Joss Whedon's 'Firefly'

dolores haze

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I just got done watching this series on DVD. There were things I both loved and hated about it. I'm writing an article about it and am interested in gathering some other opinions.

So did you love it? Hate it? Were completely unmoved one way or the other? I'd love to know!

Firefly_front_cover.jpg
 

sunna

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What in all the shiny 'verse could someone find to HATE about Firefly?

This bears repeating.

I loved it. Loved it loved it loved it. There was nothing about it that I even got temporarily bored by, and I'm generally not one to watch TV.
 

ajkjd01

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I absolutely loved it.

Yeah the jargon was a bit weird, but it fit the setting and the dialogue was spot on for the world Whedon was building. In fact, I love it for the snappy dialogue alone (which is also why I was such a West Wing fan. Can't help it, I'm a sucker for dialogue that yanks me into a world on its own!)

I'll be in Jayne's bunk.
 

dgiharris

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I just got done watching this series on DVD. There were things I both loved and hated about it. I'm writing an article about it and am interested in gathering some other opinions.

So did you love it? Hate it? Were completely unmoved one way or the other? I'd love to know!

Firefly_front_cover.jpg

Dear lord, what in all the shiny verse could you hate about Firefly?

if you like sci-fi, then you almost have to love firefly. but granted, if Sci-fi isn't your cup of tea, then of course you may not like it in the same way i wouldn't like an british elderly romance set in the 1800s.

As a avid sci-fi reader and fan, I feel I'm qualified to say that Firefly was easily the best first season sci-fi show produced and if not, definitely in the top three.

What did I love?

They BROKE THE MOLD on plot, character development, heros, villians, story telling.

They came up with a very REALISTIC future universe. If you think about human colonization in space, it will not be Star Trek, it will be a mix of technology and ruggedness. Some places that have the money (i.e. the Alliance planets) will be more like Star Trek (which they did a great job in showing) and planets on the fringe will be more like Bonanza. That was very realistic to me.

Also, the storytelling was amazing. The range of emotions he put the audience through in a single hour of television is something that Wheadon is the master of. You go from Action, Adventure, romance, comedy, drama, dark drama, back to action and end on comedy... No one puts you through an emotional rollercoaster like he does.

THen there is the story, you NEVER KNOW how it is going to go or end, unlike most other series you know everything will turn out o.k., the hero will previal and the villian will be punished. Not so in Firefly. Sure, they normally ended up o.k. but throughout the episode, you have that feeling that anything and everything could happen at anytime. Very few series can do that.

Camera work. They did a lot of unconventional shots that NO ONE has ever done before, they did zoom-in, shaky cam, and pan cams during special effects and flight scenes. This is something that was taboo in filmmaking but they pulled it off and gave their shots a sense of 'realism' that the audience was probably not even aware of.

Overall, Firefly was one of the best shows that should have never been cancelled.

The only thing that went wrong was they were cancelled.

curious. What exactly could you not have liked about the show?

Mel...
 

maxmordon

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Anybody have watched a film called The American Astronaut? It's like Firefly with the roughnecks tuned up eleven
 

dolores haze

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Ah, Mel! Thanks so much for going into detail about what you loved.

I loved more things than I hated, but the things I hated about the show were:

The western theme was a really cool idea, but it started to grate on me when every single planet they went to was the wild west, complete with stereotypical villains. It was a cliche after a few episodes.

Inara (sp?), the courtesan character, drove me nuts. She reminded me of Counsellor Troy, of whom I have a completely unreasonable hatred.

Between episodes of Battlestar Galactica I would chew my nails until the next episode rolled around. Episodes of Firefly tended to end with a tidy little bow that did not leave me desperately wanting more.

The Reavers terrified me, but the other villians were pretty lame.

I thought the first episodes were pretty lame. I had to force myself to keep watching. I'm glad I did, because it got better and better. The final episode was great. That actor playing Jubal was fantastic. In general I found it very hit and miss - not as predictably great as I wanted it to be.

I thought the character development was lacking. There were quite a lot of characters, so maybe that's why it was given short thrift.

I am a huge SF fan, but not really a Joss Whedon fan. I couldn't stand Buffy and I stayed away from Firefly, thinking I'd hate it. So I was surprised that I liked it as much as I did. A good show, I'd say. I wish it has stayed on the air, because I thought it was turning into a great show. Alas, it never got the chance.
 

maxmordon

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I only have seen one episode to Firefly (Jaynestown), but to be honest I didn't liked Mal. I felt him so distant and alienated of him
 

willietheshakes

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Ah, Mel! Thanks so much for going into detail about what you loved.

I loved more things than I hated, but the things I hated about the show were:

The western theme was a really cool idea, but it started to grate on me when every single planet they went to was the wild west, complete with stereotypical villains. It was a cliche after a few episodes.

Inara (sp?), the courtesan character, drove me nuts. She reminded me of Counsellor Troy, of whom I have a completely unreasonable hatred.

Between episodes of Battlestar Galactica I would chew my nails until the next episode rolled around. Episodes of Firefly tended to end with a tidy little bow that did not leave me desperately wanting more.

The Reavers terrified me, but the other villians were pretty lame.

I thought the first episodes were pretty lame. I had to force myself to keep watching. I'm glad I did, because it got better and better. The final episode was great. That actor playing Jubal was fantastic. In general I found it very hit and miss - not as predictably great as I wanted it to be.

I thought the character development was lacking. There were quite a lot of characters, so maybe that's why it was given short thrift.

I am a huge SF fan, but not really a Joss Whedon fan. I couldn't stand Buffy and I stayed away from Firefly, thinking I'd hate it. So I was surprised that I liked it as much as I did. A good show, I'd say. I wish it has stayed on the air, because I thought it was turning into a great show. Alas, it never got the chance.

Hmmm...

I can understand some of these points -- not agree with them, but understand them. The wild west thing, well, that was explained as a result of the terraforming, etc. And lack of character development -- I don't know that I see that at all.

But why did you hate Inara?
 

dolores haze

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Hmmm...

But why did you hate Inara?

Oh, it's not the poor lady's fault. But all those warm and fuzzy empathy skillz that made her such a sought after courtesan just reminded me of the hated Troy. Any time they were under attack I kept expecting Inara to announce that she sensed hostility. It's unreasonable of me, I know.

Anyone else? Pet peeves? Favorites lines? Best and worst episodes?
 

willietheshakes

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Three words: Our. Mrs. Reynolds.

(swoon)

Nothing but good lines in that one, including:

Mal: Whoa, hey. Flesh. Um... Saffron... i-it-it ain't a question of pleasing me. It's more a question of what's... um... of what's morally right.

Saffron: I do know my Bible sir. "On the night of their betrothal, the wife shall open to the man as the furrow to the plow and he shall work in her, in and again till she bring him to his full and rest him then upon the sweat of her breast."

Mal: Whoa, good Bible.

--- AND ---

Book: If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.

--- AND ---

Mal: Well, my days of not takin' ya seriously are certainly comin' to a middle.

(Hmm. That one might merit being added to my signature, now that I think of it.)
 

TrickyFiction

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I loved loved loved Firefly! Mr. Fiction and I laughed and laughed.

My favorite characters were Jayne and Kaylee. Least favorite were the doctor and Inara. Doctor was just too blah and Inara was... oh wasn't she just the perfect feminine ideal, all motherly and nurturing, sexually available (sort of) and gorgeous all the time, even when everyone else was made of dirt? I think that's why I didn't like her as well as the others. But that didn't stop me from loving the show. I think she just needed a little more time to reveal her flaws, which she wasn't given because Fox sucks.

Mal: Well, my days of not takin' ya seriously are certainly comin' to a middle.

That's one of my favorites too. :D
The show had the best one-liners ever.
 
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dolores haze

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That scene with Saffron trying to seduce Mal was WONDERFUL! Beautifully written and performed - there were more sparks in that one scene than in the entire run between Mal and Inara. I really enjoyed Saffron's character and appearances.

I also really liked the Zoe and Wash relationship. My hubby kept saying that a woman like Zoe would never choose a man like Wash, but I think he was just really jealous. Zoe was one of my favorite characters. I wish I gotten to know more of her back story.
 

katiemac

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I've seen these two license plates in the last week:

BRWNCOT

and

BRNCOAT
 

willietheshakes

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That scene with Saffron trying to seduce Mal was WONDERFUL! Beautifully written and performed - there were more sparks in that one scene than in the entire run between Mal and Inara. I really enjoyed Saffron's character and appearances.

I also really liked the Zoe and Wash relationship. My hubby kept saying that a woman like Zoe would never choose a man like Wash, but I think he was just really jealous. Zoe was one of my favorite characters. I wish I gotten to know more of her back story.

I'm pretty fond of Saffron's... appearances... myself.

I'll be in my bunk...
 
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lexxi

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I'm in the middle of watching the DVDs now. Should finish by next week.

I'm enjoying it, I'd be happy enough if it had run longer, but I don't looove it.

I guess I find the acting competent but nothing special. Typical television. The writing is sometimes clever and sometimes contrived.

Yesterday I distracted my 6-year-old nephew from perpetrating real violence on me by recounting him the plots of several Firefly episodes, edited down to a G rating. Kept him sufficiently entertained.