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Firefly Marathon on SciFi, September 18th
kulakovich writes, "Hot on the heels of Stargate's cancellation, the SciFi Channel is running an entire season of Firefly starting at 8am (Eastern) on September 18th. This news is fresh from yesterday's posting on the Whedonesque blog. Start making space on the PVR!"
Doesn't anyone that remotely cares already have the DVD?
"an entire season of Firefly" - Not to say THE entire season! ;-/
Start making space on the PVR??? How about buying the damn DVDs and in the process convincing the powers that be there's a market for good SciFi?
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
I know technically y'all like saying 'cancelled' but on the basis that SG-1 ran for 10 seasons, I'd hardly call that 'cancelled'. It's more accurate to state that 'it ended it's run' or 'completed' or simply just 'finished'.
When something gets canned after just the first season (Firefly), then THAT'S 'cancelled'.
-Jar.
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Not to flame or anything, but I don't get the Sci-Fi Channel (wherever that is).
How exactly is this news? ... I understand it's cool and everything, but this to me is more local news than slashdot front page.
I mean
I'm sure I'm not the only one having no contact whatsoever with Sci-Fi Channel.
Tie two birds together: although they have four wings, they cannot fly. (The blind man)
I'll agree that Firefly is awesome and all, but who hasn't already seen every episode? It seems that by now, everyone is in one of two camps with respect to Firefly:
-- Has seen every episode, many multiple times, and has seen the movie.
-- Has not seen every episode, and doesn't plan to.
Who will watch the SciFi Channel's marathon?
You can take you lameness filter and shove it...
Will they be airing the episodes in the right order?
As a foreword, this comment is happily placed near the top so people can see it. It really only has to do with the overall subject.
// commitment] ...
--
Okay, so why is this so important to fans that own the DVD, have seen it, or can watch video streams or any other option that would mean they don't have to watch it on TV [regardless of ownership
Advertising.
What is probably one of the biggest parts of financing a TV network is securing advertising that pays well. If you buy the DVD, or watched it before, etc... yes you have made a commitment and helped them out. The problem is the same as with newspapers. They make SO MUCH of their money off advertising they would rather give away the newspapers in some situations to customers who don't want to pay than deal with their issue. Networks work similarly. If the show can't produce good advertising [TV spots in the tens of thousands] and they have one that can [TV spots in the hundreds of thousands] they will do what is financially the smart decision, even if viewers who are watching like the current content.
I could bet a good chunk of money that somewhere up there some people are watching this very carefully to see how it goes. They made a movie that did alright but not outstanding, but... it did good so it shows promise. The DVDs have sold well, but not in bundles... again, good but not outstanding.
What they're probably looking for is what kind of viewership they have during the marathon. This is the kind of event that could tip someone's opinion on their network into saying... hey... lets put together another season. This will get us viewers = dollars.
-TK
I know it may come as a shock to nerdy Slashdot community, but there are people out there who hasn't seen Firefly yet. It is aimed at them and also the devoted fans who will take any excuse to see the series again.
I hope Firefly might acquire some more interest, enlarge its fanbase, and maybe one day we might see the continuation.
Anyways, this seems not too probable and (judging by "Serenity" movie) it might be better if there was no follow-ups, if they are to screw the ambience of the series.
Still, one can only hope. I really liked it a lot.
Have you seen the show
Several times. It was a good show, though I've gotten tired of it.
and do you know anything of the Civil War and American history in general?
I know the highlights.
Firefly has absolutely no racist content. It does use the post-Civil War South as the setting, but it uses it the way it uses spaceships as horses. They're slightly different. The sci-fi version of the Civil War is a libertarian vs. authoritarian fight with the obvious parallels filling in mythology gaps. The genesis of the backdrop is not "I wish the south had won", it's "no one is ever 100% right".
One of the consequences of the Civil War, while obviously doing some fantastic things for human rights, was a reduction in states' rights. And that is the part taken for the show. In the US case, it was a trade worth making. In the show's case, what is exchanged for the elimination of states' rights is never made clear, so it's assumed to be something unworthy.
But again, there is no racism in the show. You need to learn what "sci-fi/fantasy" means, and not judge a guy based on a story that doesn't say what you've decided it probably says. If the setting had been based on the War of 1812 and starred guys with British accents, would you assume they hated America?
Yeahbutwhat?
A show where one episode (Shindig) opens with Mal starting a bar fight with some guys... because they were slave traders?
Where one of the crew is a hero to an entire town of indentured servants because of his (ok, misunderstood) actions? (Jaynestown)
A show where most of the episodes revolve around personal freedom? (River's in Objects in Space, the whores in Heart of Gold, the indentured servants in Jaynestown, Saffron's in Our Mrs. Reynolds (till the end, anyway), Simon and River's in Safe and Ariel, Mal's in Out of Gas, and the list goes on with many moments in every show?)
A show where the entire premise is, arguably, about freedom?
The crew of Serenity were on the losing side of the war, and that's where the similarities end. Comparing Firefly/Serenity to the South in the Civil war is one of the more whacked out things I've ever heard.
My script don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!
That's because they're not smart enough to realize you can't wage war against something just because it's a bloody noun.
Like a war on piracy?
Or a war on slavery?
The Royal Navy conducted both rather successfully (along with other countries). I admit, neither Fox News nor MSNBC nor CNN recently covered them.
Back to the topic, Firefly is unusual, politically. It's hard to think of an SF show that's that libertarian. Most are either Utopian quasi-socialist/progressive (e.g. Star Trek), or have a strong military background coupled with a government ranging from progressive to conservative, but almost never libertarian (BSG, Stargate, B5...). Many feature a rebellion against a totalitarian regime, (Star Wars) but all the rebels typically want to set up a conventional big (though nicer) government of their own ("The New Republic") rather than just fly free ("You can't take the sky from me")
Firefly suggests, almost heretically, that excessively centralized government itself is part of the problem, despite the good intentions of same.
Holmwood.
Shouldn't that be Air Violin Solo ??
Why? I'd much rather watch them on DVD so I don't have to mess with skipping commercials. Don't all the Firefly fans already have it on DVD?
Edward Burr
Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a swimming pool.
Of course, it's all subjective.
Well, yes and no. It's not like there's going to be a "right answer" to questions of quality in a TV Show, but I think that this doesn't necessarily mean that some shows aren't better than others. Contrast "FastLane" and "24". I don't care what you're subjective tastes are, one show was actually pretty tight in terms of plot, writing, acting, etc. and the other just sucked.
So maybe the characters on Stargate were "likeable". I thought so. I just didn't care. The acting was so INCREDIBLY awful, and the plots so stupid, and the dialog so reminiscent of Star Wars 1-3 that the show literally just hurt to watch. It wasn't remotely believable even with suspension of disbelief because there wasn't any internal consistency. It was just a train wreck of hoaky cliches and corny, derivative, fluffy action. With just the barest hint of pseudo-philosophy/religious commentary now and then as pure decoration.
As far as Firefly goes, I think you really need to watch the show from the pilot. The first time I started watching the show was randomly in the middle of its original run on Fox and I was like "WTF?" I felt exactly like you - I couldn't figure out the characters. They seemed kind of... off. And so I didn't care. Firefly is good drama precisely because the characters are paramount. If you don't care about them, the show is meaningless. And a lot of people never cared about the characters.
But it turns out the reason for this is that Firefly is a much more closely-knit show than most episodic entertainment. You really do need to understand the character relationships because they are not stereotypical. Just look at Wash and Zoe. You've got the battle-hardened wife, and the more gentle husband. It's gender role-reversal (from a traditional American standpoint) but it's not farcical comedy or even social-political posturing: it's a genuine relationship. This isn't something you're going to pick up on if you pick up the show in media res. You have to actually see Zoe and Wash together to really get it.
I fell in love with the show when someone got me to watch the pilot first. I'm serious - that's what you need to do. Find someone that owns a copy (or bittorrent it, I don't care) and just watch the pilot first. This is the real reason the show never caught on. Everyone that watched it was forced to see the episodes completely out of order, and stuff doesn't make sense that way. Not only are the relationships genuine, non-stereotypical, and complex, but they are fluid. The relationship between Simon and River with Jayne is completely different before and after the episode "Ariel" (and the line: "Also, I can kill you with my brain.") The same is true of many other characters as well.
I'm telling you man, I'm no huge fan of Joss Wheddon (never did get into Buffy) but with this show he created a masterpiece. Please do yourself a favor and check it out from the pilot onwards. After you see the first episode or two (in order), you won't need any more convincing. If they're airing the pilot first during this marathon, then that will do. Record it, watch it later, whatever. It won't let you down.
-stormin
The Southern Baptist Convention has creationism. On Slashdot, we have porn.
I'm not so excited about the 9/18 marathon since it's a work day, I've seen them all and I have the DVDs, but seeing Firefly in HD will be awesome. By the look of the DVDs, I think the HD quality is there just not visible.
Thanks for this news.
Ol Mr Joss there has a formula. Look at Buffy, look at Angel, and look at where Firefly was heading. He was planting seeds in teh first 11 episodes for several aroty arcs all of which would take a season on their own right.
a) What did they really do to River? (i.e. operative comes to hunt River down)
b) How do we "fix" River so she can be a normal girl/woman? (i.e. deprogram her once the big issue is out of her head, leading to..)
c) Where did the reavers come from?
d) How/when will Dr Tam and Kaylee hook up (possible the jumping of the shark moment)
Those were basically 3-4 SEASONS of episodes, once you sprinkled in the side arc and humor episodes. Instead the series got cancelled. But then he got to make a movie. Realizing this was probably the last hurrah for Firefly he packs ALL of A-D into one movie.
To pick up Firefly now would effectively be about season 4 or 5. By that point in a Whedon series you have started to add in the "random new bigbad for this season" and have started killing off loved characters randomly (which he ALSO crammed into the movie already, maybe we're on season 6).
In other words.. don't hold your breath.
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
Cowboy clothing on a space ship doesn't make sense to you? Here's how it works. The value of clothes is based off what people will pay for them, not so much the material: fashionable clothes will always cost more than functional clothes, even if they're made out of cheaper stuff. Spaceships, though, get cheaper and cheaper, like cars (except the fancy one). One hundred years ago, if people had been watching science fiction, they would have been saying "bum clothing, with a TV and a car and a refrigerator?" The point is, poor people will always be wearing crappy clothes, but as technology advances, you can buy stuff like TVs, cars, or crappy spaceships without breaking the bank.
Against stupidity the Gods themselves contend in vain.
If you EVER want to see this show resurrected (I certainly would), then PVR recording the marathon is not the way to go. Buy the DVDs!!! They're not that expensive, you get all the shows, plus a few extra goodies, and the studio execs get a reason to talk to Joss Whedon about bringing it back! Money talks, PVR-ing just puts another coffin nail in.
Come on, most people that care already have the DVDs and Firefly is just another great sci-fi show that was cancelled just like a bunch before it. On Labor Day Sci-Fi ran marathons of Dark Angel which was my favorite show back in the day just as Firefly was. Guess what, Dark Angel isn't going to be making a comeback and neither is Firefly. Yeah, sure maybe in 20 years they will remake it just as they did Battlestar Galactica but I'm not going to sit in the basement with my 20-sided die and wait.
I've seen Firefly a bunch on my DVDs but I'm to the point now that I probably won't bother to take it off the shelf and pop it into the DVD player to see it *BUT* if I'm flipping channels and it's on I'll probably watch. *AND* if it's a marathon *AND* there isn't anything else on Sci-Fi probably just gained some extra viewers for that day.
That is it. No conspiracy, no ulterior motives to bring back the series or even another movie. *PERIOD*
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds