Firefly a ripoff of Andromeda?

POSTED BY: Swatter
UPDATED: Wednesday, July 9, 2025 04:13
VIEWED: 28866
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CHARLIEBLUE

Tuesday, June 4, 2002 9:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Swatter:
I doubt it cause the Advertisers weren't even impressed with the new Firefly rewrite.

Who are you? Do you sit around the Fox offices all day or something? I mean, you've seen the script (and actually read it carefully enough to make a judgement), you apparently know all of the actors' abilities (despite most of them being relative unknowns--one is a ballerina!), and now it looks like you can read the advertising execs' minds. That's just uncanny.

And is this wacky power the reason your opinion is more valid than the critic in Flushing?

SWATTER

Tuesday, June 4, 2002 5:45 PM

Hey! There are other things around the Fox offices than just sitting. There's uuummm....
drinking coffee, watching tv, making phone calls...uummm...well...there's other
stuff.

You're right I can't be critical of a ballerina. Who can hate a ballerina? Now, a Mime is different! I hate Mime's.

I don't have to read the Ad execs minds. Go to variety.com and type in Firefly and read the upfront article. By the way Upfront refers to advertisers purchasing blocks of ad time way before shows air. Don't worry..Firefly fared better than Fast Lane. At least Firefly didn't get laughed at.

Lol..did I say more opinion means anything? These are just my whacky opinions. Psstt.. thanks for noticing I'm whacky. :)

SHUGGIE

Tuesday, June 4, 2002 6:22 PM

I tried variety.com but you need a subscription to read the articles.

Shug

Her lips were saying 'No' but then I looked into her eyes
... and her eyes were saying 'read my lips'
- Niles Crane

MOJOECA

Tuesday, June 4, 2002 7:12 PM

Yeah, I think it unfair to judge unknowns. I'm sure Swatter can recall that when BtVS premeired, NOBODY knew who those people were...

Nic Brendon -- bit parts in Dave's World, Married W/ Children.
Aly Hannigan -- don't recall off hand, but American Pie is 3 yrs away.
ASH -- if anyone knew him at all, it was from the Taster's Choice ads.
Charisma Carpenter -- bit parts in a couple of T&A shows, San Diego Charger Girl.
David Boreanaz -- no prior experience so far as I know; hired because he looked pretty.
SMG -- The only one with any kind of exposure with Emmy-winning role on All My Children. Also on a terrible show called Swan's Crossing.

--- Joe

ZICSOFT

Tuesday, June 4, 2002 7:32 PM

And Buffy is a rip-off of TNG. After all, they both have robots that aren't very bright!

TIEKA

Wednesday, June 5, 2002 12:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Swatter:
I just saw a post on this board about Rev Bem from Andromeda and a charater on Firefly. OMG! I just noticed that most of the charaters are the same! Sorry, but I'm just a big fan of that show. I'm not sure if many people are gonna watch it now if it's just a clone of Andromeda. I expected more of Joss...

I guess you would say that Voyager was just a clone of ST:TNG and DS9. Of course they were clones of ST:TOS, which was a clone of Wagon Train, which was a clone of Jason and the Argonauts, which was a clone of .... and so on.

Just because something is similar doesn't make it a clone. The similarity makes it easier to understand the show, while the writers add in some other bits to make it different. I liked ST:TOS and since TNG was a clone, I watched it as well. Does that make TNG bad? No, it just means there was a common starting point. Where it went after that was what made the show unigue. I am expecting the same with Firefly. It is similiar to a dozen shows so I have something familar to start with and then the show will take me for a ride from there.

Tieka,
sharing a

with Swatter

Beware of programmers who carry screwdrivers.

J

Wednesday, June 5, 2002 7:53 PM

Quote:
...I have something familar to start with and then the show will take me for a ride from there...

Exactly.

But on your first point first: what could reasonably be the newest form of fiction but science fiction, right? But it's been around at least as long as Greek myths talking about Daedalus and Icarus flying, or Hephaestus making robots on Mt. Olympos or the big bronze robot Talos guarding an island - 2500 years ago. Nothing, descriptively, categorically, is new - it's the details and nuances and significance you invest it with that make it fresh. And, even then, how new and original is love or hate; pain or pleasure? Certain things, to be significant, are also constant.

Now on the second thing - this is one of Joss' many strengths - there's your run of the mill genre horror flick and then there's your run of the mill parody of genre horror flicks. Joss, in Buffy and Angel, doesn't do either of these, but he uses the genre conventions to have things to twist off of and surprise you - and he consciously flirts with disaster. Buffy has done nearly everything in the book out of foresight and planning that other shows do out of exhausted creativity and clumsiness. He's killed the main character, invented characters out of thin air, done a musical for crying out loud, and they all triumph brilliantly because he knows what he's doing and knows how to take genre conventions and cliches and make them new and make them work for him.

ANNE

Friday, June 7, 2002 3:09 PM

First, I have to admit that I was struck by a few similarities with Andromeda when I read the info about the show on the OS. I was also struck by some significant differences.

I think Firefly will be very different from Andromeda or any other show on television right now. And although I'm not a Buffy viewer, fans have convinced me that JW has the talent to make the show something special.

ORACLE

Saturday, June 8, 2002 10:38 PM

When I first heard the basic premise of the show I was worried that it sounded a little too much like several other sci-fi shows that are already on TV, but I just reminded myself that Joss is the genius behind this show and he has always suprised me and doesn't tend to go the ordinary or common route. So I have faith in Joss and will wait to watch before I make any conclusions about it.

For long you live and high you fly
and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
and all that you touch and all that you see
is all your life will ever be.
Pink Floyd

ZICSOFT

Sunday, June 9, 2002 12:28 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by J:
Now on the second thing - this is one of Joss' many strengths - there's your run of the mill genre horror flick and then there's your run of the mill parody of genre horror flicks. Joss, in Buffy and Angel, doesn't do either of these, but he uses the genre conventions to have things to twist off of and surprise you - and he consciously flirts with disaster.

You make it sound like he has a death wish. Better to say he takes risks. Which is something you have to do if you're going to create anything at all original.

And something that the media monopolies are less and less willing to allow. TV shows like Buffy, that lack an obvious audience, have a hard time getting on the air. Whedon lucked out on two fronts: he had friends in Fox Studios that trusted his creative impulses. And he started working on Buffy just when the WB was most desperate to find programming that people would actually watch.

I think it was their second season on the air. Their first consisted of what was probably the worst lineup of sex-oriented sitcoms in TV history. Lots of people expected them to disappear. Without Buffy, they probably would have.

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