could have been the star trek of our time if it wasn't unceremoniousnessly canceled by fox.

i tried but can't get through

1/6/2011 11:05:54 PM

i don't think that is a true statement.

it was a great show, but not very star trek, except for the whole space thing.

1/6/2011 11:07:23 PM

much better than star trek

not nearly as much universal appeal

also, star trek only lasted three years, it's not like we're comparing the simpsons to god, the devil, & bob

1/6/2011 11:15:05 PM

Quote :

"not nearly as much universal appeal"

yea pretty much that ^. Can't think of a way to explain that more..

1/6/2011 11:22:26 PM

less universal appeal than *star trek*?

i find that hard to believe. the writing in firefly is much stronger and i think would appeal to a much wider audience.

i mean think about it this way. do you think it is easier to relate to a gang of space thieves resisting federal oppression or a crew of alien military officers preaching tolerance?

star trek is awesome, but let's be honest ppls!!

[Edited on January 6, 2011 at 11:31 PM. Reason : ``]

1/6/2011 11:29:34 PM

ds9 is the peak of scifi tv

1/6/2011 11:36:29 PM

All sci-fi shows inevitably do a western episode or two (they also always seem to have a boxing episode, and a Hawaii Planet episode). This show took it to the max and did a western series (yeah I know it as more than that, but still). I enjoyed the show despite that, especially the movie, and own the dvds.

I think something like Farscape, as a series that involves exploring an alien universe, is closer to a Star Trek in terms of breadth of appeal, than Firefly. And they made it to 4 seasons and a follow up mini-series, which seems roughly comparable to the original Star Trek's 3 seasons and movies. Although Star Gate has had more success in spawning a thousand spin offs like Star Trek did.

Incidentally, you can get the complete series of Farscape for 68 bucks on amazon right now:
http://www.amazon.com/Farscape-Complete-Ben-Browder/dp/B002GP7ZWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294375000&sr=8-1

[Edited on January 6, 2011 at 11:39 PM. Reason : .]

1/6/2011 11:38:29 PM

the general population doesn't like smart, well-written shows

witness the cancellation of firefly, freaks & geeks, sports night, etc. next to shows like outsourced being renewed

1/6/2011 11:42:44 PM

i think firefly could've evolved into an amazing show given time. It really seemed to be hitting it's stride during the last few episodes and the movie built on that further. I don't think star trek is a good comparison though.

1/6/2011 11:45:35 PM

I wish I had a replicator for Firefly Vodka. Beyond that, you're crazy.

1/6/2011 11:50:49 PM

i was thinking it would be the best comparison as star trek was the most popular sci-fi adventure series of its generation in the US.

if firefly had kept going, i think it would have taken that spot for generation y. or the pepsi generation. or whatever.

1/6/2011 11:59:01 PM

farscape was killed to shovel funds into scifi made for tv movies. It was the start of the death of the scifi channel.

Firefly was killed because it was a scifi show on a major network with a botched release schedule and little promotion.

Hard scifi doesn't have much of a market so the networks usually try to temper it with more human drama. Most of the time that fails because of bad writing (see V, flash forward, caprica, sgu, etc...) or because its serial which limits the audience even further (Terminator, Firefly). Sometimes you can toss some blame at the way the shows are promoted or other screw ups, but in the case of Terminator Fox promoted the hell out of it and it still failed in the ratings.

If you take a look at the most successful scifi shows they're either A) syndicated(TNG,DS9) or B) do lots of monster of the week eps with background arcs (X-files, Fringe, Farscape). Of course you do get freaks like BSG. And even then the last 2 seasons sucked. Lately most new scifi has been trying to recreate the success of the first 2 seasons of BSG, but without the writing.

Its tough times for scifi fans these days. Fringe owns and we're lucky for that but there aint much else. I think syndication is probably a better model for scifi right now. especially with the death of scifi channel.

1/7/2011 12:03:54 AM

Firefly only started getting good in the final few episodes.

Some things just aren't meant to be.





P.S. Mine is an evil laugh.

1/7/2011 12:07:03 AM

all the nerds are too busy beating off to animated porn or playing world of warcraft.

they ain't got no time for gay sci fi shows.

