Posted by Crothian - 01-24-2004 at 10:45 PMPosted by Crothian - 01-24-2004 at 10:45 PM
So, it's been out for the better part of a month or so; what's people opinions on the new episodes? What of the 14 is your favorite? Anything that just doesn't sit right with you? Anything that was utter brilliance??
I thought all the new episodes were really good- I liked 'Heart of Gold' a lot, and 'Trash' was cool. 'The Message' was probably my least favorite, but the chase through the snowy wastes was killer.
My favorite episode is probably still... well, I'm torn. I think 'Out of Gas' is probably still my number one favorite, but 'War Stories' is a close second. The fight scene where River and Book's abilities are on display was really sweet.
Overall, the best part of the DVD set is simply that the stories are finally told in their proper linear format- it's amazing how much character development goes on in the space of just these 14 episodes, and how much of that was so ruined by the network airing them out of sequence. You really don't get storytelling like that these days, certainly not on tv. True character growth is almost nonexistent, and with the prevailing attitude being that you have to tie things up within episodes, or simply attempting to maintain the status quo so that you can continue to have conflict, rather than allowing conflicts to come and go as the characters grow and interact, most episodic television these days just... stinks.
The whole series is utter brilliance, and the only thing that doesn't sit well with me is the fact that we won't (barring a movie) get any more of this series. The best show ever to be cancelled, as I keep telling people.
Favorite episode has to Objects in Space. The bounty hunter is a great character, and River just out thinks him the whole way. The doctor gets some good lines as well.
This was a good episode, and I think Jubal Early would have made an awesome recurring villain.
Of all the episodes the only part that really bothers me is in the peisode Ariel with the Blue Gloved people. The killed the gaurds for what seems like no reason. But that's not so bad as the gaurds letting themselves be killed. On Firefly they have shown over and over that Alliance guards shot first. Once the first gaurd died screaming, the other guys would at least think something is up and shot something. There was no gunfire at all and there is no reason given for their being none. we can guess and assume that these Blue Gloved people have other powers; but we shouldn't have to.
As for why they killed the guards, I thought they said why they killed them. If not, I always assumed it was because they didn't want to have any witnesses to the fact that River was out there- she's part of a project that the Alliance (or some faction of the Alliance- one presumably affiliated with the Blue Sun people) doesn't want public. It's a hush-hush, black ops sort of experimentation that is going on. They want River and the Doctor back- River because she's part of the project, Simon because they want to keep him quiet.
(FWIW, my conjecture on the whole River thing- she is part of this secret government/corporate project, some elements of the Alliance proper aren't happy with what is going on in the rest of the overly bureaucratic government, and they found out about Simon looking into River's problems. They agreed to help him free her so that they could find out more about what was going on themselves. To that end, they sent an agent of their own- Book- to keep a close eye on River and Simon. That's what I think.)
Also, it seems to me that the Alliance guards didn't have time to shoot at the blue-gloves. I remember thinking the same thing the first time I saw the episode (on tv) but when watching it on DVD, if they all heard the ultrasonic device thingy at the same time, then they wouldn't have had time to react. I presume it probably messes with the inner ear and induces vertigo among its other more gruesome effects.
