Firefly?

I've seen the short-lived television show Firefly mentioned on a few firearms related web boards. What is 'it' about the show Firefly? Why is the show Firefly popular on firearms boards?

 

Try using the search function here on THR.

Or google Firefly on the web.

 

Beautiful women, guns, fiesty, government bashing secessionist smugglers, great writing, characters and ideas. Plus beautiful women and guns.

 

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=86039

 

Wow, that was a big thread. I'm still missing something, though. Is it just because it was a sci-fi show that used old weapons for props?

Was the writing/plotline akin to Babylon 5 in terms of quality?

 

Firefly PWNS Babylon 5 with a capital P. And I say that as a fan of B5.

The acting, direction, lighting, sets, CG, casting, music, and writing for Firefly are easily some of the best I have ever seen in not just a sci-fi television series, but any television series.

The only thing I don't like about the show are the sound effects. Whoever did the sound design didn't seem to put much creativity or thought into it.

 

Please, for the love of Heaven and all that is good and just, never use the pseudo-word 'pwn', or any of its derivatives again, ever. EVER.

I beg you.

I may have to pick up this show on DVD just to satisfy my curiosity.

 

Honestly, I'm not sure why I've started using pwn. I'm not even a gamer. Just keeps me fresh with the 18-24 demographic, yo.



I bought my copy of the series after only having a vague recollection of watching about ten minutes of an episode when it originally aired.

If you don't want to drop the money on the DVD set, just wait another couple of weeks. The big-screen adaptation is set to be released at the end of the month.

 

You'd better watch them soon, so you'll be caught up when Serenity comes out on the 30th. It picks up about 6 months after the series ended. I've heard that you don't HAVE to have seen the series to follow the movie, but I would assume it helps.

 

Wow, I started a thread that's still active after a year. I deserve an award for that. Or at least a bowl of candy

The movie's coming out this fall. Can't wait. The show had a sci-fi/western motif (largely influenced by the anime Cowboy Bebop), and it had a lot of gunplay, even if it wasn't particularly accurate. What set it apart was Joss Whedon's ear for great dialogue, a cast that obviously loved what they were doing, and a real sense of imagination.

Television being what it is, the show never had a stable slot, and episodes were shown out of order, making it really confusing to the casual viewer. Fox killed it through bad scheduling, and then they just cancelled it. The whole run is available on DVD.

 

Watch the dvds and read the 3-issue comic book series. That will set you up for the movie.

 

Cool, folks. Thanks.

Justin, I was just kidding around with you with 'pwn'.

Stylin' yo!

 

w00t!

 

I think it was also just the sense that the characters were very independent-minded. The sort that would get stuff done, whether or not the rules with with them or against them. People who just wanted to live life without any interference, not wanting to tell anyone how to run their life, and not wanting anyone to tell them how to run their own life. The sort who way tell someone "If someone tries to kill you, you try and kill them back".

 

While I'll 'prolly see Serenty in the theatres...

to give it one last shot, the original series just did not click with me. I watched a fair portion of the series when it was rebroadcast on SciFi, but it felt like ground already covered elsewhere.

I guess I'm just the odd man out on this. Oh well, in the end, Crackers Don't Matter.

 

Awesome Sci-fi

Firefly was, in my opinion, one of the best written, best acted, story driven sci-fi shows to come out in a long while. And though I may sound like a paranoid nut, I personally believe the higher-ups at Fox purposely killed it because of some of the intelligently placed anti-establishment themes therein in their continuing efforts to dumb a majority of American into mindless sheeple. Of course I suppose I could just be overreacting on that one, but when I see their "reality" series... I don't think so.

On thing I particularly liked was the character's varying attitudes towards shooting, fighting, etc and how they were displayed in episodes. And of course like any Joss Whedon show, it had a masterful sense of an overarching story to the coming season while allowing most episodes to essentially stand on their own as long as you could keep up with who the characters were.

In short, anyone that likes sci-fi should get the DVD set, see the movie when it comes out, and watch to see if any other network is willing to start making more. Probably will never happen, but a geek can dream.

UrbanWerewolf

 

I'd say it also helped that one of the characters is the biggest gun nut since Burt Gummer (but handsomer)

-K

 

Saw the Trailer last night in front of Lord Of War. I WILL be going to see Serenity!

