Heart of Gold

POSTED BY: wytchcroft
UPDATED: Friday, December 7, 2007 01:10
VIEWED: 9175
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WYTCHCROFT

Sunday, November 11, 2007 9:33 PM

(just watching HOG while packing boxes...)

this episode has everything - a brilliant opening - a return to classic western themes... A plot that actively involves Inara (who is a fave character of mine) and gives her a lot of extra character dimension - then there's nandi too.

it has the puppet theatre - with a symbolic show and a genuine asian (rare in the verse ironically) for 3.5 seconds.

it's tense - very tense at times...
but it's damn funny too!

so...

why dont i like it more???

one thing is - why bring the WHOLE crew to the planet - why doesn't Simon object to River coming along to such a dangerous place???

what do other people think???

VETERAN

Sunday, November 11, 2007 11:09 PM

It also showed some character development for Zoe. When she argued with Wash over having a child.

RALLEM

Monday, November 12, 2007 12:45 AM

Was the pistol by which was owned by the bad guy destroyed? I am having a hard time remembering.

VETERAN

Monday, November 12, 2007 1:41 AM

I know it ran out of power. Not sure if it was destroyed in the fight on the speeder. Good reason to go back and watch it.

RALLEM

Monday, November 12, 2007 1:54 AM

Thank you, it ran out of power, so I wonder why the crew of Serenity didn't recover it for a prize.

MAL4PREZ

Monday, November 12, 2007 2:30 AM

I'll tell you why Wythcroft...

Like you, every time I watch HoG I think: the Inara insight is lovely, the dialogue is priceless, the Mal sex scene... yay! (OK, maybe you don't think that exactly ) So this ep is quite good. Why don't I watch it more?

And then I reach the end and think... Oh.

The shootout is just lame. The laser gun - the prop and the special effects of it firing - are lamer. The battery running out is just stupid, (maybe if it tied into some joke or earlier comment, ok. But just happening out nowhere? ) The chase scene with Mal on the horse and the bad guy on the skimmer (or whatever it you call it) is about 10 levels below the visual quality and believability of every other minute of Firefly.

Of course, I'll watch this above most anything on TV - I'm just rating this ep in relation to the rest of the series. IMHO, HoG is the only episode that becomes cardboard TV sci-fi, if only for a few minutes.

The gods of Firefly will punish me for saying all this, I'm sure! *hides*

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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

NBZ

Monday, November 12, 2007 3:04 AM

I sometimes don't like Heart of Gold because IMO it got Firefly cancelled.

That is the impression I got when reading the Visual Companion. the timing seems to fit in my head too.

Quote:
Fox: Make more episodes, but for goodness sakes have less western and more scifi!
Joss & co: We'll make a western Shootout! But since the network told us NOT to do this thing, We'll make the house out of foil paper, give the baddie a laser gun. hehe, they'll never find out.
Fox: hey, wait a minute...
Joss & Co: Ok now we are filming The Message. It has this big space station, a space chase, big explosions and people die. You'll love it!
Fox: yeah, but your still fired.

It also lacks the finesse and twists of the others. It is a little straight forward. (The writer was just arriving from the comics scene, so that is expected.)

I think the Inara leaving scene was added late on to give the episode some weight. It was a gut punch. I for one never expected it, so it was a good addition.

This episode also did have a hint of out of characterness. The Mal and Inara connection seemed to suddenly have jumped up a few notches from where it was before. Some of their early dialogue was so practiced, it was almost a parody. Something which is never acceptable in any show. Unless it is a parody show, ofcourse.

It is a good episode and I love some bits of it, but IMO as a whole it is the worst of the Firefly lot.

RALLEM

Monday, November 12, 2007 3:43 AM

Heart of Gold was one of my two least favorite episodes of Firefly. Objects in Space was the other.

RAHLMACLAREN

Monday, November 12, 2007 4:14 AM

Including the forementioned badness, I don't like HoG because Mal consciencely(sp?) betrays Inara. When Nandi said "I ain't her.", Mal knew exactly who she was taking about. We know Mal is stubbornly loyal to Inara, business arrangement or no. Heck, he was in a duel with frickin' swords, where he almost died (ok, that happens a lot), just so she wouldn't leave.

And from an architectual stand point, the house triggers my gag reflex.

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Find here the Serenity you seek.

NBZ

Monday, November 12, 2007 8:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RahlMaclaren:
ncluding the forementioned badness, I don't like HoG because Mal consciously [corrected] betrays Inara. When Nandi said "I ain't her.", Mal knew exactly who she was taking about.

This is the one place I have some issues with the fans. Of course he knew, but Mal did not "betray" Inara in any sense, shape or form. There was no relationship to betray. There was none that was in the process of creation either. There was simply nothing to betray.

What did Inara expect? Sooner or later Mal would move on, or at least try to. Can't expect him to be committed to a non-existent relationship while waiting for Inara to see the light. They are not teens.

Even if there was a hint of a relationship, it would hardly have been "exclusive", what with Inara being a working woman. or would she stop working once she found out that Mal was her one true everlasting and forever love? Too romanticised.

(sorry if that seems a little heavy, but I got into the flow...)

Quote:
We know Mal is stubbornly loyal to Inara, business arrangement or no. Heck, he was in a duel with frickin' swords, where he almost died (ok, that happens a lot), just so she wouldn't leave.

He was willing to have a fight, throw a few punches. The swords came in unexpectedly and he was not one to back down. He really did expect to win.

Quote:
And from an architectual stand point, the house triggers my gag reflex.

heh, pretty much agree.

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