If you think Serenity is good, wait till you see some of the episodes of the show. Much better even.
I should definitely watch the series first, right? Then the movie?
Series first, in the correct order. Several times. Then the movie. Then the movie with commentary. Then the blooper reel. Then do it all again, and buy copies for all of your friends.
Yep. I saw Serenity first and on the plus side I liked it so much I bought the series, but it felt like watching the last 30 minutes of Seven Samurai, then starting from the beginning.
It’s on SciFi, and alos is on my Comcast On Demand.
Never did get something. Is the entire Firefly show taking place in one large solar system? When watching the movie, the start gave me that impression.
Yes. It was unclear in the series, but the show takes place in one system, with hundreds of moons and planets.
I know that I’m in a minority of one here, but let’s see if I get thrown to the Reavers before the day is through…
I was fortunate enough to see Firefly on TV, so I wasn’t in a big hurry to watch the DVDs when they came out. Then Serenity came out on DVD a little while ago, and I figured I ought to get back up to speed by watching the series again before the movie.
So, bear in mind that I’ve only watched the first episode (Part 1 and 2), and I haven’t listened to director commentary and I’m trying to remember the TV series…
I *like * the order in which it was presented on TV rather than Whedon’s choice as issued on DVD. In the TV show, you were thrown right into the middle of the crew, and you had to pay attention to keep things straight. You heard about the Reavers, but no one really described them, so the horror was just in looking at people’s faces and what they didn’t say. Later, after a few episodes, you were shown how the whole crew came together, but I think that gave some credit to the intelligence of the audience; that the network was willing to suspend a linear storyline to set the scene. Let’s face it, it’s happening in every episode of Lost, and no one is complaining about the flashbacks.
I don’t know, I think this (the order of the episodes) is one that the network got right over Whedon’s objections. Of course, then they pissed it all away by cancelling the show…
Also, quite coincidentally, it’s interesting to be watching the first episode now and comparing Badger with the Yellow Tie Man on 24. The boy does love his accents…
At least two people from Desperate Housewives were in the show. I’m wondering how many other people who had non-recurring parts will go on to better things. From looking at IMDB and the main actor’s recent roles, I didn’t see too much work going their way. I guess that’s a good thing for any future chance of another movie or more of the TV show.
I like to pretend Firefly is British TV. That way instead of half a season I can look at it as two full seasons that got made :).
Or if you want to break it down to actual running time, 4 seasons of Red Dwarf.
INT. SCREENING ROOM -- EVENING -- FOX STUDIOS
Two men in rumpled suits with oily hair and bad teeth side before
a screen. One is older, greying at the temples, and picking at his
teeth with his pinky nail. The other is much younger, and
drinking a caffe latte mocha grande or something. These are
FOX NETWORK TELEVISION EXECUTIVES.
OLD EXEC
(clearly bored)
So what piece of shit show to we have next?
YOUNG EXEC
(fumbling through schedule)
Up next is...um, yes, it's the Wheadon thing.
OLD EXEC
Wheadon, Wheadon...where have I heard that name
before? Oh, wait, he's that annoying kid on the Star
Wars show, right?
YOUNG EXEC
No, he's the guy who did that Buffy show.
OLD EXEC
The one with the show about that...that chearleader
who hunts werewolves or something?
YOUNG EXEC
Uh, yeah, something like that. It's very popular, and
he's made a lot of money for those guys, even spun off
a couple of other shows and stuff. Anyway, this is his
new thing.
OLD EXEC
So what is it, again?
YOUNG EXEC
(peering at papers)
Lessee, it says it's about a this crew of nine people on a
ship...
OLD EXEC
Wait a minute! We're not doing any water shows! That
always costs a lot more than they say, plus we get shit
from PETA and those bastards at the SPCA about how
we don't treat the dolphin right or something...
YOUNG EXEC
No, no, they're on a space ship!
OLD EXEC
Science fiction? Isn't that market trend about played out?
YOUNG EXEC
Paramount's made a lot of money out of it over the years,
and Wheadon says he has a fresh approach. "Breaking from
the traditional paradigm of strong central government,
jingoism, and conformity..." He goes on in that vein for
a while. Anyway, here's the pilot they shot. You wanna
view it?
OLD EXEC
(sighing)
Yeah, I guess we're here...
YOUNG EXEC
(to the booth)
Roll it.
The two men watch the screen for a few minutes. The older one is
impassive, but his lip keeps twitching. The younger is unsettled, and
frequently sips at his drink.
OLD EXEC
(to the booth)
Okay, kill it.
YOUNG EXEC
(nervous)
So...
(beat)
OLD EXEC
What the fuck is this shit! You tell me it's science fiction
and then I see guys on horses. What the fuck? I mean...
fuck me with a goddamn hot poker! And that fucking song!
And why does the hooker have so many clothes on? Hell,
Roddenburger had his women prancing around in micro-
skirts in the Sixties, and we have a slut that's more covered
than my grandmother! This thing is shit on a corncob!
YOUNG EXEC
(worried)
What do we do?
OLD EXEC
I tell you what we do, we kill this fucker, just like that
Buffy chick kills mummies.
