth (approximately 1/2 of the total human population versus approximately 1/4 of the total human population) there should have been a lot MORE Asian people than white people in the future FF showed.

But not necessarily aboard the Serenity.

My cousins are part Chinese, but you wouldn't know it to look at them. Their last name is the only give away.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Side note: Since Weyland-Yutani exists on FF, is it possible that this show takes place in the Alien universe?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I love Whedon's dialogue, and I love the way he conceives and writes characters. Examples of any wit at all other than smarmy banter are still difficult to find in skiffy entertainment.

I haven't yet seen a skiffy tv series other than possibly B5 (which was itself a great disappointment) which is set in a competently "designed Universe" so that kind of thing sure isn't a showstopper. The differences between plausible worldbuilding in skiffy TV and supposedly less well thought-out backgrounds proceeds from the viewer's enthusiasm rather than forming the basis of it. The old saying "no text can stand up to a hostile reading" applies here.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Well, a major weakness of FF was the idea that human culture had become an amalgam of US and Chinese cultures - but there were no Chinese/ Asian people anywhere, except occasionally as background. The Tams were ostensibly of mixed Western/ Eastern heritage, but that would have worked a lot better if they had actually been of some sort of Asian ancestry. Considering the actual distribution of Asians to Caucasians on earth (approximately 1/2 of the total human population versus approximately 1/4 of the total human population) there should have been a lot MORE Asian people than white people in the future FF showed.

But not necessarily aboard the Serenity.

My cousins are part Chinese, but you wouldn't know it to look at them. Their last name is the only give away.

But we didn't see people of Asian heritage anywhere in Firefly except in a few crowd scenes. And I have a branch of cousins who are half Chinese - and you can plainly tell despite their Caucasian last name.

 

[DWF]

The world building wasn't all that great, it's more than a stretch to think all those planets were in one solar system. And you'd think there'd be more the Chinese than mere curses. The dialogue was snappy and there was a great chemistry among the character, but the storylines were pretty cliched and not too original.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Well, a major weakness of FF was the idea that human culture had become an amalgam of US and Chinese cultures - but there were no Chinese/ Asian people anywhere, except occasionally as background. The Tams were ostensibly of mixed Western/ Eastern heritage, but that would have worked a lot better if they had actually been of some sort of Asian ancestry. Considering the actual distribution of Asians to Caucasians on earth (approximately 1/2 of the total human population versus approximately 1/4 of the total human population) there should have been a lot MORE Asian people than white people in the future FF showed.

But not necessarily aboard the Serenity.

My cousins are part Chinese, but you wouldn't know it to look at them. Their last name is the only give away.

But we didn't see people of Asian heritage anywhere in Firefly except in a few crowd scenes. And I have a branch of cousins who are half Chinese - and you can plainly tell despite their Caucasian last name.

But we're talking about the crew of the Serenity and if a Chinese crewmember is needed for the crew to use Chinese curse words.

I happen to agree that a larger Chinese presence would have been better when seeing the Universe at large. Though do we know if a large Asian/Chinese population actually made the migration from the "Earth-that-was" to system Firefly takes place in or was it just parts of their culture?

My cousins are a quarter Chinese, which might be closer to the type of "mix" one might find in the Firefly Universe (and the Tams in particular) Even with actors like Keanu Reeves and Dean Cain their asian ancestry isn't apparent.

 

[Gaith]

I agree. It was a really well thought out universe and was far more coherent a setting than most shows bother with in their first 15 episodes. And sitcom writing? I'm inclined to believe you didn't watch the show at all. The characters are snarky and sarcastic and glib to be sure, but I'd hardly put in in the same writing category as sitcoms.

So in your book, sitcom writing is necessarily crap? I'm inclined to believe you've never seen a quality sitcom at all. To clarify, I found FF's writing to be pretty good for an adventure show with a sitcom flavor; but that's just not a genre that much appeals to me.

