Conversion - ain't happening here
POSTED BY: JenDandy
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 16:08
VIEWED: 10289
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I've NEVER had any success pimping my main fandom, Blakes7, but last year I had a British friend visiting who managed to start her own wave of conversions when she went home. But then I showed Serenity to a friend who's primarily a Smallville and Harry Potter fan and she was hugely unimpressed.
I think you just have to take a win some--lose some attitude (and think about all the stuff people told you was the best thing since sliced bread that you didn't like thta much).
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Quote:
Originally posted by shinyseven:I've NEVER had any success pimping my main fandom, Blakes7
Most probably because most people aren't intelligent enough to see past crap special effects to the plotting, dialogue and characterisation that made this so brilliant. Not only was Blakes7 a huge influence on Joss in general it is also pretty much the template for Firefly - band of renegade outlaws in space rebelling against a totalitarian alliance...hmmmm.
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I am not a Buffy or Angel fan but I do enjoy Firefly...I am currently in the process of convincing people....Its going well so far. But it's a neg. that the show went for such a short time....went people hear that..well you know.
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The most important thing to understand is that you never have to convince someone of all the wonderful things there are to like. I don't even think you can. You just have to get them exposed. That's the hard part. If people are thinking genre stereotypes (and they will), they will be highly resistant to giving it a chance. And I don't think there's any way through words to change that preconception. But once they SEE it, the resistance melts away like magic. So the key is not to try to tell someone how good it is, but just to try to find a casual opportunity to watch an episode or two.
Yeah, and if wishes were horses we'd all be eatin' steak.
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I got a really good friend who wont watch firefly now out of principle because I can't shut up about it :\.
Im usually the looser at chess with him, so now I have a chess book and first am planning to be better at chess. Then I'll try to trick him into a bet wherein he has to watch a episode of Firefly if I win 
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Closed-mindedness like that really pisses me off because I used to be like that.
I started watching Buffy about two years ago. Before that, I did know of its existence, even watched a couple of eps on BBC2 but I'd spent years thinking it was cheap pap - airheaded throwaway rubbish - "Baywatch with fangs" - if you will. Then someone said I should give it a chance. I laughed. But since he was a good mate I gave it a go - it took me until Season 2 to get hooked but I've never looked back. But now when people hear I like Buffy they laugh at me. The opinion of the general public is that it's like "Sabrina" - they'll never understand that it's dark, witty, thought provoking, heart-breaking, violent, groundbreaking TV and I guess as long as I know that it shouldn't really bother me.
Firefly should be easier to convince people to watch. "A girl with superpowers fighting vampires" just sounds retarded - Firefly's concept isn't quite as silly.
Got to admit, I find it strange when people say they love Firefly but Buffy and Angel are crap. That's bull, you simply haven't watched enough of it. They take longer to get into (I was hooked on Firefly after the pilot) but it's so worth it.
The best episodes of Buffy or Angel are far better than any Firefly we have seen SO FAR. I have no doubt at all that Firefly would have surpassed them by quite some way if it had continued and the average epsiode quality was definitely better. If you like Firefly you would like those shows - Joss didn't simply get good all of a sudden in 2002 you know.
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To convert my wife, I chose "Our Mrs. Reynolds" as the show. There was nothing else to watch on tv, so I just put it on while she was reading. Before 5 mins passed, she was watching with interest. By the end of the show, she was asking to watch another episode. After Serenity, she started watching the DVDs even without me around and had finished the whole set within 3 days. For an action/drama fan, "War Stories" would be the one I'd gamble on. For a sci-fi fan, best start with "Serenity".
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I have to say, I'm VERY good at converting people to Firefly. So far, I've managed to convince five random strangers off the internet to go buy the DVDs and watch the movie, and I've got all my friends to like Firefly. Ironically, the one person I can't convert to Firefly is the one person who's coming to the Serenity convention with my next April...
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I sympathize w/ you Jendandy. The toughest conversion I had was my wife. I had to gently keep pushing her to sit down & watch an episode w/ me. She never got around to it before the show was cancelled. It was not until I got the DVD set, and nothing was on cable one night to convince her to sit and watch an episode (only after I agreed to make popcorn). We watched Serenity and she enjoyed it. Now she is not a huge fan like those of us here, but she knows the show, the actors, and even got pics w/ Jewel and Adam @ Dragon Con.
Family are hard to convert, especially if they are not into sci fi. My step dad was not hard to convert as he & I like the same types of shows and movies. My mother was a bit harder sell. My sister and brother in law were tough, but eventually relented and borrowed one of my loaner DVD sets. They are hooked now & can't wait for the movie. Co-workers have been more of a challenge for me. I am still pecking away at the resolve of several.
The advise I would offer you is nothing ventured, nothing gained. It is well worth the effort to at least attempt to convert friends and family. If they don't like it, at least you tried. If you don't try you will never know.
"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."
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It took me a long time to get my wife, so finally I pledged to do all the unpleasantest parts of cleaning the house myself and she had to watch "Serenity" Then she complained it was an hour and a half.
So I said, Ok, you've just got to watch the first half. So, we watched it and I paused it at the commerical break. She looks at me and says "Go get me some Mt. Dew and start it up again."
She became a junkie O'Firefly.
And she was tough, because we watched "Safe" when it was on T.V. and were both like, "that sucked." We didn't really get who was who in relation to whom. Also, I think "Safe" is by far the single worst episode. For that reason, you've got to go with "Serenity" because the shows all about the relationships between the characters and "Serenity" is the only spot that all gets laid out fully.
I'll get my mom and sis next. Whenever they come to visit me next, they're toast.
Dan
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