Star Trek & FF/Serenity- an analysis of the popularity differences
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Monday, September 1, 2008 00:28
VIEWED: 8959
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Quote:That (pregnant pause) is why it's deep.
Originally posted by TexArcana:
The Story is as old as Human Civilisation; and has been told (only the names have changed) over campfires, and in Fairytales/Legend from the time we learned to speak...
Quote:You misunderstand me- I'm sayin' you CAN take it as merely eye candy, it obviously is much more than that.
I would also take issue with BSG being "'Splosions" focussed: The mind-games, sexual tensions and character twists take it to a level beyond simple "Flash bang/Oo-Ah".
Chrisisall
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I think the reason Serenity did not do well was because of its name. Didn't we have a discussion here about this at least once before where a name of a movie can have a significant effect on its outcome of viewers. It was mentioned by some expert that if Joss had named the movie after a location it would have turned out a larger audience.
http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html
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Quote:And so there was the silent patter of little baby pauses.
Originally posted by chrisisall:
That (pregnant pause) is why it's deep.
More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.
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As much as I'm grateful to Universal for making Serenity, there's no doubt that they gave it the "D" list treatment. What made anyone think a movie could be successful without some big-time Hollywood stars in it? Even the lousy Star Wars had Natalie Portman & Ewan McGregor, two popular movie stars. Serenity could have used some star power to attract new viewers.
I'm one of the lucky ones who saw the movie but never saw the series. I only knew about the movie from seeing a nice article on it in Starlog magazine. There were 2 pictures in the mag that influenced me to go see it...the pic of River on the ceiling in her blue satiny costume, and the pic of the whole gang sitting on the steps listening to Joss. The way they were focused on him, and the gentle & graceful manner that Summer was sitting upright and paying close attention just moved me to wanna see it. It made me feel that I had missed out on something that others were enjoying.
And the only reason I had bought the Starlog Magazine was because Hurricane Wilma had knocked out my electricity for a week, and I bought a bunch of magazines to keep me from going insane from boredom.
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One other thing, in the seventies (when Trek gained the bulk of it's fan base), there wasn't much SF at all on TV, just re-runs of Lost In Space, a Logan's Run show & so on, Trek was THE best thing at that time, when FF came on it had LOTS of shows to compete with that, while not as good, were certainly quality product.
Hmmmisall
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:Quote:That (pregnant pause) is why it's deep.
Originally posted by TexArcana:
The Story is as old as Human Civilisation; and has been told (only the names have changed) over campfires, and in Fairytales/Legend from the time we learned to speak...Quote:You misunderstand me- I'm sayin' you CAN take it as merely eye candy, it obviously is much more than that.
I would also take issue with BSG being "'Splosions" focussed: The mind-games, sexual tensions and character twists take it to a level beyond simple "Flash bang/Oo-Ah".
(Calm demeanor during pregnancy): Okay. My definition of depth tends to bend toward a story that is new, and/or contains multi-layered elements.
Not something that has been re-hashed since time immemorial with recognisable characters and elements.
As far a BSG goes: I am willing to bet the Fanbase is made-up of those who are not addicted to eye-candy; as the bulk of episodes have involved human intrigue. Not space battles/gun duels etc.
The only eye-candy readily offered on an episode-to-episode basis is the group of fit, sexy younger actors running around in military scivvies (with the exception of "6"/Tricia Helfer and her parade of slinky outfits).
Note on eye-candy definition: Sci-Fi is a parade of flashing lights, and interesting buttons to push. These are not considered part of the eye-candy imo. As they are standard fair for us
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It can be argued though that Star Wars and Star Trek holds more complexity than Firefly because the other two series have novels and paperback books and comic books to flush their stories out. Firefly does have comic books but so far I am unaware of any novels or paperback books. I am still a Firefly fan and lean towards it being the better story of the three, but I don't think it is a good thing to put down the other shows because they pack more eye candy which may or may not hide any complexity in the story.
http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html
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Quote:
Originally posted by rallem:
It can be argued though that Star Wars and Star Trek holds more complexity than Firefly because the other two series have novels and paperback books and comic books to flush their stories out. Firefly does have comic books but so far I am unaware of any novels or paperback books. I am still a Firefly fan and lean towards it being the better story of the three, but I don't think it is a good thing to put down the other shows because they pack more eye candy which may or may not hide any complexity in the story.
http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html
Ahhhh. If one wants to focus on "after the fact" value-added complexity, the discussion becomes a "what if" situation.
I would offer that the Firefly Universe has a lot of "what if" available. Purely based on the level of technological development still to be achieved (when compared to SW, or ST).
Whether Mr. Whedon believes in Alien Life or not...
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I would really love to see some canon novels and paperback stories for Firefly and am sorry the Joss Whedon hasn't capitalized on these venues for making money and for flushing out his stories.
http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html
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Another Sci-Fi series (that I'm a big fan of) that is an example of something that put-up the "good fight" imho is Babylon 5.
That show (at least up here in the Great White North) had to struggle to stay alive during it's run.
Even though it was hella lots of fun, with a large cast; and good effects for it's day.
They did try to stretch it to much once the "Sheridan phase" was over; and it died off.
Yet during the Sinclair/Sheridan run of the first 4 Seasons it was a great show imho.
J. Michael Straczynski put up a great fight to keep it going.
-An good example of a Producer/Creator who fought for his vision imho.
And those of us that were big fans were well served.
I have fond memories of my living room being packed with Archaeology Students who would pilgrimage to my place (I was one of the only ones with a good TV) to watch it.
I would spend the off-season trying to keep track of where it would be airing next (Thanks the Lords of Kobol for UPN!)...
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