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Independents Push For Second Firefly Season
ovanklot writes "It seems that Brilliant Screen Entertainment is looking to see if there is an audience for a second season of the science fiction show FireFly.
From the article: 'It's possible that subscribers may choose one of three playback options; monthly DVD deliveries, TV On-Demand using your cable or satellite provider, or computer viewing via Streaming Download.'" They are asking folks to fill out a short survey to gather demographics for support in their efforts to get Fox to release the show to them. The site also stresses that they want neither money nor confidential personal information.
Tried to fill out the survey but there is no option for "pirate box" under the cable/satellite operator.
Buncha cowardly, inbred piss pots...
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
The absolute best fans can hope for at this point is a straight-to-dvd 2nd season release.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It's about time that production companies considered DVD subscriptions.
FOX (or any other major network, for that matter) will NEVER release the rights to any of their shows. The X-Files 2 has been in talks for years but nothing has been moving because Chris Carter is fighting for control over the franchise from FOX. The big networks have all the chips; for what possible reason would they give that up? Unless you're going to drop a huge pile of money on their desk, you are not going to accomplish anything. The television industry is just as greedy as the music industry. You wouldn't expect Warner Brothers Music to give up control of "their" music; why would you expect them to give up control of "their" show or movie? The studios make a lot of profit from selling old shows, music, and movies. They are not going to give that up.
Seriously - do these guys have any standing, any connection, any track record that would lead anyone to suspect that they could actually produce the show? And do they have any connection with Whedon and company that would indicate that Whedon would *let* them produce it?
I've never seen Firefly and I probably wouldn't be that interested in it, but I'd rather encourage people to fight for what they want, than sit back and spout pointless cynicism.
http://whedonesque.com/comments/9347
The absolute best fans can hope for at this point is a straight-to-dvd 2nd season release.
That sounds significantly better than a TV release to me!
If Firefly is judged on actual sales instead of some idiot at a studio imagining that some lesser show would fare better in the same time slot, then FireFly will do pretty well - as evidenced by DVD sales thus far.
Frankly I could stand to have TV as we know it disbanded and just buy all entertainment either online or via DVD. I would not miss these archaic things we call "channels" whatsoever.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I don't see this as anything more than a larger level fanboy effort.
You mean like the one that managed to get a major motion picture created from thin air?
This is the age of large level fanboy efforts actually gaining traction.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It looks a little on the underdone side so far, but they're looking for information. That info could sway serious financial backers. Nothing like numbers to convince money-men that there's a buck to be turned off of us Browncoats... even if the numbers come from a goofy web form. It's probably the same folk what tried to finance the second season through donations (you may remember from a couple of weeks ago... they had to return them for reasons). I filled out the survey as I would like to see more of the show. I urge y'all to do the same. Maybe start to figure out a way to get better TV made and delivered in the process. I think it's shiny.
-mattzog http://www.micromatic.org/
Actually, the latest Whedon interview has him saying that he was misquoted in his immediately previous interview. All he said was that the movie provided closure to the dangling plot threads from the truncated first season. He also said that there are other stories he'd like to tell.
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
After they killed the best character in the series, Wash, in the movie, I suddenly stopped caring about firefly altogether. I even gave away my DVDs of the original series because I was so disgusted.
Just my $0.02.
Oh God, oh God, please bring back Firefly and we can continue to live!
Obviously they pulled the plug because of perceptions about how many viewers they had. Afterwards, the movie "Serenity" came out. I think the best strategy to get the show back on is to get copies of "Serenity" purchased and rented, and the same for the DVDs of the series. That way, the studio should say "Oh, I people didn't know about this before and do now since the movie came out". If they see signs that more people will be watching, they will probably renew. I also think getting the old episodes on iTMS or other video download or pay-per-view would be good, but they might try to milk the hardcore fans instead of actually renewing the series on non-pay channels, like Sci-Fi.
Is that if Fox brings it back, the bunch of idiots will make money. I really hope they release it to someone else with more sense.
-All that is gold does not glitter - Tolkien
www.ra
I've never seen Firefly and I probably wouldn't be that interested in it, but I'd rather encourage people to fight for what they want, than sit back and spout pointless cynicism.
Bffft, but that takes effort and doesn't provide me with instant gratification or a false sense of superiority. What fun is that?
