Why Firefly deserved to die

POSTED BY: xed
UPDATED: Thursday, December 19, 2024 02:34
VIEWED: 28595
PAGE 2 of 9

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Originally posted by LivingImpaired:
Hey Haken! I think we have another thread that needs to be deligated to Troll Country!

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I could not disagree more. The only real problem with the original post is its tone...the points he /she made could just as easily been posted under the title of "Why I think firefly will not get renewed for a next season" And then posted the list as examples as to why the show doesn't appeal to a mass audiance. Although I do find it strange that a person would spend all the time Xed did just to say he how much he hates a show let alone all the time he spent watching it, the points he made are legitimate for discusion here in the forums.

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All,

Misterogers said, "It's the people you love the most who hurt you the most." (Yeah, it's been said many times, but his saying so just stuck with me.) Xed watched the show. He found the board. He joined. He posted. If "Mutant-X" went into hiatus tomorrow, I could not care less; I wouldn't join a board; I wouldn't post. Something about "Firefly," besides being awful in his view, caused him to think about it. Think about it.

m.
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"But ... not boring, like she made it sound." Wash, in ARIEL

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If it looks like a troll and smells like a troll, it usually is a troll. If Xed meant to simply spark a dicussion, why did she/he post once and vanish?

Simple answer. And while I'll discuss/argue till Doomsday with someone I know has honest questions or issues, this isn't that person.

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It seems to me that a very angry person wrote those comments. Maybe you are angry about other things that are going on in your life and are powerless to change them. Therefore, you take the time and effort to watch the show and then spend 30 minutes blasting it. If you can't blast the situations or persons that are making you miserable, you can take your frustrations out on a website and then sit back and chuckle when fans come to the rescue. So you know some screen-writing jargon. Big Deal! I must agree with others who say you must not be paying attention. We have had no problem following storylines. You are probably so stressed out you can't keep your mind on the show. So why don't you chill out, keep your comments to yourself and let the rest of us enjoy the best scifi show in a decade.

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It seems to me that a very angry person wrote those comments. Maybe you are angry about other things that are going on in your life and are powerless to change them. Therefore, you take the time and effort to watch the show and then spend 30 minutes blasting it. If you can't blast the situations or persons that are making you miserable, you can take your frustrations out on a website and then sit back and chuckle when fans come to the rescue. So you know some screen-writing jargon. Big Deal! I must agree with others who say you must not be paying attention. We have had no problem following storylines. You are probably so stressed out you can't keep your mind on the show. So why don't you chill out, keep your comments to yourself and let the rest of us enjoy the best scifi show in a decade.

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Originally posted by Docebo:
But I betcha everyone on who reads this board loves the show

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Bzzzzt! Wrong. I certainly don't love the show. I think it has major problems being offered as a sci-fi show in its current form. I'm not a mindless fan who accepts a flawed show as brilliant. This show has major problems...but I still enjoy it for the most part. I also don't live on these boards...I stop by once in awhile to get news.

And why come down so hard on this XED guy, he has some decent points. Take off your "I LUV FF NO MATTER WHAT!" shirts once in awhile.

Hopefully they will put their hiatus time to good use and make some changes.

And FWIW the best sci-fi show in the last decade was Babylon 5...hands down, no contest, the fat lady is singing.

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Originally posted by xed:
So Firefly's dead. We may get to see the long-touted pilot...or we may not. Either way, this series has taken the big dirt nap.

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as said before... Firefly is not as of yet dead. If it was, I would probably hear about it too. I have a friend on the cast.

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[1] unebelievably depressing (Joss Whedon's fault). Imagine a future where the Nazis won. Fill a weekly show with French resistance members hiding out in Tieera Del Fuego. This ain't a recipe for fun, kiddies.

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Depressing? Hardly. Just because it's not your regular happy happy joy joy show doesn't mean it's depressing. This is almost classic space-era sci-fi where the characters AREN'T in a overpowered ship or somehow sanctioned by the ubiquitous government. You gotta brush by on your own. Malcolm Reynolds' crew show a great example of doing so in a less than ideal environment.

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[2] We have no idea who these characters are (Fox networks' fault). Without the pilot episode, the screenwriters found themselves forced to insert exposition that clobbered every episode. The whole second episode made no sense (What's a Reaver?). "Out Of Gas" tried to substitute for the pilot -- did a darn good job. But way too late. Faced with a universe we dont' understand populated by folks we don't know in situations we're not familiar with, most viewers chose to tune out. Thanks, Fox. Brilliant decision to avoid showing the 2-hour pilot.

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Having no idea what/who/where someone is or something is doesn't mean its bad. In many cases such a device is called a "hook." I've seen many shows who do a lot worse (and few that do better) with character development. Firefly has a very good storyline progression as far as overall story goes and learning what someone can do or something is is half the fun in this type of tv show.

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[3] Clunky screenwrtiing. Any professional writer worth hi/r salt knows you don't slam the brakes on the action to segue to irrelevant and annoying exposition. Whedon's always had this problem, and the canceled pilot made it worse. "The Train Job" offers a superb example of how NOT to write a script. Start off the episode with a long irrelevant flashback involving River. (Irrelevant to this episode -- perhaps necessary for expositin down the line, but that doesn't count. Each episode must grab and HOLD the viewer's attention, else the series fails.) Bog down the episode with a long discussion with Book. Then, the minute Mal & company get ready to pull the heist on the maglev, slam the brakes on the narrative by cutting away to a long irrelevant discussion twixt Book and the companion.
Kiddies, that's bad screenwriting with a vengeance.

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As has been said... Pray tell where you got your expertise. Joss, though I don't like his other shows, does an excellent job as I've seen so far. Also irellevant? In a show stressing STORYLINE instead of merely microcosm of human life has "irrelevant" bits of information. What's more most sitcoms you already have a basic grasp of the stituation. Not so in Firefly where as I've said before we are in a learning environment.

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[4] Avoid upbeat endings like the plague. Good idea. We already start with a grim premise -- the bad guys lost WW II/the Civil War. And on top of that, what? Every episode seems to involve some new downer -- a universe in which justice never ever prevails, a Buffy The Vampire Slayer in wh ich Buffy can never slay a vamp...or even keep 'em from greasing civilians. Case in point: in "The Train Job" the supervillain on the skyplex gets away scot free. He's still out there, still hanging folks from the ceiling. Wonderful. Instead of watching "Firefly," how's 'bout I just cut my throat?

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I'd say that this thing doesn't have the "happy ending" as you put it because well.. it's not ended. And its being realistic. Life's not fair. We live. We go on. However, every episode has its own upbeat ending. Not "lived happily ever after" and not everything is resolved but there is definit

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