Your thoughts on getting into Firefly and Battlestar Galactica. (1 Viewer)

[Tim_P_76]

Both BSG and Firefy were blind buys. I am waiting for my BSG season one set so I can comment only on one. I am a huge Firefly and Serenity follower.

Firefly is the only TV series that I have made the time to watch all episodes more than once all the way through!

Serenity was the best movie of the year that no none saw!

Firefly has the blockbuster franchise potential that Trek had. I would buy a double dip of either, in a heartbeat, any day of year!

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Ron, I can't believe that you've never introduced yourself to the Firefly series. Forget the fact that Joss Whedon created this series, the television series is very thought out and showcases some of the best acting in science fiction television.

I was fortunate enough to have caught a few episodes during its original run on Fox a few years back when it was originally broadcasted. When the DVD set was announced as to be released as a boxed set I piced it up since my DVD buying habits at that time was a little selective so I decided to pick up this boxed set. Watching the series from beginning to end is a must as it gives you a deeper understanding of these characters and the realism that each actor puts into their character. You can feel a real sense family among these actors as well as the interaction and it shows you something that's sorely lacking in regular science fiction television.

You get a real sense of realism among this series and it does manage to keep your attention with each episode. While the motion picture that was recently released to DVD doesn't showcase the same emotion as the television series the television show is a must before watching the movie.

 

[Chris Tedesco]

I have finally watched the Firefly series and have to say it is the most underrated scifi show in history. I actually saw Serenity first and loved it and thought I'd try out the series...I'm glad I did.

After every episode I would sit there and say out loud, "how did this show get cancelled!" It really boggles the mind.

The characters, writing, humor, action are a perfect balance to a perfect show. I pray this show gets picked up by the Sci Fi channel.

I do like Battlestar, but it's like comparing apples to oranges with Firefly, they are just too different.

Anyhoo, either way, I hate how many commercials scifi channel has so I wait for the DVD's...always.

 

[Sebastien S]

FOX is notorious for cancelling good shows and keeping crap!

 

[Tommy G]

Firefly blows any other Joss Whedon show out of the water. This is one of the best series ever to come to TV. What a fiasco. I only saw the show on dvd and was hungering for more after it was all over. At least I'll get to enjoy Serenity since I still have yet to see that. The show was action-packed, witty and extremely clever. Brilliant show all the way around.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I agree with the above statements. It's really stupid to compare the two... they are miles apart, not in quality but in how they are made. The tone is different in each one. Firefly feels more homey to me, and has a more humorous aspect. BSG so far has been much more serious, and is much more military-esque in tone. Again, not bad, just very different. It's like comparing Bambi and Lilo & Stitch because they're both animated Disney films.

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

Love both shows. Wouldn't own them personally, though. Give them a rent.

 

[Jeff Willis]

All here, thanks for the posts. 'Firefly' is one that I've been on the fence about getting. I haven't seen any of the eps nor the movie. My nephew recommended this series to me on DVD. I've read some other posts on another forum (The Digital Bits TV Forum) and all posts are positive about this series. Since it will be a blind buy for me, I've been reading the posts here and there to try to decide. As a rule, I haven't seen (or bought) any series made since ~'96 or so. I mainy collect older series from the 60's - mid '90's. How does this series compare to "Earth 2"? I liked that one enough to buy the set and that was one of my few '90's series. I wasn't too fond of "Space-Above and Beyond" so I wonder if I'd like 'Firefly'?

As for B.G., I loved the original and have the set. After having read some of the posts here that describe the new B.G. as somewhat of a "dark" series, I'm not as sure about taking a chance on this one.

 

[Mary_P]

I haven't seen the other series you mentioned, so can't compare them to "Firefly." I *loved* everything about "Firefly" and only wish we'd had a chance to see the story unfold and characters develop over several seasons.

You don't have Comcast digital, do you? If you're on the fence about buying, you might want to sample a few episodes as they're available on its OnDemand service right now, three episodes for $2.99. As I mentioned earlier (in this same thread, I think!), Comcast's got them packaged out of order, with the 2-hour pilot at the end of package 4. I'd recommend seeing the pilot first, but if you just want to sample a few eps, you might try package #2; that has one of the funnier eps of the series ("Jaynestown") and one of the darker ones ("Out of Gas"), the latter of which also offers a pretty good introduction to some of the characters and how they came to be aboard the ship.

If you think you're just going to jump straight to buying it, now's a good time. Amazon's got it for under $25.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Jeff, I'd guess that if you don't like S:AAB, you might not like the new BSG, which is very different in tone from the original.

Firefly is rather "irreverent"; I know you've said you don't watch anything post-1996, but if you've seen Angel, I'd say the tone of the show is most similar to that; subject-matter, though, is quite different: the best description is the Wild West meets Star Trek.

 

[Katherine_K]

I'd say if you weren't found of S:AAB and you are skeptical of Dark series than I'd avoid Battlestar Galactica. I like both a great deal but you really do have to go into watching BSG with a bottle of prozac and a balloon ready to cheer you up.

Firefly I've never seen so I wont comment.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Yee-Ming & Katherine_K, Thanks for the info on these series. A friend is letting me borrow 'Firefly' to view the 1st couple of eps. Then I can decide on getting this one. As for B.G., I was leaning toward passing on this one based on the posts here.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

To be honest about it, I've finally watched Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica and while the series is okay it's not much better than Firefly. Sure, the series seems to stand by itself but I think I prefer Firefly over BG.

 

[Holadem]

I've now watched 1.5 season of BSG. Good show but boy, you guys were not kidding when you said it was dark! Well, normally that would be right up my alley, but in this case it's just overwhelming.

I like the show, but I don't enjoy spending extended periods of time in that universe. 2 episodes top and I am gasping for air, looking for some sunshine and laughter.

--
H

 

[RickER]

Firefly and BSG are great shows. The only thing better about BSG over Firefly, BSG is still making new episodes. I love Firefly but with only 14 episodes i wont be able to go to that well as often.
Ron, try Farscape sometime too. Great show with some nice character development and a story arc made for DVD viewing.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Firefly: Didn't watch this one when it originally aired. Borrowed a friend's DVD set and have watched the first 2 eps. Interesting but so far, I wouldn't have bought this one for myself. Not to say it's not a good series, but since I haven't bought (or seen) any series that's aired after ~'96 or so, it's not a reflection on the series at all. Interesting musical score with this series...nothing that I'd guessed it would have sounded like with a SciFi series. Does the action and overall storyline pick up in this series? I wonder how much was unresolved as a result of the short life span of the series? But, the film "Serenity" closes up loose ends from what I've read here.

Having not seen TV series since '96, have I been "living on planet '2003UB313'"? Nope, I just view live sports and older series for my TV-viewing and collect a lot of TV/DVD's For any Astronomy buffs out there, "2003UB313" is the 10th planet in our Solar System discovered last year

 

[Paul_Scott]

From posts over in the HD software forum, I know that Ron has now seen Firefly and Serenity- but I'm curious if he ever checked out BSG.

My original intention was to give it a shot when it hit HD DVD (which now looks to be sometime in September)- however I got to thinking that given how expensive the set will be on HD, if I better just sample the mini-series first to see if I even like it. So I netflixed the mini-series.



WOW!
Absolutely blown away. In short order I ended up getting all the rest of the available discs, and as I type this I have the last three discs(season 2.5) ready to start watching tonight (can't wait to see the second part of Pegasus!).
I have to echo what some other poster already said- The show is like crack. This is the first time since season 1 of Alias where I just hit the Play all button as soon as the disc cues up. I'm always left wishing I had more time to squeeze one or two more eps in. Like someone else, what really struck me about the show is that it is very much a 'disaster' serial. I love the old 70s Irwin Allen movies and BSG to me plays very much like a very witty and intelligent sci fi riff on those. As to the darkness...It is dark, but appropriately so. Unlike a bunch of other wildly succsessful sci-fi properties, this pays heed to its premise, and the premise is the holocaust of the human species. Amazingly that doesn't preclude a good laugh or two, and at least a couple times per episode I find myself laughing out loud. I'm a believer now, and I'm hooked. I can't wait for the HD sets to show up to see the first season all over again....and I can't wait to see where else this goes.

And unlike the compulsively watchable Abrahms series like Alias (and from what I'm hearing, Lost) BSG actually looks like it will have a satisfying end game in sight since the fourth season is going to be its last. I give them a round of applause for setting an near end point in place- the last thing I would want would be to see the show sputter and spin aimlessly. Its been much too good for that so far.
Thanks again to Ron for starting this thread and everyone who posted and drove home how good this show was.

 

[TravisR]

Considering that they just announced an endpoint to Lost, it sounds like you heard wrong. Also J.J. Abrams has barely done any work on Lost- he left to do Mission: Impossible III after the first 1/3 of the first season and he co-wrote an episode this year and left to do Star Trek.

 

[Katherine_K]

Not to mention that while the chances that season four will be BSG's last are good, it's not a done deal. David Erick had to make a public statment on May 12th contradicting Edward James Olmos saying that it was the last season.

 

[Paul_Scott]

What I've read is this last season has seen ratings dive, and fans getting a bit frustrated - which is why they instituted an end point. OTOH, BSG is still 'up there'- ratings are good, fans are still invested and not dropping away, which is why I would I would applaud them for setting an end marker now.

I didn't realize Abrahms wasn't involved in the show anymore.
I've been wanting to see it for quite a while, but I've been waiting to see when/if ennui would set in at some point.
I just saw M:I III for the first time recently, and like all my other experiences with Abrahms material, I was captivated with the opening, and was having a lot of fun with the follw thru, up until some point near the end of the third act I found myself thinking "wait a sec...is this gonna be all there is?" For as entertaining as it was for most of its run time, I was still left feeling kind of non plussed at the end.