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
Guys, while I absolutely love the series, I dont' think it'll happen either. WE aren't just looking at the idea of Joss Whedon coming back into the picture (especially while getting moveis like Wonder Woman) but think about the time span since the series. Do you really think they're going to be able to get all the actors back into the series? and will the chemistry be the same? What I wouldn't mind seeing and would be a possibility is maybe the same universe but another cast, with writers like Tim Minear on it again it could be doable. But frankly there's never going to be the money for it. After cancelling Angel right before it's last season was to wrap up when it was the top show on the network Fox pretty muched showed it's ineptitude.
I have seen some of it, and I found it awful, but I'd *still* like to see something like this happen because:
1) I'm not the only person in the universe - just because I don't like something doesn't mean that I should be opposed to other people having it, especially since...
2) I don't have to watch it.
3) This type of model - DVD subscription or something - might get applied to something I *do* like.
4) It's kind of funny when people who are fans quote the show at me and I look at them blankly - fans are always surprised when they discover that someone like me is a non-fan.
So good luck.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
My guess is that there will either be a prequel, or a lot of flashbacks. Remember, there are 8 months of un-accounted for time between the series and the movie. Whatever it turns out to be, I trust the guy's storytelling abilities enough to believe it won't be cheesy.
In any case, Wash and Book are not gone.
My script don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!
This is about the same as some independent mod team looking to make a game mod out of someone else's IP (actually, much more pie-in-the-sky thanks to the costs associated with producing the actual episodes, if they did get permission, which they won't).
It wouldn't fly no matter which big broadcaster owned the Firefly rights, and the fact that it is Fox should make this extremely obvious to anyone with half a brain.
I wouldn't mind seeing a series based on River and her kicking ass as a psychic assassin in the renewed revolt against the republic.
I watch very little TV and had little interest in either Serenity or Firefly ... that was before a friend suggested it over the weekend.
I'm up to the 5th episode - and actually look forward to watching a little each night.
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Very relevant, and far more detailed, links:
e wtopic.php?p=50254
e wtopic.php?t=1580
"Investigating FireflySeason2 dot com":
http://www.serenitymovie.org/browncoats/forums/vi
FireflySeason2.com's founder, Mr. Ace Underhill, responds and explains:
http://www.serenitymovie.org/browncoats/forums/vi
The Whedonesque thread surveying the brouhaha:
http://whedonesque.com/comments/9347
The Trade Paperback of the 3 Serenity comics by Dark Horse is coming out 2/01/06
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I watched Serenity without ever having seen an episode of Firefly. I loved the movie and went out and bought the series on DVD. After watching the series, I watched Serenity again and was surprised at how disappointed I was with the movie. With no prior experience with Firefly, Serenity was great. However, after being spoiled by the original episodes the movie doesn't cut it.
I think this says more about the quality of Firefly than it does about Serenity. I haven't talked to anyone that has seen the movie that didn't like it, but none of them actually watched Firefly to compare it to.
The creator has said it's done, fox has said it's done
Erm, no he hasn't. All he has said is that the movie provided some closure for some of the loose plot threads from season one, but that he'd still love to tell more stories from this universe and these characters.
I've been thinking about how a viewer-funded TV show could generate additional income without requiring copyright to protect future profits. One way I came up with would be fan-paid trips to the set, and even fan-paid walk on appearances.
I've offered to US$500 to sponsor another season of Firefly. I'd likely pay US$2000 to get my name in the credits somewhere. I've done it at museums and other sponsorship activities -- not out of altruism but out of pure ego.
I'm not a browncoat, but I do love the show. I bought the DVD set before watching the TV show or even hearing about it anywhere, and it sat in the shrink wrap for months. Once I watched it (after 2 false starts) I realized that we need the first viewer-produced show.
I'd love to see Firefly v.2 be Whedon's real trial into seeing what one could do with an Open Source style show. Honestly, the costs of doing a show differently than a la Hollywood could bring in way more income without having to require people actually pay for the show. Let us produce it (meaning pay for it), let it be freely downloaded by the masses (maybe give it to the sponsor/producers first though and let them give it away to friends and family and then throw it online).
I think it would be very interesting to see how it goes. Of course Whedon would never allow it, but I'd put my money where my mouth is to get it going and the best way to generate interest is to offer it as the first big major production given away, with the full rights to the characters and name in the public domain. Imagine the fan fiction that could come out of it if the production company also offered to add fan-fic vignettes into the actual "official" episodes. Render your own battle scenes, video tape your own bar cut scenes, whatever. Want it in the show? Send it to us. Help us keep the show alive with your cash, while you're at it.
