What's new

FIREFLY DVD Discussion Thread (Merged) (1 Viewer)

Andy Sheets

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2000
Messages
2,377
- I love the woman empowerment Joss brings to the table, but sometimes he does it at the expense of men, in this case the one-note bad guy. A little subtlety goes a long way.
I blame it on his Buffy co-runner Marti Noxon. I'm convinced she had a bad influence on Joss's feminist views :)
 

Bryan^H

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2005
Messages
9,515
After watching Serenity,(the movie) I'd have to say River, and Simon are the main characters. Watching the series, I never would have guessed that.
 

Paul McElligott

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2002
Messages
2,598
Real Name
Paul McElligott
After watching Serenity,(the movie) I'd have to say River, and Simon are the main characters. Watching the series, I never would have guessed that.
Since we only saw 14 episodes of a first season, it's hard to tell how important each character would be.

14 episodes into Babylon 5, who would have guessed that Walter Koenig's role would have been so important?
 

Kris_AB

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 10, 2004
Messages
77
Real Name
Kris
Chuck Mayer said:
Clearly, there will be no film sequels to Serenity.
Heh, know that for a fact, do ya?

The box office take for opening weekend did about as well as Universal expected at roughly $10 million, but not as well as the projected hope of $15 million. I'm not gonna get all optimistic about the second weekend take, but that's still gonna be a huge factor, as well as its total international profits.

It's still too early to sound the death knell.

And without going into spoilers for the film...yeah, it is a great capper to the series, but there's also some plot points that you could read as set-up for sequels if you want.
 

Kevin Grey

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 20, 2003
Messages
2,598


Bushwacked is generally regarded as the worst? Man I really love that episode. I love Shindig and The Train Job too. Truth be told, I'd be hard pressed to name the worst but, if forced, Safe and (gasp) Our Mrs Reynolds would probably be my choices. I agree with the criticisms of the main plot and one note villain of Heart of Gold but thought it was saved by some great moments and a kickass action sequence at the end.

EDIT- Scratch that- Jaynetown is definitely my least favorite episode.
 

Andy Sheets

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2000
Messages
2,377
Sure, thematically, it's a Western. Whedon was inspired to create Firefly after reading The Killer Angels, about the downtrodden and dispossessed losers of the American Civil War. But the Western trappings like the clothing, props, and way of life on the outer planets makes sense within the context of the story. And then you have the very sci-fi settings of the city and hospital in "Ariel" and the floating estates in "Trash", and pretty much anytime the story is solely ship-based like in "Bushwacked", "Out of Gas", "The Message", and "Objects in Space".

Looked pretty sci-fi to me. But the genre title it was given by many, "Sci-fi/Western", is also apt.
I just call it a space opera. IIRC, the term space opera was derived from "horse opera", an old term for westerns. Serious sci-fi authors came up with space opera to deride works they considered to be nothing more than westerns in outer space.
 

Chuck Mayer

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2001
Messages
8,515
Location
Northern Virginia
Real Name
Chuck Mayer
The term sci-fi is used nowadays to call lots of things sci-fi if they have the trappings of sci-fi...I am a stickler. Firefly is about the characters and their motivations and interrelationships. The science is irrelevant in the TV show, as is the characters response to it. Star Wars is a fantasy. Contact is sci-fi.

Now the film is science-fiction, thanks to the Miranda element. It uses the medium to explore some aspects of technology.

I use a different definition than you, Kris. Closer to Andy's, I'd wager. Spaceships are fantasy if they work by "magic"...and science-fiction if the workings matter.

As for the sequels, I'd put money on my opinion there will be no theatrical sequels. It will never be a fact...just an educated opinion.

Take care,
Chuck
 

TheLongshot

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 12, 2000
Messages
4,118
Real Name
Jason
That's the episode that hooked a lot of people during the original run on Fox. Comedy goes a long way with me. I'm not sure if the pilot "Serenity" would've been the hook if it had been aired first. No way to know that, since it was aired as the series finale.
I have a coworker who was watching the DVDs. He didn't like the pilot at all, but he's warming up to the series.

I honestly thought 'Heart Of Gold' was probably one of the worst episodes, because it is so hackneyed. Been there, done that.

Jason
 

Mark Talmadge

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2005
Messages
2,379
Actually, while originally Joss Whedon wanted to have a western feel for the series it wasn't until a few episodes into the series that he had abandoned the idea and went further into the sci fi aspect of the series. While I don't know the reasons why, it does add a warm atmosphere to the series.

I knew. after watching the pilot episode that the series would center around Simon and River. I was also hoping for maybe another sequel but after hearing that the film took in only 10 million for the feature film for opening weekend I'm concerned that another film won't be made. I hope that by the time the fiulm finishes its run at theatres that it will warrant another film. Maybe even a trilogy. I plan to see the movie this weekend myself.:D

I wholly disagree that the series isn't sci fi. Whoever made that comment needs to go back and re-evaluate what they think sci fi is. Sci Fi is a blending of Spaceships, the Future, technology conbined with elements of action and adventure.
 

Mark Talmadge

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2005
Messages
2,379
Hey guys, just got this news bit from the Digital Bits website:

Our ever reliable industry sources are telling us that Universal will soon announce the DVD release of Joss Whedon's Serenity for 12/20. Early word indicates that the disc may include Whedon audio commentary, along with at least 4 behind-the-scenes featurettes (Future History, We'll Have a Fruity Oaty Good Time, Re-Lighting the Firefly and What's in a Firefly), a video introduction to the film by Whedon and 6 minutes worth of outtakes. Some of the details on the extras comes from the BBFC website (click the link and hit enter). We'll post more as it comes in.
 

Holadem

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2000
Messages
8,967
Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology upon society and persons as individuals.
Operative word being IMPACT.

Spaceships, the future and definitely action and adventure do NOT Science Fiction make.

This topic has been discussed extensively in the movie forum, a search should yield some great discussions.

--
H - what a weird phrase.
 

Mark Talmadge

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2005
Messages
2,379
Here is a very broad definition of science fiction and the genre:

The term "science fiction" came into general use in the 1930s, an early appearance being in Hugo GERNSBACK's editorial to #1 of SCIENCE WONDER STORIES (June 1929). Long before, however, several writers ( Edgar FAWCETT; Edgar Allan POE; William WILSON) had made attempts to define species of literary production similar to sf, and other early speculative writers had their own manifestos. Only since the founding of the specialist sf PULP MAGAZINES in the USA has there been any measure of agreement.

The category first referred to by Gernsback as SCIENTIFICTION was described by him thus in the editorial to #1 of AMAZING STORIES (Apr 1926): "By 'scientifiction' I mean the Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe type of story -- a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision . . . Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading -- they are always instructive. They supply knowledge . . . in a very palatable form . . . New adventures pictured for us in the scientifiction of today are not at all impossible of realization tomorrow . . . Many great science stories destined to be of historical interest are still to be written . . . Posterity will point to them as having blazed a new trail, not only in literature and fiction, but progress as well."

This notion of sf as a didactic and progressive literature with a solid basis in contemporary knowledge was soon revised as other pulp editors abandoned some of Gernsback's pretensions, but the emphasis on science remained. A new manifesto was drawn up by John W. CAMPBELL Jr for Astounding Stories, which, as ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION, would dominate the field in the 1940s. He proposed that sf should be regarded as a literary medium akin to science itself: "Scientific methodology involves the proposition that a well-constructed theory will not only explain away known phenomena, but will also predict new and still undiscovered phenomena. Science fiction tries to do much the same -- and write up, in story form, what the results look like when applied not only to machines, but to human society as well."

Within a few years of the creation of the term "science fiction" a subculture had evolved composed of writers, magazine editors (and, later, book editors), reviewers and fans; stories and novels written within this subculture shared certain assumptions, linguistic and thematic codes which were embedded in the growing literature, and a sense of isolation from the external "mundane" world for which those codes remained cryptic. This whole living matrix, not just the fictional texts that had initially occasioned it, came to be called "science fiction" ( GENRE SF).

Once the publishing category had been established, readers and critics began using the term with reference to older works, bringing together all stories which seemed to fit the specifications. However, the first major study of the field's ancestry was undertaken by a person from outside it, the academic J.O. BAILEY in Pilgrims through Space and Time (1947). He identified his material thus: "A piece of scientific fiction is a narrative of an imaginary invention or discovery in the natural sciences and consequent adventures and experiences . . . It must be a scientific discovery -- something that the author at least rationalizes as possible to science."
I'd advise reading the whole article because it gives a very detailed outlook on the description of the genre.
 

TheLongshot

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 12, 2000
Messages
4,118
Real Name
Jason
Holadem,

Actually, he's probably correct, since there is a difference between "Sci-Fi" and Science Fiction in a lot of people's eyes. Often, when people talk about Sci-Fi, it is more about the popular aspect of science fiction, sometimes derogatory. It isn't simply an abbriviation of science fiction.

Jason
 

Chuck Mayer

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2001
Messages
8,515
Location
Northern Virginia
Real Name
Chuck Mayer
I have how I define science-fiction, which I abbreviate sci-fi, and the people who consider anything with a spaceship sci-fi have their. I am satisfied that I am correct, and they misunderstand the term and apply it to numerous future fantasies. No worries. I consider Firefly the series a Western, with a few sci-fi elements thrown in. The movie moved towards sf a bit more. But the TV show was a basic western to me.

And a damn good one,
Chuck
 

David Rosen

Agent
Joined
Sep 8, 2005
Messages
36
EDIT- Scratch that- Jaynetown is definitely my least favorite episode.
I actually thought that at first, but after watching the series twice more, I actually realized that I laughed the most during this episode and it is now one of my favorites.

I actually liked Kaylee and Simon the most, so I was fairly pleased with the movie as it resolved many of the things that I wish had happened during the TV run. However, knowing Whedon's work, no one stays happy for very long, so I would be happy if the series ends with the show and the movie.

However... if I could get more without Kaylee and Simon being hurt that would be the best situation :D
 

Sean*O

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 31, 2003
Messages
251
Bought the series blind last week after hearing it was connected to this 'serenity' movie that was getting such great reviews, and my family and I loved it.

Going to try and catch the movie this week.

The series was great, and had I been aware of it's existence during it's original TV run, I would have been a regular viewer.
 

Marshall W. Carter

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 26, 2000
Messages
154
Real Name
Marshall W. Carter
I've seen it three times so far, and I've enjoyed every viewing. I'd never seen Firefly prior to my initial viewing, so I didn't know what to expect.

As for whether or not it's sci-fi, which I can't say much for the series (I'll have the DVD set this week), I'd say that the movie itself is definitely science fiction. We see the experimentation and scientific manipulation being done to River, and the impact that it makes on her psyche, as well as the chemical agents introduced to Miranda that created the Reavers. We don't need countless lines of technobabble (there's no Mr. Data here to oblige, not a single scientist in the crew of Serenity...aside from Simon perhaps...just folk) to see how they're being impacted by science. I think one of the more interesting aspects of Firefly/Serenity is that there is no lightspeed/warp travel, a seeming constant in scifi these days. It almost assumes that humans are alone in the universe...so that's who it focuses on: people.

Anyways, love him or hate him (seems most online hate him with a particular vigor), Orson Scott Card, who does seem to know his way around the sci-fi, had extremely high praise for Serenity, even going so far as to call it the best sci-fi film ever, and an example of a film done the way he'd have to do film versions of his writings (such as Ender's Game). Not sure I'd go so far to say it's the best ever, but I will defer to his knowledge concerning science fiction.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,832
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top