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Joss Whedon's Firefly Coming To The Big Screen
lhouk281 writes "According to this article in the Hollywood Reporter, Universal is turning Firefly into a movie. Firefly lives!" This show deserved a chance to run a full season. If this comes out, I'll sure be there opening weekend.
So, we like he MPAA and its members today?
Just be sure to wear the gold uniform when you beam down -- you know what happens when you wear the red one.
Firefly is a prime example of how Fox is populated by PHBs. Fabulous show, great concept .. and they show the episodes out of order and at random intervals so the audience just can't get into it. They could have capitalized on Farscape's cancellation [SciFi: A channel for SF fans run by PHBs], but nooooooooo!
"You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
While we're on the subject, how about a Buffy movie? One that's based on the series, and thus actually good.
I only got to see two episodes of Firefly. Pity, I did enjoy it. It just wasn't on at a time when I could remember to sit down and watch it, and I still have to build a linux PVR... so it got missed.
How many episodes were made, anyhow? It really was a rather entertaining little show. Perhaps a bit too geek-targeted in some ways for the majority of society, but certainly fun.
... "I read part of it all the way through." -- Movie Mogul Sam Goldwyn (and some slashdot readers)
Anyone know when the first "season" is coming out on DVD?
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
Can we push for lower ticket prices or lower costs to own a DVD?
Or is downloading movies off the internet not a big enough issue yet?
As for the typo....I type with two fingers... and still probably make more money than you hack.....
Awww, there is only one beer left and it's Barts.....
'Firefly' lands in film afterlife
Joss Whedon
By Zorianna Kit and Chris Gardner
The short-lived TV series "Firefly" is moving to the big screen. After taking his "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" feature film and turning it into a successful TV series, Joss Whedon is about to do the reverse with another one of his creations. Whedon has teamed with Universal Pictures to turn "Firefly," a TV cult favorite, into a feature film.
In addition to having adapted it for the big screen, Whedon will also make his feature directorial debut with the project. Plans are to see "Firefly" go into production in first-quarter 2004.
Universal recently acquired the rights to "Firefly" from 20th Century Fox Television, where Whedon's Mutant Enemy Inc. production company has a television deal.
The action-adventure series was set 500 years in the future and centered on a crew aboard a spaceship. The feature version will incorporate the mythology from the show but will take on a more epic feel. Whedon hopes to enlist the entire cast to come back for the feature, depending on their previous commitments, with new characters added as well.
Whedon is producing the film through his Mutant Enemy Inc. along with studio-based producer Barry Mendell. Mendell, a former agent at UTA, used to represent Whedon. Mutant Enemy president Christopher Buchanan is executive producing. Universal production president Mary Parent is shepherding the project.
"Ever since the show went off the air, our fan base has grown even more," Buchanan said. "We've had tremendous outpouring from the U.S. and Canada as well as the U.K., which just finished a run of 'Firefly' over there. Every comic book and sci-fi convention has had a 'Firefly' presence since the show first aired."
For the series, which ran this past season, Whedon produced 15 hours of television, including a two-hour episode. Three shows never aired on Fox but will likely be featured on the series' DVD release, due out in December. Buchanan said fans created such a demand that DVD presales on Amazon.com sold out within 24 hours.
Whedon, repped by CAA, continues to be executive producer of "Angel," which he created. His feature film screenplay credits include "Titan A.E.," "Alien: Resurrection" and "Toy Story."
The IT section color scheme sucks.
My god, man. If "Everybody Loves Raymond" (lies! The title is a LIE! I hate that fucking show) can go on for how long now?, then Firefly deserves a run at least as long as Buffy.
But, what do you expect? Great show, great premise, nice twist on typical plotlines, great writing, great "settings", great girls er actors and actresses.. It had all the recipes to be axed.
"Hey, this show is too good. Gotta give it the axe."
Remember, America doesn't want quality. We want convenience and entertainment that doesn't require thinking. Hence, Jackass.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
"You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
It's a real shame they had to cancel this show, just as it's long-term plot was getting interesting.
They had introduced the characters and developed the mystery of the doctor's sister until I was really interested in her story. Then Bamn! Cancelled.
Hopefully I learn more about the men with blue gloves from the movie...
This show deserved a chance to run a full season.
A full season? Don't be too generous now. Most good shows don't start to click until at least the 2nd season. Try watching first season next generation, or Seinfeld. It's so wooden it looks like the actors have underwear 3 sizes too small. I liked Firefly, but even if the network didn't, they should give it at least a couple of seasons to bring in some numbers. Even Enterprise is dumping, and they haven't given up on it yet.
Sorry, I tried to watch it but I just didn't like it. I could appreciate the concept but it wasn't something I could go see at a theatre. It was sort of like a bastard mix of Starhunter and an hour long Skol ad.
Trolling is a art,
"a script from an unaired episode with an hour of special effects, gratuitous sex and fight scenes added"
That sounds like the plot to every movie I've seen in the last 10 years. It'll break all records, no doubt.
So, after giving his Firefly TV series and turning it into an unsuccessful feature film, Joss Whedon is about to do the same with another one of his non-creations?
Make any sense to anybody? These producers sure are a weird lot.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
No, no, no...
You've confused this with the upcoming season of "Enterprise"....
I think about a dozen episodes were made, though not all were aired. A DVD boxset of the complete series will be released on December 9.
got biv?