Serenity/Firefly is the most anarcho-capitalist plotline I've ever seen. I'd love to see freedom in the next production, not just in the plotline.
Now that Ive got a little bit more time, let me explain why I didnt like the movie, and why it takes away from any potential enjoyment I might have had for future episodes. First of all, as I said, I did enjoy the series. I found the culture interesting, and the characters to be deep, complex "real people". In the movie, though, Wash was "just" the pilot. Kaylee was just there as a love interest for Simon. Inara was just Mal's old girlfriend. There was no sense of the life of these characters that we know from our backstory. In short, lame characterization, pointless deaths of main characters, and the whole "River the Reaver Slayer" chic just left me flat. Conversly, now that we do know "secret" of the Reavers, the Alliance becomes "just" another Evil Empire. Before Serenity, there was enough moral ambiguity in the Fireflyverse to accommodate a number of points of view. Now, though, there's good guys in white hats and bad guys in black, and I dont consider that terribly interesting.
after the end of the movie, it seems pretty clear that a season 2 would be pretty pointless. I mean (not to spoil anything, but) there's almost nothing left at the end-literally.
Why wait? Amazon is your friend!
You can order the FireFly Series on DVD...
or the Serenity Movie (Widescreen, of course!)...
And yes, Amazon ships to Japan!
I would watch the series first, though, as the characters are introduced in much more detail, and it has many very comical scenes (especially concerning Shepherd and River... I giggle just thinking about her "fixing" the bible...)
Salud!
"To make a mistake is only human; to persist in a mistake is idiotic." Cicero
I wrote in my profile that I consider a 40-minute episode of Firefly at least as valuable as a full-fare ticket to a movie, which would make a 22-episode season of new shows worth about $200 to me.
There are thousands of people like me out there. The signal will not be stopped.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
(This joke was stolen from Penny Arcade)
My script don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!
Why piss with airtime - when the real money is in DVD sets and rentals?
make the DVD set HDTV widescreen...
and reencode it in iTunes for people who just want to 'pod it, at a slightly lower cost.
Big fans will get the HDTV DVDs,
slight fans will grab the pod versions.
The video quality of the next iPod should be better, by the time they got a whole season shot.
Will it turn a buck?
I donno...
And the hair ... there's just too much hair ...
"As if sitting in front of a computer isn't enough, your going to go home and watch tv? Get a life." ... said the guy named P3NIS_CLEAVER on Slashdot.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
The cost _per episode_ of the original series was $2,000,000.
Unless there are at least two hundred and twenty thousands of people just like you out there then you're still coming up a wee bit short.
Let's face it. A lot of problems happen in the entertainment industry because of lawyers. People just don't "play nice" because it would be a good thing to do for the fans -- they want MONEY. And nothing happens without the lubrication of MONEY.
... well, it doesn't look like a profitable venture.
Look at it this way:
The MAX HEADROOM TV SERIES -- is it out on DVD? No, it is not. Why? Rights issues.
DARIA - the Animated TV series from MTV -- out on DVD? No. Why? Music rights issues.
And unless someone is willing to fork over the dough to clear those rights and pay the rights holder and their lawyers what they want, it will not happen. And studios runs their excel spreadsheets and calculate that rights costs versus what they are projected to make on DVD sales isn't enough, then blammo, absolutely nothing happens and everyone sits on the rights they have until the other side budges, but they never do.
So, will Fox just "hand over" the rights so that Sci-Fi channel can make more episodes? NO, of course they will not. They want MONEY.
And if you take your excel spreadsheet, calculate the cost of the rights, the cost of production and the cost of everything associated with the production, versus what you'd make,
Easier and cheaper to make something bad, but original, that you don't have to buy the rights for or fork over a percentage of gross.
This is why Lucas made Star Wars and not FLASH GORDON.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Your points are valid, and I think a lot of the trouble with the two-dimensional characterization comes from trying to cram a finale to Firefly into a two-hour movie. Like a previous poster said, we learned all we could about Book's past, saw what was up with River, the Alliance, the Reavers, etc. That's a lot of wrapping up to do in addition to introducing the 'verse and the cast to people that hadn't seen the series. When I heard about the Firefly movie, I had mixed feelings, because I was certain this would be the case, but I still wanted more. Intravenously, if possible. (Sorta spoiler ahead. As if you haven't already seen the movie seven times anyway.) Also, the scene with River where she goes all "River the Reaver Slayer" did seem a bit silly. I fully expected her to die and felt that it would have been a fitting way for her character to go out: protecting her brother and the crew that has sheltered her.
