Has there been a recent show or movie that had the same 'cultural impact' as Firefly...Probably YES
POSTED BY: JAYNEZTOWN
UPDATED: Thursday, June 6, 2019 18:50
VIEWED: 6857
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Would Firefly eventually have gone off the rails, jumped the shark and would have Joss finally made a mess, made greatness but also made mistakes like he did so many other shows and movies series for example the Alien franchise
Firefly is great
and still has a huge following
groups eventually fade, website close and maybe Firefly's status, its legendary status, its cult status, 90% all its fandom will probably be lost in the mist and sands of time.
We are the old time fans
Honestly and being real with your self has it made the same impact as the other scifis the Matrix, the Japanese animations like Cowboy Beebop. The Star Trek television series, movies Inception? 'Superhero Genre' Dark Knight, the Avengers, the Disney Pixar style films, the Blaxpoiltaion flicks, the Horror genre, Martial Arts oldie movies, Post Apocalypse Terminator and Mad Max movies, the the Fantasy genre like Lord Of the Rings and the tv series Game of Thrones, StarWars, Twin Peaks? Nosferatu Murnau, Citizen Kane, Shawshank Redemption?
Will 'Firely' its only lasting impact now be matters such that it paved the way for tyhe return of the Fantasy Western like West World or the Sci-Fi Western PROSPECT or maybe Firefly will have made it more acceptable to mix Asian Orient culture with Western American culture? WHAT DID FIREFLY CHANGE , WHAT IMPACT?
I remember one time people also claimed Farscape and Battlestar were the best things ever made.... tv and film would never be the same they said?
Is Firefly now in retro cult mode, sleeping and laying dormant until someone else re-brands, re-imagines and revamps an old show for relaunch?
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I've seen better shows since Firefly, but I don't think anything has made me care about the characters as much as Firefly did. The only thing that I can think of that comes close in that regard would be The Walking Dead, but most of them have died or have changed so much that they're not very likable anymore. Not that this is bad either... I think the reason they're not likable anymore is because deep down you know that if you were going to be one of the survivors in that world that you'd have to be pretty unlikable yourself.
I never cared for Serenity because of this. The deaths in that movie were heartbreaking and pointless at the same time. I'm not one of the long time Whedon fans out there, but my brother is and I remember him telling me that Joss subverted expectations all the time and was known to kill off main characters. I think I remember him telling me that there was a once minor character (In Buffy or maybe Angel) who started taking on a larger role who finally got her name on the main credits during the theme song, only to die in the first episode with her name on them.
So I think we would have seen some of our favorite characters die at some point had the show gotten its full run, but I would like to think that there was more build up to it and those deaths would have had a real impact other than shock value that left a bad taste in your mouth afterward.
I don't think that Joss could recreate the magic himself now. He's too lost in his politics and there's too much expected from him these days. I'd love to see Firefly rebooted someday by an unknown person who loved the original run and is also a fan of the works of Orwell and Huxley.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Which Broadcast Network Television Show has been better since Firefly?
Yes, Cable did exist before 2002 (I liked Outer Limits), and Firefly was not on a Cable Network.
Comparing an Original Weekly Episodic TV series to Big Screen Big Budget Movies? Although most films do not emerge favorably, it is still not a fair comparison to the TV side, but a measure of how great it was.
TV shows copying the storyline and/or established characters from Film, Comics, Novels? Not the same.
Special Effects so cutting edge advanced that Movies are still copying and imitating today, and not surpassing yet. 16 years later.
I did enjoy Dollhouse, but the character interaction didn't seem as intense or in-depth as Firefly.
Terminator: SCC may have been the nearest to equivalent.
I'm not recalling any other contenders.
Unique characters. Developed backstory. Engaging storylines. Ground-breaking SFX. Visceral tensions and resolutions.
Tough combination to beat.
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I don't think that "Broadcast Network Show" was specified in the OP.
The 100 is pretty damn good today, although I don't know if you'd consider that cable or not. It does have commercials and doesn't have the budget that HBO or Showtime would.. I'm not even sure what network it's on since I watched it on Netflix. Fringe was great, and that was a network show.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:The 100 is Broadcast Network, I think it is the CW Network, which used to be one or two other networks.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I don't think that "Broadcast Network Show" was specified in the OP.
The 100 is pretty damn good today, although I don't know if you'd consider that cable or not. It does have commercials and doesn't have the budget that HBO or Showtime would.. I'm not even sure what network it's on since I watched it on Netflix. Fringe was great, and that was a network show.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
I watched that to begin with, but partly I became busy, and plus it seemed to become convoluted. When I stop in to check it out, I have no idea what is going on, the landscape has changed.
So, comparing peaches to apples: Inception was better than Firefly. DaVinci's Code, Transformers, Rogue One, Arrival, Edge of Tomorrow. I am sure there are others, but I don't know the point of those comparisons.
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Yeah. The 100 is not a show that you're going to be able to just pick up in the middle and figure out on your own. You've got to watch it all the way through to know what's going on. It's also got the side benefit of having an extremely strong female protagonist making and living with extremely hard decisions and still genuinely being in my picks for one of the top shows on TV today. Why does it work for me? Because it's great writing and acting and it's believable.
So I can kind of just sit back and laugh at the NPC monkeys running around screaming about "muh sexism" every time an all female reboot with nothing else going for it comes out and flops.
Though it's got its mysteries, it's not nearly as convoluted as LOST was. It makes you think, but it doesn't drive you nuts about it either.
I'd probably add LOST to the list of TV shows that give Firefly a run for its money too, even though the end wasn't all that great.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Without regard to cultural impact:
When I am comparing other shows to Firefly, it seems that the death-defying facet of our episodes is hard to beat. In each of our shows, there is plausible concern that our BDH might not survive. But they are not Special Forces, not Super Heroes, not Gifted with Special Powers, not Superhumans, not a Government trained team, not a specially selected group by The Powers That Be. And not super-wealthy. But their lives are genuinely at risk in each episode.
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Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Without regard to cultural impact:
When I am comparing other shows to Firefly, it seems that the death-defying facet of our episodes is hard to beat. In each of our shows, there is plausible concern that our BDH might not survive. But they are not Special Forces, not Super Heroes, not Gifted with Special Powers, not Superhumans, not a Government trained team, not a specially selected group by The Powers That Be. And not super-wealthy. But their lives are genuinely at risk in each episode.
This is true. Probably one of the things that drew me to the show, as well as the great cast and writing.
I think you would like The 100, if you haven't seen it yet. But you would have to watch it from the beginning.
The one downside to it compared to firefly is that it's not such a small group. This did make Firefly special. The 100 does have its "main" characters, and these do change from time to time, but sometimes it feels as though there are too many to keep track of.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:I should have added: show me an episode when at least one of their lives is not plausibly at risk. Especially with character-killing Joss Whedon at the helm.
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Without regard to cultural impact:
When I am comparing other shows to Firefly, it seems that the death-defying facet of our episodes is hard to beat. In each of our shows, there is plausible concern that our BDH might not survive. But they are not Special Forces, not Super Heroes, not Gifted with Special Powers, not Superhumans, not a Government trained team, not a specially selected group by The Powers That Be. And not super-wealthy. But their lives are genuinely at risk in each episode.
And the group was put together somewhat randomly, as friends are. And became friends. Even weeded out some, such as Dobson. And Bester.
Not an Assembled Team. Nor with completely aligned interests in common, at first.
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I am a bit surprised that I did not mention Dark Angel. Many of the same attributes, except need of Special Effects.
But that was before Firefly, not after.
So maybe we could, for the purposes of background comparison, separately mention stellar TV Shows before Firefly, mostly in the Sci Fi realm.
Dark Angel would be one, in my opinion.
Although not SciFi, I really enjoyed Due South thoroughly.
I felt The Six Million Dollar Man was ahead of it's time, and impactful. Likely the best until the revival of Outer Limits, 2 decades later.
6ix: Black Mirror.
For cinema:
Galaxy Quest preceded Firefly. And, I think, had everything that Firefly had. The only caveat was that it stood on twin pillars of template from (1) The Man Who Knew Too Little and (2) Star Trek's legion of Convention fandom - by that measure, not quite as original of concept as Firefly.
The Star Trek Reboot was good, but openly copied heavily from Firefly - 7 years later. It was also better than Serenity, in that the viewer did not need to know the prior existing Star Trek universe.
Terminator, Aliens, T2, Predator all pushed the envelope, raised the bar before Firefly.
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