No one would watch the show when it was broadcast into the comfort of our living rooms for FREE. But yet we're going to run out and watch it at our local theater after paying high ticket prices.
Heck, if it succeeds on the big screen, here's my vote for his next project: Flo the Motion Picture!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Sarah Michelle Gellar has been quoted as saying they'll never do a Buffy movie, and that the first one was viewed as a failure. Perhaps they think that'll cause a stigma to any other Buffy flicks.
Personally, I just get the impression she's tired of the role and wants to move on. Maybe if no significant work show up, she'll change her mind.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Everytime I get interested in a program, it gets cancelled, usually without closure. Sometimes the cancellation occurs on a cliff-hanger, like "John Doe". That's a clear indication that the studios have no respect for the viewers; why should I have any respect for them? If they are not going to make a multi-year commitment, why should I?
Firefly, FarScape, John Doe are all recent casualties. I'm pissed. I've decided to drop back, and wait for a few seasons before I start watching any new program. If it doesn't survive, then at least I wasn't impacted. If it's getting good buzz after a few seasons, then I'll watch the reruns or DVD to catch up.
If this means that new shows won't get done, that's fine too. I'm old enough to know there are better things I should be spending my time on anyway (even /. qualifies in that regard). :-)
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
"The one that brought us"? Well, no, more like one of the people that worked on the scripts for these movies (so you can think him responsible for whichever parts you most liked or disliked, as you prefer). For the most part, interest in "Buffy" led to some script doctor work for Whedon. However, as with the difference between the original Buffy movie and the series (and differences between ok/good and excellent episodes of Buffy), Whedon's work is much better when nobody else messes with it.
I just hope that the powers at Universal are smart enough not to tamper with things on the Firefly movie. Probably not much of a hope, but it's worth a try.
You sell out pre-orders by knowing how many copies the publisher is going to print, and of that number know how many copies you are going to be allocated and then discover that that number is less than the number of copies that people have pre-ordered. At that point you have two choices. Tell people that they are going to have to look elsewhere for copies, or tell the publisher that you would be happy to sell a lot more copies for them, perhaps even let them know that the number of copies they allocated to you went to pre-orders the first day, and well, it sure is nice doing business with people who have a product that our customers are interested in.
-Rusty
You never know...
This is just a guess, but before listing the product on their site, Amazon probably struck a deal with Fox in which they agreed to stock a certain number of the DVDs on the release date. If the preorder numbers exceed the number of DVDs Amazon is going to have, then they've sold out, at least until they can guarantee another shipment from the distributor.
...was it's Friday night time slot.
When I first saw the advertisement for Firefly, I was very excited. But then when they said it would be shown on Friday night, I was bummed. I usually go out on Friday nights.
Of course I could record it, but to be honest I just don't record that often. I wonder if others are like this. There are many shows that I will give a half or full hour of my life to when they are on TV, yet at the same time I will hardly ever record any shows. And I don't know why.
They should put shows like this on the internet, and charge a buck to download and/or stream each episode. At least then, the show can control its own destiny, and the fans can watch it any way they want to.
Hell, I'd pay a buck an episode for it, even if they left the commercials in.
What amazingly good news. Woot! For any who've not yet seen it, be sure to pick up the DVD of the first (and only, grumble) season when it hits the shelves this December. The DVD *will* have the unaired episodes and lots of commentary and gag reels and all shown in the correct order (Fox sucks so bad it isn't funny). Amazon was pre-soldout last I checked. For any who don't know why Firefly didn't make it, one phrase should answer it "Fox are Idiots". The idiots at Fox preempted the show for sports programming more for over half of it's episodes. Then there was the 2-hour premiere which cost something like 6 million dollars. The premiere introduced all the characters and set the story. Fox execs decided they didn't want to show the premiere first, they wanted it to be the 10th episode of the season. and had to be reworked into a "flashback episode" for that context... What a bunch of wankers, but we all know that already. The article says Universal bought a rights transfer from Fox, perhaps they'll never again influence anything to do with it. One can only hope that when the movie is successful they'll give thought to bringing back the show. A movie is nice and all, and it's Great that Firefly is back. But a movie will only give us 2 hours of Firefly a year. Compared to the 15 or more hours a year of Firefly we'd have if the TV show comes back. More = better. WOOT
Other than Jack Valenti (who came to my school, incidentally), who the hell actually likes the MPAA? I get your category 3 (movie fans), but I'm not seeing the first one.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
...Fox's "Lame Reality Shows" are:
A- VERY cheap to produce, and...
B- Get VERY high ratings.
Those two things add up to huge profit for Fox. Sci-Fi is, by its nature, expensive to produce, with a fairly limited audience. Fox is there to make money, not make an artistic statement. They're less pretentious than the other networks in that regard. And major networks don't view sci-fi seriously or artistically anyway. The original Star Trek only got on the air because NBC and Desilu thought they were getting a laser shoot-em-up, or as Gene Roddenberry put it, "Wagontrain in Space".
Sci-Fi will always be a harder sell than "normal" dramas or reality tv because of the expense. Rendering technology has made it cheaper, but it's still a long ways off from being cost competitive. It's just easier and cheaper to produce another "When Rabid Ferrets Attack" or "The Gay Show".
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
please
I've found that my posts don't format quite right w/o a sig.
