Sci fi fans unite: what about Firefly and Serenity

D · Post by D » Thu Jan 25, 2007 1:17 pm

I bet most of you US sci fi fans know about this.
Being tucked away somewhere low in Europe I was not aware.
This is a trully great series. It was cancelled, but great stories.
I'm really curious as to what other shmembers think about this series.
And no I'm not bored, I'm really curious about what you think.
I do think Joss Whedon (creator) is a little full of himself, but he is great regardless and he also created Buffy (and Angel) which also had great stories. Then it was cancelled 2002/2003 and a movie was made later 2004. The movie doesn't really look like a movie it looks more like a pilot of that tv show, but I now love both the show and the series.
Watch them here:
http://tv.peekvid.com/s3936/

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:49 pm

My wife really likes Firefly (though she hasn't seen Serenity yet). I never could warm up to it - I'm not sure what it is about it that doesn't do it for me. I'm a huge Buffy & Angel fan, however, & I would agree that Whedon is a great writer & has certainly earned the right to have a show that isn't wildly successful like the first two.

Anyway, I just could never get into Firefly, even though I really like Gina Torres & many of the rest of the cast.

bay · Post by **bay** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 3:47 pm

firefly and serenity. i liked firefly better than serenity, which is like you said more like a pilot. basically trying to wrap up the whole series in a movie, which is cool for first time watchers and you kinda get a bit more from the movie if you've watched the show, so all in all, good times.

one of the better sci-fi series that was on tv for awhile, now i think that void has been filled by battlestar. i used to be a stargate fan, but i haven't watched it in awhile.. and there's that new one now. meh.

the simple fact that lots of these tv shows are being produced to the degree of a movie makes watching tv an entirely different experience than it used to be.

as for now, the only show i'm consistently catching is heroes. it's quirky, got that comic book feel of storytelling (duh..) and its on at 9pm, so i can catch it after work.

animefanjr · Post by **animefanjr** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:14 pm

I never watched it on TV, my friend loves it and i been wanting to see Firefly for a while now. When the movie came out I never got to see it in theaters. Last year when Serenity came out on DVD I bought it, I got a $10 off coupon because I bought the Battlestar box set with it

I loved the movie, I didn't like how we "lost" some characters though. I was sure if I saw the series that would have effected me more. I just bought the series on DVD. Best Buy had it on sale for $19 from $41. So I jumped on it. I am on the 4th DVD now and I am loving it. Great show, its has those funny, OMG moments that a lot of shows dont have.

The site you gave with the shows had them in the wrong order, probally how fox aired it, they really messed up the show. Anyway the DVD has them in the correct order, makes a big diffrence. You get the 3 unaired episodes as well. I plan to watch the movie again when I finish watching it. Can't wait.

Its funny that the special effects seem to me to be very simular to Battlestar, Zoic does them for both shows. Very cleen, never out of place and look great. The Serenity was in Battlestar's pilot (I didn't know at the time - checked it on the DVD)

Great series, I would recommend it. Wish Sci-fi would continue it.

D · Post by D » Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:47 pm

The thing is that I can't understand any sci fi fan picking any other show over this one; thus it is mindboggling to me that this was cancelled.
Perhaps this has to do with commercials, I just imagined how the show would feel if it would be interupted all the while with commercials, hehe not good!
So is that the property of a good tv show nowadays?
That it should still entertain with commercials interrupting it all the time.
I guess for this show it doesn't work, because the episodes don't really have alot of different stories and completely different scenes. The group is together most of the time and it is very relaxing to watch. I'm comparing it to Buffy.
Deep down inside I feel that it probably wasn't promoted enough by the network who aired it.
And like most tv shows, the first few are awkward, you have to bite through them a bit, but the get better and better.
And there are alot of funny moments, like in Buffy.
This show does seem a bit more educated and a little less goofy than Buffy. Perhaps one of my fav episode is the last one (14 of 14 episodes in total).
Where the bounty hunter sneeks onto the ship, lots of funny moments.
And I suspect that River altered the perception of the bounty hunter, because when David asked if he worked for the alliance, he went like: "A lion"? Or he was half deaf, either way a nice little episode.
It's called "Objects In Space".
Others I especially like are "Out of gas" and Ariel.
I would suggest anybody to check out at least these episodes.
Not necessarily through link I provided, that was just to show you what the hell I was on about.
I sometimes watch Battlestar, but what the hell is going on with this guy who is imagining some woman and then she tells him another woman is coming. I like the old show better, it was just like charlies angels and Starski and hutch. One episode deals, a problem came up and it got fixed.
Now with Battlestar, I don't know what the hell is going on and especially after seeing Firefly I think Firefly has ruined generic sci fi shows for me, with all the future suits and all.
Why didn't you guys in the States watch it back then, yes I'm angry at you because it got cancelled

The movie Serenity is ok, but I like the show better.

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 5:24 pm

I wasn't expecting much from Serenity But I found it to be highly entertaining. Keep meaning to get the Firefly DVD as I've not seen any of them yet.

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:54 am

Finally got around to watching this show and it's fucking awesome.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:47 am

Loved the movie, shame the TV show got canceled.

themachinist · Post by **themachinist** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 7:10 am

Saw this on a few sources, there are talks of doing a Serenity 2 according to Alan Tudyk (Wash). Keep the hope alive!
I loved Firefly and Serenity.

D · Post by D » Fri Oct 19, 2007 7:39 am

In the Netherlands we have a sci fi channel (you have to pay extra for it) but sometimes they show a commercial and there you also see the firefly logo. I would love to see Serenity 2. I would though rather have the series continued on. The characters are just great. In a while I will watch it again. It's superb.

themachinist · Post by **themachinist** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 7:57 am

Yeah I'd prefer they continued the series too... finish season 1 and then move on to season 2! I really like all the characters but I'd have to say my favorite is Wash.

Post by **system11** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:37 am

I watched a little, including the film - I'm afraid I don't know what the fuss is about. I was spoiled by the amazing Babylon 5, and no other sci-fi has measured up since.

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:09 pm

I watched serenity because of all the hype, and if it wasn't for the hype I would have enjoyed it. Now I felt let down, because it was 'just' enjoyable scifi with many good elements, but nothing felt truly innovative or groundbreaking. Hey, sounds mean but there was nothing really wrong with this film.

I like "serious" scifi such as 2001, solaris (new and old); danny boyle's sunshine was also very good.. despite the zombie captain

So maybe I should not participate in this conversation?

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:54 pm

I hadn't heard of Serenity until I watched it at a friends house, but I LOVED it! I would definitely recommend it to any Sci-Fi fans. I would love to watch it again, and I have not watched Firefly yet.

themachinist · Post by **themachinist** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:09 pm

Hm, I guess I wouldn't call Firefly/Serenity "heavily" sci-fi. I think I heard it described as a "western space drama". To me it's more like a "western drama" with "sci-fi" elements.

. I mean, basically they deliberately hazed up on the science and such because that isn't really the focus. It's just about some folks getting by in the future and in space

.

It's sorta like BSG in that it's NOT Star Trekky (less focus on the technobabble and science) (Although I like Star Trek too) and more of a character drama.

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:56 am

"western space drama" describes it well.

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 11:18 am

lol I never thought I'd encounter another Babylon 5 fan, everyone seems to hate that series except myself.

Post by **Ghegs** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 12:30 pm

Diabollokus wrote:lol I never thought I'd encounter another Babylon 5 fan, everyone seems to hate that series except myself.

You hang around weird crowd. I've met maybe one person who hasn't liked Babylon 5.

I got the DVD Box Sets and novels and script books 'n everything...

Anyhoo, Firefly. I love that as well.

nectarsis · Post by **nectarsis** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 5:08 pm

I didn't get into the show until I saw previews for the movies. Started looking around, found about the series/ I also bought it when Best Buy had it on sale for $20+ the $10 off coupon if bought with BSG. I made the mistake of watching it by air dates...big mistake...no wonder it got canceled. Fox aired the series so out of wack it wasn't even understandable. Great series (and I actually dislike weterns).