1/7/2011 12:07:19 AM

yah fringe is def the best sci-fi on right now. but this season was shit and it has been moved to friday nights so we won't even have it for much longer.

1/7/2011 12:10:25 AM

I thought it was kinda silly

however speaking of Sports Night. That show was great.

1/7/2011 12:12:58 AM

Firefly will be the "what/only if" show for a whole generation.

1/7/2011 12:29:36 AM

I tried to explain why Firefly is so mighty to my girlfriend after she confiscated the remote during my Firefly marathon (Ovation was doing it all week).

She was like "Whatever, Top Chef is on."

1/7/2011 12:59:09 AM

Quote :

"yah fringe is def the best sci-fi on right now. but this season was shit"

crazy talk, the 2nd season of Fringe has been WAY stronger than the 1st season.

1/7/2011 2:53:12 AM

Penis party in here.

Have never seen any of these nerd shows

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

1/7/2011 3:03:24 AM

^^^She must die.

Thankfully my wife is down with sci-fi shows and she loved Firefly. Didn't have to do any explaining to her. I think the main reason she likes Castle is because Nathan Fillion is in it. I am burned out on procedural cop shows, but I really enjoy the interaction between Rick and the rest of the gang.

1/7/2011 4:17:16 AM

Brisco County Jr. innnnnnnnn Spaaaaaaaaaaace!

1/7/2011 7:47:47 AM

amorf,

I agree that the second season was the best. but we've been on season 3 since September. and it really hasn't lived up to expectations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(season_3)

1/7/2011 8:47:53 AM

I liked Firefly, but sometimes I thought the acting was turrible

1/7/2011 9:21:26 AM

Am I the only one that thinks star trek is the star trek of our time?

1/7/2011 9:59:32 AM

my wife won't watch firefly because she saw serenity and then said the show must be dumb

1/7/2011 10:09:21 AM

Nothing can beat Hercules.... IN SPACE

1/7/2011 10:15:05 AM

double post

[Edited on January 7, 2011 at 10:25 AM. Reason : ``]

1/7/2011 10:23:29 AM

- It was funny, but it wasn't a comedy. There was humor in every episode and the regular banter between Wash, Mal, and the rest of the crew was great. It was still serious though.
- It wasn't cheesy. There were no aliens. All villains were human or some form of human.
- There was a large universe with lots of interesting characters and a rich history.
- There was still a level of mystery behind a lot of characters... things like how Book got to be a badass and what type of stuff the Alliance was doing with River and the other gifted people.



PS - Am I a lion? I've never been called a lion before, but I do have a mighty roar.

1/7/2011 10:24:33 AM

toemoss, which star trek do you mean? this one?


If so, I would say you are. TNG went off the air in 1994, when most of us were in middle school (or diapers if you were a freshman). After that, subsequent star trek episodes were eclipsed by much better sci-fi shows (The X-Files, Babylon 5, Futurama...Seaquest DSV only half joking there as voyager got into some godawful territory) but none that truly filled the hole that star trek left in the hearts of nerds everywhere.

1/7/2011 10:25:09 AM

Have you not seen DS9?

1/7/2011 10:29:45 AM

So at what point does a show air during "our time"? When we're in our teens, twenties, forties? I'm guessing you think twenties...

My point is that there were a ton of star trek shows during a part of my life when I was watching tv, so that's good enough for me. Not to mention the fact that there are still reruns of TNG all over the place and Star Trek was one of the biggest movies of 2009.

1/7/2011 11:09:51 AM

Sucks for the OP. My ex totally loves Firefly. We're always inserting quotes from it into our conversations. And this is a girl who doesn't like Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG, WoW or anything like that. She really liked River as a kickass female character and shares my fondness for extremely well-written and witty shows.

"Have you ever been with a warrior woman?"

1/7/2011 11:34:25 AM

every time i read this thread i always read "Explain to My Woman why Marty McFly"

1/7/2011 11:57:33 AM

Quote :

"I agree that the second season was the best. but we've been on season 3 since September. and it really hasn't lived up to expectations."

dammit, I meant to say season 3...I thought the variation between episodes taking place here and in the other universe breathed new life into a show that was quickly becoming stale.

