Firefly - I just don't get it

[Belen]

And that's why I said I would continue to watch the rest of the episodes. I just wanted to know if I was missing something because so many of my peers were clamoring about how "wonderful" this show was.

I think that the show really begins to gel with "Bushwacked" followed by "Our Mrs. Reynolds." These are episodes 3 and 4 respectively. I think that one reason you hear people rave about the show is simplely because they have seen all the episodes.

For instance, "Ariel" maybe the greatest single TV episode I have ever witnessed and that feeling comes from the last 5 minutes of that episode. Joss has an amazing knack for creating and advancing characters. There is a character moment in "Ariel" that just blows you away.

My wife and I are addicted to the show. And, it seems, that everyone we lend the DVDs too also become addicted. Heck, we lent them to Jon Potter at one time. He had them about a month and returned them to us before finishing all the episodes. Two weeks later, his wife told him that he was not allowed to come home unless he brought the DVDs so that they could finish them.

Once the cast gels with each other and their characters, the show just shines. And it does not take long to hit the sweet spot. ST:TNG took two seasons to find the same place that Firefly hit in a quarter of a season.

It also helps that the actors loved their fans. The actors who played Mal, Jayne, and Kaylee were always getting on the messageboards to talk with fans. Adam Baldwin (Jayne) provided constant updates to the fans during the "hiatus." Those people loved the show, loved each other, and loved their audience and it shows in their acting once everything "clicks."

 

[Warrior Poet]

I've loved this show from the first episode I saw (Train Robbery), and actually from within the first 5 minutes of that episode. The moment that sealed it for me was

Spoiler

Mal getting thrown through the tavern window in classic movie Western style, and it's a holo-projection window that reforms after he "breaks through."

They took a classic Western cliche and had a little fun with it. I thought: "Genius. I'm in."

I love Westerns, so that has a lot to do with why I like the series. Other things:

-Good characters. I find I'm interested in them and what they do and where they're going and why they do what they do. I like the conflicts, the network of friends, the alliances, the confusion, the mixed perceptions, the complexities.

-Good dialogue. Spoilers.

Spoiler

"We will make our home in this land and we will call it . . . this land." "'Dear Diary: Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy. We got kidnapped by hill folk and it was the best day ever!'" "A special hell." "If I'm ever going to kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed." "Even Vera'd barely pierce the hull, and she's the best I got!" "It's very vague on the subject of kneecaps." "I can kill you with my brain." "As long as you're on my table, you're safe." "How big a room?" "You want something slinky? I'll buy you something slinky. Captain, can I have some money to buy Zoe something slinky." "How can you say that about me? How can you disrespect me in front of others?" "With swa?" "How drunk was I last night?" "Fight with him sometimes, too." "Well, I was fired, from a fry-cook opportunity."

etc.

-Nice attention to details. No sound in space outside of atmosphere. Nice.

-Good mix of humor and gravity (in the "grave" sense, not the mysterious force that keeps us from flying off into space, though that's certainly nice, too).

-Sense of fun.

-Good cast. Nice work, casting department. Nice work.

-Interesting world development that nods back to history (U.S. Civil War, a historical topic of interest to me) just like, well, hey, life.

-The world looks lived in, not sterile. Not everyone has the same technology or wealth level, just like, well, etc.

-Good writing and plots, from Jaynestown to Out of Gas to War Stories to Objects in Space.

I think the show's terrific. It's the most fun with a Western I've had in a long time, and it also happens to have spaceships and advanced guns and strange technology. Bonus! The only thing it needs is a scene with Kaylee and Inara and Zoe. Together. In the shower.

{Ahem}

I'll be in my bunk,

Warrior Poet

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I watched Firefly from the first episode aired on FOX (The Train Job). I was hooked from almost the first minute. I cannot say why exactly, but something about the show really resonated with me. Whe I saw it I had no idea it was a Joss Whedon show, which may have been a good thing since Buffy and Angel never did much for me, despite the fact that my friends all raved about those shows and proclaimed Joss Whedon to be eligible for godhood. In my opinion if you have only watched the first two episodes, give it one or two more, they are not the best of the series. If after a couple more shows, you still think it's only OK, then either the show just isn't your thing, or you came in with some expectations after hearing people (like me admittedly) rave about the show, and it hasn't lived up to them. So what, move on. There isn't a show out there that everyone loves, that's why we have so freakin' many channels these days.

 

[Westgate Polks]

Firefly - "Low" Sci-Fi

Reveal -

First off - yay to you! There are not too many people who would comment against something this popular they don't like while making strong points (as opposed to simple bashing). As someone who has recently come to really enjoy the show I appreciate the honesty and the open mind.

Second off, not everyone will like Firefly. The show is a bit quirky and no show is for everyone. I won't try to show you where you are "wrong", because you aren't. What I will do is point out a few things that I enjoy about the show you can get a sense of where at lease one of the fans is coming from.

Just as a bit of background, I don't really enjoy either Buffy the Vampire Slayer OR Angel, and I missed the Firefly tv show. I have several friends who are fans and they talked the show up. At ComiCon 2005 I was fortuante enough to attend the sneak preview and to playtest the new RPG coming out; both were thoroughly enjoyable and prompted me to begin watching the DVDs.

