Hello, what's this show about?

POSTED BY: WizardofAus
UPDATED: Monday, October 14, 2002 21:06
VIEWED: 2698
PAGE 1 of 1

WIZARDOFAUS

Saturday, October 12, 2002 10:31 PM

Hiya Everybody, I'm a cyberdrifter from down under searching out TV shows that might replace Dark Angel when S2 wraps up down here in a little while. What's this show about?

DELVO

Saturday, October 12, 2002 11:22 PM

It's set 500 years in the future. Humans by that time are said to have explored space and colonized a whole bunch of new planets (mostly artificially terraformed) without encountering alien civilizations. Before the beginning of the series, there's a war over whether the various planets will rule themselves separately or be under one government. The Alliance won, and the Independents lost. But the Alliance's control over the "outer" planets, sort of a frontier where colonies are younger, the populations aren't as dense, and the level of technology and economy is lower, is incomplete, and so is rule by any other particular government. So there's freedom but also a shortage of law enforcement out there.

The show focuses on traders, the crew of a "Firefly" class cargo ship owned and captained by a former Independent soldier named Malcom Reynolds. The rest of the crew includes of a pilot, an engineer/mechanic, another Independent soldier, a mercenary, some refugees from Alliance persecution and pursuit, and high-class "Registered Companion" (prostitute, sort of, but one major difference being that it's legal and respectable, among others). Why she and the preacher/philosopher guy are on the ship is a bit of a mystery. So is most of the background of another character who is suspected of having some special abilities that made her a subject of interest to Alliance scientists who experimented on her and psychologically screwed her up. (She was brought on board this ship for protection by her brother, who apparently pays for the priviledge by serving as ship physician.)

WIZARDOFAUS

Sunday, October 13, 2002 12:02 AM

Woah. Sounds like this show has everything! Mercenaries, frontier colonists, goverment conspiricies, war veterans- and legalised prostitution-Yaay! Nah, just kidding,'m far too young for that.

It sounds like Star Wars meets John Wayne. Is that the premise, kinda?

P.S.Please,how do I get me an emoticon for my messages?

WIZARDOFAUS

Sunday, October 13, 2002 8:25 PM

Hello? Anyone there?

THEGN

Sunday, October 13, 2002 9:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by WizardofAus:
It sounds like Star Wars meets John Wayne. Is that the premise, kinda?

I like to imagine it as Han Solo meets Mad Max.

I don't really see the Western theme as much as everyone else seems to. Sure there's a six shooter every now and then, and there's some Western speak going on, but if you think about it, that's really where the direct similarities end. Anything else can be drawn from other legitimate sci-fi movies. For instance the whole "gun-slinger" thing could come from Star Wars, just as easily as it comes from John Wayne. True that the gun-slinger thing in Star Wars probably came from a Western, but that's still once removed in Firefly. The point being that Firefly's western theme isn’t that dissimilar from other sci-fi shows. So I really don't think it makes a lot sense to accentuate the Western theme that much.

Not that I'm trying to marginalize it. I love the whole Western theme in Firefly. I just don't think it's necessarily all that Western-ish.

-----------
In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

WIZARDOFAUS

Monday, October 14, 2002 6:16 AM

I see.

It certainly sounds awesome, whatever the theme. But howcome no aliens?

P.S. Please could you tell me how to use those emoticons?

DELVO

Monday, October 14, 2002 9:29 AM

Quote:
But howcome no aliens?

Because that's not the kind of stories the show's creator wanted to tell.

Why SHOULD there be aliens? Just because science fiction not set on Earth is so full of them that people have forgotten that maybe the real world isn't? Because you need them to tell stories about "alien" cultures for the heroes to encounter that usually turn out not to be as "alien" as some other exisitng human cultures anyway? Because Trek and Babylon 5 use(d) them as mirrors & metaphors to do shows about certain aspects of humanity, which could have been done with humans all along anyway?

Aliens introduce all kinds of believability problems and production problems and have a huge tendency toward not living up to their potential and promise. None of that is necessary when you stop and think about the fact that any story you can tell with aliens, you can probably tell without them anyway.

Quote:
Please could you tell me how to use those emoticons?

Look in the box to the left when you're posting or responding. Next to each picture is some text, a word with colons before it and after it with no spaces. That's a code; type (or copy & paste) the code into your message and it'll be replaced by the picture when the message is posted.

WIZARDOFAUS

Monday, October 14, 2002 9:06 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Delvo:
Quote:

Why SHOULD there be aliens? Just because science fiction not set on Earth is so full of them that people have forgotten that maybe the real world isn't? Because you need them to tell stories about "alien" cultures for the heroes to encounter that usually turn out not to be as "alien" as some other exisitng human cultures anyway? Because Trek and Babylon 5 use(d) them as mirrors & metaphors to do shows about certain aspects of humanity, which could have been done with humans all along anyway?

Yeah,I hate that! You're right, what's the point of aliens if there are humans that are wierder! All TV aliens should be more like those freaky things from INDEPENDENCE DAY. Not evil, necessairily, but just flat out unhuman.

P.S Thankyou for telling me how to use the emoticons. They're just sooooo daaaarlin'

P.P.S. I hope I didn't say anything wrong. You seem very touchy about this, sir/maa'm. No offense.

I hope this cracks you up as much as it cracks me up!

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