Ex-Cyber · Post by **Ex-Cyber** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:41 pm

IIRC, another reason it got messed up is that Fox kept changing its timeslot and/or preempting it with sports games.

versionfiv · Post by **versionfiv** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:59 pm

@Ghegs I don't like Babylon 5 :p

firefly is a very cool show, I own the dvd set, and I've seen serenity. all very good, but the series has some elusive quality which warrants repeated watches

unsane · Post by **unsane** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:08 pm

I quite enjoyed Firefly and Serenity, though i saw the movie first unfortunately.

Also, i don't really see how they can make a season 2. The movie basically condensed what would have been the rest of the seasons into a big finale. Some other Serenity spinoff perhaps, but not likely a season 2.

D wrote:I sometimes watch Battlestar, but what the hell is going on with this guy who is imagining some woman and then she tells him another woman is coming. I like the old show better, it was just like charlies angels and Starski and hutch. One episode deals, a problem came up and it got fixed.
Now with Battlestar, I don't know what the hell is going on and especially after seeing Firefly I think Firefly has ruined generic sci fi shows for me, with all the future suits and all.

Battlestar as generic scifi? Blasphemy!

You owe it to yourself to watch it starting from the beginning. You can't watch an episode here and there, they aren't self-contained episodes. Best scifi show i've ever seen, no contest, and i loved Babylon 5.

kengou · Post by **kengou** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:27 am

I love the series and movie, really quality stuff. Maybe I watch too much anime but a lot of it was blatantly ripped off of Outlaw Star, but regardless it's still really good. A lot of it is predictable, a lot is cliche, but there's so much awesome stuff in there, like the Jayne song on that mud planet or the episode with Malcolm's "wife" (I won't spoil it). And I'll always love that scene in episode one where the police officer has the gun on River and goes "I'm not playing anymore-" and then Malcolm just walks in and shoots him in the head like it's nothing. So badass. (oh yeah, spoiler if you haven't seen that episode. oops, too late).

Anyway, definitely a shame this one got canceled, it had good character drama and some really great moments. I wouldn't go nearly as far as to say it's my favorite sci-fi series ever, nor was Serenity my favorite sci-fi movie ever, but they are still really good and no sci-fi fan should miss them.

Never_Scurred · Post by **Never_Scurred** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:18 am

I keep hearing that Firefly is similar to Blake's 7(which I am a fan of). Is that true?

D · Post by D » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:18 am

If somebody stumbles upon details of a blu ray release of firefly the tv show, please let us know. I'm not that big of a fan of the movie Serenity though. I think that that is already out on hddvd.

MR_Soren · Post by **MR_Soren** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:24 pm

Loved Firefly, hated Serenity.

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:51 pm

I guess I should give firefly a chance, then

PROMETHEUS · Post by **PROMETHEUS** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:28 am

I like sci fi and watched serenity recently. I thought it was ridiculous (extremely bland characters and story, horrible direction with very typical scenes).

"Together... you mean to say as... sex ?!
- I mean to say... (yes).
- The hell with this, I'm gonna live !"

come on T__T

themachinist · Post by **themachinist** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:49 am

Yeah man you gotta watch BSG in order starting from the 1.5 hr pilot ep/movie.

Also, I liked Firefly and Serenity. I think we have discussed all of these sci-fi shows before, haha.

chempop · Post by **chempop** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:25 am

I watched Serenity first in the theater because of all the FF hype and I was a bit let down. Then finally this year I gave FF a chance and OMG it RULES!! Reminds me of a live action Cowboy Bebop, there is a really nice quality about the humor and I think I'll give Serenity another chance. I was so hooked on FF I think it took me two or three days to watch it all... so sad about the cancellation, I feel like it was just getting started (as far as River was concerned), oh well. Cult Classic all the way.