Serenity, soon!

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

www.apple.com/trailers/universal/serenity/

[Ravenseye]

1. Trailer looks cool.....but I never watched Firefly

I think the trailer looks like it's a stand alone feature which is good. YOu'll maybe get more to see it...

Should I watch Firefly though? I heard it once described as the sci-fi equivalent of a bunch of confederate hold out's who fled to the west to escape the union soldiers and are now sort of guns for hire anti-heros...

Does that sum it up?

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

2. I suppose that' s one way to think of it.

Sci-fi western was the way I approached it. And Whedon doesn't impose a lot of politics in the storyline, which is quite a compelling story. And it's only 15 episodes long (Fox cancelelled it after airing the episodes in the wrong order. Fox seems to cancel more shows than the other stations)

But I never thought of it as a Civil War parallel. I always equated the totalitarian Alliance with something more sinister than the Union...like the Empire in Star Wars (All good space epics have to have a massive evil government, don't they?)

[Enraged_Ape]

3. Run, don't walk, to your nearest store and get the series DVDs

It is seriously one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) science-fiction series ever. Whatever you have to do to get your hands on the series, do it. You will NOT be disappointed.

The brilliance of this series is not so much in its science-fiction concepts (which really aren't all that unusual or innovative) as much as in its characters, its cast, and in its sparkling, witty dialogue. There are nine characters in this show, and amazingly, they are all each terrific and interesting in their own ways, AND they all interact so well with each other. They all compose a group that you wish you could hang out with for real.

To describe "Firefly" as a "science-fiction western", as so many have tried to do, does no justice to the show. It is both...and neither. The beauty of Firefly is that it did not elevate concept above character, as the Star Trek franchise has been won't to do. The stories are compelling because you really care about the people that are involved.

That's all I have to say about this show. It's just great. I envy you that you have yet to be really exposed to it.

[Ravenseye]

4. I save stuff that is supposed to be good

I love Heinlein for instance but have yet to read about half his books. I could probably devour all or most of them in days or weeks, but I don't. That way every year I'll get a new Heinlein book.

I tried renting the first disk of Firefly today but the store didnt' have it. I want to rent the first disk and watch before I just buy it. I will if I have to though.

Would you compare it to BSG in that it's mostly about characters and character development?

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

5. Absolutely!

The characters are magnificent, and the story is intriguing.
And it's not all "western" actually. In fact, it all depends on how much money one has in Whedon's future. If you can't afford to get anti-gravity litfers repaired all the time, a few horses and a wagon are much cheaper and easier to maintain. Makes sense to me.
Whedon has a bit more humor than most would probably like, but there are some really good points of drama there, too.
I would definitely recommend renting the first disk and watching the two-hour premiere (which FOX aired at the end of the show's run, not at the beginning. Kinda explains why it was canceled.)

(Edited for spelling)

[jayfish]

11. I Miss All Of Them.

There were so many directions the show could have gone just because of the quality of those characters.

Jayne!
The Man they call Jayne!

He robbed from the rich
and he gave to the poor.
Stood up to the man
and gave him what for.
Our love for him now
ain't hard to explain.
The hero of Canton
the man they call Jayne.

Our Jayne saw the mudders' backs breakin'.
He saw the mudders' lament.
And he saw the Magistrate takin'
every dollar and leavin' five cents.
So he said: "You can't do that to my people."
He said "You can't crush them under your heel."
So Jayne strapped on his hat
and in 5 seconds flat
stole everythin' Boss Higgins had to steal.

He robbed from the rich
and he gave to the poor.
Stood up to the man
and gave him what for.
Our love for him now
ain't hard to explain.
The hero of Canton
the man they call Jayne.

Now here is what separates heroes
from common folk like you and I.
The man they call Jayne
he turned 'round his plane
and let that money hit sky.

He dropped it onto our houses
he dropped it into our yards.
The man they called Jayne
he stole away our pain
and headed out for the stars!

(Here we go!)

He robbed from the rich
and he gave to the poor.
Stood up to the man
and gave him what for.
Our love for him now
ain't hard to explain.
The hero of Canton
the man they call Jayne.

http://www.fireflywiki.org/


Jay

[Walt Starr]

13. Jaynestown is my favorite episode!

IT CRACKS ME UP!

[jayfish]

14. Jayne Was My Wifes Favorite,...

you know the whole bad-boy thing, until he sold everyone out. She was not happy. I just watched the trailer and I can't freaken wait! I hope the movie can resurrect some interest in bringing Firefly back to the small-screen. Funny thing about the ep. for me was, I was real concerned it was going to be a shark-jumper. It most defiantly was not.

Jay

[Enraged_Ape]

6. I would definitely compare it to BSG...

in the excellence of its characters and in its writing.

The special effects are also done by the same company (Zoic), and they are great. It is also the only sci-fi show that I know of where SHIPS DON'T MAKE SOUNDS IN SPACE. Imagine that.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

7. Sadly I think they changed that for the movie

The trailer had sounds in space, but then again, a theatrical release does have to hit a larger audience, and moviegoers are used to sounds in space.
Go figure. (I blame George Lucas.)

[Ravenseye]

8. to be fair

you can't blame Lucas, you have to blame the earlier sci-fi serials and 50's sci-fi, George Pal, etc. Lucas was just copying them.

The only sci-fi that I know of that doesn't have sounds in space which is a movie is 2001....are there any others?

I honestly dont' mind it. It's sort of like a symphonic score...People don't complain that big space battles don't have classical music blaring in the background...

Just try and imagine what the end battle in Return of the Jedi would have been like without any external space sounds, and no classical music...close your eyes for a second and picture it....

When they are on cockpit shots you get sound from within cockpits, but nothing external...and no music.

It'd be a VERY different movie.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

9. I know.

I was just being a little facetious there when I said I blamed Lucas.
Besides, Lucas has screwed up so many things (With Episodes I and II) that I figured "hey, what's one more thing to blame on him"
Besides, I can only name two shows or movies that did outer-space scenes accuratelyL 2001 and Firefly. Every single other show or movie (Including my favorite, Babylon 5) included sound effects in the spacefights.
And that's okay. (I knew I should have included the :sarcasm: tag when I said I blamed Lucas.)

[Walt Starr]

10. Firefly always played music in space

but no engine sounds. Just the theme music.

[Enraged_Ape]

12. But it was good music

What's funny is that I thought it even MORE effective when they would show a huge explosion in space, with no sound except for that guitar playing. That was just so cool.

[Ravenseye]

15. Just Watched Eps 1 and 2 of Firefly

I'm impressed. i really like it.

What strikes me is that I remmeber watching the premiere on television and really not liking it. The Train Job. It was confusing. It felt like I was jumping into the middle of the story. There was too much. Who's that guy? Wait who's that? Why is she there? What ist hat? What's going on?

All that came back to me while watching it. I didn't watch another episode of broadcast it just rubbed me so wrong.

Now watching the ACTUAL trailer, Serenity...I was hooked 20 minutes into it. It actually set up the universe so I knew what was going on. It set up the characters. AH ok that's why they have passengers. It just seemed so random the first time I saw it that they had like 8 people on board but they had a prostitute and a preacher. Now it made sense.

Can't wait to watch the rest, but i'm going to space them out a bit to truly appreciate them.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

16. Your inital reaction tells a revealing story about how FOX didn't care...

They ran the episodes out of order and didn't bother to run the pilot episode until the end of the series.
Thus, the show didn't do very well (most people had a similar reaction to what you did), but DVD sales were extremely impressive, and someone at Universal thought it would do well, as they greenlighted a movie before the DVD came out.
So there you have it. Glad to hear you enjoy the series.

And I found that Morena Baccarin (she playes Inari, the Companion) likes to work at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. I think I'm going to go see the next play she's in here.

[Ravenseye]

17. Let Me Run the Sci-Fi Channel

How you could watch that trailer and think "man this thing needs more action to HOOK people right off the bat"...Those execs are retarded.

First of all there IS action in it, no less than the Train Job, but the show isn't an action show from what I"ve seen. Yes there is action.

Anyway if I ran the sci-fi channel I'd have snatched this up in a heartbeat if given a chance to see it accurately.

I hope that after the movie does well Universal sells it to Sci-Fi....they're related after all. NBC/Unviversal owns Sci-fi Channel.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

18. If you get to run the Sci-Fi Channel...

could you re-start Crusade?
And Farscape, too?
Thanks.

[Ravenseye]

19. We'll See

Farscape SHOULD be restarted but now with Ben Browder on SG-1 that could be a problem. We'd have to rotate him out of SG-1 and back into Farscape, and find a replacement for his role on SG-1. I'm open to suggestions on that, but we need to see how the fans react to Ben on SG-1. If they absolutely love him on it, reviving Farscape could be a problem. If they're ho hum about it, we can explore alternatives.

Crusade had promise but I think it needs to be retooled a bit. I'll make my suggestions and I want to see a script for a re-premiere as part of Sci-Fi's premium lineup.

Still I think that'd make a good lineup. Exploring the galaxy...

Crusade (re-tooled)
Firefly
Farscape

Now what I want to do is develop some other 'theme' nights. By 'theme' i want them loose. I want to see concepts for a Night of Myth and Legend. Fantasy Series. Myth Series. I don't want them cheesy though. Not like the Hercules Xena shows. They can have humorous moments, but they have to be serious.

I'm thinking we start the night with some sort of Greek Myth setting for an hour, then an hour of sort of an alice in wonderland type thing...fantastic setting but normal people...pitch me an idea for this, and tied up with a straight out sword and sorcery lord of the rings character drama action...Think Lord of the Rings meets the new Battlestar Galactica.

Then we'll have three nights of original programming. Lets go for four and buy the rights to Doctor Who and find two shows to pair with it...

See how fucking easy it is?

[Orsino]

20. FOX

I refused to watch the series, not wanting to enrich Murdoch further. I assume that the series was at least good, and that the movie will be, too. Joss Whedon rocks.

If I see a used DVD set, I might happily buy either.

[Technowitch]

21. It's that good

We have a "No Fox" rule here, too, and the channel is blocked out on the cable box.

Firefly was the only exception, and the DVDs were worth the moral compromise. ;) Even if only for the 3 never-aired episodes, getting to watch them all in order, and the audio commentaries.