Is Firefly the best sci-fi series ever?
POSTED BY: Darkfly
UPDATED: Friday, August 18, 2006 22:38
VIEWED: 16347
PAGE 3 of 7
Quote:
Originally posted by zoid:
(Star Trek) is too utopian. No one struggles against their culture, its machines, and no one questions its ethical morality. That's the essence of science fiction.
Well, that describes Trek, and probably Stargate, but there have been a number of other TV shows that did exactly those things - Notably Babylon 5 (still my vote for best, sorry) and Farscape.
The grand-daddy of dystopian SciFi series is Blake's 7 - a BBC series from the late 70s (USAians might want to try Wikipedia).
One problem is that Trek is very slick and consistent - the McDonalds of TV SF. Shows like Babylon 5 and (especially) Blake's 7 were more uneven and you have to take the ridiculous with the sublime. Possibly us Brits who were brought up on Doctor Who are a bit more cheese-tolerant.
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Is Firefly the best sci-fi show ever?
YEPPER
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Quote:
I recoil in horror because someone admitted Full House was a show worth obsessing over. I don't care how old you were that show just sucks.
I'm sorry! I was five! I didn't mean it!
::starts to cry::
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Go to http://richlabonte.net/tvvote/ and vote Firefly!
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I think it's the best television series not just sci-fi series. I would agree with other posters that BSG is making a run at it. But mostly because of the number of episodes. If Firefly was going on it's third season I'm sure it wouldn't be as close in my opinion. Brisco was great also.
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Quoted from yinyang:
I'm sorry! I was five! I didn't mean it!
::starts to cry::
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Go to http://richlabonte.net/tvvote/ and vote Firefly!
Don't apologize yinyang. I was six years old when I saw Flash Gordon with Buster Crabbe and I love that show. Full House made you happy and that is what counts. I'm happy for you. Now you have this excellent show called Firefly to add to your collection. So
to any body who steps on your memories.Traveler
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singate opined:
Quote:
...That being said I would still put Farscape up against any sci-fi any day of the week. It may be over the top with the technology and aliens but it was still quite brilliant.
I, too, liked Farscape, a lot. In fact, my Fridays were pretty much set with Firefly at 7PM and Farscape at 8PM. I thought "Cool! This Firefly thing can whet the palate for my Farscape main course!"
But, to be honest, Farscape is a thinly disguised A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court or Gulliver's Travels (the book, by Jonathan 'Dean' Swift, not the children's cartoons or movies), and it had already 'jumped the shark' with Zhaan's death (portrayed by Virginia Hey, whom I'd had a crush on since "Road Warrior"). ...Certainly by the 'Roadrunner v. Wile E. Coyote Cartoon' episode...
So, by the second episode of Firefly, once beloved Farscape was only an afterthought. The prime rib was on at 7, the sorbet on at 8...
I did enjoy the first part of your reasoning, though, and agreed with virtually all of it. Farscape, though, kinda suffers from a 'Young Elvis vs. Old Elvis' syndrome; but, perhaps Firefly would have dug itself into a hole it couldn't get out of after a couple of seasons, too, hmmm?
Thinking back on it, I'm reminded that BSG and Farscape both prominently feature characters that live in someone else's mind for at least a season or two: Scorpius/John and #6/Gaius. Is somebody cribbing off of somebody else's notes over there at SciFi?
Maybe if Firefly does come back on SciFi, Wash could live in River's head for a season or two...
Very Respectfully,
zoid
P.S.
For those who suggested Babylon 5: Well, I guess it's different strokes for different folks. I thought the show was a complete mess. 'More' is not always better. There was an entirely too scattershot methodology to the storytelling for my tastes. There may have been some real science fiction in there, but it got lost in all the 'everything for everyone' white noise, imo.
I prefer things simpler and more direct. Firefly had the right combination of archetypal characters, without mucking up the internal explorations by throwing them into a cast of twenty-some-odd, including 5 or 6 alien races -- which are always a 'cheap trick' way of whitewashing an entire cultural mindset.
(NB: Plus, childishly I admit, 'Flounder' bothered me; as did Mira 'Delenn' Furlan: I kept wondering how she managed to get the gig, tho' I strongly suspected it had something to do with 'Clintoning' the producer.)
As for Blake's 7, I've never seen it. It may be the greatest science fiction to air on television, for all I'd know. Then again, there may be a Russian or Japanese (or Turkish) sci-fi television show that I've never seen that rightly holds claim to 'Best Ever'.
So, I'll just rephrase and say that Firefly is the best television show that I personally have ever seen, and in my opinion the only show to consistently adhere to the precepts of science fiction. Other shows have had their moments, but those were single-episode aberrations, not the basis of the entire show itself, as was the case for Firefly...
P.P.S.
'Clintoning' is a little euphemism I've coined. It is a verb, 'to Clinton': "She Clintoned me", "Nobody is better at Clintoning than she", et cetera. It should be noted that the verb has a different meaning when the subject is male, than it does when the subject is female. When a male subject is Clintoned by a female, no additional acoutrements are necessary (other than proof of legal age), although optional blue pinafore and perhaps safety goggles might add style points; when a male Clintons a female, conversely, a handy cigar store is required...
Y'all are welcome to use it. It works great in public places (i.e., "Clinton me!") and the kiddies have no earthly clue what you're saying...
And no one, under any circumstances, should change this into 'Lewinsky'. That would be totally unacceptable, further victimizing
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Quote:
Originally posted by zoid:
I'm reminded that BSG and Farscape both prominently feature characters that live in someone else's mind for at least a season or two: Scorpius/John and #6/Gaius.
Or Kosh/Sheridan in B5... (sorry)
Quote:
For those who suggested Babylon 5: Well, I guess it's different strokes for different folks. I thought the show was a complete mess.
As is your right (and it certainly had flaws) - but you seemed to be dismissing the rest of TV SciFi on the basis of one utopian franchise.
I think that Firefly had the promise to be far and away the best, but never got the chance. How would the long-term character development and plot arcs actually have worked out? "New" BSG is also promsing (I'll decide when I've seen season 2)
Blake's 7 is certainly not the greatest show ever (if you haven't been immunized by watching sufficient Doctor Who then it will cause permanent harm) but it is an early (probably the first, on TV) example of the Farscape/Andromeda/Lexx/Firefly "misfits & criminals on a ship vs. the Establishment" genre. (I wonder if his Wheedon-nes was aware of it?)
Quote:
(of Farscape)
...Certainly by the 'Roadrunner v. Wile E. Coyote Cartoon' episode...
That was the most exquisitely balletic piece of shark-jumping ever. Once you realised that D'Argo was Wile E Coyote how could you ever take it seriously...
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Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:
Blake's 7 is certainly not the greatest show ever (if you haven't been immunized by watching sufficient Doctor Who then it will cause permanent harm) but it is an early (probably the first, on TV) example of the Farscape/Andromeda/Lexx/Firefly "misfits & criminals on a ship vs. the Establishment" genre. (I wonder if his Wheedon-nes was aware of it?)
The main appeal of Blake's 7 for me was the dynamics between the crew (especially Blake and Avon). For those unfamilar with the show, Blake plays a similar role to Mal, while Avon could perhaps be described as a (far) more intelligent version of Jayne (Avon was definitely mercenary). I can't really recall the remaining characters, though I seem to remember they rotated a lot and that (at least) one of them was a thief. The quality of the show certainly wasn't very high...the effects and sets were cheap and my recollection is that most episodes were quite mediocre.
I think one of the reasons that sci-fi has historically been a niche product has been the difficulty of presenting an "attractive" future setting on a limited budget. I think Firefly may have suffered from this during it's initial run...there isn't much in the way of glitter to capture your attention while channel surfing, so without a prior reason for checking it out (liking Joss's early shows, hearing good word of mouth), you might not pay attention for long enough to notice the things that make the show so good.
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Quote:*chuckles* Silly British man...
Originally posted by zoid:
Firefly is the only science fiction -- and near the idealistic pinnacle of storytelling, regardless of genre or medium -- to ever be aired on television.
Dark Angel is the best SF series ever on TV!!!
Okay, I just liked it a whole lot...
Yeah, Firefly is the best. As good as it can get.
Some original Trek eps come close Chrisisall
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