 

I read the original thread and was a little skeptical...I mean...another Space series but with a Western theme?

Then my brother loaned me the DVD set and wow did I get hooked quick. (The Companions have a way of doing that to you ) Watched all of them over a weekend (much to the disapproval of SWMBO).

I will be heading to the theater when Serenity is released.

 

I'm with Justin (except for the PWN thing -- I have no idea what the heck that means ). I was (and am) a big B5 fan, having never seen TV science fiction that came close to B5. Then along came Firefly.

I'm gonna be on a flyfishing trip in the Sierras for the first week that Serenity is released. I'm seriously thinking of driving into town one night that week to catch it.

 

"PWNS"/"PWN"? What is that?

 

I think I'll have to be checking it out after hearing it compared to Cowboy Bebop, which I just watched through again.
Love me some CB.

 

really good and detailed explanation here, including interesting cross references to other modern slang speak:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwnd

 

Joss Whedon created "Firefly," and you have to appreciate his approach to "get" the series. He's a master of the use of long story arcs in television. He has a remarkable ability to keep them coherent and entertaining. If he had been at the helm of "The X Files," for example, the alien story thread would have actually made sense. He had set up a number of arcs in "Firefly," but then it was cancelled. Whedon is also very good at characterization and dialog. While the fifty show story arcs aren't going to be played out in a two hour movie, from the reviews I've read Whedon's focus on character and dialog *do* dominate "Serenity." If that's the case it will be the ONLY action-oriented science fiction movie to focus on dialog and character in the past thirty years.

I'm a sucker for the show because it draws so heavily on classic westerns. THe anime "Cowboy Bebop" used some similar plot elements but had far more to do with a Japanese vision of film noir than anything western. It owed more to "Bladerunner" than it ever did to "The Searchers." But in "Firefly" we've actually got characters who fought for a future version of the CSA, brown/butternut uniforms and all. Just as so many main characters in classic westerns were CSA vets, so are the main characters in the show. And the Alliance bears a striking resemblance to the Federals. So I have some sympathy for them.

Plus, there are such unique elements as horses and livestock in space. Whedon on the commentary track noted that teraformed planets don't come with roads or industry, so settlers would need to revert back to 19th century technology to survive. They appear to be relying much more on a Lehman's catalog than a Star Trek style replicator. This is why they rely so heavily on old iron. The settlers need firearms, but with only a limited infrastructure they're limited to making simple rollling block rifles and shotguns. Mercenaries are often shown with AK-style rifles and subguns, since they can afford a little better. But only the official military forces and the very wealthy can afford true laser weapons. It's a far more realistic evolution than 99% of science fiction shows that pretend all the firearms vanish the second a laser weapon appears on the scene.

I also appreciate that, like "Bebop," the series is restricted to a single (albeit large) solar system. This gets around the absurdities and paradoxes of FTL travel. It takes years to ply around the planets even with fast vessels. Silent combat in space is also a BIG plus. Nothing goes "BOOM" without an atmosphere. Apparently they get around this in the movie by staging a large fight in the upper atmo of a large planet, but I wish they'd stayed silent. The absolute silence of the exterior space shots gave the TV series a realism I hadn't seen since "2001."

There's also a wry humor in the show. Adam Baldwin actually turns out to be a fantastic comic.

"Do you know what the chain of command is here? It's the chain I go get and beat you with to show you who's in command."

---
Mal: "Are you offering me a trade?"

Jayne: "A trade!? Hell, it's theft. This is the best damn gun made by man. It has extreme sentimental value. It's miles more worthy than what you got."

Mal: "What I got? She has a name."

Jayne: "So does this!" (caresses the gun lovingly) "I call it Vera."

Mal: "Well, my days of taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle."
---

Zoe: "Preacher, don't the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killing?

Book: "Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps."
---

 

Man, I can't wait. That was one heck of a series, even my Fiance liked it, and she is no big fan of Sci-Fi. Everyone that I know that has seen it likes it.

I knew I would like the series when at the end of the first episode Mal pops that Alliance Agent without ceremony. No cheesy lines, no buildup, just BAM! This is how it should be done... Oh, and Little Kaylee just melted my cold heart.

Talk the movie up to your friends, and if it is as good as I hope, go see it multiple times (not something I would normally do) in the theater so we can get a trilogy out of Mr. Whedon.