No more Firefly - what next?

[BiggusGeekus]

No more Firefly - what next?

GAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

When I saw this thread title I thought that the feature film had been canceled.

Please don't do that to me again.

 

[mafisto]

I saw the pilot episode of B5, and really loved it. Or rather, loved the Asian actress that played a major role, and liked the ambition of the show. But somehow I remember coming back for the next episode and a bunch of the characters were being played by different actors. Is that right or is my memory failing me? Anyway, after that I tuned out. I suppose I should give it another shot; I'm learning that a single episode does not make a series.

I've only seen Farscape in the SciFi commercials, and it has consistently looked abhorrent. So maybe I should ask the people who were converted to it, not true believers from the start - is it worth it? Seriously, I get the impression that it's a bunch of wooden human actors with fake laser pistols against a backdrop of more wooden actors (decorated in different colors and nubbins on their heads! Whoa!) with super alien fake laser pistols.

Okay, that came off as far too condescending. But after all of those Star Trek XXIII: Another Spaceship or whatever shows I'm burned out. Someone sell me on this one.

 

[mafisto]

You probably already know this, but if not- you've only got 8 more months to wait for the big screen "Serenity". April, 2005! Woohoo!

Ah yes. And Whedon's pushing for Dark Horse to publish a Serenity comic book. Have to admit, the guy is really in love with his creation. Almost as much as I am, I'm willing to wager.

 

[Staffan]

Babylon 5, seasons 1-4 are the best Sci-Fi TV EVAR!!!! One problem is that the show was written as a five season arc. Then in Season 4 they are positive the show is done after the season wraps. So JMS reworks it so that both major storylines that drive the show are wrapped up at the end of season 4. Then the show is renewed. Damn executives! So Season 4 is a bit rushed, but still amazing. Season 5 is great, but not as good as the first four as it lacks the punch of the first four as it's side stories that would have taken place behind the main storylines that were wrapped up in Season 4.

#include b5season5rantinfo.h

Actually, they didn't compress the story that much to fit it into the fourth season. The original plan was to have the episode where Sheridan gets interrogated (4.18 IIRC) being either the first episode of season 5 or the last of season 4 - so that's maybe 3-5 episodes worth of compression. I'm pretty sure that Earth would have been retaken by episode 6, just like the main thing between seasons 3 and 4 were taken care of by episode 4.6. So season 5 was always supposed to be about the building of the ISA and the burgeoning teep conflict. We still would have gotten the Minbari civil war, and the Centauri weirdness. We might not have gotten Day of the Dead or A View from the Gallery, however.

What did hurt season 5 was that Claudia Christian left the show. Instead we got Tracy Scoggins as Lockley, which meant they had to introduce a new character (and I don't think the link to Sheridan was a good idea). From what I hear, the original plan was to have Ivanova, vulnerable after Marcus's death and having a hate-on the size of Russia for Psi-corps, be the one to get heavily involved in Byron's cult with Lyta's role in things being more peripheral.

 

[ShadowX]

GAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

When I saw this thread title I thought that the feature film had been canceled.

Please don't do that to me again.

I am glad that I am not the only one.

 

[Staffan]

I saw the pilot episode of B5, and really loved it. Or rather, loved the Asian actress that played a major role, and liked the ambition of the show. But somehow I remember coming back for the next episode and a bunch of the characters were being played by different actors. Is that right or is my memory failing me?

Not exactly. Some of the actors involved in the pilot couldn't commit to the full series (there was almost a year between when the pilot was made and the series began). Tamlyn Tomita (the asian actress you mentioned) was one, the guy playing the doctor was another, and Pat Tallman (the redhead telepath) was a third. So, they had these characters written out and new ones written in: Claudia Christian as Ivanova to replace Lt. Takashima, Richard Biggs as Stephen Franklin as a replacement for Dr. Kyle, and Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters to replace Lyta Alexander. They did some switching around of their story arcs - Talia picked up an important part of Takahashima's arc, for example (

Spoiler

the part about having another personality that was a psicorps mole

). But as far as I know, only two roles on the whole show have actually been recast: G'Kar's aide Na'toth was played by Julie Brown in season 1 and Mary Kay Adams in season 2 (or maybe the other way around), and

Spoiler

Sheridan's wife Anna was played by someone I can't remember in a taped message, and then by Melissa Gilbert when she appeared for real

.

Anyway, after that I tuned out. I suppose I should give it another shot; I'm learning that a single episode does not make a series.

Oh, definitely. B5 takes a while to warm up, and it wouldn't hurt to miss the fourth episode (Infection), but once it gets going it's superb.

I've only seen Farscape in the SciFi commercials, and it has consistently looked abhorrent. So maybe I should ask the people who were converted to it, not true believers from the start - is it worth it?

I've only seen about half a season of Farscape, but what I like about it is that it's not a cohesive military team with perfect co-operation like on Star Trek. Instead, the characters are mismatched and only cooperate by necessity, and sometimes not even then.

 

[MEG Hal]

I am going to try The Dead Zone.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I highly recommend "Sports Night." It's not scifi or fantasy, but it's one of the best series to ever be on TV. It got screwed around during its 2-3 year run much as "Firefly" did in that it got pre-empted alot by special events and shows. Never developed a big enough audience to draw good ratings. But it has become a cult favorite since the complete DVD set came out.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I always suggest a good long cry after finishing Firefly.

 

[Dagger75]

Watch Firefly again.