Finally bought FIREFLY! (1 Viewer)

[Henry Gale]

A suggestion for those of you just now watching Firefly for the first time and who will then watch Serenity.....
Check out the intro (in the extras) Joss created for the movie before you watch the film. It's the way those of us who saw the early release were greeted in the theater and I know you'll get a good laugh from it.

 

[Ric Easton]

Are the non-aired episodes worth watching?

Abso-friggin-lutely!

 

[Chad R]

Are the non-aired episodes worth watching?

The eipsodes not aired weren't done so because of their quality, just because the show was floundering in its time slot and FOX pulled the plug. They were done with as much love and care as all of the other episodes.
One features the return of Saffron, which if the series continued probably would have been a recurring character. The episode isn't as good as "Our Mrs. Reynolds," but it's still a great episode.
"The Message" is another fine episode featuring the 'Jayne Hat' you will often see at conventions (I own one). It's written by Joss and Tim, and might be one of the best of the series. I cried the first time I watched it.
"Heart of Gold" further develops the Mal/Inara relationship beautifully.

 

[Tim Glover]

.
Very much enjoying the series.
Are the non-aired episodes worth watching?

My favorites are Our Mrs. Reynolds & Out of Gas too. Greatness, sheer greatness.

 

[Dave Mack]

Glad you're digging it Ron.....!

 

[Mary_P]

BTW, since several of you appear to be approaching the end of the series, you may also be interested to know that there's a brief series of three "Serenity" comic books that came out last summer. They were written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews to bridge the gap between the series and the movie, which is approximately a six-month span. They were compiled into a trade book called "Serenity: Those Left Behind" and a good summary of the events in them can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_(comic)
I had a quick read-through the summary and nothing spoilery leapt out at me; I think the spoiler warning on that page is just regarding the comics themselves, not the movie. Knowing what happened in between the series and movie may help you avoid some of those "Hey! What happened to [such-and-such character]?" moments.

 

[Nick Martin]

You need to fix that link - the closing bracket was cut off.

 

[Ruz-El]

there's a brief series of three "Serenity" comic books

Pretty weak, IMO, not a must read by any means, and comes off more as an aside than an actual bridge. The best thing about the collected edition was Nathan Fillions intro.

 

[Mary_P]

You need to fix that link - the closing bracket was cut off.

Thanks. This forum does some unexpected stuff with autoformatting sometimes and I don't always see it before I post. Fixed now.
Agreed, I don't think the comics are a must-read, which is why I provided the link to the summary instead of exhorting everyone to go out and buy the trade book...! They're interesting in their way, and if there are more, I'll likely buy them, but I can't say that I've gone back to the ones that were published numerous times like I have the movie and the series.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Eh? I don't recall any indication that suggested one language or the other was considered the working class language? If anything, consider that Simon and River, who are obviously upper-crust, have the surname "Tam", which is possibly Chinese (and the actors could just about pass as being a little mixed), whilst at some fancy shindig Inara was speaking Chinese to some local bigwig.
And the way the characters speak Chinese is clearly faaaar from native...

 

[Will_B]

Here is a photo of the Sino-American Alliance patch on Wash's jumpsuit in the film:
http://www.propstore.com/showimage.p...8070&iid=29383
I agree it was not a class thing as it was in Blade Runner.

 

[Tim Glover]

Well, just finished the final episode, "objects in space". Pretty good one but not the best one. Kind of thought the finale might be the best but still a very good one don't get me wrong. To summarize, Firefly was a GREAT tv show. Wish we had more. Serenity was a FANTASTIC movie. Wish we had a sequel
Will definitely give the series of Firefly a re-visit soon.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Hmmm, the squiggles at the top of that patch sorta look like Korean to me (although I wouldn't know for a fact). But I can say that they do certainly use authentic and correct Chinese text throughout the show. The comics also do, and the Chinese dialogue is indeed correct and sensible, and not merely gibberish for show.

As an aside, this makes me wonder what the writer/director's intention is, whether in Firefly, or in that episode of West Wing where they were negotiating with Chinese diplomats on a forthcoming summit (and the Taiwan flag hoo-ha erupted): do they intend for the audience to know what is being said in Chinese? There are no subtitles, there might be subsequent exposition which explains what happened (e.g. that West Wing ep) or it's obvious from the context (possibly that ER episode with Deb Chen and her father), but given that the main audience isn't expected to know Chinese, I guess they don't intend you to know, whether for dramatic purposes or otherwise. In which case, isn't it a bit of a spoiler for those of us who actually know Chinese?

 

[Tim Glover]

Finished off the extra stuff on Disc 4. Pretty good extras...really liked Joss Whedon's singing the shows theme. Not bad. He won't win a Grammy, but not bad.

 

[Mary_P]

In which case, isn't it a bit of a spoiler for those of us who actually know Chinese?

Well, only if you feel that invectives like "Holy Mother of God and Her Wacky Nephews" really clues you in to what's going on! Seriously, I don't think there's any Chinese used in the series where the viewer can't pick up the *intent*, if not the exact meaning, of any given phrase. The actors did know what the English translation was so they knew how to read the lines.
BTW, if you really feel like you're missing something if you *don't* know the exact meaning, someone's set up a website with all the Chinese expressions used in the show along with its English translation:
http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/
BTW, going back a page or two, I'm still a little mystified, Jason, about the concept that the one thing fans agree on is that the two-hour pilot was weak as a pilot. (First off, the notion that there's even one thing that most fans can agree on.... well, let's not go there!) I haven't been able to find any support of that position on any of the big fan sites, and the pilot seems to very well-regarded on most of the polls and discussions that I can find; many fans list it as one of their favorite episodes. On a least-favorite poll on serenitymovie.org, it got only one vote out of 110 (which would indicate that there's at least one person who agrees with you ). Granted, "favorite episode" isn't synonymous with "strong pilot," but I think it's an indicator that it's generally well-regarded. On polls on both fireflyfans.net and tv.com it ranks about middle of the pack, #6 on the former and #5/#6 on the latter (they listed, and rated, parts 1 & 2 separately).
Re: pre-emptions, according to epguides.com it was bumped on October 14, November 22, and November 29, so yes, only one specifically for a World Series game, but two others for sweeps. Not all an unusual practice to yank something that isn't performing that well during sweeps, but it does make it harder for it to find and keep an audience. I think I remember missing another episode or two because it was delayed in our market for some reason; I set a tape for the normal slot, but since it started late, I didn't see the end until I got the box set more than a year later!
Tim, did you find the Easter egg?
http://www.dvdeastereggs.com/showEgg.php?id=121
Be sure to check out the Easter egg on the "Serenity" disc as well. It's a hoot! (Now make it stop!!!!!)
Mary

 

[Andy_Bu]

Are the unaired episodes really worth watching?.

Hi Ron,
I see you have asked this question a couple of times now.
As you can see by the responses, yes they are worth watching, even more so now that you are enjoying the series.
Andy

 

[Tim Glover]

Hey Mary, no I didn't even know there were any on this set or the Serenity dvd! Cool. Another reason to get them back out. Thanks!

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Where's the easter egg on Serenity?

 

[dailW]

?

when the main menu comes on hit your enter arrow either left or right then on the side a triangle with a circle appears then hit enter

 

[Nick Martin]

An easter egg that happens to be more important than it looks - from a story point of view, anyway.