You are the head of a major network: Firefly vs the new Battlestar Galactica

[John Crichton]

I'm bored and have been thinking about TV that I've really enjoyed in the last few years. Then I decided to focus on sci-fi. Ignoring Farscape simply because it's been gone for so long and will never come back I settled on Firefly on BSG.

If you look at the 2 series, they are very similar. BSG started as a mini and was turned into a series. Firefly started as a series and now has become a feature film (which I have yet to see but it sounds like we may get more than just one movie). If we ignore season 2 of BSG for the purposes of comparison and just focus on the mini-series and season one (13 eps) and then look at Firefly (2 hour pilot + 13 eps) you get about the same amount of screen time, plot and character development. We'll have to leave the Serenity movie out of it for now but that's okay, it's not needed as the show stands well on its own.

Both paint a picture of a possible future with no aliens, transporters or general staples outside of laser guns and starships. So, which do you like more? What's the higher quality for you? If you could choose to only have one continue on to a second season based only on the criteria given which would you choose? And discuss.

Remember, you only get to pick one...

EDIT: If it helps to make this choice, try this (copied from a below post) - The situation (since this is an RPG site) is that you get to play network head for a day and that one day you get to choose which show stays on for another year (and maybe longer) and which dies. It's a tough choice for sure but there wouldn't be any point if it was an easy call (assuming you like both shows). To me, this type of choice is a wonderful and horrible fantasy. You want to keep both but that's not the situation. And explaining why you won't choose doesn't apply.

 

[Mouseferatu]

No contest. Much as I like the new Battlestar, Firefly is one of my all-time favorite shows, despite its limited run. I'd sacrifice BG, and a great many other shows that I like, to have Firefly back.

 

[Ranger REG]

Remember, you only get to pick one...

Star Trek.

Sorry, I do not favor one over the other. They're both enjoyable in their own franchise.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I'll take Firefly over the new Battlestar Galactica anyday.

 

[ddvmor]

Poor, poor BSG. It was close, though...

 

[John Crichton]

Star Trek.

Sorry, I do not favor one over the other. They're both enjoyable in their own franchise.

Of course they are both enjoyable but there is no fun in just staying put. The point of this is to play the head of a network for one day. You get to keep one show but have to kill the other. Which would you choose?

C'mon, you know you wanna.

 

[Umbran]

So, which do you like more? What's the higher quality for you? If you could choose to only have one continue on to a second season based only on the criteria given which would you choose? And discuss.

False premise: That when I pick one to stick around, it is because I like that one more.

I like both series a great deal. If I have to pick one to stick around, I cannot do so based upon the amount of pleasure it brings me to watch them. So, I would have to pick based upon other criteria: Which of them is likely to stay better for longer? Which of them to my friends like more? Which of them is more likely to drag in vierwers from the general public, and thus broaden the overall audience for genre shows in general?

I could give other criteria as well, but I expect you get the idea. None of the above have much to do with my liking them. When two horses run neck and neck, something other than the basic qualities of the horse begin to show.

 

[Fast Learner]

If I had to choose, it would be Firefly, but those two shows are my top two science fiction tv series ever, so it would way suck to have to kill one for the other to live. I'd sacrifice all Star Treks, all Stargates, Babylon 5 (though it would be painful), Buck Rogers, and every other TV sci-fi series to keep the two alive, if that was an option.

 

[Tenser42]

I love both shows, but I chose Firefly because, even though BSG is a great show, and makes me think, and keeps me interested, Firefly made me laugh like almost no show has. The setting and characters were fascinating, and when I was done watching the DVD for the first time, I was depressed that I would not be able to learn more about them (thank goodness for Serenity, and here's hoping for more movies after that).

If BSG were canceled today, I would be upset, but not quite to the extent that I'm upset over Firefly being canceled.

 

[Wombat]

This is not even a contest to my mind.

I find Firefly to be a muddle, a confused idea that never gelled, an odd view of the "world" (galaxy) that made little sense; Battlestar Galactica, conversely, is taught, well-scripted, frightening, intriguing, and nervewracking. One I watch, the other I do not.

Personal tastes, obviously.