Is Firefly the best sci-fi series ever?

POSTED BY: Darkfly
UPDATED: Friday, August 18, 2006 22:38
VIEWED: 16347
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ZOID

Saturday, August 12, 2006 1:32 AM

chrisisall:

I'm a Texan by birth; bred, born and raised in Houston. I've since become unstuck geographically, and am married to an English girl, found in my wanderings.

So bits may have rubbed off on me...

v/r,
-zed

P.S.
James Cameron's sequel to R. Scott's Alien was nowhere near as scary as its progenitor, precisely because it was no longer science fiction. It was a futuristic action film. Cameron doesn't know from proper sci-fi, although Jessi Alba is a treat in any genre. I just turn the sound down and try to figure out what she's saying by reading her lips... It's mesmerizing.

DINALT

Saturday, August 12, 2006 7:54 AM

Firefly's definitely one of the most promising science fiction series ever, and cut short only thanks to Network stupidity.

It certainly seems to portray a more realistic future, the sort you'd expect on far flung frontier worlds.
I'm kind of reminded of books like C.J. Cherryh's 'Hestia', or the Deathworld Trilogy. Both written about humanitys expansion, and what life may be like on frontier worlds.

Unfortunately, pure Sci-fi like this rarely gets aired on the television. We're usually subjected to big budget effects and the alien of the week.
I loved Star Trek (TOS) as a kid, and still watch it whenever it's aired. But the later spin-offs tended to portray a bland utopian future, where problems were solved and the crew moved on.
Voyager was a prime example of this, stranded in the middle of nowhere and still flying by Starfleet protocols - a wasted opportunity for a show imo. It had so much promise for scripts, but stuck to a linear format.
Farscape and Andromeda are probably my 2 favourite shows of recent years - I must have a weakness for disfunctional crews, lol.

So Firefly's like a breath of fresh air, after watching so much optimistic science fiction. At least it was one crew just trying to stay alive and make a living, no big messages or moral lecturing.
It's difficult to see how it would have evolved though, and difficult to see how it would have ended. The crew weren't actually fighting the Alliance, just staying one step ahead - so it might have been difficult to have concluded the series. Although 'Serenity' the movie sees changing attitudes toward the Alliance, and it would be interesting to see how the crew evolves in the light of this.

And I can see why comparisons are being drawn between it and Blakes 7. Blakes 7 was aired in the late 1970's through to the early 1980's, so the effects were usually laughable (low budget and pre-CG).
But it was one crew being pursued by the 'Federation', rather than the 'Alliance'. And a crew similar to Fireflys, in that each were in it for their own reasons.

But had Firefly been allowed to continue, I have no doubt that it would be the best sci-fi series aired to date. I really hope another Network picks it up at some point, but with the cast going on to different ventures now, that looks less and less likely now.

I think we have the 14 episodes, the movie and a few comic books. And they show what could have been the best series ever aired. Like so many others, I'm left wanting more.

IMNOTHERE

Saturday, August 12, 2006 12:19 PM

Quote:

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

Come on. Avon made Jayne look like a sweet little fluffy bunny.

The fun was that Avon was a seriously nasty person who had the intelligence and ruthlessnes needed to make Blake's idealistic schemes work, and later took over as leader (Blake "disappeared" half way through the series). Even at the end - when his apparent conversion to the cause and loyalty to Blake...

Select to view spoiler:

If you really want to know, go google for it!

...it still could have been because because he sees Blake as his meal ticket.

Not many shows managed to keep the tensions between characters going - they usually all end up becoming best buddies, getting married and naming their babies after one another

. The Unresolved Sexual Tension (and it stayed Unresolved) in B7 was actually between Avon and the ice queen Arch Baddie (with whom he had a lot in common).

CHRISISALL

Saturday, August 12, 2006 1:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by zoid:

So bits may have rubbed off on me...

Not a fan of Buffy I take it?

"Silly British man." was what Andrew said to Giles during a D&D game on Buffy's last ep. Interesting to come close (meaning your better half) by accident...

Chrisisall

ELRIC

Saturday, August 12, 2006 1:30 PM

ya firefly is the best sci-fi tv show like joss whedon made it everything he makes is good!!!

FOLLOWMAL

Saturday, August 12, 2006 1:31 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by FutureMrsFIllion:
*FMF stands back in HORROR that Jolly is tired of the Firefly*

We are The Forsaken - We aim to burn! and we don't need no stinkin levels!

one of the Forsaken TM

FM grabs FMF's arm and hangs on tight as she is just amazed that anyone can be tired of Firefly.

I just can't understand that. *shakes head*

Let's go back to the Forsaken fire FMF...any marshmallows for roasting?

And On Topic... yes it's the best show ever to air on television. And I'm old and I've seen a lot of them.

It will forever captivate me.

"You hold. Hold 'til I get back." Mal

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=19&t=22697

FUTUREMRSFILLION

Saturday, August 12, 2006 4:00 PM

My favorite line was something like "cuppa tea, cuppa tea, coulda had a shag, cuppa tea"

When Spike was making fun of Giles.

We are The Forsaken - We aim to burn! and we don't need no stinkin levels!

one of the Forsaken TM

ZOID

Saturday, August 12, 2006 4:20 PM

Dinalt wrote, in bits and pieces:

Quote:
...(Firefly) certainly seems to portray a more realistic future, the sort you'd expect on far flung frontier worlds.
I'm kind of reminded of books like C.J. Cherryh's 'Hestia', or the Deathworld Trilogy. Both written about humanitys expansion, and what life may be like on frontier worlds...