From Amazon.com, result of a search for "Firefly DVD":
<snip>
Firefly - The Complete Series (2002)
Availability: NOT YET RELEASED: The studio is currently not producing this title on DVD, but to be notified when it is available, enter your e-mail address at right. You'll also be voting for this release; we'll let the studio know how many customers are waiting for this title.
</snip>
Does anyone else think that's a strange message to display, given that it's set to be released in December and people have gotten pre-orders already?
"Linux doesn't exist. Everyone knows Linux is an unlicensed version of Unix"- Kieren O'Shaughnessy
ill promise to watch firefly if they bring back Family Guy also...oh, they put it on kazaa, yippee!
By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
1. Think more like Geisha than prostitute and it'll make more sense. I think the previews and shorts used the word prostitute to try and make it more edgy than it was.
2. Look at the spaceships we fly today. You can't get a good interplanetary and atmospheric craft in one with the tech they used. Building up to a fully industrialized level on a bare planet will take a long time. (If you couldn't carry it with you you had to build it when you got there.)
3. I'll agree on that one.
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
What the hell is a western and space fantasy doing on the same page?!
Too young to remember Battlestar Galactica, eh?
That's a clear indication that the studios have no respect for the viewers; why should I have any respect for them?
Firefly the movie is being released by Universal, who bought the rights from Fox. So you can still not respect Fox and enjoy the Firefly movie.
The only thing I'm worried about is whether or not Joss will have enough clout with the studio to make the movie HE wants, not the one that Universal wants. He has a track record of getting screwed over by Hollywood (albeit in the role of the writer, not as director.)
A bit OT, but hey:
Yeah, I've watched some of those - mainly some TV episode stuff to fill in the blanks I missed during the regular season, but I also had a few full-length movies in DivX that I also have on DVD. The quality is not even close.
Sure most movies *looks great* as DivX, but the sound quality sucks ass. The DVD, however, looks fantastic and sounds flawless. Now, nobody expects a DivX to sound flawless, but c'mon - I'd like to hear the friggin' dialogue, soundtrack, and special effects. Sound on 99% of DivX rips is muffled and distorted, even if it is in sync. And at 700-odd MB per flick, why waste the bandwidth d/l'ing?
Yeah, there are gonna be folks who say "people said the same thing about mp3s" but an mp3 album isn't going to be 700mb a track. Freed up a coupla gigs of HDD space lickety split.
1) It's as public as he can do without buying ad time, and the forum seems appropriate. I suppose he could have xeroxed copies and stood on the streetcorner, but most people passing would probably say "huh?" It's not like he's black, it's 1950, and there's a line on the floor of the bus he can sit in front of.
2) You don't have to actually get arrested, as you can't control what the authorities choose to do. You simply have to be pretty much resigned to it. He seems to be taking this approach.
3) He's not just trying to justify his greed in not wanting to pay for content. He's actively distributing older texts that aren't all that popular but which would be legal to copy now if it weren't for the Bono act.
I liked it.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
A buck an episode, huh? Lets be conservative and guess an episode costs a million dollars to make. So you need a million viewers, and then enough viewers to cover the infrastructure costs for that original million.
This is why there's no "TV over the 'net" like was promised back in the boom days. It just doesnt make economic sense.
Sure, on TV maybe you can get a million people to watch by cramming it between Ally McBeal and The Simpsons. 750,000 of those people left the TV on while they went to take a dump and make some nachos.
Convincing that many people to spend an hour or two downloading it is a whole different story.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Great! Finally a reason to get out of my bunk! : )
.sig:
(You need to have seen the series to get this)
P.S. Notice my
You can't take the sky from me...
For all the people commenting on why channels seem to cancel the best geek shows (firefly, futurama, etc), I have a thought. Maybe geek shows are cancelled because they frequently cost as much or more per episode as mainstream show (due to special effects or whatever else), while having a lower viewership. Additionally, the limited viewership of those shows consists of cynical people who actually find out about products before they use them; having Catherine Zeta-Jones as a spokesperson isn't as much of an influence to us as it would be to a "Joe Millionaire" viewer.
When TV stations gauge the "success" of a show, they are measuring it with respect to their customers; not the viewers, the ADVERTISERS. The sequence goes like this:
* Flashy colors don't drive me to buy something
-> Advertisers don't want to spend money to show me flashy colors
-> TV stations see less profit on the shows I watch
-> TV stations spend less money (read: cancel) the shows I watch
-> I buy Futurama seasons 1 and 2 on DVD
[hopefully in the future]
-> TV stations recognize that there is money to be made on shows that are not profitable from advertising, and begin to release shows CHEAPLY on DVD to begin with.
Stephen King tried this. Charged a buck per chapter for a novel he was publishing online. Said he'd only continue if at least 75% of downloads were paid for.
He never got past the second chapter.
This is the internet. If it can be copied and distributed to a million of your closest friends, it will be, whether its wrong or not.
In short, producers aren't stupid enough to try this. They know us better than that. And don't give me any crap about the Apple store being an example of paid downloads. Here's my example. Kazaa. Which one do you think has more traffic, and by a mile?
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Listings
Gotta get me one of those Blue Sun MindBlasters
I actually liked the show, from thsoe episodes that i caught. Though I have to admit to feeling like there weren't enough Chinese people for a world where some vague form of cantonese is common slang...but I'm digressing.
