Anyone else disappointed?

POSTED BY: sagrilarus
UPDATED: Thursday, October 20, 2005 10:05
VIEWED: 41679
PAGE 6 of 14

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NEXT PAGE

REVAER

Sunday, October 9, 2005 1:56 PM

I guess I live my life more simply than some, as I peruse this thread. When I ride a roller coaster, at the end, my satisfaction is based on the whole of the ride. I don't think, "Geez, that incline on the second hill completely did not mesh with the theme of the ride! This is the Anaconda, dangit! They coil, and don't rear up like a cobra! This ride is ruined."
Sometimes for the sake of argument, I get carried away when someone points out my flaws, but it's not the whole me. Sometimes I do things out of character, especially when stressed. Maybe fictional characters do too.
Peace to you all, and may Joss continue to create and make right what was wrong for the upset, and maintain the happiness for the content.

STOWAWAY

Sunday, October 9, 2005 2:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Howard:
What I said was not a conspiracy but an analysis of how the culture works.

Well actually it was conspiracy...you said...

Quote:
The Studios are like the Alliance. There is a policy across all studios against ideas and opinions in big films this is acheived by dumbing down character exposition

Not criticizing you in the least, but that was a pretty matter of fact statement about choice of action / intent (and an actual policy) on the part of 'all' studios rather than a more casual analysis of how the culture works (IMHO).

SIGNYM

Sunday, October 9, 2005 2:21 PM

I finally saw the movie- went with four people, three of whom know and like FF and one newbie- and I was the only one who was disappointed. I hope that's the approximate percetange because I really think Whedon deserves another shot at FF/Serenity, and the FF 'verse has a lot of stories to be told.

I was put off from the very beginning, with Mal acting as if Simon was NOT a part of the crew. Where is that famous "Mal loyalty"?? THAT was always constant if nothing else. And Simon personally rescuing his sister? I always imagined that "they" would spring her and that his part was to spirit her away. Although my brain was telling me that Joss needed to compress the story, my gut was telling me that these weren't the people I'd come to know from the series. After that, I had a hard time finding my footing and the movie only caught fire for me a couple of times.

Although I'm not as sure of the cause as HK (I don't think it's fan-driven movie) I pretty much agree with everything he says. And here's a couple of inconsistencies w/in the movie itself:

To think that everyone including the Operative will rise up... or at least wake up... from a one-time airing of damning evidence shows a political naivete that I don't expect from Joss. After all, look at how many intelligent fans on this board STILL think that Bush is doing a good job. They haven't woke up yet! Again, I know he had to compress the story into movie-length, but that sort of trivial resolution just doesn't match the weight of the issues that he raises.

Why would Reavers pack so tightly together in space? I know it makes it pellucidly clear for audience that "Here be Reavers" but you'd think that they'd leave a LITTLE parking room between ships. In fact, why would Reavers be such a big problem anyway.? Sure they're smelly and nasty, but they're also scavengers and can't possibly reproduce the technology that's keeping them alive... quite frankly, they would die out on their own in just a few years given the radiation that they expose themselves to.

As a MOVIE, Serenity prolly succeeded for the average audience... but then, we aren't the average audience.

Please don't think they give a shit.

CLJOHNSTON108

Sunday, October 9, 2005 3:25 PM

I think everyone here has made valid points.
TV and Film are very different mediums, so Firefly & Serenity are separate entities for me.
We'll always have our Firefly DVDs (as well as Sci-Fi channel & downloadable episodes), so I don't feel that anything's been lost (Well, other than two beloved characters).

Serenity needed to grab an audience outside of us Whedonites, and I think it's been doing an amazing job of punching holes through that barrier!

Just look at what this guy posted on a board that I frequent...
http://orbit.m6.net/v2/read.asp?id=26990

Quote:
posted by jax6213jax6213
I've never even heard of the show firefly and I used to be a big science fiction fan.

Yesterday I was bored with work and the people there, so I left early and walked around downtown Seattle. I went into a movie theater without even bothering to see what kind of movie was playing. I bought the usual popcorn and drink and went in and sat down.

After what seemed like about a year of coming attractions, the movie started; It caught my interest right from the opening scene, and I was on the edge of my chair throughout whole movie.

Later after I got home, I googled Serenity and found out that it had been on television, and it had been a series, but after 14 episodes it got yanked off the air.

I got into my car and went to the mall and purchased Firefly, the complete series. I got home and watched all of them, and I just finished the last one this morning.

My 1st impressions of the series is that its kind of a cheesy, spagetti western with space and frontier planets as its back drop, but its a likeable kind of cheesy.

The characters are all likeable, and they grow on you fast. I also have to admit, the woman who plays the ships "high class prostitute" is so beautiful. I have a thing for women with long dark hair, dark eyes and elfin features.

Anyway, I liked all the actors in the show; I liked how they interacted with each other, and I really liked the guy who played the captain, plus that cute engineer chick.

The stories were all good and well balanced, matter of fact, the stories were very engaging despite the (obviously) low budget of the show, so I'm really confused as to why it was yanked off the air??!!!

Everytime a series comes along thats really great, it gets cancelled and replaced with stupid crap like Buffy the vampire Slayer.

This world is being fedex to hell in a handbasket

---------------

"All that is required for evil to triumph is for the good man to do nothing."
--Edmund Burke

HOWARD

Sunday, October 9, 2005 5:07 PM

On the Reavers as soon as I heard that cast members were eating lunch with extras dressed in scary REAVERS costume...my heart sank!!
The whole point of the REAVERS in FIREFLY was the fear and terror of the unknown. Macho Jayne freaked out at the mere mention of them. Again this is so common in movies today and another element of corporate consumerist dumbing down. Everything has to be physical and "in ya face" instead of the psychological terror that can be so much more dramatic and longer lasting.

