Ok how about some negativity.....Yes towards Firefly!!!!
POSTED BY: TheSomnambulist
UPDATED: Saturday, April 24, 2010 01:56
VIEWED: 9300
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I think the biggest thing that bothered me was the lack of character development for some of the characters. And while I certainly acknowledge that there wasn't much time (stupid FOX), I guess I feel like they could have done a little bit more than they did. Zoe was the worst, I think; I always wanted to know more about who she was, other than the fact that she was Mal's second in command during the war. It seems like you knew more about what type of person the other characters were. But with Zoe, everything was a mystery.
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"This isn't funny, Dean. The voice says I'm almost out of minutes."
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Quote:She had been close to some during the war, those some getting killed in action. She swore off love with military types, knowing she'd eventually lose them to a bullet or a bomb.
Originally posted by deepgirl187:
I always wanted to know more about who she was, other than the fact that she was Mal's second in command during the war.
Then came Wash, definitely not the fighting type, definitely not to be killed by a bullet or a bomb. He was safe to love.*
*Just my opinion is all- not cannon.
The laughing Chrisisall
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I like your idea, Chrisisall. Even just one line like that would have been helpful, IMO.
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"This isn't funny, Dean. The voice says I'm almost out of minutes."
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Quote:Except that *no one* is "safe" to love...
Originally posted by deepgirl187:
I like your idea, Chrisisall. Even just one line like that would have been helpful, IMO.
The not-laughing Chrisisall
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I'm sure Zoe would have had her moment under the microscope, but as we all know only too well, the series was cut short.
A lot of what you guys have listed about the BDM are things that bothered me, but were placed for the sake of smoothness to an audience who had not seen the series. (ie something of a character arc reboot for Jayne and the relationship between Simon and Mal).
A lot of things bothered me about the train job. But, justifiably so, it had been written in a weekend with Joss's hand forced by Fox execs.
However, the influence they had on the overall curve of the series (Mal not being a complete soul sucked individual in particular) I thought actually helped the series. Joss likes to take his sweet time and drive down his own road, which is what makes some of his work fantastic, but every once in awhile he needs a prod or two to keep him from crossing over into oncoming traffic. I think the interjection of some humor earlier (which I think he planned to do eventually, but not early when Mal was still broody) made the series as it was and as it would have been had it continued, far more endearing.
And on that note, the pilot was great. Some of the budgety things bugged me, the clear "Triton" label on containers and some of the inability to hide the budget's shortcomings (rubber guns) early on were kind of stingers (and which ever episode had them actually using an original 1800's style wagon, the clip of which was used over and over in the intro "when earth that was....")
Bushwacked... I don't know if anything bothered me so much as the episode was just rather.... disjointed, it never really had a direction. It also smelled of the really heavy space-drama the series might have completely consisted of (see: Early episodes of Lost-In-Space) had the interjection of humor not made it. And if you want to do a scary perilous episode, great, but the episode never really made you fear for the crew either.
Shindig, I love. Very little to criticize, except the lack of sword play you already mentioned.
Safe, is another favorite, the whole thing comes together, expands the universe, explores the characters, advances the arch of Simon-Mal warming up to not hating one another (the fact taht this was not solidified in later episodes, doesn't bug me as it does others. Just because you're willing to not let someone be stranded, doesn't mean you're always going to be bosom buddies).
Beyond that, I can't think of too many things. Oh one overarching thing, perhaps this is my induction into "Roddenberry-ish" sci-fi as a kid, they never show how anything works (even with pretend concepts), or explain the layout of their solar system (having a basic understanding of solar bodies makes this maddening. Galaxy? System? super system? where are they????(and yes I know about the piece-meal 'verse in numbers and QMX maps, but I wanted Joss to tell us) While the story really doesn't pivot on this, it being a western and the planets being symbolic of towns, it just bugs me. lol
"...we need a hood ornament..."
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The only thing that bugs me about Firefly is how insanely good looking they all are...I wish someone would have the balls to use brilliant but plain looking actors...not that I don't love the actors in question. But I'd like em just as much...no actually more if they were normal looking or even what society considers ugly. Obviously Inara has to be a stunner considering her job, and I do like that she's an exotic rather than a typical beauty.