1/7/2011 12:59:15 PM

<3 "Objects in Space"

+1 for witty banter, mysterious character back stories, and the implied history of the universe/Earthling expansion

1/7/2011 1:00:50 PM

http://www.darkhorse.com/Books/17-221/Serenity-The-Shepherd-s-Tale

1/7/2011 1:42:55 PM

I didn't think Firefly was particularly witty or well written.

Every episodes plot was obvious within the first 45 seconds.
The character development was either non-existent or completely obvious what was going to happen for the entire series.

The most interesting part of Firefly (and why I actually liked it) was that it had a really plausible backstory, that allowed them to come up with new and interesting episode settings, missions, and temporary characters that didn't totally screw up the world the show lived in.

It would have been really hard to carry on for more than 1 or 2 more seasons though without either massively increasing the scope of the show (which they did in making the movie), or edging away from sci-fi into the drama-crap that is most of the sci fi shows on network tv today.

1/7/2011 1:44:35 PM

I hope you get aids

1/7/2011 2:05:48 PM

i thought Firefly was good, and pretty enjoyable, but i don't think it was (or would have been, if not canceled) near as epic as a lot of people try to make it out to be

1/7/2011 2:07:29 PM

Quote :

"I didn't think Firefly was particularly witty or well written."

The dialogue is actually quite good, especially for a broadcast network show...it doesn't hold up as well against some of the best cable dramas but compared to any iteration of Star Trek or the vast majority of other sci fi shows it's worlds better.

1/7/2011 2:10:16 PM

I don't debate your points, Noen, but I would say that Firefly was well-written because so much was obvious, and yet we still wanted to see it unfold anyway. It was never supposed to be a big nailbiter or a show with huge plot twists that no one saw coming; it was more like a well told story, where even if you know what's going to happen, it's worth spending the time to see it because it's plain ol' entertaining.

1/7/2011 2:26:22 PM

Oh, additionally, I'd like to point out that nobody on the show relied on their advanced technology as a means of "saving the day" like Star Trek did so often.

1/7/2011 2:37:42 PM

Firefly is awesome

1/7/2011 3:34:53 PM

Quote :

"but I would say that Firefly was well-written because so much was obvious, and yet we still wanted to see it unfold anyway"

I will definitely concede that point. They did an excellent job with the situations and context for each episode and the universe that firefly lives in.

The dialog was hokey as hell. I cant tell you how many eye-rolling moments I had watching Firefly, but Shadowrunner is right, they made up for with good core characters and good storytelling.

1/7/2011 3:37:17 PM

Quote :

"The dialog was hokey as hell. I cant tell you how many eye-rolling moments I had watching Firefly"

The dialogue certainly isn't naturalistic, but I don't think naturalism is necessary or even beneficial on a fucking space western.

1/7/2011 4:03:23 PM

Cursing in Chinese is kick ass as well.

1/7/2011 4:08:45 PM

Quote :

"The dialogue certainly isn't naturalistic, but I don't think naturalism is necessary or even beneficial on a fucking space western."

haha ding ding

i am not sure anyone knows how how politically oppressed space bandits are supposed to converse. Oh wait, there is one man...Joss Fuckin' Whedon!

1/7/2011 4:21:26 PM

They converse like a socially awkward geek would have his dolls converse. You dont have to be naturalistic to not be hokey.

1/7/2011 7:32:29 PM

I'll explain it in terms your girlfriend will understand. Firefly was a scifi show, on any space crap scifi show, there are chicks on the show. What made this one special was that it was made by the guy who made the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" tv series, and as such he had learned that you can't just have one marginally attractive girl ala star trek, babylon 5, etc, what you need is several very attractive women. This, combined with run of the mill space shit, completes the ultimate neckbeard mouth-breather fantasy, allowing them to watch the space shit of babylon five while also giving them something to fap to. Hope that clears things up.

[Edited on January 7, 2011 at 10:22 PM. Reason : ]

1/7/2011 10:20:58 PM