The IT Moment
POSTED BY: chels580
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 7, 2006 21:56
VIEWED: 13573
PAGE 4 of 6
I bought the DVD collection not knowing anything about the series during the no-man years between series cancellation and the growing hype over the movie. In fact, the box remained unopened for months until I had completed watching the entire Babylon 5 DVD collections (which I also had avoided for years on television solely because my worklife assured I'd miss many episodes and be frustrated in having missed them). I greatly enjoyed watching the entire 5 year run at my convenience in my home theatre over the course of a few weeks.
Afterwards, a month went by and I went through withdrawals and wanted another series to watch. I caught a bried DVD review in Sound & Vision praising "Firefly", remembered I had bought it a few months back, popped Disc one into the DVD player and sat back.
I did not expect too much.
The opening of the Serenity pilot with the battle scene in Serenity Valley was nothing original, nor the shift into being salvagers.
(1) But the way the crew meshed, diverted the Alliance cruiser with the "CryBaby", and the beautiful Firefly engine spiriting them away in color while segwaying into the title theme, well...Joss had found some of my switches.
(2) Then Kaylee sitting by the cargo hatch twirling her sun umbrella and enticing Book to be a passenger...and later with the strawberries.
(3) Then the Western shoot-out on Whitehall, shooting Patience's horse, and Mall unruffled and unperturned stating, "I do the job, and I get paid."
And finally, as many have already stated:
(4) when the crew is in crisis and Agent Dobsen has a gun to River's head, Mal walks purposefully in wanting to get off this backwater moon, and without missing a step, blows Dobsen away. Simply maks it look like simple housecleaning.
I was hooked. And in The Train Job, (5) when Niska's bad boy gets kicked into the engine and Mal begins the same speech with the next Niska thug...well, that was it. I've been a hard core fan ever since, buying DVD sets for family, friends, and even acquaintances, just to share the elation I get from "Firefly" and find the few who also become die-hard Browncoats.
There have been few entertainments that have touched me so well. I can only think of my first reading of The Lord of the Rings, decades ago. Both of which led me to spend more money than I should just to keep the feeling of elation going.
Ah, well.
Thanks for asking.
Respectully,
History
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
ahh yes, B5....another series I'm glad I suported by spending the $$ on. I've got to watch Jeremiah too, thanks for the reminder.
It seems as tho the comonality of all our IT monents is the unexpected &/or the language. I never expected the ships to leave, the guy to get kicked in to the engine, the crybaby etc. Perhaps that says something about my imagination or but more likely it highlights Joss's outstanding creativity.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
It seems as tho the comonality of all our IT monents is the unexpected &/or the language. I never expected the ships to leave, the guy to get kicked in to the engine, the crybaby etc. Perhaps that says something about my imagination or but more likely it highlights Joss's outstanding creativity.
Exactly! I mean, who shoots the horse? Nobody shoots the horse (in today's disney-fied world of entertainment). Of course at that moment I was still getting over my bewilderment at the apparent bulletproof qualities of tight pants and a brown coat 'cause they had no cover in that fight. But who shoots the horse?!
Ha! Love it!
Well not horse murder as a general rule...
chels580
"You don't fix faith, it fixes you"
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I am so slow and generally run with shields up...
When Mal shot Dobson, I twitched. Cool, makes sense, good shot. That was my hint.
But it really wasn't until the teaser in Out Of Gas that I realized what impact this show would have on me...
Late Chrisisall
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by chels580:
... I was still getting over my bewilderment at the apparent bulletproof qualities of tight pants and a brown coat 'cause they had no cover in that fight.
Well I always thought that it was an example of really decent surprise, they'd killed half of the bad guys before a single shot was taken at them, even with that advantage both Zoe and Mal were shot.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Saw the BDM first and said "this is good. Is there any more?" Ordered the DVD set that evening from Amazon.
Then I saw the pilot-Just chock full of "Whoa" moments.
The battle scene, the stealing scene, the revealing of River and Kaylee getting shot and then the deal with Patience. At first I thought Jayne was going to shoot Mal and then Zoe gets shot-thought she was wounded horribly and how did she survive until the BDM?