 

[Chris_Johnston]

people on the Internet explaining why you should like it isn't going to matter.

Not really true. I've caught a random Farscape episode on TV once... Didn't like it one bit. Then one day I got bored and asked some people ON THE INTERNET if should give it a try. They said "go for it". I did.

Well, what can I say, Farscape instantly became one of my favorite TV shows ever, better than Voyager, Better than Enterprise, better than 60% of DS9, definitely better than SG1, The X-files etc etc...

I remember back when Babylon 5 was running on TNT, somebody in a chat room said it was a lame show, based on the one episode they'd seen.
I suggested they watch a few episodes in a row, since it had an epic running storyline. I checked back a week later, and they said, "Hey, thanks for the suggestion!"

There's no accounting for taste, though. You could take any nice, sweet movie, like one of Pixar's, and there's somebody out there with a violent hatred for it.
I've really given up trying to "convince" anybody to like anything. I might ask, "What are you comparing it to?" when somebody says how "cheesy" ST:TOS is. See, I compare it to Irwin Allen's shows which aired at around the same time, not the latest & greatest CGI extravaganzas.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

So in your book, sitcom writing is necessarily crap? I'm inclined to believe you've never seen a quality sitcom at all. To clarify, I found FF's writing to be pretty good for an adventure show with a sitcom flavor; but that's just not a genre that much appeals to me.

Sitcoms aren't crap because of the writing, they're crap because of those stupid laugh tracks.

 

[Nerys Myk]

So in your book, sitcom writing is necessarily crap? I'm inclined to believe you've never seen a quality sitcom at all. To clarify, I found FF's writing to be pretty good for an adventure show with a sitcom flavor; but that's just not a genre that much appeals to me.

Sitcoms aren't crap because of the writing, they're crap because of those stupid laugh tracks.

Makes no sense. I dont even notice the laugh track anymore.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I've become so hooked on Corner Gas (which has no laugh track) that I can't watch a show that has one.

(Studio audiences don't count. At least then, the laughter is real.)

 

[CorporalClegg]

Good question.

Firefly was an okay show that might have become great if it had been given a decent chance to last a few years.

What's so great about it is that the producer has done other stuff. And fans of that other stuff merge everything thing together in their minds, thus making a show that wasn't given a chance to find it's footing, the best Sci-Fi ever.

Not true at all. Buffy is my favorite TV show. I could live without Angel. And I think Firefly is mediocre at best.

 

[Nerys Myk]

^ I've become so hooked on Corner Gas (which has no laugh track) that I can't watch a show that has one.

(Studio audiences don't count. At least then, the laughter is real.)

Sometimes.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

(Studio audiences don't count. At least then, the laughter is real.)

Sometimes.

Explain?

A studio audience is, by definition, real laughter, not a machine-generated laugh track.

Unless you're drawing a distinction between a studio audience that is watching the shot live, vs. one that is shown the material later and the resulting laughter is edited into the show?

 

[Nerys Myk]

(Studio audiences don't count. At least then, the laughter is real.)

Sometimes.

Explain?

A studio audience is, by definition, real laughter, not a machine-generated laugh track.

Unless you're drawing a distinction between a studio audience that is watching the shot live, vs. one that is shown the material later and the resulting laughter is edited into the show?

Laughtracks have been added to shows that are filmed in front of a live studio audience.

 

[Nerys Myk]

And there is no Santa Claus.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

I always found FF to be overrated by its most ardent and vocal fans -- but then again, what isn't? The thing is, FF was a good show which ought to be a blueprint for how to create camaraderie within an ensemble cast ... but it was flawed, uneven and though it had a great deal of potential, and despite popular opinion, its cancellation wasn't an outright travesty.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I always found FF to be overrated by its most ardent and vocal fans -- but then again, what isn't?

Actually, lots and lots of things are genuinely good and deserve all the accolades they're getting.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

There's not much that's more overrated than the usefulness of personal opinion.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

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