Why Isn't Heart Of Gold Ranked Higher By Browncoats?

POSTED BY: Jongsstraw
UPDATED: Monday, September 22, 2008 00:07
VIEWED: 7725
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PLATONIST

Saturday, September 20, 2008 2:50 AM

I have a love/hate relationship with HOG. I love it, but I never watch it. It's an emotional roller coaster. When Mal is with Nandi, I want to scream at him, "No! Mal, don't do it!" "Inara's going to run away", but part of me wants to say, "Yeah, go for it, it's been a while for you" "Inara needs to face her feelings".

And then we get to the end, the screen comes back into view, and that pivotal moment, when Inara says it's not to be... and then we know she leaves... becomes sad and regretful, and Mal puts his heart back in his chest and turns into the cold bastard we see in the BDM.

Good story, yeah, a western with cheesy props, yeah.

The Message is my least favorite. It has a few great lines, but the unfilmed script “Dead or Alive” is even better.

KNIGHTREYEDER

Saturday, September 20, 2008 3:11 AM

Our society is too hooked on competition. Every bloody thing has to be rated, or in a head to head competition with something else. If we're not chosing countries, we're chosing states, then counties, then it's cities pitted against each other, regions, schools, classes, students, bloody hell!! Where does it stop? It doesn't and that's irritating as hell.

I find it much easier to pick episodes I prefer less, than to pick a champion from a pack that's already so brilliant. I won't rank Firfly episodes, suffice it to say Heart of Gold isn't on my 'less preferred' list.

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Mal's expression in the scrapyard when he first see's Serenity says it all.

TWILIGHTSEEKER

Saturday, September 20, 2008 3:56 AM

I have been thinking about what you said about HOG and can only come up with what it is to me personally. There are parts of this episode I love but on some level it disturbs me. Maybe I just dislike the Rance character so much I can not get past it. Please remember the immortal words..."a live horse is a pile a panic."

gentle journey all,
twilight seeker

RIVERLOVE

Saturday, September 20, 2008 11:58 AM

I like Heart Of Gold a lot. One of my favorites for sure. Jayne's lines are all great and funny, River at the delivery of the baby, the Wash-Zoe having children discussion, and the series' most dramatic scenes of Mal and Inara. I like Mal's attraction to Nandi. She gives hints of her Companion training, and at times she seems to out-Companion even Inara. She can read them both. Mal's line about needing more than a few drinks to render his judgement blurry is part of that entire great scene of closeness that is pretty rare for Mal. I mean the man has some moves, but she is after all, hmm hmm , an easy lady. His respectful and innocent manner with her is very charming. I think maybe whenever this episode was rated on FFF, I think maybe some of the lady BC's voted it down, perhaps even sub-consciously due to a degree of emotional sympathy and personal empathy for Inara. Nandi's death, and the look that Inara and Mal have with each other over her body is one of the series' strongest moments.

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Saturday, September 20, 2008 12:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BrowncoatBear:

"Heart of Gold" is like the cutest little kid who you can't help but love, who got into mommy's lipstick and smeared it all over his face. You see him and laugh. You pick him up and hug him. You wipe off the lipstick, and next time you take him to the store with you, you drive out in the middle of nowhere and leave him there. Accelerating as you watch him in the rearview mirror, running to catch you.

"If ya put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig."
Oh, sorry, that comment belongs in RWED, and ya can get in trouble with it even there. Couldn't help myself...

RAYCHEETAH

Saturday, September 20, 2008 4:29 PM

I guess my taste is in my mouth, 'cause I still love The Train Job. That very first airing was what sold me on Firefly, and, flawed or not, Mal's chats with the Sheriff and with Crow are what did it. They defined Mal for me, and, by extension, the show.

-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
The enjoyment of any good thing is only enhanced by sharing it with others.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=30176

CHARLIEBZ

Saturday, September 20, 2008 5:29 PM

Exactly the same for me! I first saw The Train Job and then immediately watched it again. A first, that's for sure - never liked a show well enough to watch it over and over.

I don't really get the less than loving feeling for The Train Job.

RALLEM

Saturday, September 20, 2008 5:35 PM

I started a reply to this thread very early this morning while I fed my dog but as I can see I must have not completed it because it is not here. I saw that some people had objections to "Train Job," and I couldn't understand why anyone would choose "Heart of Gold" over "Train Job." I think that "Serenity" should have been the opening pilot for the series, but as I think on it more, I think "Train Job" would have been a perfect follow up to "Serenity," because "Firefly" is the quintessential Science Fiction Western, and what is more perfect for that genre than a space ship performing a train job?

http://swyzzlestyx.com/index.html

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Sunday, September 21, 2008 2:44 PM

1. HoG had a largely "western" image and feel to it, and F*x was trying to bash any western visage and kept refusing to air it, and Joss and Tim had to rework it several times, with the network still never airing it.

2. Joss re-did the script, and moved it in the chronology of the verse, inserting the Mal/Inara scene out of sequence of the rest fo the filming, crating a hodgepodge of scenes.

3. These reworked scenes were the last filmed on the entire show. The end of the show is a sore spot with browncoats.

4. The moving of the verse chronology causes discordance among the fine scripting of the show, causing some disturbance among browncoats.

5. No Alliance purple-bellies to antagonize our BDH.

6. No Hands of Blue to harrass/chase Rivernator.

7. No well-known guest stars as villiany. This ep's well known stars are allies, the whores.

The other questions you are implying or not asking are why were all the other episodes so good, so far above the level of expectation for TV - and that is another discussion.

Further, you must realize that after the final wrap of these scenes, everybody went home that Friday, 20 Dec 2002 and found the Pilot Serenity finally being aired on F*x.

NBZ

Sunday, September 21, 2008 8:32 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Ohhh, disagree here, HOG was great. Of the fourteen eps we got, I can only point to Bushwacked as a show I feel that didn't reach the 'bar'. Every single other is pure greatness, including HOG IMO.

On this we can totally and wholeheartedly disagree. Bushwacked was absolutely excellent and very very underrated. The twist where the cruiser turns up... now that ios brilliant. The story expands just out of nowhere and there are many points where things can and almost do go wrong.

HoG on the other hand... parts of it were IMO very close to being a parody of the rest of the series.

I would put it as probably the weakest episode of the lot.

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