I've read some of Cherryh's work (a fellow Texan, btw), but she's pretty prolific and I've obviously missed these. Still, as I've said before, true science fiction doesn't change humanity, as with Star Trek for example; it examines humanity in an alien environment so that we can discover what being human entails...

Quote:
...It's difficult to see how it would have evolved though, and difficult to see how it would have ended. The crew weren't actually fighting the Alliance, just staying one step ahead - so it might have been difficult to have concluded the series. Although 'Serenity' the movie sees changing attitudes toward the Alliance, and it would be interesting to see how the crew evolves in the light of this...

Simple. Firefly was going to be a tradgedy, and we all know how those end. For those who do not, please read some Shakespeare. Flawed heroes, caught on the horns of Fate and their own immutable nature. Serenity's crew barely escaped the consequences of Mal's immutable nature in the movie. And Jayne described that nature to a tee in the movie, as did Zoe's observation that heroes get other people killed. And of course, 'Every Man' 's story ends in death; no one really gets a happy ending...

Quote:
(Blake's 7) was one crew being pursued by the 'Federation', rather than the 'Alliance'. And a crew similar to Fireflys, in that each were in it for their own reasons...

I think Serenity's crew being chased by the Alliance was more of a happenstance than something her captain set out to do.

In our day and time in the US, the legal system has become so arcane that the chances are good that we are each of us, everyday, breaking some law or the other. So the best course is something along the lines of Dennis Miller's advice on Life in general, paraphrased:

Quote:
(The Law) is like going to Yellowstone Park and seeing one of those big bears that come up to your car as you drive through. 'Hey, look! It's Yogi and Boo-Boo!' (pause for effect) Just stay in your vehicle, don't feed it, and if you should happen to meet one in your campground, what ever you do, don't make direct eye contact with it, lest it come over, rip your arm off, and beat you to death with it, all in the name of good, clean Kodiak fun.

That's what I think Mal is more set to do: Just follow his own sense of right and wrong, and stay out of the way of The Law. He's hurtin' more than a little over the Independents' loss in the war, but he's not fomenting insurrection (that we know of, at any rate). He doesn't take action against the Alliance until it becomes apparent that they want him and his entire crew dead. By taking River on board his ship, he has basically screwed up and made direct eye contact with Alliance Law.

But -- based on your brief synopsis of Blake's 7 and reading between the lines a bit -- Serenity is not a ship full of outlaws, cutthroats and revolutionaries. They are, as Joss himself has put it, simple folk trying to make their way through Life and around the Law, without unduly provoking It to give them Its undivided attention. The problem with Mal's "manful scheme" of staying on the fringes and out of the Alliance's spotlight glare, as we come to see, is that their society -- The Sino-Anglo Alliance -- is seeking to become a Utopia not unlike that portrayed in the Star Trek franchise, by "weeding out agression" and individualism across its entire spreading domain, creating a homogenous population free of 'trouble makers'; doubtless, with only "the best of intentions", as the researcher tearfully implored, just before she became a Reaver's date/dinner/corsage (and if she was "very, very lucky, in that orde

JOLLY

Saturday, August 12, 2006 5:28 PM

Quote:
But -- based on your brief synopsis of Blake's 7 and reading between the lines a bit -- Serenity is not a ship full of outlaws, cutthroats and revolutionaries. They are, as Joss himself has put it, simple folk trying to make their way through Life, and around the Law without unduly provoking It to give Its undivided attention to them.

I don't see that being "simple folk" and being outlaws is mutually exclusive. The crew have willingly and knowingly joined an enterprise which regularly pulls heists (including armed robbery in the movie) and runs contraband. Simon and River are already outlaws when we first meet them, though for reasons not of their own choosing. During Serenity's travels to the outer worlds, we see many other "regular folk" that apparently make a living through other means. Kaylee is something of an enigma to me; I understand why she stays with the crew, but I'm not completely clear why she would join in the first place (perhaps "knowingly" didn't apply in her case?).

I don't disagree that Whedon's crew is easier to identify with than those of some of the aforementioned shows, though I'm not convinced that every character in Blake's 7 was a psychopath (though I admittedly haven't seen the show in at least twelve years).

One similarity that Blake's 7, Farscape, and Serenity all have is that the protagonists acquire something that the powers that be desperately want, and which makes it inevitable that they will draw the attention of those powers. In the first two shows, the object is a powerful spaceship, while in Serenity it is River.

Select to view spoiler:

And while not by design, Mal does ultimately wield River against the Alliance.

ZOID

Saturday, August 12, 2006 5:51 PM

chrisisall replied:

Quote:
Not a fan of Buffy I take it?...

That's an understatement.

I am only a fan of Firefly. To the extent that Joss Whedon is associated with Firefly, I am a fan of his, too; but not beyond that boundary, as of this date.

As you may have read, I am primarily a fan of true science fiction. It may have been strictly accidental, but Whedon created this thing I love in Firefly, and he did it with rare ingenuity and an admirable talent for storytelling.

And I've never read or seen any science fiction with such realistic dialogue and unforced humor. He is funny, without being perceptibly glib.

But, I have no taste for Buffy or Angel, regardless how well done the characters and/or dialogue. The subject matter couldn't be less tantalizing, for my tastes.

I am happy for everyone, however, who find these other shows to be their 'cuppa'...

Respectfully,

zoid

P.S.
I prefer coffee to tea, FMF, and am definitely opting for the shag, Good Wife willing and the crick don't rise...

_________________________________________________

"I aim to misbehave." -Capt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity, a.k.a. 'the BDBOF'

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