Tell me, what was so lifechanging about the series?

POSTED BY: okcbrowncoat
UPDATED: Thursday, September 6, 2007 16:28
VIEWED: 7228
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OKCBROWNCOAT

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 3:20 PM

If you were trying to convert someone and they asked you *WHY* you liked the show so much, how would you describe the Whedony goodness that is Firefly? What brought you on board? Was it the plot? the dialogue? the character development?

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

DESKTOPHIPPIE

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 4:20 PM

I was open to the series anyway, since I was already a huge fan of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I had a good idea what to expect from Joss - excellent writing, crackling dialogue, heart-stopping drama, characters who become old friends (or lifelong enemies) after one episode, quotes for all occasions and tons of humour. Needless to say, I was not dissapointed.

What do I say to people who ask me about it? Nothing. I just sit them down, play 'Our Mrs. Reynolds' and watch their faces as the episode does it's work.

DAVESHAYNE

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 4:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by okcbrowncoat:
If you were trying to convert someone and they asked you *WHY* you liked it so much, how would you describe the Whedony goodness that is Firefly? What brought you on board? Was it the plot? the dialogue? the character development?

All of the above.

If I had to pick one factor though I'd say the incidents. Moments that exist in their own right and not just to advance the plot or explain a character. Zoe and Wash fighting, Jayne and Book lifting weights, Simon making and eating a terrible meal. People going about living their lives and then a camera turns on.

But also the breadth of the stories. One week our heroes are running from criminals, the law, and savages next there's a heist with a moral dillema. Followed by a ghost ship, a party with an uneven duel, then a commercial transaction that doesn't go smooth. A surprise wedding followed by a marksmanship test, an unlikely hero and a consequence of his heroics, what happens when the engine doesn't turn. Another heist this time with a medical exam, torture and how people survive it, a sting, a dead body in a post office, prostitutes and the mercenaries that love them, and finishing off with Peter and the Wolf seasoned with a dash of existentialism.

If you can't find something to like in that I suspect you are medically unentertainable. Of course you can't really rattle that off to one of the uninitiated without spoiling it a bit.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

ZZETTA13

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 9:18 PM

Well this isn't really life changing or anything but something that struck home with me was seeing the whole crew sit down in the galley at the dinner table.
It was a real "family" way of bringing the folk of Serenity together and brought back memories of my family while I was growing up.
No tv, no other outside interferences, just the group of us discussing what went on in our lives that day.
Now, married with my own family we don't do this at all and are rarely even all home at the same time. things change and so do we, but I do miss some of the simple things that used to be in a world that turned a little slower.
Maybe in the "Black" when there isn't something that needs immediate attention (like a bank job)time sits back a bit.
Z

TOWELIE

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 9:32 PM

I just pulled 'Jayne, go play with your rainstick'.

My friends were intriqued. They're odd like that.

Men of Honour - No...No it's not...

ROLAND19

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 10:17 PM

For me it was the realism.

It wasn't a far-out look the future. There weren't any flashy gizmos to get em out of trouble, "Wait, lemme grab the midget from my utility belt, he'll know what to do!" It was just people, in space, no grand mission, just trying to get by.

And the characters. So real, thanks to the awesome dialogue and acting, that I call some of em friends, and others enemies.

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The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. - Buffy

CHANNAIN

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 10:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by okcbrowncoat:
If you were trying to convert someone and they asked you *WHY* you liked the show so much, how would you describe the Whedony goodness that is Firefly? What brought you on board? Was it the plot? the dialogue? the character development?

*************************************************
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

It was trying to figure out where I'd seen Nathan Fillion before that brought me on board. After that, it was all about the characters. I got asked about it so much that I finally had to flog about it.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/showblog.asp?b=173

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SIMONWHO

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 11:30 PM

It was the fact that it was Joss's show that got me to pick it up but it did sit on my shelf for quite a while before I felt inclined to watch it (and I had lots of time on my hands).

For me, other than the excellent writing, characters and acting, it's the fact that it's a side of sci-fi we haven't really seen much of before, certainly not in episodic TV; ordinary people just trying to get through their lives.

AGIRLYMAN

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 11:33 PM

It changed my life, opened my eyes to the fact that most everything else on tv is crap, and that's what we are left with.

Thanks Joss, thanks alot.

AM I NOT MERCIFUL?!?!?!?

Tee Hee

GIXXER

Thursday, March 16, 2006 12:26 AM

Dunno about lifechanging, but I just found it rather satisfying to see something done right on pretty much every level.

Clever writing that didn't come over as irritating.

Robert Mitchum standards of screen acting. Have you noticed how generally calm and understated everyone is all the time? It's like The Man is there.

Characters left to breathe, grow and develop at their own pace.

Considering how few episodes we have to put in that worrying looking shrine in the Locked Back Room (don't try denying it...) we love these characters precisely because we've just tagged along for the ride and watched what they are like, rather than have some crass git of a director or scriptwriter force feeding us.

None of the characters have personal problems that they insist on sharing with us in order to justify their kooky ways. "Don't see as how it's our business, is all." They are how they are, and that's that. No Spielbergian mood manipulation that makes you feel dirty afterwards (but not in a good way, y'understand...)

A cast and production crew who were absolutely committed, gave of their best and produced a little bit of perfection.

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