I know there’s quite a following for Firefly here on the boards and I have long wanted to watch it - I have seen Serenity and liked it, but couldn’t get to see Firefly - online versions of it such as Hulu refuse to play here in the UK - my local library was not able to locate it for me to borrow and until quite recently, the DVD box set was priced at something like 35 quid here in the UK - and I could not justify the expense…
About a month before Christmas, I was browsing in a local charity shop and I happened on the DVD box set, priced at £3.99!!! (because it was a charity shop, I actually told them they had underpriced it and insisted on paying double the labelled price for it).
I returned home triumphant, only to find that my wife assumed I’d bought it as a present (to myself) and seized the box and wrapped it up for Christmas.
I’ve watched I think 8 out of the 13 episodes now and I am really enjoying it - I started off watching two per night, but I’m going to get through it too fast that way, so I am limiting myself to one every other day now.
I am finally able to chime in with all the others now and agree - this is a fantastic work, and it’s unbelievable that it was abandoned after such a short, incomplete run.
I caught both the series and the film, and liked the film a lot more. I got the idea that being on the big screen for one last time put a bit of a fire under his bum. Nothing to do with production values, just something a lot more zingier about the whole affair.
I know I did like the TV series. It’s just that when I pick up the boxset, I can never quite think of a good episode to watch. Not that I’m overwhelmed by choice, just that I can’t remember what that really really good episode that got me hooked actually was. I could watch Jaynestown a couple of times I guess, but that would sort of defeat the purpose of the boxset :smack:
I watched it during its original run, with ‘The Train Job’ being the first episode; I found it too ‘Westerny’ for my taste and the affectation of the Mandarin cussing contrived. Then Mal said ‘darn’, did something fantabulous, and I was hooked forever
Those of us who first watched the series on DVD are very lucky in that we (usually unwittingly) watched the episodes in the correct order, which makes a big difference I think. The Train Job wasn’t bad, but if it had been the first episode I watched I might not have been hooked as quickly.
It’s hard to tell. I did watch Firefly in the correct order, and the pilot episode left me feeling a little lost. I thought it was okay, but it really didn’t hook me. It wasn’t until “Darn” in The Train Job that I became a Firefly convert. It’s hard to say whether or not The Train Job was better or not for being watched after the pilot.
Of course, now that I’m more familiar with the characters and setting, I can go back to the pilot and enjoy the hell out of it. But at the time it didn’t quiiiite grab me. I felt a little lost, especially with the way it opens with the flashback.
Heh. Mal’s little joke at Simon’s expense, in the pilot, was my personal “Darn” moment (although the actual “Darn” moment itself sealed the deal an episode later). I just loved the idea of a main character being that much of a dick.
Of course, they toned down Mal’s dickishness in later episodes, but by then I’d learned to love the character for being the best damn space captain EVER, so it was OK.
A much as “Darn” is an utterly fantastic moment, my “Darn” moment was “Mercy is the mark of a great man. <stab> Guess I’m just a good man. <stab> Well, I’m alright.”
Out of Gas is my favourite, closely followed by Objects In Space. Out of Gas weaves multiple timelines together into a coherent story, ratchets up the tension, gives backstory about how the original crew got together. What’s not to love?
I really enjoyed the series with 1 exception: I couldn’t stand the River character as she seemed too cliched and the over-acting was painful to watch. Personally I think the series would have been stronger without her and her tired old storyline.