I don't necessarily hate TV itself, I more just hate the way it is run these days. It's very distracting to have the action interrupted every 30 minutes for 10-15 minutes of advertising. Networks seem incapable of keeping shows on at a consistant time throughout their run, with gaps in the middle of seasons and shows run out of order, and even then they leap all over the schedule so you have to be eagerly monitoring your TV guide to make sure you don't miss it.
If they didn't have the advertising (charge more for cable!) and would keep a show on at a consistant time every week for an entire season I wouldn't mind so much. However, since TV can't provide me with the viewing experience I want, DVD makes a much better alternative, and one I'm certainly willing to pay for to get the ability to control my own viewing schedule and to watch entire episodes uninterrupted at my leisure. The only thing it's lacking is the ability to try the first episode before plonking down the cash for the rest; I took that gamble for Firefly at Christmas and it was worth it, but it'd be nice to be able to buy online an episode to watch before I decide whether I want to buy the DVD. From what the captions on TV shows have been telling me recently, some shows are now available for download on iTunes, which is a start.
I just love the user comment on the IMDB site:
:-) Well, it doesn't!
What was FOX thinking?!, 10 October 2003
It really says a lot, doesn't it?
FOX must have the greatest talent scouts in the world, but the worst executives. "Firefly" is the best example. It was simultaneously the best new show, the best western series in decades, and the best sci-fi show on TV (and coming from a die-hard Trekkie, placing them above "Enterprise" is saying something). They didn't have a single bad episode, and some were spectacular. The premise, the characters, the plots and the dialogue were all top-notch. And FOX cancelled it without even really giving it a chance.
Judging by the 96% of people who found that comment usefull, the author probably is not alone. Having a poll done to see if there's an audience is a great marketing move. It'll attract die hard fans to the TV if they'll air it, and it will attract free promototion for the station on various news sites/papers (e.g. slashdot). Brilliant! Even if the show is a complete disaster the move is really a good one (from a business/marketing perspective).
Thanks for humoring me.
I've since been told that if I were to start with the first episode instead, I'd like it more - something about a train robbery? - because it shows more of the "real" show.
Yes, that is likely the case. The pilot, while intended to introduce the characters and the setting, also set out to convey the laid-back Western attitude of the Southwest United States -- very much the attitude of most frontiersmen, which these characters are. I can see how that would seem glacially slow to someone not used that.
The later episodes didn't deal with that much, mostly because they had to tell a story in a shorter amount of time, and so the slower pace was sacrificed to move the story along. I watched the pilot last, and found it to be very enjoyable, because I was already familiar with the characters, and it was nice to see their origins on screen.
I've also found that the vast majority of shows, regardless of genre, don't really "work" until about the 4th or 5th episode. By then, the writers are familiar enough with the mythology to work within it, and the actors are comfortable enough with each other to make things seem more natural. This is why I am so disappointed when shows are cancelled after only 3 or 4 episodes; they never even had a chance to succeed.
As to the question of Joss Whedon's dialog: my guess is that his dialog style is strictly a "love it or hate it" proposition. Personally, I have never really enjoyed the dialog in his other shows (Buffy and Angel), but for some reason the dialog in Firefly struck a chord with me. This is not Star Trek, where everyone is highly educated at the Starfleet Academy before they are let anywhere near a starship. The crew of Serenity are more like truckers: their speech is crude, colorful, and full of colloquialisms, which, this being 500 years in the future, will be nothing like ours. I like it, but others will not. A similar phenomenon is the dialog in Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night. I find it very difficult to listen to, since the rapid-fire delivery seems very contrived, silly, and way too rehearsed. However, lots of people swear by it, and enjoy it very much.
My suspicion is that if the dialog style bothered you, you will not enjoy the rest of the series. However, I would encourage you to watch it anyway (or a few episodes, at least), and give it a proper chance. Joss Whedon's strengths lie in his ability to develop a character over many episodes, and create a wholly convincing mythology for his characters to exist in, continuity included. Both of those require the viewer to see more than one episode to appreciate.
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