The Firefly Theroy

POSTED BY: FemaleJayne
UPDATED: Sunday, July 4, 2004 22:51
VIEWED: 6369
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FEMALEJAYNE

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 9:02 PM

I'm gathering information to make a theroy of Firefly. ie why so many people love it, how it effects our lives, why fox droped it... Any information would be a great help to me.

ROCKETSURGEON

Thursday, July 1, 2004 4:54 AM

Well, where to begin? I'd want to scrap the last part from the get go. Yeh, damn Focks and all that, but we have the show back now as a movie. We'll never get a straight answer unless some email or paper trail turns up from one Fox exec to another describing in gross detail what happened. That's air through the engine, focus on the positive.

Firefly is an ultimate artistic use of the medium of television.

It is an exceptional orchestration of the elements of the TV series format. The CGI technology, the artists (actors, writers, camera operators and others), the language and every other element of TV land (except maybe for good marketing, damn Focks) are used to deliver what the audience needs. In no uncertain terms, this is a story with believable people and powerful relationships. It lives in a universe of epic scale that remains, somehow, familiar. There is a definite journey and there are tough questions that need to be answered.

Firefly involves the viewer as much as it involves the creators. Those who have seen the special features on the DVD know what the makers of Firefly thought of the series. They too believed in this 'verse and "lived" in it. Many of the feelings of caring for the crew and such were not acted. They loved what they did and where they were.

One of the brilliant decisions in the making of the series was to make an actual ship. In this age of cold, evanescent CGI and crane-driven cameras, they relied on skilled camera operation and integrated lighting to achieve many of the basic effects. The most powerful of these was the immediacy of the action. You feel like you are there. I personally didn't notice the cameras were hand-held until I heard about it in the features. This 'verse feels like someone lives here.

Above, I called it an ultimate artistic use of the medium. To be sure, there will be others with a totally different take on TV, and they will make it work, but Firefly is in a league of its own. By this, I mean that it doesn't waste musical score, gunplay or video frames saying something you already know. It has a story, interesting characters, humor and harsh reality. It uses the medium as effectively as it can be used, to communicate all that it can, to achieve more than just forgettable entertainment:

- The music of the Message gives you the feeling of an end, be it of a troubled life's story or a troubled series.

- The mixed images/soundtrack of Inara's introduction in Serenity (episode) show emotion above dialogue and highlights the superficiality of her profession and possibly foreshadows a conflict within it. It is so subtle most don't notice it the first time. The sense of the scene is unequivocal. I also wonder if the bathing scene was cut roughly to emphasize the “moments” in time when she is allowed to be herself.

- The introductions of the characters capture quintessential elements of their personalities. Wash only played with his plastic dinos for a few seconds, but after that introduction, you knew him in a way you'll never know most TV characters (Kudos to Mr. Tudyk for the rendition).

Firefly uses CGI in a realistic manner, consistent with the real-life scenes. This makes it more believable.

The series format meant that the story can take the time it needs. Some things could be resolved in the next second (Agent Dobson) or after a long while (what did they do to River's Brain?). This is why I would argue, beyond the legal impossibilities, that Firefly NEEDS to be a series, regardless of what is now possible.

The bad guys , they wear hats.

The humor and delivery make for an experience akin to watching a Shakespearean play. Once you meet Firefly, you know the overall story, but you watch it again for the delivery. There is depth here that is never captured on the first pass. There is humor that is genuinely funny the second and more times. There is music that reaches further and combines styles of the world's cultures to be informative, original and touching.

Finally, the story is not just about the knight in shiny armor coming in

THEREALME

Thursday, July 1, 2004 5:36 AM

* Stunned Silence *

* The Real Me picks his jaw up from the floor and re-connects it, in a manner befitting an old Warner Brothers cartoon. *

That was... great.

The Real Me

ROCKETSURGEON

Thursday, July 1, 2004 4:08 PM

Thanks

Having slept on it, I've got a few more points that were glossed over:

- Endlessly quotable, testament that it covers a LOT of ground (shiny!)

- The show kinda emphasizes power of the bonds of family you choose, it's not about how people want to get under each-other's skin or get a one-up on one another. That's very much the nature of interactions in reality series.

- About not wasting screen time, it ignores the details of a technology that doesn’t exist, unlike some sci-fi that can feel more like textbook. These are fine but they don't feel like places I'd want to live.

- The creators understand how and what technology is, its distribution, its use, its politics... Yeh they’re not using laser rifles, that just means that a gun is about as good a technology as it needs to be. Kindof like an alligator, some things stop evolving.

- The above said, from an aerospace engineering/concept design perspective, the Firefly tranport is a very elegant ship design. It's fun to watch it do its thing.

In spite of all the troubles day to day, the things to be afraid of, etc... There is still a sense of hope that leads the crew to press on, in the face of the uncaring/malevolent powers that be. They don't always have a plan, but the will get through one way or another.

In keeping with conveying the evolution of technology, the show also expresses the continuation of the mistakes of our society, the world’s society. It's post apocalyptic (the earth got used up). It shows the continuation of oppression, class structure, ignorance, big brother, totalitarian government and more. There's lots of social commentary here that can make you stop and take notice.

---
"Here's something you can't do ... [insert cool manoever here]"

CHRISTHECYNIC

Thursday, July 1, 2004 4:24 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RocketSurgeon:
[BIt's post apocalyptic

It's so obvious that that is true, yet I never thought of it that way.

LAILING

Thursday, July 1, 2004 5:06 PM

I think it all boils down to this: Like the most beloved shows, movies, or other artistic creations, it simply means many things to many people.
By having many layers, it is endlessly fascinating - people won't get bored after one viewing, or three, but will keep going back to it again and again.
By having many aspects, it appeals to a wider audience. Also, one person or group in it's fandom can "leave", but another group - perhaps one very different - may "join". This keeps it fresh and renews it's fanbase.
All in all, I think Firefly has a similar problem to Star Trek-TOS - It's Neilsen's failed, but it's demographics didn't. However, since shows are measured by Neilsen's, the fans got screwed. That apparently Fox, like NBC with Star Trek, didn't WANT Firefly to succeed, only made matters worse. (Yes, NBC deliberately killed Star Trek. Their shenanegins have been documented in a book called "The Making of Star Trek" can't remember the author, Stephen somebody, but probably still in print - copyright around the late 70's or early 80's.) Perhaps Universal will do better. After all, according to the TV Guide article I read, Universal bought Firefly because it was looking for a new franchise. A new franchise, not a story idea for one good movie.
(Whew! I could probably go on and on, but I'll stop now.)

"They've gone to *plaid*!"

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, July 1, 2004 5:15 PM

Members of a defeated and disbanded army. Scraping a living in a world rolled over by war. Trying to live life by the principles they were brought up to respect. Avoiding ravaging criminals and a ruthless military machine. Just everyday life in Iraq.

MINH

Saturday, July 3, 2004 5:40 AM

Firefly is less ethnocentric. It's a fascinating mix of cultures (language, arts, musics, clothing, customs, people, politics, and belief). *cough cough* (Still lacking Asian (and other minority) actors with *speaking* parts. There might be an opening for space journalist.)

HAUFEL

Saturday, July 3, 2004 6:54 AM

It's personal. It's not about the old comic book formula, save the world every week. It's stay out of trouble and try to make enough money for gas and food.

No aliens makes it easier for a broader spectrum of viewers to relate.

The personalities are real, varied, and deep. You understand their motivations, and you care about them.

Presents hard situations and hard choices made without compromise.

Production (set, props, camera work, vfx, et al) presents a believable world. It looks real.

The unexpected twists - no, make that jerks - pull you out of the complacent world of formula scripts.

The music is motion picture, not TV, quality. This has a big impact on the perceived quality of the show.

Yeah, and if wishes were horses we'd all be eatin' steak.

JCOBB

Saturday, July 3, 2004 7:11 AM

I don't know if anyone has brought this up, but the very fact that you can watch an episode over and over again, and it rarely, if ever, gets boring. I know I have probably watched the entire series four or five times over, and yet never once have I felt like I was "finished" with it. Often times once you see an episode of a show you will do everything in your power to avoid seeing it again. Maybe its because we didn't have that many to start with, but I am still amazed at how I can sit down one night, pop in the DVD's and enjoy the show as much, (and maybe more, as I have picked up on several nuances that I missed on my first and second run through,) as I did the first time I saw it.

I can't put my finger on why, (though I have a strong feeling its the writing/execution of the dialogue) but I think its the only show that has done this for me.

I don't care, I'm still free.

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