Then the horse shooting scene-very different. Then Mal just point blank shoots Dobson like he's just a little irritant that he wants to away quickly-it all got to me
One day.
One plan.
One army of Browncoats.
On June 23rd, we aim to misbehave.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
For me, it was the very beginning of the pilot, Serenity, when Mal says:
"We can't die, Bendis, and you know why? Because we are so...very...pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die. Look at that chizzled jaw, 'eh?"
I fell hard for this show right then and there.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I too came at the verse sideways by seeing the BDM first, but I still got just as hooked, twice over.
In the BDM the "oh god oh god we're all gonna die" scene reeled me right back in after I had some worrying initial moments about the film being a "dream within a dream within a dream" fest, with River going from; little River in class, to experiment River in the operating theatre, to holo River viewed by the operative.
So my rescued intrigue flowed irrevocably onto spine tingling fandom by the time of Rivers "No Simon you always take care of me. My turn!". Gives me chills every time.
I hear Summer Bawled like a baby filming that. I would too, but I got me man-parts so that'd be downright unsettling!
Immediately moving onto the BDS, I'm hoping that the series will not be a let down. Boy did it deliver!. Again the hook came in stages.
1) relief that this isn't going to let me down, 2) joy and 3)obsession.
1) relief - Mal lying to Simon about Kaylee and the crew busting up about it confirmed that disappointment was unlikely, but it's the pilot after all so I gotta contain myself!
2) Joy - Niska's henchman through the engine, followed by the side slitting double take and self preservation response of Niskas second henchman.
3) Obsession - "Jayne! The Man They Call Jayne!"
OMG! Again tingles coursing though me during the bar scene when the whole room spontaneously bursts into song about the unlikeliest of characters.
Transforming obsession to eternal love, Mal's 'long walk' & 'love at first sight' in Out of Gas and all of River in Objects in Space permanently burned my feelings for this show into my brain.
So there, that's about seven IT's (the knights who say Ni would be in terrible shape by now!).
sorry to be greedy, just can't keep it in.
Keep Flying and have good sex (preferably not at the same time)
"You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get 'n beat you with 'til you learn who's in ruttin' command here."
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Ok, here's my "testimonial" if you will.
I missed Firefly when it originally aired. I didn't have TV at the time, but I read about it. I was a Whedon fan and when I read he was starting a new series described as a "Space Western" I wrinkled up my nose. I couldn't imagine how that would work. I never had the opportunity to tune in and not too long after I read it had been cancelled. And then I read about Serenity being made, my curiousity about Firefly was piqued. I heard that SciFi was showing eps in the leadup to the movie, so my sister and I gathered around the TV in eager anticipation for the pilot. Despite my original doubts I had faith in Joss and if a movie was being made, there had to be something there that resonated with people.
I watched the Battle of Serenity and felt a rush of emotions looking at Mal's face as his world falls apart. (Teary eyed even now just typing about it!) And then the "it moment" - the opening sequence, the theme song, the horses. That was all it took for me. I felt an ache in my chest and was wide eyed with anticipation.
I had fallen in love. There were many moments to come that cemented my first feelings: Jayne looking in while Simon operates on Kaylee, Simon comforting River when she comes out of the box, "Kaylee's dead", Mal shooting Patience's horse and then Dobson. I can honestly say I never would have guessed I could get so wrapped up in a Television show. Firefly just has an amazing way about it of telling stories in a way that explores humanity.
So now here's my "Kaylee moment" ("Wash, tell me I'm pretty") --
Someone, tell me I'm not silly for being in love with a TV show.
I figure there should be someone who understands out here in the black. 
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Believe it or not, my "IT" moment wasn't in the show or the movie.
I started watching and taping every show from the git-go, back in '02 on Fox. But for various reasons, I missed taping "Ariel", and when I realised that I'd missed it I was half a breath away from an honest-to-God panic attack! Everything went dim and all the oxygen went out of the room. That was when I knew how much I loved the show.
And I never did see "Ariel" until the DVDs came out. I was in the boonies, only dial-up internet, and I had never heard of the word "bittorrent".
MAL "You only gotta scare him."
JAYNE "Pain is scary..."
http://www.fireflytalk.com - Big Damn Podcast, by fans, for fans, starring fans
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME