Firefly Episode 2: NO WIDESCREEN! (1 Viewer)

[Nigel McN]

ah so that is who he was

 

[Danny R]

Just caught the Pilot episode "Serenity" as well.

Has this been broadcast, or is it something that will never be shown and I have to hunt down on the internet?

 

[DaveBB]

The Sacramento Fox HD feed was in 16:9.

Repeat after me twenty times: "FOX SUCKS. FOX DOES NOT BROADCAST IN HIGH-DEF. FOX DIGITAL WIDESCREEN IS ONLY 480P WHICH IS NOT HIGH-DEF. 720P AND 1080I IS HIGH-DEF."

 

[Patrick Sun]

Danny, rumors have it that the pilot might be shown in December, near Christmas or earlier.

But you may as well hunt for it...

 

[Phil Florian]

Yah, it hasn't been aired but is supposed to make an appearance in some form later. It is really too bad that Fox dumped it without trusting Joss. The show has the best performances thus far and really sets up some great relationships between the characters. Jayne, while still funny has a real edge to him that is spooky. Shepard Book shows some real doubt as to why he is there. The whole Tam family is set up better. And Mal is a really really really dangerous person if crossed. More on where they come from and a view of what more central space looks like (it's not all scrub brush and horses). Yet, they don't answer all the questions...just establish a better frame to deal with them in. This might have captured more viewers than The Train Job as it was much more engaging character-wise and that is what draws people back, not just special effects and doodads that explode.


Grumble.

Phil

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Welll Phil, are we to assume it's floating out there then?

 

[Craig P]

It's definitely floating out there. A raft of people at alt.tv.farscape (myself not included) found it and watched it. Supposedly, the video quality is not particularly good.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

It's undoubtedly off of an internal copy of it, which of course Lord Whedon has NO IDEA how it got out
"Bootleg the Sucker"- Joss Whedon after the Columbine related no-end-in-sight delay on "Graduation Day: Part 2"

 

[Craig S]

I finally watched "Bushwacked" last night (TiVo rules!) and I thought it was a big step in the right direction from "The Train Job". The story went in a different direction from what I expected and I really got reeled in by it. My only complaint would be that the ending was VERY rushed, but overall this was a great episode.

The only characters I'm not sold on at this point are River & her brother. He's way too bland and boring (can't even remember his name!), and she's coming across as an unhinged Troi. The psychic/empathic thing has been done to death in ST:TNG and B5, and it's just boring & annoying here. I wouldn't be upset if they found a nice, safe out-of-the-way planet to drop these two off on, and picked up a more interesting doc while they were at it.

 

[Jason Seaver]

I'm not a fan of psi powers at all (I tend to be in the Larry Niven "if they exist they must be nearly useless" camp on 'em), but keep River around if only for the look of joy she had looking at the stars Friday night. Nice to see Tim Minear, at least, isn't taking the sense of wonder thing for granted.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

While the doctor himself is boring, it's worth keeping him around for his sister. While the psychic factor has been done to death, I like the character... Like Agatha in Minority Report, she seems more in her preminitions then in reality.

 

[Garrett Adams]

Thanks for correcting. I know what FOX is capable of and what they're up to. The HD comment was to differentiate between the prior FOX broadcasts which were on a 16:9 SD feed. During the previous week my Sacramento affiliate upgraded their transmitter to HD capability. Though arguable, I find FOX "widescreen" presentations are looking a tad better when received on this HD digital channel rather that the previous SD digital channel. Either of them better the 4:3 analog signal.

 

[Andy Sheets]

I don't necessarily like River or her brother, but I am intrigued by the mystery they're involved in. I'd like to see more of them just for that.

 

[Brad Grenz]

Sure enough. Looks like there's a copy of the pilot out there. Two parts, about 400MB each. Imagine that.

(admin amended post)

 

[Phil Florian]

Sorry no reply in a bit... The video quality is horrible but the sound is okay. It has a little "DKS" symbol at the top but I am not sure what that means. Some reviewers got copies of the pilot early on as I have read some early reports. Fox pulled the plug, but not before some decent reviews came out for it. I am now wondering if the reason it was pulled had less to do with it being "boring" and more to do with the much more morally ambiguous captain. While not an action scene ever minute, it was quite busy and very engaging. I really liked Mal's characterization in the pilot and while he kept some of the edge in the aired episodes, we already kind of know he is a "good" guy and fairly moral. The pilot we know he is a good guy too but his choices didn't always reflect that. Neat stuff.

All of the characters are much more interesting in the pilot. People on the fence about the Tams (doc and River) will see more to ponder in the Pilot. BOok is better developed for those on the fence about him (I always liked him but his "flaws" come through better in the pilot). While we can't advocate for illegal activity here on the HTF, if you know of anyone who has gotten a "legal" (cough, cough) copy of the pilot, get it!


Phil

(admin amended post)

 

[Patrick Sun]

Guys, please leave the sources of the bootlegs off this forum. If people want it bad enough, let them do the legwork for the stuff.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Point

They're obviously framing for 16:9 as well, given how cramped last night's ep was.

CounterpointThey were obviously framing for 4:3 given the loosey goosey framing of the 16:9 version.
I thought it looked good at 4:3. Framing was properly tight and sufficiently claustrophobic for the episode content. I wish they would just stick with one or the other rather than compromising one or both, though. If it is shot well, I don't care which aspect ratio they use.
Regards,

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Ken, I agree on not caring about the AR

However Joss SPECIFICALLY requested 16:9 for this show, saying to me that the preferred AR is 16:9

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Jeff,
The question becomes: But then what happened? To me, the widescreen episode aired looked good, and so did the 4:3 one. It would be interesting to find out why they cannot stick with one or the other. There are enough mainstream shows that have not apparently alienated audiences with 100% 16:9 framing (West Wing, ER, Enterprise, Sopranos) now that it certainly begs the question.

Regards,

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I'm guessing that the fact that it didn't pull a 5 share on Friday night (near impossible IMO) they used it as an excuse to do what they wanted. If you check the Firefly website they talk about it in one of the "from the set" reports