I miss Firefly

[FTCBIRDMAN]

I recently re-watched Firefly and Serenity as I was trying to convert another one of my friends into the browncoat fold(I was successful FYI)and I realized how much I missed this show. With all of the garbage on TV, it confuses me as to how something this brilliant and different could have been and is still being ignored. I have never seen a show where I cared about the characters so much and was so involved in their stories. I do wonder if Joss Whedon will have enough clout assuming the Avengers is the smash everyone thinks it will be, to be able to come back to something he, and clearly everyone involved cared about so much. I realize that Fox still owns the rights, but surely there is something that can be done. I also realize that Firefly lives on in other mediums such as comics, but that isn't good enough for me. Anyway, I just needed an outlet to get this off my chest. My apologies.

 

[DrCosmic]

No apologies needed.

It's interesting to see the fan backlash against the show. Apparently, after ten years of people saying how great and underrated it was, eventually it got too hyped up, and now there's plenty in the fanboy world who love to dog the show. It's kinda sad, because it really is a really great underrated show, with a lot of charm and wit and heart, and you don't see that all the time.

I loved just about everything about this concept. I loved seeing an ensemble cast with more than one black person (meaning they're not token, they're there because they are part of the story), I loved seeing Fillion transform his character from this sort of stoic into... Nathan Fillion. I loved the ridiculous way of talking to death. That's part of the charm.

I don't think Joss will pick it back up really. The actors are otherwise engaged, and without Wash, part of the heart of the show is gone, and I don't think you can get it back. Besides, the show is about being on the outskirts, and doing that show when you have plenty of clout and bank feels... ingenuine. I think he'll use his clout to open up yet another one of his crazy ideas until Avengers 2 is needed. Perhaps he'll spend his time with another Marvel Hero to build up Avengers 2. -shrug-

 

[8Diagrams(WU)]

It was a great show. I saw the whole thing for the first time like a year ago. I genuinely felt sad when it ended.

 

[GhostPoet]

It's a fantastic show...and out of all the great shows to be canceled...it's the one I miss the most.

 

[Teelie]

I think it had potential to be a great series if Fox had given it a chance. Instead it was thrown around, pre-empted and abruptly cancelled because Fox seems to hate itself and anything it puts on the air.

How COPS and The Simpsons managed to go this long seems remarkable. I think COPS managed to make it this long because it's cheap reality programming with no actors, writers, etc to pay consistently while still popular and the Simpsons is one of their flagships from back when they first started out and has some kind of exception to the cancel it quick rule.

Everything else that isn't in "reality television" always feels like it's teetering on the edge of cancellation.

 

[Thundercrack85]

The Simpsons may not be a great show anymore, but it was for a decade, and established itself quite well. It's still superior to a lot of animated shows.

As for Firefly, I enjoyed the show, but i'm not surprised that it got canceled. Westerns and space science fiction are two niche genres. Space westerns are an even smaller niche. The audience appeal is very limited from the start. The name also doesn't help.

Of course, the way Fox handled the series (airing episodes completely out of order, pre-empting them, etc) would have killed any show, even 24.

 

[misjuevos]

i had just watched cowboy bebop a couple years before firefly aired. and firefly made be think of cowboy bebop immediately. mostly because of the concept of people in space collecting bounties to survive. don't get me wrong they are different, i just saw that as a similar theme. i think the best part of firefly is they never really explained their world, just threw you in it. when serenity came out they did eventually explain the history of their universe. it was just a very cool show. it was a space western.

 

[FTCBIRDMAN]

I think that what really set the show apart was the characters. It's not an easy thing to create a show with 9 individual characters and get you to care about each one of them individually. I am not suprised it was cancelled either considering how it was handled. Airing episodes out of order and giving it the dreaded Friday night slot. It seems as if Fox knew it was a failure and never had any faith in it form the beginning. As for not being able to continue the story without Wash, I disagree. Yes he was part of the heart of the show, but the other characters are so well written that I would have no problem watching the continued adventures of the Serenity crew. Hell, I could watch these characters reading the paper while taking a dump.

 

[Gto250]

That show was fantastic, it should have had a long run..
Morena Baccarin was so hot (compared to V ...)

 

[November Rain]

is fifefly as good as farscape?

 

[Teelie]

I think it could have been had we seen more. Farscape was a different type of show but shares the same kind of quirky humor mixed with the outer space theme.

 

[Gto250]

Firefly with some aliens would have been totally perfect for my taste.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Firefly with some aliens would have been totally perfect for my taste.

That would have violated the premise of the show though.