I also like the multicultural aspects of the show...but noticed an extreme lack of people with disabilities whenever they were on different planets etc...or maybe those people were so well included in the scenes I never noticed them.
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Dunno, sounds to me from that letter like Jayne's little brother is a lunger. And River has some severe disabilities. And there was the mute girl on Jiang Yin, and Jayne's former partner was missing an eye, and for some reason I seem to remember the lady who took in Simon and River in safe was blind, but maybe not.
But you're right, some of it isn't obvious, and it's often not main characters, and for seeing the aftermath of Civil War style carnage and lack of medical care on a solar system scale, there really aren't a whole lot of prosthetics or wheel chairs or crutches.
Hell, in the series Mal doesn't even have any scars, and in the movie they retconned a few minor ones, but in all honesty he actually probably ought to be a MESS. At one point he supposedly got shrapnel in his back, and who knows how many gun shot wounds and knife wounds he's had, and if he was a POW after Serenity Valley, there's a good case to give him some scars from that time too.
I pretend that the scars are all just very light and faded and so you can't really see them unless you looked close, but yeah.
Zoe's a similar story, but then we don't see as much of her uncovered.
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Quote:"Insanely??"
Originally posted by boris:
The only thing that bugs me about Firefly is how insanely good looking they all are
Joss purposely casts his characters in an acceptable (by Hollywood standards), but oblique way. Cordellia on Buffy/Angel was the ONLY ever dream chick/dude he let in. No other character EVER in his shows was typical beef or buff cake. Nathan comes closest, and maybe Adam, but even THEY have quirks in their looks that have kept them from true stardom (until now, hopefully). Joss breaks ground, and if Nathan gets a shot at the Indy role in future, it will be BIG for non-classic types for decades to come IMO.
We need these looks, we need real-er-lookin' peeps in front of cameras.
"Insanely?"
Check that dimwit chick in Transformers for that.
The laughing Chrisisall
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Quote:Zoe is full of scars. Inner ones. Wash took them away for a bit, but they're back. She never got obvious ones (until her Husband died, that is), because she's the best at what she does: surviving. Saving her foolish Captain. Sublimating pain.
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Zoe's a similar story, but then we don't see as much of her uncovered.
IMHO anyway.
The laughing Chrisisall
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I guess we all have our own ideas about looks and terms of measurement. Compared to me and the folks I hang with the BDH's are spectacurlarley aesthetically endowed in the looks department. I used the word "Insanely" poetically to highlight my own perception. I happen to think Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Sean Maher have classic movie star looks. Maybe what they are lacking is the hollywood El fake-o gloss that appeals to so very many people. Friends of mine who are not Firefly fans(sharp painful intake of breath coz i don't understand why) only watch Castle because they think Fillion's a beefcake (it makes me shudder when they talk about him like that and completely discount his talent and wit). The ladies of Firefly as far as I'm concerned have looks that are right on up there with Cate Blanchett, Catherine Zeta Jones,Audrey Hepburn,etc etc. That's just the way I look at it. And no offence even though the characters are very credible and real only Wash and Book have what I would consider to have Realish blend in with the crowd looks. if I saw the others on the street without knowing who they were, I would probably stop and say to myself "damn they're pretty".
ps: I don't have anything against pretty people, I would just like to see more unpretty people promoted for us to admire. e.g. I'm not a looker but like most people have a personality that attracts people and would like to see more of that in films and TV though i know that's an unrealistic expectation coz we humans are a fickle bunch
ppss regardless of everything I've said I still love our BDH's coz we know their personalities far outweigh their looks.
oh yeah and as for other Whedon shows...How are David Boreanaz and Marc Blucas not classic buffcake? many of my female (and some male)friends only started to tune into Buffy to score eyefuls of either of them shirtless! And Eliza Dushku is not only loved by sci-fi or Joss Whedon fans...she's the fantasy dream babe for many men (and some women) I know
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