Why Firefly and Serenity Didn't Become Bigger Hits?

POSTED BY: fireflyfan278
UPDATED: Thursday, December 1, 2005 01:03
VIEWED: 9856
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BELFASTBROWNCOAT

Sunday, November 27, 2005 11:34 PM

I quite like the theme tune-it's different,but catchy.

I don't think it was publicised in the UK much-I only ever heard of it on Buffy boards-I never took much of an interest until Serenity.

After buying the Firefly set-my mind was blown away :D

It's all shiny!

ECGORDON

Sunday, November 27, 2005 11:40 PM

I've always thought the title "Space Hooker on the Run" would have brought in a few more viewers.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

ERINBC

Sunday, November 27, 2005 11:42 PM

I don't think there's one single reason, but a combo of lots of things, like Fox shuffling it around, a not so great ad campaign for the film, etc. All that stuff put together, plus the fact that people today would rather watch "Who Wants to Marry a Monkey" than intelligent scripted television, just kept Firefly/Serenity from catching on. However, it does all depend on what you think success is. BSG (airs on cable) gets like 4 million viewers a week and is considered a huge success, yet the latest Star Trek series (aired on network TV) got about that and was considered a flop. Whatever your opinions of the SciFi network, if it had orginally aired on cable and not network TV it's audience numbers may have been considered successful enough to keep the show on for several seasons.

TIENSHAODUH

Monday, November 28, 2005 12:05 AM

SF in general doesn't get that huge a following anyway, and one that is badly marketed and aired in the wrong order would not have helped its cause.
Serenity too, i only ever saw one trailer at that was it. No posters not anything. I have to spread it by word of mouth and all my friends will take quite a lot of convincing.
I try to explain that it is not the usual SF, and that Joss Whedon writes and directs it.
Then they say oh then it will be like Buffy which i don't like.
Its a neverending battle and as Mal says, "it may have been the losing side, but i am still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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"God has a plan for you, Gaius. He has a plan for everything and everyone." Number Six '33'
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"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." Carl Sagan
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JAYTEE

Monday, November 28, 2005 2:18 AM

The reason the series and movie didn't succeed as well as hoped is that it was an adult sci-fi show and film that required a certain minimal level of intelligence to understand and appreciate. It also didn't get the solid support it should have from Fox and from Universal. The main reason for that is that it didn't have cute droids or aliens that they could market to Toys R Us and McDonalds Happy Meals. There is a force greater than The Force and greater than any creative genius like Joss Whedon can overcome and that's the Hollywood Executive Prime Directive: Create for the Lowest Common Denominator. Appeal to the millions of barely thinking sheep that populate this country and you've got a worthwhile market. Appeal to the intelligent viewer and you've got a small minority group of customers that you may not make a buck or two on. Keep your eyes peeled for juicy hits like Jingle All The Way 2 and The Brady Bunch Movie Part 2 coming to vomitoriums near you!

Jaytee

GELASSENHEIT

Monday, November 28, 2005 4:02 AM

i agree with ErinBC, in that it was a number of reasons why Firefly/Serenity was not as popular as it should be. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong: promotion (or lack thereof), time-slots, genre, title of movie and film, no big star names etc... The only thing the Firefly 'verse has going for it is the dedication of the cast, crew and the fans.

EMMA

Monday, November 28, 2005 8:44 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gelassenheit:
i agree with ErinBC, in that it was a number of reasons why Firefly/Serenity was not as popular as it should be. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong: promotion (or lack thereof), time-slots, genre, title of movie and film, no big star names etc... The only thing the Firefly 'verse has going for it is the dedication of the cast, crew and the fans.

Ditto

extremely dimensionally transcendental

STEVO

Monday, November 28, 2005 10:47 AM

While in HMV last Friday afternoon, I come across a DVD on sale called Firefly. I look at the front cover see the Space Ship and the cast. I like Sci-Fi and so picked it up to read the back of the box. Only to realise it is the same ship and cast, as a Movie that I watched not more than a month ago. The point I am labouring to get to is that. Where the hell was the advertising. I dont live in a cave, yet when I saw the movie I didnt even realise that it was from a TV show, and Im not the only one. I subsequently bought the box set and have watched all the episodes, and was hooked from the first one. Told my mates about it only to get the response never heard of it.

By the way I am pretty confident that it wasnt the name that stopped people from tuning into the series. For instance the name Babylon 5 doesnt conjure up aliens and spacecraft. Yet that was a huge success.

EMMA

Monday, November 28, 2005 10:52 AM

Yep, most of my friends hadn't heard of it either. I did the usual browncoat thing of telling people to go see the film and even though many of them live in London (some are even sci-fi fans) they hadn't heard of the show or the film.

Once people were persuaded to see the film though they all loved it and - surprise, surprise - bought Firefly and loved that too. The promoters made a huge mistake.

extremely dimensionally transcendental

NELLIE

Monday, November 28, 2005 11:33 AM

I agree with Emma that the promoters made a huge mistake, or worse. For example, all my friends in Spain said that Serenity got great critical reviews there and they all wanted to see it, but it was never shown in most of the cities in Spain. It was on at only ONE cinema in Barcelona, and no one is sure if it ever was shown in Madrid. How could it possibly succeed if the promoters never showed it in the cinemas? And why didn't they ever show it in China or Hong Kong, where it would have been a huge hit because of the Chinese language used?
And did you notice the Yahoo movie editors putting the worst D-rated review of Serenity, the one that only c.64 out of c.1564 people found useful, right on the front page?
It's as if somebody wanted it to fail, so they could put it onto DVD as quickly as possible and try to make it disappear. Call me paranoid, but I can't help wondering if somebody powerful in the film industry just doesn't like Joss or one of the Firefly cast. It is very, very strange, and I wish somebody would investigate exactly how this film was promoted in the States and abroad.

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