The most striking elements of the show are "low" science: there is no FTL travel and there are no aliens. Combining these elements make for a setting that is very different from most Sci-Fi fare. It also places boundaries around the storytelling, as locals can't be hundreds of lightyears away from one another and the antagonist can't have wild racial abilities to pose challenges. The resulting setting is very human-esque.

I find the juxstaposition of the science fiction element and the western element very entertaining even if it presents a few logical conundrums that I have yet to reconcile. It illuminates the whole "space as the last fontier" mentality that sci-fi has had for some time. It also highlights the relatively low technology level of the show. This again places emphasis on the story by removing elements that some sci-fi creators hide behind. Everyone does not possess massive laser weapons (although laser technology does exist), there are not teleporters to instantly bridge the gap between locals and make "instant calvary" a possible story option, and there are not robots / droids for every function. I do have troubles with so many characters speaking with a southern accent: it doesn't make sense to me that such a large population would speak with a particular American dialect AND that said dialect really exists only on the fringes of Alliance.

The parallels between the War of Unification in the series and the American Civil War also interest me, in that the Alliance (the winners, the group trying to maintain cohesion) is portrayed as the 'bad guy' while the Brown Coats (the losers, the sepratists) are portrayed as freedom fighters seeking their own place in the world. Not only does that decision stand much conventional teaching about the civil war on end, it also places the shows point of view such that we get a different perspective.

The other component of the show that really captures my attention are the characters. Some are a bit stereotypical, but most have at least one fresh aspect that sets them apart.
The Captain is probably the least unique of the characters, as he is an ex-soldier type no running a team of thieves who (mostly) rob from the rich, etc. etc. His relative lack of superior knowledge does set him apart a bit, and the fact that he is NOT always cool and collected is also a nice touch. The first mate is unique in that she is a strong black woman; NOT the typical second-in-command type at all. The fact that she almost blindly follows the captains orders yet has no hesitation in prioritizing differently when her husband is also at risk. Her husband, the pilot, is atypical of 'hot-shot' pilots in that he is not overly macho and does not always handle himself well. He flies, but he is not a great fighter. The master mechanic is a very young woman (who, when over her head, acts more like a old girl) with a raging sex-drive. And of course there is the companion (the 'whore') who, in a great twist of irony, has more legitimacy than the rest of the crew.

It's very cool that you are planning on watching a few more episodes to get a better sense of the show for yourself. I hope you enjoy them!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

People who do not like Firefly should be recycled.



... OK maybe I should embrace a little more peace, love, and understanding. But with Firefly the show steadily builds. It's completely character based and those characters are developed over time. I really didn't like the Battlestar Galactica pilot and I only watched the show because it was on after Atlantis and I wasn't doing anything else that late on a Friday. Now I'm a huge BSG fan.

Keep watching until "Shindig" which is episode four or five. It's the one where Mal goes to the fancy party. If you don't like that, I can't see that you'll like the rest of the series. Although I agree with PC about "Janyestown", but that's futher on.

 

[Hijinks]

But you've nailed what I love about his work; Dialogue.

I thought it was funny, when Inara and Kaylee first meet in the first episode (they obviously have met before), they both say "Hey you" softly ... I said "uh oh!" That's a classic Whedon greeting for women who have been (or will become) lovers, or who appreciate in each other the ability to love women. Then in one of the next scenes,

~~ SPOILER SPOILER I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO CHANGE THE COLOR OF THE TEXT!! ~~

another character (I think it's Jayne) announces that Kaylee has homosexual tendencies, and then in a later episode we learn that Inara enjoys sex with women as well as men.

Joss Whedon likes to insert lesbians into his shows, which I don't particularly mind, but he tips it off through his dialogue, at least to those of us who are staunch Buffy fans and are used to how Willow and Tara acted around each other.

 

[WizarDru]

You can use the [*spoiler] TAG [/*spoiler]. Just remove the '*' from what I just typed, and then you'll have something like this:

Spoiler

River is made of Chocolate!

There's a second spoiler tag that gives the 'show' button, but I don't remember the syntax. It's spoilerXXXX, but I don't recall the word.

 

[reveal]

You can use the [*spoiler] TAG [/*spoiler]. Just remove the '*' from what I just typed, and then you'll have something like this:

Spoiler

River is made of Chocolate!

There's a second spoiler tag that gives the 'show' button, but I don't remember the syntax. It's spoilerXXXX, but I don't recall the word.

It's [*sblock] Info [/*sblock] (of course remove the *'s)

 

[Jeremy]

I don't think

Spoiler

that Jayne said Kaylee had lesbian tendancies, I think he said that she was wishing the Doctor was a gynecologist rather than a surgeon because he had picked up on the fact that she thought he was cute. Then he follows it up with a comment about what gets her "lubed up" before Mal took an even harder line to correcting his manners.

Least that's what I remember, but we could be talking about different scenes. I think Kaylie just finds Inara's world romantic because of the courtship and the pretty dresses and all the romance that Inara is trained to put into her work. That and she enjoys spending time doing girly-girl things with her when she isn't doing greasemonkey things or taking orders.

At least that's my take on it.

And the show is brilliant and entertainment gold, but neither it nor anything else will survive the high expectations that can be imagined by listening to anyone else's view.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

And the show is brilliant and entertainment gold, but neither it nor anything else will survive the high expectations that can be imagined by listening to anyone else's view.

I think that is true. I've been told by so many fans how amazingly great it is that anything less than the greatest piece of entertainment ever is going to fall short.