The strength of Whedon's tv shows seem to come from the continuity driven stories, I know he's worked on the scripts of some good/popular movies (Buffy being the exception), but I don't see Firefly as making a great movie- just a longform episode or something. I don't see what bigger better effects, production value stuff they could pack in to really justify a movie either. So what would it be?
I recall watching the Cowboy Bebop, or Xfiles, or ST movies and mostly feeling like nice long episode, but not really a feature experience.
Yes, you should give it a chance. I am not familiar with the other shows you mention, but Firefly is definitely worthwhile on its own. Depending on when you caught it, a first impression could well be negative - it didn't help that they took one of the weakest episodes and showed it first. But watch two or three of the episodes, especially if you start with the real pilot ("Serenity"), and you may become as enthusiastic about it as I am.
Along with the original cast, 3 new members will be added to lure in the casual movie goer. The first new addition will be a stubborn and mean-spirited, yet loveable, robot named "Alvin." The 2nd character will be a 1-2' tall furry creature with a really "cute" name that always seems to get into trouble. The 3rd character will be a "superior" alien-being that will constantly remind the crew of their mistakes and point out the foolish of 80% of the captain's actions. This will help the movie attract more than just the show's 16-35 male demographic audience.
Unfortunately, the premise behind the show was unbelievably absurd. Sheridan just sat there and watched the plague cloud thing float down to Earth. Why didn't he just order someone to detonate nukes in the middle of the clouds? And since when can a biological organism withstand a trip through the extreme temperatures of Earth's atmosphere?
What the hell is a western and space fantasy doing on the same page?!
Yeah, most westerns are about high adventure on the frontier of civilization. Whereas most sci-fi shows are about high adventure on the frontier of civilization. I don't see how they are compatible.
the unaired episodes will purportedly be included to boot.
hm...november is gonna be a real expensive month, DVD-wise...
ed
I think what happened was that Amazon.com jumped the gun and put Firefly up on their store for pre-order before getting official word from the distributor. Not sure how that happened, but I note that none of the other online DVD sources I checked had any mention of it at all.
So amazon collected some pre-orders, and then had to backtrack a bit, resulting in the strange message.
This is, of course, just my theory, which is mine.
The real question is, is anyone still *TRYING* to watch it.
I liked firefly; it was like a Cowboy Bebop, that didn't take itself so seriously, and was slightly goofy. I liked Bebop too, but I didn't think it was awesome. Waaaay too much full-of-yourself-bull$hitty-bravado.
Bebop Hero: "So you comin' with me or am I going to have to go alone? Light me up." (puff) *reloads hand gun* *does kungfu kick*. omg STFU! If I want to see some real heroic characters that actually interest me, I'll watch Saving Private Ryan or something.
Bebop Villain: "Mwahahahaha. I'm a nut, who should be pitied. But i'm a psycho killer. PITY ME!!!" *slash slash slash*
Bebop Hero: "......." *mr. cool* "....." *the silent hero* "....." *insert fortune cookie philosphy blurb* Slapping is needed.
That's just a hazy impression I have after several years. I have a feeling Matchstick Men is going to be like that.
Loved the series, sh*tty screening time...
Now, was it just me, or was the theme tune a direct rip off a Jon Bon Jovi one..?
Winton
Firefly is actually a knock off of Starhunter which was a way better show and has started airing in syndication on U.S. stations.
I'm beginning to get really pissed at the TV networks. I live in the UK, and as everyone knows, we get things late. First I spotted "The Lone Gunmen", which was a quality series, and was cancelled after only a few episodes. Mores the shame. Then my long time favourite Futurama got prematurely cancelled. Soon after I found that out, I discovered firefly showing for the first time on UK networks - then about two weeks later I found it had been cancelled. Pretty gutted. Now after reading through these comments, I see that "John Doe" has also been cancelled. That show has only just started to be advertised over here, it starts on Monday and I was really looking forward to it - and now I find it's been cancelled even before I've seen an episode. There is something very wrong at the TV networks, and if they don't get themselves sorted there's gonna be one hell of a backlash.
Starting Monday Space will be showing the entire Firefly run in Canada. Check your local listings and be sure to tune in. Give it a chance, it rocks!
Serve Gonk.
... SHINY!
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
From what I remember, and I may be wrong since it's been almost a year since I watched Firefly,
the chinese dialect used was Mandarin, not Cantonese. Very, very, very badly pronounced Mandarin, which may be the source of the confusion.
Everyone repeat after me...YOUR DOLLAR IS YOUR VOTE
There is really only two other solutions. The first is to have adequate "voice" by your strategic position in the industry to force the MPAA (or anyone else for that matter) to consider your views... hopefully you will provide factual evidence and thus focus on education not manipulation. This of course is still a "vote of the dollar" but here you seem to have more vote per dollar (and more dollars, heh).
The other solution is legal. By supporting lobbying and specific laws and politicians you can bring about a legal enforcement of your views. Perhaps you can even claim it is "leveling the playing field" as that often sounds very attractive. Sadly, this leveling is more like what you get from a 20 megaton nuclear detonation at the optimal distance above the surface. That means that you destroy the landscape and people resulting in not only striking out at IndustryX (MPAA here) but will enable shifty politicians and lawyers to use those VERY SAME laws to end up making the situation worse for choice and freedom.