YOUNG EXEC
Yeah, but Wheadon has some pull. I mean, he's been
making money for those other guys hand over fist, and
our studio head thinks he's the bomb. We can't just...
OLD EXEC
(menacing)
Can't do what?
YOUNG EXEC
You know. We can't just cancel him.
OLD EXEC
(ponders a minute)
Okay, here's what we do. Back in the Eighties when
I was at ABC...
YOUNG EXEC
You were at ABC in the Eighties?
OLD EXEC
Fuck you! Times were tough, and you took the job you
had. Besides, we had McGuyver. Anyway, shut up and
and listen. We had this show...I forget what it was called,
"Yield Traffic" or something...and, well, I never really
understood it very well, but it was kind of science fiction-y,
only no space stuff, and it had this computer guy as
one of the characters and he kept making nasty jokes
about network executives. You follow me?
YOUNG EXEC
What kind of jokes?
OLD EXEC
Well, you know...that we're stupid, or lying whenever
our lips are moving, that sort of thing. Anyway, my
boss, Fred Williamson...you ever meet Fred? He could
drink and elephant under the table, and he'd blow a
month's salary on hookers and blow, then show up
at his wife's doorstep in the morning and pledge that
he was out all night feeding the homeless or something.
Great guy, Fred. So anyway, he didn't like this show and
wanted to kill it, but for some reason we couldn't
cancel it outright. Okay?
YOUNG EXEC
So what did you do?
OLD EXEC
I'm coming to that. So what we did, we did this: we
started moving it around; Monday one week, Thursday the
next, seven o'clock, nine, six-fifteen, preempted by a ball
game, whatever. And we never advertised the time slot
except a day or two before, and then only at eleven at
night.
YOUNG EXEC
And then...
OLD EXEC
And then even the die-hards couldn't figure out when
it would be on, so the ratings absolutely sucked...it was
even worse than that Chevy Chase talk show. So after
a dozen episodes they had to cancel the thing. Fred was
so happy he went to Vegas and married the first three
hookers he found, and went through a key of coke like
it was cotton candy.
YOUNG EXEC
So what happened to the show?
OLD EXEC
That's the best part. It went down so hard it barely even
made it into syndication. And they've never released DVDs.
The thing is deader than a passel of Jews in Dachau.
YOUNG EXEC
Hey! Be careful...I'm Jewish.
OLD EXEC
So am I. My mother died at Dachau. That's how I know
there are dead Jews there. Anyway, we do this show the
same way, and I guarantee that it won't last more than
ten episodes.
YOUNG EXEC
But what if it develops...you know... a cult following?
OLD EXEC
Fuck 'em. We'll keep 'em so confused and disorganized
they won't know which way is up. By the time they
organize any kind of write-in campaign or some shit, we'll
already have the thing buried in Grant's Tomb.
YOUNG EXEC
Didn't that Geraldo guy already open Grant's Tomb?
OLD EXEC
Yeah, but there wasn't anything in there except a couple of
dead mobsters. Anyway, we need to wrap up. You know
what you have to do?
YOUNG EXEC
Switch schedule, no promotion, show the episodes out of
order...got it.
OLD EXEC
Good. Now I have to go meet Sid Shinberg for dinner; we're
discussing what we can do about this film that Terry
Gilliam is trying to make...
Stranger
I just caught Jubal Early on law and order. Hard to mistake that voice.
Unfortunately he didn’t make any semi-crazy speeches.
Must have been one hell of a star in that system.
Rest is in a spoiler box so as to not give anything away for people not having seen the movie or completed the show.
[spoiler]Only two things struck me as badly done in the series. During the rescue on the space station, Zoe does a roll, stands up, pulls both guns and starts shooting. It looked very badly done. Second was the whore shooting the father while holding his baby. Baby gets a large hand gun discharged very near it and doesn’t start screaming from the noise.
Beyond that, excellent series. Think I’ll take the above suggestion and look at it as a mini-series completed by the movie. Too bad we never got to hear the Shepherds life story.[/spoiler]
Nice work, Stranger. That’s pretty much how I imagined it. Except for the part when the older exec peels off his mask to reveal that he’s really a hell beast from another dimension and then eats the yonger exec.
No no. Series first, then the series with commentary - at least all the commentaries by Joss Whedon or Nathan Fillion. Then the series again without commentary. Then the movie.
Then the movie blooper reel.
“Kaylee. Find that kid that’s taking a dirt nap with the baby Jesus. We need a hood ornament.”
Stranger – Maybe it’s just too early still, but I assume you’re referencing a real 80’s TV show that was lamentably killed by the network. What show?
I give you Max Headroom–perhaps the most brilliantly subversive show to ever appear on American broadcast network television. (The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show rank a close second and third, respectively.) “Well, most people would agree that censors are a silly breed. In fact, it surprises me how they ever manage to breed at all.”
Sidney Sheinberg was the non-talent head of Universal Studios who so infamously butchered Terry Gilliam’s Brazil into an unwatchable monstrosity, the universally reviled “Love Conquers All” network TV cut. A more archtypcial example of a useless, interferring Hollywood exec one could not find. You can read more about it in The Battle For Brazil, or see the included documentary in the DVD Criterion Collection set for Brazil.
Stranger