 

[November Rain]

I think it could have been had we seen more. Farscape was a different type of show but shares the same kind of quirky humor mixed with the outer space theme.

fair dos, it'll go on the must see list after all of farscape, that show just went supergood and they bloody cancelled it in its bloody stride, damm

 

[FTCBIRDMAN]

That would have violated the premise of the show though.

I agree with this. Firefly was about human beings trying to survive and doing anything to do so. Putting aliens in it to me would have taken too much away from the western type of theme the show had going for it.

 

[Matt]

I disagree. I do not think aliens should've shown up until at least season 3 or 4, but if they used them to fill the Indian role in the western genre, it could've been brilliant.

 

[Kahoot]

Firefly with some aliens would have been totally perfect for my taste.

 

[kguillou]

So with The Avengers looking like its going to be a huge success critically and commercially, you guys think Joss'll return to this franchise afterwards? One more Serenity movie?

 

[DACrowe]

I'd love to see that. But he is going to get a lot of new cred in Hollywood with TA. He may want to follow it up with original fare he couldn't get made before (like JJ made Super 8 after Star Trek). If he goes back to a great premise that has, sadly, never been successful, he could just be setting himself up for more disappointment.

Perhaps he should do an original movie with mass appeal, TA2 and then after having established his name as a brand more, return to the Verse. I don't mind if the characters are ten or more years older.

 

[kguillou]

Your probably right. I mean, realistically, I feel like Joss is over Firefly, but the thing is I'm SURE he could get the original cast back. Nathan fillion has gone on record that he is up to doing it again. I'm sure if Fillion is in, the rest of the cast shouldnt be that hard to round up...plus what else are they doing? lol

 

[Siby]

Fillion better lose a lot of weight first if he wants any chance of fitting into the Cap'n pants again. lol

Playing a multimillionaire writer has shown him the good life.

 

[DACrowe]

Alan Tudyck (Wash) has been successful in film and stage as a character actor and continues to do so. Adam Baldwin (Jayne) and Morena Baccarin (Inara) have had relative success since the show ended. Baldwin was in the fan/cult favorite Chuck for all five years and Baccarin was in V for two seasons and is now in the mega-successful and critically acclaimed Homeland on Showtime. Summer Glau (River) has had several TV shows since Serenity. Sadly only the Terminator show was marginally successful and lasted for two seasons. The Cape was awful and deserved to have the plug pulled. I haven't seen her since.

I really haven't seen the rest of the cast since the movie except for in bit parts here and there.

 

[Matt]

So I finally got around to reading A Shepard's Tale tonight. I read that Whedon provided the writer with his outline/notes for the character, so it does represent the "canonical," backstory of our favorite Shepard.

At first I was a bit disappointed....

Spoiler

I figured that Book was an Operative or something along those lines. The whole, "He is a mastermind alliance officer but REALLY a bad ass Browncoat," felt like it was just paying lip service to the fans, like "ZOMG! wOULNDN'T IT BE TEH AWESOME IF FRODO AND LUKE SKYWALKER TEAMED UP!?!?!"

But the more that I think about it, the more that I like Book's past. Firefly was all about shades of gray. The Alliance, for all their evil, did a lot of good. The independent worlds weren't exactly thriving. The Alliance provided for its core worlds. Furthermore, the whole concept was a Civil War metaphor told from the perspective of the Confederacy. The point of the entire backstory of the series (the Alliance vs the Browncoats) was that neither side was entirely right or wrong. Book's story is a perfect representation of this.

Rather than just being another evil/blinded Alliance Operative, his backstory reflects the evil that the Browncoats were capable of. Their spy (Book), infiltrated the Alliance navy, rose through the ranks to the point of becoming a high ranking officer, then gave orders that he knew would result in the death of those under his command who trusted him. His final operation claimed 4,000 Alliance lives (many of whom were implied to be civilians). It is pretty ruthless and evil when you think about it. Adds some great depth not only to Book but the lore of the entire universe and shows just what kind of evil the Browncoats were capable of

So yeah, the more that I reflect on it, the more that I like it. It really is the perfect backstory for Shepard Book. It is a quick 50 page read, the art work leaves a bit to be desired (almost drawn more like sketches than proper drawings) but it is definitely a must read for fans of Firefly. Anyone else read it?

 

[flickchick85]

I've never read it, but just reading your spoilers I love the sound of that as a backstory for Book. That's much better than I'd expected actually (which was something along the lines of him simply being a particularly ruthless Alliance officer). Guess I'll have to go check that out.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I wonder if Whedon will ever revisit Firefly, now that he has a lot more money and sway. I doubt it, but you never know.