I also agree very much that Joss is SO naive in politIcal terms.

The idea that truth out generates change among the masses is fool-hardy especially in a society like the USA or the Alliance where material goodies and financial debt keeps people towing the line. Yes it is true that truth revealed gives activists and resisters fresh fire and motivation and boosts morale. But not among the mass of people. Then there is the naive idea that a corporatist information or media complex that is tied to the regime (IE GENERAL ELECTRIC they build nukes for the Pentagon and own NBC) is going to distribute truth out of the goodness of its own heart or that a regime like the ALLIANCE is not going to have technology to stop info from a source getting to people's "Wave" receivers.
Joss like many people in Hollywood are so naive that they believe if you have evidence of a war crime and take it to the NY TIMES that they are sure to print it. History has taught us this is far from so. The NY TIMES was in possession of hard evidence of the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people by the US military in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in the 60's and 70's but never printed 90% of it. The so-called Pentagon Papers were mere crumbs off the table.
The same is true today with torture by American soldiers and CIA agents of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and GITMO. Only a fraction of the story is out in the big media and they pretend it is a past tense as if it does not continue while it does continue.

SAGRILARUS

Sunday, October 9, 2005 6:49 PM

Quote:
Just look at what this guy posted on a board that I frequent...

Note that he is reviewing the series, not the film.

It appears I've really stirred the pot a bit. The good news that I take from the whole thing is that the guy I brought with me, essentially new to Firefly, loved it. With any luck this will be the general impression. I am hoping that people that see the movie first and then go to the series will get the material in the right order and enjoy all of it.
I personally am just going to have to realize that catching lightning in a bottle twice is a pretty tough trick. Given how Joss left things, I think any sequel would be pretty contrived. Given the sales so far, I don't think that will be a problem. Either way I think Joss will do well, as the DVD sales for the series are bound to increase because of the movie.

One last question, and this is a big one -- hundreds if not thousands of dedicated, rabid fans such as us (including some of the people reading this) saw this thing in previews months ago. Why did not one of you speak up in any way about this? Based on the word on the street, this film was all that and a bag of chips. The reviews were just obscenely good. Did not one person in any of these showings question the very different characters that were presented? How did I get hit with such a curveball without warning?

Sag.

GIANTEVILHEAD

Sunday, October 9, 2005 10:46 PM

I think that some of the disappointed fans are not taking into considering the fact that the length of time between the show and the movie is greater than the length of time between the beginning of the show and the end of the show. So basically the crew probably had more adventures/misadventures during the time between the show and the movie than during the show and I would say that it is highly unlikely for them not to change during that time. The characters in the movie are probably what they would have been like in season 2 or 3 of the show.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

SAGRILARUS

Monday, October 10, 2005 1:34 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Giantevilhead:
I think that some of the disappointed fans are not taking into considering the fact that the length of time between the show and the movie is greater than the length of time between the beginning of the show and the end of the show. So basically the crew probably had more adventures/misadventures during the time between the show and the movie than during the show and I would say that it is highly unlikely for them not to change during that time. The characters in the movie are probably what they would have been like in season 2 or 3 of the show.

[Sag shrugs and moves on. Time to find a new hobbie.]

RUE

Monday, October 10, 2005 2:27 AM

Just a reiteration from another thread - I didn't like the movie as much as the series b/c I have a personal weakness for the unexplained. I thought the movie explained too much, resolved too much, for my taste.

I thought it was geared toward the non-fan. It had to get the back-story in, outline the characters, set the plot in motion and conclude itself in a short time. And as a movie, it had to be bigger and tighter than a TV series. There just isn't time for quirky, intimate, indefinite plot-lines and character development. I see those as the drawbacks of movies per se.

I thought it made the transition to 'movie' about as well as could be expected. Along those lines, it satisfied.

Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.

SCIFINUT

Monday, October 10, 2005 2:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Howard:
On the Reavers as soon as I heard that cast members were eating lunch with extras dressed in scary REAVERS costume...my heart sank!!
The whole point of the REAVERS in FIREFLY was the fear and terror of the unknown. Macho Jayne freaked out at the mere mention of them. Again this is so common in movies today and another element of corporate consumerist dumbing down. Everything has to be physical and "in ya face" instead of the psychological terror that can be so much more dramatic and longer lasting.

I also agree very much that Joss is SO naive in politIcal terms.

The idea that truth out generates change among the masses is fool-hardy especially in a society like the USA or the Alliance where material goodies and financial debt keeps people towing the line. Yes it is true that truth revealed gives activists and resisters fresh fire and motivation and boosts morale. But not among the mass of people. Then there is the naive idea that a corporatist information or media complex that is tied to the regime (IE GENERAL ELECTRIC they build nukes for the Pentagon and own NBC) is going to distribute truth out of the goodness of its own heart or that a regime like the ALLIANCE is not going to have technology to stop info from a source getting to people's "Wave" receivers.
Joss like many people in Hollywood are so naive that they believe if you have evidence of a war crime and take it to the NY TIMES that they are sure to print it. History has taught us this is far from so. The NY TIMES was in possession of hard evidence of the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people by the US military in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in the 60's and 70's but never printed 90% of it. The so-called Pentagon Papers were mere crumbs off the table.
The same is true today with torture by American soldiers and CIA agents of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and GITMO. Only a fraction of the story is out in the big media and they pretend it is a past tense as if it does not continue while it does continue.

I thought this forum was about Serenity/Firefly, not anti-American, anti-military propaganda?

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NEXT PAGE