I urge you to vote with your dollar. Sure picketing and boycotting sound nice and give certain people a warm and fuzzy that is not from their latte. However, even if you discount the hypocrisy of many of those people and focus on results you find that in the end you must speak the language of business... MONEY. Boycotting only works in a very well controlled situation... movies are not one of these unless you can get about 30 percent of people to NOT go to, support, buy DVD's, or anything related to movies that could help them.... NOTHING.
Basically, I invite everyone to not justify their actions and instead act on principle. If you are not that against what the MPAA is doing then go ahead and watch as many movies as you want confident in your giving that vote of approval to the MPAA. If however you cherish your freedoms and rights then stop being a coward and do something about it. Spend less time making excuses and calling those who have different opinions then you (i.e. that don't have a problem with MPAA) pig-fuckers and maybe just maybe you will start seeing some change.
OK, firstly:
while you're quite right re: OS-era klingons and samurai, post-OS era klingons are based on vikings. do a bit of research into the culture and it's pretty clear (note the status of music in klingon society).
secondly: the enterprise series premier featured a run-in w/ klingons. and i believe the previous season also included a klingon episode.
however, to the best of my knowledge they have not yet encountered romulans. no, just the annoying temporal cold war.
[grumbles]
ed
OK, you'll accept that lorien is the first one, that the shadows can remain invisible to normal light, that both vorlons and the shadows can have living technology starships, but you can't accept that the drakh, long-time servitors of the shadows, couldn't engineer a plague cloud that can withstand atmospheric re-entry?
the drakh were basically the script kiddies of the b5 universe! to me, the astonishing thing is that it would take a whole 5 freaking years, but hey, YMMV.
ed
Of course, I'm a tool to respond to flamebait, but it should be pointed out that the entire idea behind the original Star Trek was "Wagontrail in space".
It did ok for a few years.
You are totally blocking my view of the wall. - Dogbert
The use of horses on some colony planets was well explained in the series pilot. Unfortunately, the network did not air the pilot until the end of the series.
According to the pilot, the colonization of some planets involved little more than dumping the settlers, some livestock, and some basic tools in the middle of the wilderness. Although some colonies were extermely advanced, with high tech and large populations, many were still barren frontiers with a mix of farmers, miners, and other suppliers of raw materials.
As an investor it is HIGHLY infuriating. (you can include "as an employee" here as well) As I mentioned in a post above... your dollar is your vote. Remember that when you get pissed at the stupidity you witness in business ask yourself if you helped create it.
Oh, and one thing... don't confuse (or let yourself be confused by those who say this) the situation of being angry at a particular programming choice and that of obviously making a bad business decision. I have often been on the receiving end of decisions that were not favorable to me... however it was clear after a bit of thought and observation that I was in the minority. The real issue is when you have your major money maker and cancel it or as mentioned you take ANY show and simply mangle it so that you drive away revenue.
Remember this bit of wisdom by Scott Adams, "Why are stupid managers there? Because they were themselves hired by stupid management" Until you break the chain then this will not magically go away. There is little incentive for managers with business sense. The drive is for buzz and other superficial element compliance. Yet here we have the problem of perceived causal relationships. If a PHB is around and money flows then his PHB will see it as a sign of good management. Trends and actual cause and effect analysis will be ignored.
Personally this failure to do the job of an executive would lead me to fire them. I am glad I am a small company with no bloat. If anyone I outsourced to pulled this crap they would immediately be without money from me.
Just like the TV version, I expect it to flop.
I should not take long after it flop's that the theater for it to be release to DVD.
Then I will do down to the local Hollywood video and rent it!!!
Wise men speak because they have something to say, Fools because they have to say something!!!!
I watched it, but...
I was willing to:
Most people aren't THAT dedicated to a completly new show.
And BTW, not only were people watching the show when it was on for free, but we also TOPPED OFF THE PREORDER LIMIT for the DVD in one day. Jeez, think about it for one second will ya...
You can't take the sky from me...
I'm going to metamod dilligently hoping to get a chance to blow this moderator out of the water...
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
And those other shows you mention: "gambled the future"? Where have you been? These are reality shows. The genre's been popular for a long time, and they cost a pittance (by Hollywood standards) to produce. Especially American Idol which is just a retread of a British show.
I did think that Fox would give Firefly a decent change, mainly because Fox Entertainment is run by Gail Berman. Back when she was a studio person, she persuaded Whedon to turn Buffy into a TV series, and got him the backing to do it. But Buffy was relatively low-budget, and Firefly was very expensive indeed. I guess that made it a lot of enemies in the network, who begrudged the resources and air time for a show that would take a long time to find an audience, and that would probably not be profitable even when it did.
It's sort of ironic that Whedon's turning Firefly into a movie. He passed up a chance to direct Ironman because he thought that he could have more creative freedom with a TV series. But after watching Buffy's pathetic whinding-down (and re-watching older episodes enough times to see their flaws), I have to think he's better off doing stories that can be told in one sitting.
Not that it matters. I'm still a rabid fan, but I think Joss Whedon's 15 minutes is over. He tells good stories, but he sucks at the political and social negotiation you need to do to make a TV show or a movie.
But seriously, I'd be more excited if someone announced
that they'd continue the series on their network. Instead, we have
"news" that possibly, maybe, the cast will be reunited for
a possible big-screen release.
Maybe.
Sig Applied For
I `et a cat once.
Damn thing was tough, but tastes just like dog.
Am I the only person on Earth who didn't like Firefly? (Apparently not, judging from the ratings). Speaking as a big fan of Whedon's other work and previous underappreciated sci-fi series (like Alien Nation), I was very disappointed in this show. The biggest problem for me was that the characters were simply unengaging. Where was the complexity, the dark inner secrets and tortured private moments? Nothing CLICKED, nothing felt genuine. The whole series was as boring as a season of Enterprise (well, maybe not quite that boring).
It wasn't that funny when you posted it on AICN either.
But at least you got me to listen to "Mope" again. That's a funny song.
Gosh, if only there was a programming block showing both Futurama AND Family Guy, back to back! The only thing that would make that more awesome is if it showed anime too!
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Umm, basically it was Cowboy Bebop with live action toys, good looking people, and Joss Whedon attitude.
I also thought Firefly was boring and fake. Although I feel that way about Whedon's other work also. I programmed SciFi out of my TV after they cancelled Farscape, because there was nothing new and good to watch on it.
Alien Nation was one of the most original SciFi concepts to ever make it to Film or TV. The TV show could have been a bit better though. It aged like cheese.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
For example: "If there's one thing the Buffy Powers That Be should have learned by now, it's that you can't stifle demand by choking the supply. When The WB pulled 'Graduation Day, Part 2' off the air in June, 1999, because of Columbine, fans got bootleg tapes from Canada (with creator Joss Whedon's blessing, no less)" (From here)
I.e. Joss Whedon actually sanctioned copyright violation by fans in at least one case (admittedly there were exceptional circumstances).
I LOVE this show. Percy is such a sleazy skanky whore that she's become irresistible to me! More Starhunter!
The bad acting, filming, directing, bad boying, key gripping and producing is also quite humorous.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Bn.com Barnes & Nobles still has preorders available
CAPS LOCK: ITS LIKE THE CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME
Men or women, it's the dumb gossipy types that love those shows. My gf hates them with a passion, considering them the worst form of tripe on the tube. Who wants to watch dumb, mean spirited deceitful people backstab each other? People who need to feel superior to someone, that's who. Men watch these things too, even straight men.
As for Firefly, (desperately trying to keep on topic) I loved it. It was killed by a poor timeslot and lack of network support. I don't think they gave it a fair shot, but these days, if something's not an instant hit, networks just can it and bring in a midseason replacement. Originality is not their forte.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I just checked the link in the post. The site is not even close to being slashdotted. Posting the text here is great when it's the only way to read the story, but if you can click the link and give the site a couple pennies, do so.
It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
It would be damned funny either way. The only question would be whether you got arrested or committed first. ;)
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
SAaB was a better show than Firefly and suffered the same Fox-ian treatment that lead to it's demise. Where is our movie? I guess, we'll just settle for Firefly being resurrected.
Something intelligent here.
Cowboy Bebop has a textbook Film Noir feel to it. At least for the dramatic parts. Of course the show is liberally laced with action, and a fair amount of comedy too.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
The show didn't take itself too seriously, unlike others I could name <cough>Enterprise</cough>. The western theme was tongue-in-cheek to a large extent. But as others have pointed out, 19th-century technology makes a lot of sense from a realism point of view. Projectile weapons are appropriate tech on a world where it's difficult to recharge your phaser. The covered wagon wheels probably had ball bearings, tho.
Seasons 1-6 of BTVS we good. Season 7* he butchered big time. As for Firefly. I saw it
once and didn't care for it.
* - For those who don't know, Whedon cast the captain of the Firefly ship as BTVS
Season 7 "Great evil's" lackey (a psychotic misgynoist preacher).
a) How many chapters was it going to be? He writes pretty hefty books. A buck a chapter may have ended up more than a hardcover. Definitely more than a softcover.
b) How many people looked at a chapter out of the novelty, never intending to pay for it, or even look at the second chapter? I expect that would account for the bulk of the non-payers. The 75% was doomed to failure.
c) I generally don't read King, but I heard that that book wasn't one of his best efforts.
d) Who wants to wait for a week or two between chapters when reading a book? Especially if the author makes no guarantee to ever finish the book? We're all to used to it in the TV or movie series world (and those formats usually are designed to minimize the problems with it), but it is different with books.
__
Do ya feel happy-go-lucky, punk?
haha great screen name.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"This is _NOT_ troll, this is _NOT_ flamebait, if you disagree with those facts"
First of all, there are no FACTS in your post. There's a lot of all-caps typing, a lot of swearing, and your OPINION.
"The show sucked, okay? Just because a post has the word "suck" in it, doesnt make it a troll or a flame-"
It's your inflammatory, obnoxious, profane, insulting tone that makes your post flamebait, not your choice of the word "suck".
"it is INFORMATIVE or INSIGHTFUL if you absolutely NEED to moderate."
Just saying something sucked is not particularly informative or insightful. Maybe if you provided some REASONS behind your opinion...
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
Witchblade Season Two: Very lame.
I really really really wanted to like Witchblade's second season, but the suckitude was entirely too high for it to continue by the time they finished broadcasting season two's shows.
Face it: Witchblade was put out of its misery.
"You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
i'm with this guy, it was like that lame Andromeda series without the cheap sci-fi "music".
this is a great idea, I would definatley be there. brain: if only a movie were made for Farscape mouth: farscape! farscape! farscape!
