Firefly Discussion

From everything I've read, most recently in the new Whedon biography, is that everyone but Joss would do it in a heartbeat. He'd have to have the confidence in handing it off to someone he can trust. All of the people from Buffy, Firefly, and Angel that would fill that role are doing their own things. And he's not the type of dude to sit back and watch others do things anyway. Hence, no Firefly.

And to be totally honest, I would just like to see a show like this anywhere. The closest thing to it is cartoons/animation. I'm hoping the Marvel stuff coming to Netflix will be influenced by his style. (NOT Winter Soldier influenced. That attempt at humor was sometimes sad)

You thought that, but most of us liked Winter Soldier! =p

For Pete's sake, T-wolf, I liked Winter Soldier just like everyone else on the planet. I'm saying that the Whedon-esque humor and witty banter was out of place in a few scenes. And if you want to disagree, fine; I'll just PM you Guardians of the Galaxy spoilers. And if you think I'm not that evil, here's a sample: One of the members of the team is secretly a raccoon.

Awww, spiddy got a little hurt at my gentle prodding. Don't worry spiddy, you're entitled to your opinion, my clever uses of emoticons indicates a level of sarcasm.

We should cut this out before Trip grounds us.


What episode is everyone on? I plan on watching Trash tonight. Christina Hendricks is in it which makes a good episode even better.

I still haven't watched any more after Out of Gas. As much as I enjoy myself while watching the show, I never feel the pressing need to see what happens next, so I rarely have that "I can't wait to watch another episode" feeling most great shows give me. I guess it is partly the show being so procedural, but I suppose I just don't feel as strongly as most do about the show. You guys feel free to talk about whatever though. I'll still check in and read more when I'm caught up or done.

TripOpt55 wrote:As much as I enjoy myself while watching the show, I never feel the pressing need to see what happens next, so I rarely have that "I can't wait to watch another episode" feeling most great shows give me. I guess it is partly the show being so procedural

I get that because I am the exact opposite.

I'm kind of with Trip on this. I think the show has some really cool...things in it, but it's not like when I watch Game of Thrones or The Sopranos or even The Simpsons where I find myself up at 3 AM saying "Just...one...more...episode." before I collapse in the sea of junk food and soda in front of me.

Game of Thrones and The Sopranos almost always end with a kind of cliffhanger though, where Firefly tells a story for an episode and ends it at the end leaving you feeling like something has been completed. Having watched other Whedon shows, I guarantee there would have been an overall arcing story for the rest of the season if it would have lasted. I think the most important thing they were trying to accomplish was telling the backstory of all of these characters and how they all ended up here first, which every episode does a good job of enlightening viewers on a little more.

As for the show feeling dated, it is older than it seems because it's often talked about. The show was made in 2002, television shows now seem to have bigger budgets and definitely better effects. When I watch shows it is all about characters and stories, and I think Firefly has some of the richest characters ever to grace the small screen, and I know for a fact some great stories would have followed.

Pspiddy, do you read the comics? I'm going to read those after we watch the movie. Would love to see talk those with you as well.

WELL, yes. But take some of my other favorite shows that also have that "must...watch...one..." yeah you get it, anyway, the other shows that always do that to me are Seinfeld and Simpsons which are both shows that have very self-contained stories. Cowboy Bebop as well, for the most part has self contained stories. I mean, maybe it's because both of those are a bit shorter?

Honestly, don't know.

As for the budget thing...I compare it to another sci-fi show The Prisoner. Now, The Prisoner has some pretty goofy effects but I felt it did more to hide what it didn't have, whereas Firefly has a couple episodes where it pretends to have a lot more budget than it does. And doesn't modify the script or shoot things in clever ways to hide the fact that they can't afford certain things and that's what, to me, gives it the kind of "cheap" feel.

BUT AGAIN, and I do mean this, and I hope you guys understand this about me by now, when I"m critical about something it by no means indicates that I dislike it or think it's bad. This show had "legs", and deserved to go on for much much longer than it did. And I agree with you Bret, if the show made it to season 2 they probably would have started in on some longer story lines that might have kept me more hooked. But it's definitely in that realm of "awesome but flawed" for me.

I generally feel that procedurals (shows like this with a case/job/monster of the week) are better when they have some kind of overarching storyline running through them. Most know how I feel about Fringe and Veronica Mars and they are procedurals, but they have that more serialized story/mythology/whatever you want to call it going for them where thus far Firefly does not. I just think it'd be a better show if it had that. It's nice to say it would have if it ran longer, but that isn't what I'm judging. I'm judging what I've actually seen.

I like that the characters are fully realised but still have plenty of room for growth. I grew up watching The A-Team so the format is both familiar and welcome to me. And the fact that the narrative follows along a similar path to comic books like Usagi Yojimbo and Lone Wolf and Cub makes it even more appealing to me. Like Kung-Fu but good.

This is why these discussions are so interesting. I rarely watch anything on television besides sports so when I do like a show it is usually something I can pick up and leave off on a whim. And what you guys are saying would drive me nuts. For example, I started Breaking Bad and before the pilot was over I turned it off. Not for anything more than I was TOO interested and I knew I'd have to prepare for commitment before watching it. Yes, I suck that bad at watching TV.

@Bret: Tell me exactly what you're reading and I'll track it down.

http://www.amazon.com/Serenity-Vol-Those-Left-Behind/dp/1593074492/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

http://www.amazon.com/Serenity-Vol-2-Better-Days/dp/1595821627/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

http://www.amazon.com/Serenity-Volume-The-Shepherds-Tale/dp/1595825614/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z

I might have to get the last one, don't think I own it. They just had a six issue arc that hasn't come out as a graphic novel yet. I haven't read those because I wanted to watch the show and movies, and read the other graphic novels before reading them.

Since Breaking Bad was mentioned I'm going to go into my problem with the show. As great as it is and will always be, my problem is that the characters never really experience a moment of happiness. If they do at the end of an episode, a new problem usually arises right at the start of the next episode. Comparing it to Firefly it is obviously the better show, but it's a tiring journey to watch and one I never plan on watching again. Unlike other great shows it to me isn't a show that warrants a repeat viewing due to the lack of good things that happen to the characters and the lack of comedy. Firefly's characters are can betray you one moment and have you laughing later (Jayne for example). It's a show that's fun to watch again. However, I do think Breaking Bad should be watched by all at least once.

By Trash, they were really doing a lot to make Simon and River more likable. And as an overall episode...good episode .They did what I wanted them to do, expect her double cross and plan against it.

I watched Ariel yesterday. I thought it was a pretty good heist-style ep.

The guys at the end are very creepy. Looks like a painful way to die.

I've finished it and I must say: what a shame. I agree with Trip in that it didn't have that spark that made me want to marathon it but on the other hand the things they were doing by the last few episodes with the characters, with the effects, really seemed like it was moving in a direction that could have hooked me. Not to mention the last episode indicated at least a slight move away from those situational setups and more into an overarching story line.

Good show, not amazing, but definitely cut off before it deserved to be.

Give me that Twolf rating out of 10.

I watched War stories which was really good. Wash and Jayne had some great lines. Seeing Book and River in the firefight was cool too. Sorry I'm so slow! I'm tried to keep up with you guys but couldn't quite do it. Hopefully I will finish it up this week.

The t-wolf rating out of 10 would probably be a 6.5 or 7/10. Keep in mind that anything 7 or above is something I would own outright. And if the whole series had the drive and focus of the last 5 or so episodes, it would get bumped up considerably.

Gotcha. I'm going to be logging all these ratings in my noggin for comparisons sake now.

I watched Trash. Another fun one. Once Mal sat next to her, I was like, "She's going to steal your gun!" Didn't see the end with Inara coming so that was neat.

Krubixcube wrote:The t-wolf rating out of 10 would probably be a 6.5 or 7/10. Keep in mind that anything 7 or above is something I would own outright. And if the whole series had the drive and focus of the last 5 or so episodes, it would get bumped up considerably.

The mythology was certainly building that's for sure. It seemed they were starting to click on all cylinders.

I like that it's similar to a 70s/80s comic book instead of based on a novel or series of novels. It uses the medium well and doesn't leave me feeling like I'd rather be reading a book. And I can also relate to the characters which is something I find lacking in many television shows. For example, Mal's speech and subsequent actions at the end of The Train Job completely sold me on the show. The series is full of moments like that I don't see often in pulp serials like this. Hell, anything for that matter. I think Tyrion is the only television character to come close to what Firefly was doing.

Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and watch the last episode sometime soon. As I stated before, I haven't watched it because I don't want the show to end. It's been over a decade so I think it's finally time to move on   

You're in for a great episode. It's right up there with Out of Gas in my opinion. Apparently that Shepherd's Tale graphic novel isn't worth the money. Apparently it's only 60 pages and the amount of text in it can fill a page. So I'll be passing on that.

I'm not foolish in thinking we'll all be watching the movie as well, right?

I plan on it. But yeah, I think that went unspoken when we started.

Shiny.

I watched the last couple of episodes tonight. Heart of Gold wasn't all that good to me. The bad guy's floating car and Mal and Melinda Clarke's character's conversation before they banged were really oozing with cheese. There were a couple of funny moments. Like when Mal said to Jayne that they were working for whores and he immediately said, I'm in. There was another thing that really cracked me up, but I'm actually blanking on it at the moment.

I liked Objects in Space a lot. Exploring River's character is something it would have been cool to see the show do more of if it went longer and I enjoyed watching her in this one. Still don't love the doctor. He is kind of a dolt. Too bad Kaylee has to settle for chasing him. He is pretty lame. The villain was pretty solid. One of the better episodes for sure.

Overall I liked the show. I'd probably give it a B overall. I think it had a great cast of characters and a unique setting that really helped set it apart. I also really liked the variety it delivered as far as being able to deliver on action, drama and humor. All that elevated the sometimes run of the mill stories. As I mentioned before I would have liked more of an emphasis on the mythology at times and some longer term plots, but I could see they were going to build to that. I think its rabid cult following had my expectations too high. I can definitely see the potential of the show, but what we got was not great, but merely good. Which is fine. Just didn't quite live up to the hype for me.

Anyway, I will check out the movie some time this week.

Finally watched some more episodes. Watching it with Lindsay is a slow burn.

Trip, I have some ideas on the funny parts from Heart of Gold that were alluding you.

Could it be this...

When Inara gets the distress call from the whores and Mal turns to her and says "Is it a distress call from someone's pants?"

Perhaps this...

When everyone first steps into the whore house and Kaylee is very excited to see that they have male whores. Jayne is also funny at this moment.

Or this...

When Kaylee and Wash are going to Serenity Kaylee says...

"Did you notice the captain was funny this morning?"

Wash replies, "Kaylee, we all know I'm the funny one."

Those are all zingers that zinged me where I wanted to be zinged.

Finished it all up. Objects In Space really rivals Out of Gas for my favorite episode. Like all Whedon villains, you really like the bad guy in this episode. He's funny, says cool shit, he's troubled, and he does bad things. Reminds me of a bleach-blond bomb-shell named Spike. If the show would have went on, I hope somehow they would have had a return for this guy. I even loved his awesome theme song, somehow eerie and adventurous at the same time.

pspiddy, did you ever end up watching this? I think you said earlier that you've never watched the last episode. If you still haven't and do, my shoulder is always here to cry on.

I watched it twice; first by myself and again with my wife. I can't really say much more than I all ready have, so I'll leave it to Boyz II Men: