Firefly

[John Crichton]

Maybe I just need to watch it a few more times and see if it grows on me.

Perhaps, but I don't expect anyone to enjoy things the same way I do. I did like it quite a bit the first time I saw it, as well. It was certainly different enough from the show to feel a little off until I adjusted to all the changes that happened between the last episode and the start of the flick. Not to mention the different look.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

While monsters are generally better left unexplained- to a point- I thought the explanation for Reavers was actually pretty good within the context of the show.

OTOH, I didn't particularly care for Catatonic Lil' Sis being a female Bourne... It made for some interesting fight scenes, but I didn't like the way it shaped the plot over the series' run.

 

[Umbran]

However, in any discussion about Andromeda, I have to point out that the creator and executive producer, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, was basically forced out in the middle of the second season. Basically, the producers wanted it dumbed down and all focus on Sorbo, RHW said no and was booted.

It might be interesting to note that Sorbo himself got Executive Producer credit after the first season. Coincidence?

And yes, if you were watching the show, you could see the point where RHW left like someone flipped a light switch. Unfortunately, they were flipping it off....

 

[Umbran]

While monsters are generally better left unexplained- to a point- I thought the explanation for Reavers was actually pretty good within the context of the show.

Joss Wheadon has noted - the Reavers we saw in the movie were not the Reavers he'd intended for the series. Same for River's backstory. We got a wrap-up, but not the same one we'd have gotten had the series continued.

That makes sense in two ways - the origins he'd intended may not have played out well in a movie, for one. For another, if by some miracle the movie did well enough that some Powers That Be decided to revive the show, the movie could be taken as non-canon, and they could just move along. Joss has worked in the comic book industry, where non-canon sidelines are commonplace.

 

[Herschel]

Battlestar Galactica was produced by NBC/Universal and put where is could grow.

Firefly was on a Murdoch cesspool network where they don't try to understand how to make a show work but play speghetti theory with their lineup. They did teh same thing with Brimstone prior: The Friday night dead-slot (but at least that went in order). I never actually saw Firefly until it came out on DVD, but the Brimstone debacle was the one and only time I've ever composed and sent a letter to network programming.

 

[Felon]

Battlestar Galactica was produced by NBC/Universal and put where is could grow.

Firefly was on a Murdoch cesspool network where they don't try to understand how to make a show work but play speghetti theory with their lineup. They did teh same thing with Brimstone prior: The Friday night dead-slot (but at least that went in order). I never actually saw Firefly until it came out on DVD, but the Brimstone debacle was the one and only time I've ever composed and sent a letter to network programming.

I think Whedon summed up the Fox mentality pretty well. They wanted dramas about cool people, but not cool because they're loners or outcasts living on the fringe. Their dramas had to be about movers and shakers, people with wealth or authority who call the shots, drive expensive, shiny cars, talk on cell phones constantly, and never have trouble getting laid. Looking back at the waves after waves of FOX shows with aborted first-season runs, it mostly jibes.

According to Whedon, they would constantly refer to Firefly as being a show about a bunch of losers. This understanding of the Fox mentality was how Dollhouse came about.

Compare and contrast: Malcolm Reynolds versus Jack Bauer

 

[Felon]

I agree. Serenity is one of those movies I try to pretend does not exist, sort of like the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies. Serenity was way too rushed. I much prefer the TV series over the movie.

I've always been perplexed how Whedon could have thought that titling a movie "Serenity" would produce a marketable action movie. Kind of foolish to just assume audiences would pick up on the irony. And the Fox execs didn't even pressure him into changing it. Weird.

Other than the title, my other major peeve is the seven-stone River single-handedly slaughtering the Reavers in hand-to-hand combat.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

To be fair to Fox, they tried a LOT of sci-fi on their network, usually on Fridays. Out of that came X-Files, Millenium, Sliders and Firefly with multi-year runs, plus shows that presaged nBSG and Chuck that would come a decade later.

Sure, they managed to screw a lot if stuff up, unlike a lot of pre-Sci-Fi network broadcasters, Fox put a TON of sci-fi in their lineup.

 

[LightPhoenix]

To be fair to Fox, they tried a LOT of sci-fi on their network, usually on Fridays. Out of that came X-Files, Millenium, Sliders and Firefly with multi-year runs, plus shows that presaged nBSG and Chuck that would come a decade later.

The point stands, but I think you meant another show here.

For all that Fox catches a lot of flak, they really did have a good track record as far as giving sci-fi shows a chance to at least see air when the big three wouldn't even touch them. Not to mention something like Fringe, which is still on Fox and in its third season.

I would quibble on the last point though. I wouldn't really consider Chuck sci-fi/fantasy, though certain elements of it are fantastical. BSG ran on SFC, so it's not really a good comparison to the Fox shows. A better example might be Lost.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The point stands, but I think you meant another show here.

For all that Fox catches a lot of flak, they really did have a good track record as far as giving sci-fi shows a chance to at least see air when the big three wouldn't even touch them. Not to mention something like Fringe, which is still on Fox and in its third season.

I would quibble on the last point though. I wouldn't really consider Chuck sci-fi/fantasy, though certain elements of it are fantastical. BSG ran on SFC, so it's not really a good comparison to the Fox shows. A better example might be Lost.

You're right- I may have been thinking of John Doe or something else. There were a few sci-fi shows with (short) multi-year runs, like Harsh Realms.

My point about Chuck and nBSG is merely that FOX aired series that resembled those shows in themes, tones and writing styles back in the late 1990s.

That was my point...but I was half wrong: the pre-nBSG nBSG was Space: above & Beyond, which aired on FOX. The pre-Chuck Chuck was Jake2.0, which aired on UPN.