Hard Hat Area: Sig Construction Zone
while I can not argue on something as subjective as the personal enjoyment of a T.V. show, I feel the need to point a couple of thins out.
1) In my experience, you are the exception. The people I lent the tape to loved it. My friends stretch many different 'type'. not all are geeks, not all are Sci-fi fans, but all of them enjoyed this. sure, my personal data is only about 50 people, but some of these people can't agree on what color the sky is.
2) the reason people say it need a chance was because it didn't get a regular time slot. No TV show will be successfull if you yank the air times around.
3) Stop yelling at me, its rude, and makes you seem imature. Nobody will even consider your points if you are yelling.
4) You post is flambait. lets see why:
a)you're yelling
b)you're cussing
c) you make exactly zero point on why it sucked
finally, you suck. There see, it may be true, but its just flame bait if I don't back it up.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Exactly. Chaps, hats, covered wagons, revolvers with pearl handles, drawling accents, chewing baccy and that horrible twangy guitar music. It was like the human race got wiped out by a comet, and the only ones to get away were die-hard wild west revivalists, on a battlecruiser full of authentic props and musical instruments.
Even beyond the fact that the resulting melee was ludicrous and painful and bizarre, the Wild West was always a pretty annoying setting, so it made the whole show even worse. It was like watching Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel with his crew of Sub-Yokels search the galaxy for moonshine and grits...
Firefly made no money to speak of as a television show. Bad timeslot? Poor advertising? Cruddy story? There are people who would undoubtedly argue all points. However, I fail to see how any show that doesn't make money and gather a following in series Televsion catches the eye of movie producers. They better have some big named stars to draw the crowd.
To know is to have knowledge....to understand is to be enlightened.
If you didn't like the characters, perhaps you did care about them. I'm reminded of being forced to watch "Thirtysomething" in the eighties and constantly wishing the worst for all of the characters....
"You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
Heh. That's the first thing I've seen on Slashdot today that made me chuckle. If you weren't logged in as an AC, I'd put you on my friends list.
Firefly made no money to speak of as a television show.
/. journal for more info on why firefly is so loved despite its early cancellation.
Like I said...
I fail to see how any show that doesn't make money and gather a following in series Televsion catches the eye of movie producers.
It did gather a large following.
In fact, fans even bought an ad for the show in an industry magazine!
Not to mention that as soon as the DVD was announced for preorder it rose in the top 5 of DVD sales on amazon and they stopped accepting preorders within 24 hours because the demand exceeded the amount of DVDs they had to offer.
THAT is how they caught the eye of movie producers.
You can also go read my one and only entry in my
You can't take the sky from me...
The way Fox jerks around the schedules with its shows is one of the best reasons to own a Tivo. I saw all the Futuramas and Fireflys and didnt really realize how randomly they were being aired. why isnt everyone getting on the PVR bandwagon already....
Somebody else mentioned that the omnilovable Raymond gets $1M per ep. But that's certainly the biggest single item in their budget. I don't know all the figures, but I'd guess that even with an overpaid star, ELR costs less to make than half a Firefly episode.
No, he's talking about episode 3x09, "The Wish". The one with evil vampire Xander.
*snif* I miss the series the way it used to be. Too bad the animated version got axed.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Excuse me, why does the idea that the terraforming might be automated explain a bizarre "Buck Rogers" mixture of technologies? What does automation mean in the case anyhow. You remind me of story David Parnass told, of his time sitting on the SDI oversight committee. Whenever an unanswerable technical objection came up the senior General would fix the questioner with a steely gaze, and say, "Yes, but we will be using expert systems!
You say "planets" but IIRC the voice-over at the beginning said that hundreds, or maybe it was thousands, of asteroids had been terraformed.
So, what do you think it would cost to terraform even a single asteroid, the size of Eros? If this stellar system was of comparable size and complexity to our own, hundreds of asteroids would get us down to Eros sized rocks, wouldn't it? A dome to retain the air... Magical gravity generators so our heroes aren't bouncing around like basketballs... How much would it cost? PLENTY! Somebody is going to make that investment, and then leave the colonists to rely on tools as primitive as shovels? And HOW does this make sense?
Maybe these absurdities didn't ruin this work for you. Well, it ruined it for me, and I make no apology for that...
From the opening:
Here's how it is. The Earth got used up. So, we moved out and terraformed ourselves a whole new galaxy of Earths. Some rich and plush with the new technologies. Others, not so much. The central planets, them as formed the Alliance, fought a war to bring all the worlds under their control. Some idiots tried to fight it, among them, myself.
I think that pretty much sums up why they have covered wagons and revolvers.
Whatever her name was. The engineer of the ship, the cute blonde with a wrench in her hands and slightly greasy face, she was crazy cute! Keep her for the movie! I'd watch two hours of just her, thanks, you don't even need the rest of the crew, although the crazy sister character was pretty interesting, and the fact that the pilot and first officer were married.
Actually, now that I think about it, the whole show was rather good, well cast, good acting, decent plots, and some very witty dialogue.
Overall, a pretty decent show. Where do I go to order that DVD again?
Anyhow, the mechanic chick was really cute, did I say that?
Firefly ruelezzz....
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
American's have air conditioning, cars, broadband internet and we've been to the moon. In other parts of the world, things like toilet paper, asperin and purified water could be considered luxury items. What makes you so sure that kind of disparity wont still be around in another few hundred years?
