What was good about Firefly?

[S'mon]

Can someone fill me in on this? I watched a few eps and just didn't get it. SF-Western is a good idea but the way it was executed here with six-shooters, horses and frilly dresses seemed incredibly forced & laboured to me. IMO an sf Western-style series (eg 2000AD's Stontium Dogs bounty hunter comic strip) really needs limited, difficult travel analogous to the stagecoach & railway, not common privately owned interstellar trade ships.

The opening sequence of the pilot ep was terribly done and the political background seemed very poorly developed (both compared to Andromeda, say). Was the Alliance supposed to represent the victorious Union at the end of the Civil War? If so it needed to be less unambigiously villainous IMO.

I've seen the actors do a good job as Big Bads on Buffy & Angel, so I know they're ok.

 

[Psychotic Dreamer]

Personally the setting worked nicely for me. It was a nice mix of ideas. Plus I loved the writing, the characters and the interaction between the characters.

 

[Tsyr]

I always saw the Alliance as one of those things that everyone fought for, but then wasn't what they thought it was going to be.

For whatever reason (Good special effects, good camera work, a great cast, a cool setting...), it worked for me.

 

[Tear44]

One of the things that won me over, was the silence of vaccum. Check out every scene in space, the only noise is helmet communication and respiration. No energy weapon sounds, no explosions, no Jump engines reving up.

Was a very nice touch.

The thing that made me a fan, was how Mal delt with the Henchman Prisoner in one of the earliest episodes. Mal is outlining how he'll let the guy go, if he goes back to his boss and says the score is even. The henchman makes some threat about hunting him down. Mal then kicks him into the intake of Serenity, and offers the deal to the next surviving prisoner. None of this "Can't sink to their level. " crap.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Characters, character interaction, and dialog. Background was being built in each show as was the grand plot. The hour show was episode plots, boy meets girl, hero save day, or someone gets in mess, but there was always hints and building blocks to the characters and story.

The western setting was just that; a setting, it created a backdrop of days when man was pushing civilzation, where right and wrong was who walked away from a fight.

 

[Black Omega]

I wouldn't feel bad, S'mon, you weren't the only one. For me the setting ranged from 'it doesn't work' all the way to 'really annoying'. The characters were ok, but nothing great.

A friend recommended it to me, and I really tried watching it, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

 

[Villano]

The opening sequence of the pilot ep was terribly done

Do you mean the first episode that aired, or the actual pilot than eventually aired as the last episode?

Therein lies part of the problem with the series: When you start airing episodes out of order, it plays hell with continuity and character development.

All in all, I really enjoyed the series. Personally, I thought it could have been better, but it was good enough for me to look forward to it each week.

Plus, it had Gina Torres in it.

There were some things about the series I didn't like, though, such as the one where the doctor got kidnapped and the townsfolk wanted to burn his sister as a witch. I know they wanted to show that certain areas of the galaxy were "the sticks", but that was kind of dumb.

OTOH, the episode in which Jane was an accidental hero (Janestown?) was excellent. That along with the hospital break in (where Jane sells them out) is my favorite.

It's a shame it didn't stay around long enough to launch a d20 game adaption.

 

[Pielorinho]

Early on, I didn't like the showmuch at all: I thought the "gol-darnit" dialect was extremely cheesy, and the plots were hokey and contrived.

Buta s the showed continued, it just got better and better and better.

Like all Joss Whedon shows, this one playd with cliches, deliberately tweaking them. Someone already mentioned my favorite scene: when a prisoner says, "You may have me now, but my boss will never forgive you, and I'll hunt you to the ends of the galaxy, and the last thing you'll see is the tip of my knife going through your eye," the captain frowns, says, "Darn!" and kicks the guy into the ship's engine. Beautiful!

Another episode shows the captain, having efected a heroic escape, fighting to the death with a bad guy, perched over a chasm. His friends have killed everyone else (in the best action sequence I've seen in a TV show), and when they come across their captain, one turns to the other and says, "Let them be at it. The captain needs to finish this himself." The captain squawks, through the hands clenched around his throat, "NO! Shoot him! Shoot him!" and his crew, startled out of their cliche, hastily do so.

The show has terrifying moments in it. Any of you fans, if I put on latex gloves and hold up a pen that emits blue light, tell me you're not going to wet your pants.

And then there was Kaylee, who was an incredible hottie. Mmmm, I miss me some Keylee....

The show definitely grew on me, and by the end, I was furious that Fox canceled it.

Daniel

 

[Welverin]

>snip commentary<

Daniel

Same name (well I just go by Dan), same thoughts (mostly).

I will add that you really need to watch more than a couple of episodes before you can get into it. I wasn't to enamored with it when it first started and only continued watching a) to give it a chance, b) out of habit, and c) because it was on before John Doe and was therefore easy to tape all in one. By the end of it's run I really liked it and was rather disappointed it was cancelled.

I'd suggest that once the DVD set comes out you rent it or borrow it if you can and watch all of the episodes in order. You could quite likely change your opinion.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi all!

I would watch it if they had that Christina Hendricks who played 'Saffron' in it every episode. I must say I am quite taken with her.

Incidently I only saw one episode of Firefly and she was in it.

I thought it was okay.