Firefly Discussion

I'll try and watch Shindig tonight, but it might be hard because i work 2-11 and I'm sure Lindsay will be sleeping when I get home.

Where is everyone else at now? I haven't had a chance, but I will try and watch episode 5 soon.

I'm on 5 as well. I fell asleep during Shindig so I'm gonna watch that one again because it is hilarious. The ending is just so perfect.

I'm also on 5. Good timing!

There's something about the fights in this show. I don't know if it's the laser pew-pew sound effects or the staging but they very much feel like student film/kids playing with guns, like nothing has any weight. I know they were low budget but when the gun fight breaks out in 5 I found myself chuckling a little bit.

I honestly had that EXACT thought during that scene. I guess they weren't prepared to shoot outside during the day?

It was still a great episode. All though I never can really appreciate it as much watching the series in order because I know Christina Hendricks is in the next episode. That's not a spoiler since even people that don't know should to be prepared for her walking on screen   

She is a very purdy lady...

I still need to watch 4, but feel free to move on I'll catch up. Right now I'm working third shift so it's putting me behind.

"Our Mrs. Reynolds" is probably the funniest out of all of the episodes. It has a bunch of slapstick to go along with the usual quips.

I think I'm going to watch 2 episodes tonight since the next 2 are my favorites.

You just like watching Christina Hendricks don't you? Not that I blame you, that woman is a bombshell.

Jaynestown has such a good ending. I'll talk more about these when you guys catch up. I'm going to watch "Out of Gas", which is my absolute favorite, and then hold off until everyone is on the same episode. The series is just so damn easy to marathon.

@T-wolf: That is the perfect description of her.

I finally watched Safe and thought it was kind of a weak ep. I like the idea of flashbacks, but these seemed to largely be telling us stuff we already knew (though it might not have to people who watched in the original airing order). Still kind of fun to see the characters younger and see Simon and his dad's relationship fall apart I suppose. Main plot of the ep was kind of meh too. I don't know. Not one of the better ones I don't think for this show so far.

You were right spiddy. "Our Mrs. Reynolds" was hilarious. That is probably my favorite episode so far.

The whole "trade" scene with Jayne was my favorite of all the confrontation scenes. And the end really personifies how well the show does drama and comedy together.

Favorite Moment: The very end, where Mal keeps stabbing "Ath".
Least Favorite Moment (If you have one): Those bitches being bitches to Kaylee. Sadly some act like that in the world.
Favorite Line: When Mal kept stabbing Atherton, saying he was a great man, then good man, and then "I'm all right."
Favorite Character in the Episode: Kaylee. Even though it really was Mal, I feel I should give Kaylee some love.
Least Favorite Character in the Episode: Atherton, by far. Prick.
Thoughts on the Episode: Really good episode showing how down to earth these characters are, even though they're thieves and criminals at times.
Episode Grade:

I'm watching Safe and I noticed that Young Simon was Zac Efron. I went over to imdb to confirm it. Not sure if anyone else noticed that. His first role ever.

Out of Gas was easily my favorite episode of the series so far. Also, in the next episode it's refreshing to see an on-planet location that doesn't just look like someone's backyard.

I watched Jaynestown and loved it. The whole way he inadvertently became a folk hero was great and the that plot wrapped up worked really well. Lots of laughs to be had because of the whole thing too. Kaylee continues to be adorable too. The B-plot was less successful, but I thought River's reaction to his hair being undone was kind of funny.

BretBaber wrote:I'm watching Safe and I noticed that Young Simon was Zac Efron.  I went over to imdb to confirm it.  Not sure if anyone else noticed that.  His first role ever.

I didn't notice it but then I saw his name in the credits and went back and sure enough there he was.

Out of Gas is better than a lot of scifi movies. I'm glad it never telegraphed the payoff at the end. Also, I agree with the "backyard" comment. With such top notch acting and writing I don't really notice/care most of the time. So far it was just the shootout in Safe where I was taken out of the immersion.

Speaking of Safe, I noticed it was that kid in the way I yelled to my wife in the other room, "Hey sweetheart, that kid your nieces used to like is in Firefly."

I think how dumbfounded Simon was in Jaynestown was the funniest part. And as I stated earlier, that ending did a great job of staying true to the characters while being borderline profound.

I'm not to Jaynestown yet, but I feel I can talk about it since it is my second favorite episode. That episode is written by my second favorite writer on Buffy named Jane Espenson, and her episodes were always the more comical episodes. I loved the line where Jayne is all nervous and looks at the kid and says "Look away kid, your eyes are gonna stick. GET!" The whole episode is great humor, better than most comedies in my opinion. Her work is the same on Buffy, always full of laughs.

Our Mrs. Reynolds

Favorite Moment: Looking at Saffron all episode long and Book's "special hell" scene.
Least Favorite Moment (If you have one): Mal punching Saffron at the end. Seems kind of out of character.
Favorite Line: "That's why I never kiss 'em on the mouth." - Jayne
Favorite Character in the Episode: Saffron. She's hot, and she's up to no good.
Least Favorite Character in the Episode: No real weak characters here.
Thoughts on the Episode: Great episode with a lot of laughs and special hells.
Episode Grade:

Jaynestown

Favorite Moment: The song.
Least Favorite Moment (If you have one): No real weak moments here.
Favorite Line: "Look away kid your eyes are gonna stick! Get!"
Favorite Character in the Episode: Jayne, I mean he's the hero of Canton so why not?
Least Favorite Character in the Episode: Simon. His comments about going mad get tiring.
Thoughts on the Episode: One of my favorite episodes. Pretty sure it's the only one where Jane Espenson writes on, but if the show would have continued and she came on board as a full time show writer we would have been in for a treat.
Episode Grade:

Trip, I noticed you said Kaylee continues to be adorable. Did you ever watch her growing up on a Disney show called Flash Forward? I loved that show.

Yeah, I watched that show when I was younger as well. Being so close in age we seem to share a lot of the same memories growing up Bret.

Also I have never really been a fan of Christina Hendricks, but she really was quite hot on this show.

This is a stupid point, but then again, I am a stupid man. But I just don't get what the rules are for the guns in this show. Are they lasers? Are they bullets? They seem to load bullets, but then they make pewpew noises. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!

Different atmospheres make them sound like lasers. That's my explanation. If it was on Earth, typical bullet noises.

We sure do, Trip. I loved Flash Forward, I used to watch it on Disney East and then 3 hours later on Disney West. Too bad it didn't last long, I really loved that show.

You guys were right. Out of Gas was excellent.

Out of Gas is awesome. The best episode in my opinion. The very last episode is really great as well.

I watched Ariel and War Stories. So, a show that has, in order, Our Mrs Reynolds, Jaynestown, Out of Gas, Ariel, and War Stories gets cancelled. I can't think of anything offhand, scifi or not, that has that sort of range and depth where the stories are self-contained yet still flesh out a bigger picture.

It's the Seinfeld of scifi. Seriously, it's just plain fun to watch and does what it does better than the rest. I know each episode by heart but, like Seinfeld, it doesn't matter because it's highly entertaining.

Being a very critical person, the show definitely isn't perfect and has a few issues BUT it's getting so much better as it goes and what it is doing well, it's doing extremely well. So to see it get the ax after only half a season is pretty heartbreaking and like spiddy said (I think) it really makes the argument for digital distribution options where the middlemen networks are cut out of the picture. I mean, as long as the show creators maintain control and not the audience, by all means...empower that shit.

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant, but long story short: this show is a flawed gem, and I can see why it has such a loyal following.

Also, you guys'll get mad at this but I see a LOT of parallels to this show and Cowboy Bebop. Yeah the style is way different but the idea of these kind of outlaws in space, junk ship, eccentric but lovable crew, chinese kind of worming its way into parts of culture, super cool ship captain. I mean, it's not similar in a way that I would ever say Firefly was stealing from Bebop or anything silly like that, but they have some notable similarities that I wish more series would try and do.

There's a whole bunch of people and websites that draw the same Cowboy Bebop compariosns. I think that speaks to the quality and entertainment of both shows.

Netflix should be trying a lot harder to get this show. Maybe Amazon but I don't know if they have the same "fuck it, here's some money, go do what you want" attitude.

Also, the show is perfect for my tastes. Some kind of strange mix of Battlestar Galactica and Psych. Well, before both of those jumped the shark...

I think getting the show is less about doability and more getting the actors/getting a writing team that could still do it and not just be making it purely for the fans (i.e. actually have more ideas in their head than "FIREFLY'S BACK! WHOOO!")