Is nice to see that technology hasn't solved all our problems. We've had 30 years of near Utopian Star-Trek; its nice to see a future sci-fi series thats gritty.
And of the three, I think the third was the real culprit. The show just did not seem like it was worked out very well in advance. Probably because Joss was doing the last season of Buffy, and Angel, and Firefly. It started to come together after the first six episodes, but by then it was too late. I guess you have to hit the ground running.
I think Joss should have waited until Buffy was done, and then started up a new show. He would have had a lot more time to come up with a coherent history and setting, and might have gotten Buffy's old timeslot too.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Uh, okay...how is this flamebait? Someone's gonna start a flame war over...what exactly? Whether Fox execs are or are not morons? Sheesh, what a waste of a moderation point.
In Australia:
VHS = A$19.95
DVD = A$29.95
Sure, DVDs have extras and crap, but DVDs are actually cheaper to produce than VHS tapes. So they're only charging more becuase it's 'new' technology.
Should you pay more for something just because it is better, or should you pay a price based on a reasonable profit margin above what it costs to produce?
Also, with DVDs outselling VHS tapes by a huge margin, the costs should be coming down even further.
Nanotechnology is one of the most overblown trends of sci-fi. Heat transfer rates correlate with surface area, and nanobots have extremely little surface area, so they're very vulnerable to heat. It's conceivable that light from the sun could simply incinerate them. Also, their small size makes electromagnetic shielding highly impractical, they could be destroyed by a small burst of static electricity, which is not a very uncommon event in Earth's atmosphere.
"Whedon's one trick pony recipe of teen angst and sarcastic quips" Surely one recipe with two ponies? Mmmm, pony stew.
If you are heading out to somewhere new and don't want to rely on a lifeline back to where you come from (or where you come from isn't interested in offering such a lifeline) your only sane choice is to settle on a level of technology that is sustainable, repairable and replaceable on the ground.
That means low tech.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
She was more of a courtesan character. Or a traditional ghesia. There's been several societies where women in that class have had a high, albeit somewhat ambivelent, status - generally because they're selling wit and sophistication as well as sex - indeed the sex can be a very small part of the whole package.
Oh yeah, I sure am "yelling", moron.
Since when does "suck" have absolute and defineable properties associated with it? "Britney Speares sucks because, uh.. she isnt good?"
Good for you, by trying to see things which are never there, you have managed to see what isn't in my particular post.
Why the fuck should I spend time making a post that thoroughly works out exactly what causes one show to be entirely worse than some other show before I even have an audience? That would be a waste of time. The post above took five seconds, whereas going into detail would take actual thought (!) and would have been read by no one.
Oh no! I'm cussing! Better GO FUCK YOURSELF. If you don't like "cussing", get off the fucking internet, cockshit.
What makes something "flamebait"? Why, it's a post intended to encourage others to flame. Do you see any flames here? I just see people whining. In fact, if you look for this kind of post all over slashdot, you will see very few flames following them. People who see all caps tend to feel that they can easily prove themselves more intelligent by not typing in all caps, and making certain that their ideas are well thought-out before posting them. So any reasonable person could assuume that I post which seems to go out of its way to be unreasonable, but also goes out of its way to say that it is not trying to encourage flames, is not flamebait.
So does that mean it's "troll"? No. A "Troll" post is intended to ruin the experience of the board, whereas my post is intended to encourage the posting of well-thought-out ideas.
See, I really have no idea why someone would like such a steaming pile of space shit as FireFly- it really is a crappy, horrible show. I could see people who watch Alias or CSI liking it, but isnt slashdot supposed to have a few non-idiots around in its depths?
So did I succeed? No. I attempted to put a disclaimer at the bottom of my post, usually I just state the obvious facts without bothering to back them up ("THE SKY IS FUCKING BLUE, YOU FUCKING MORON, ADMIT IT" "I refuse to admit that unless you are willing to lay out in detail the specific reasons why it is blue"), to me, as I said in my post, these things are obvious, they are facts, and they are so blatant as to never bother connecting with the part of my brain that says "This particular element of this show is worse than this other element of this other show". ie: plenty of people know the sky is blue who haven't bothered to figure out why- they are just capable of seeing what is there.
perhaps my post was "idiotic" or "a pathetic attempt" or maybe just "overrated", but it was not Flamebait, it was not Troll.
And FireFly is a horrible show.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
*Alien Nation* was one of the most original ideas? Ye gods, dude, it was a cop-with-new-partner-he-doesn't-like movie with a drug mcguffin and a very thinly ... I mean, original Star Trek-level thin ... disguised immigrant-to-this-country subplot. Original means things like Sapphire and Steel (note that I don't say I like or dislike that, I just say it was original) or Twin Peaks. Alien Nation, on the other hand, was almost exactly as original as Automan.
It's called Peacemakers. It sounds interesting; I'd give it a watch if I had cable. Interestingly, the article makes the same assessment that I did: Firefly failed because it combined two genres that people aren't looking for today.
I really can't.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
This TV show had to have been one of the worst things I've ever seen.
* As is generally the case, my opinions do not reflect those of my employer.
Nichelle Nichols had turned down the part of "Uhura" but reconsidered when Martin Luther King asked her to take the part - sure she wasn't a main character, but she wasn't a whore or a servant or a drug addict either. It was a positive role model for many young blacks. There was a place for them in the future.
"You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister