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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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From the channel's website, http://www.scifi.com/help/channelfaq/
/SCI FI Europe is available to those across the big pond, but although they used to be part of this company, we have no affiliation with them now. Furthermore, SCI FI Europe has its own programming schedule and always has.
2. How do I get SCI FI?
The cable "universe" has been estimated at around 74 million homes, and almost all of them get SCI FI. Keep telling your cable provider what you want to see. One way to get word to your cable company is to write them at the address printed on your bill. A useful list of companies can also be found at the TVinsite/Broadcasting & Cable trade-magazine site, along with links where available. We are aware of the few cable affiliates in the country that don't presently carry us and are doing everything we can to get them to do so. International viewers might be able to pick up SCI FI by satellite. SCI FI UK
FairTax baby!
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?
I really hope this series gets either a spin off or a (preferably) another season or ten.
Come on EVERYBODY NOW!
Take my love
Take my land
Take me where I cannnot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
you cant't take the sky from me
Air Guitar Solo
Take me out into the Black
Tell them I aint commin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me
daka-daka-daaaawww And Horses!
http://signal.serenityfirefly.com/
In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
Yes, but don't call me Shirley. I can't believe I just did that.
Mod me down now and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine
Sci-Fi Television network, decides to show a science fiction program.
/. let alone the global one.
Wow, I dont know if I can go on now, my vision of the world has changed so much.
This shouldn't even be an article on a local version of
If this were really happening, what would you think?
I think it's great that Fierfly is going to re-air, but how many times are we going to be able to watch those same initial episodes without wanting so much more? My hope is that they will air the pilot that they failed to air the first time. I know it's probably too much to hope for, but they should really get the cast and crew back together for some more episodes. I don't think it's too far gone yet to do so. I had fun listening to the firefly podcasts people were making. I think the series has a potential similar to starwars if it were developed further. They created the possiblity of a large universe with lots of characters, plot elements, and scenarios. All in all, I can't wait to see what happens.
That would be 'the entire *half* season'.
It never made a full season.
14 episodes. Ok *slightly* more than half a seasons worth.
"My john thomas is gonna pop off and fly around the room theres so much tasty in here!" -- Jayne.
I imagine that the network executives would have choked on their caesar salads hearing that line... they couldn't cancel fast enough.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
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.
Okay, you made a great point about trying to show the popularity of the show by boosting viewership. Unfortunately, I don't have the SciFi channel, so I can't help out. However, a point continues coming to mind:
/., you think I rtfa? Probably was in there, wasn't it?)
How do networks determine viewership? Say a million of us tune in to watch the Marathon, half even stay for the entire thing. What is the process by which the networks discover this fact? I'm trying to figure out how much it matters what show I'm watching if I don't have some sort of Nielson box in my house.
Regardless, I'm very glad that enough of the popularity has gotten noticed so that it can be re-aired. And probably in the correct order, too. (This is
From TFA:
This time around, they're starting with "Serenity parts 1 & 2" and ending with "War Stories." The eleven episode marathon starts at 8am (eastern).
Like a war on piracy?
Or a war on slavery?
Precisely. I never said our current crop of asshats invented it, but that doesn't make it not complete BS.
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")
Farscape. Both Firefly and Farscape had at least a semi-totalitarian regime (The Alliance and the Peacekeepers), and the crews in neither are particularly interested in the politics beyond "keep my ass in one peice."
Of course, I loved Farscape even more than Firefly, so that's in no way meant to be a detraction.
This particular marathon doesn't mean all that much, but starting on Sept. 24, Firefly will be broadcast in high definition on UHD, which is going to be awesome.
http://www.tvweek.com/page.cms?pageId=212
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.
They are playing 8 hours of Amazing Stories today. Friday they are playing 8 hours of Outer Limits and yesterday they played 8 hours of Andromeda.
Marathons of shows is what they do. That they are playing Firefly means nothing. It doesn't mean that they are going to pick it up any more than it means they are going to start making new episodes of the Incredible Hulk starring Bill Bixby. Sadly, they are both dead.
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
I just read this little insight about TV a few days ago (maybe here on /.) that completely changed how I look at TV. Programs are made for the advertisers, and we the viewers are just the product. When it comes right down to it, the sucess or failure of a program is determined by the advertising revenue, not really viewership. It's the amount of viewers that draw the advertisers which pays the bills. Bascially only DVD sales and 'webisodes', which are marketed directly to the viewers, are the only place the advertisers are out fo the process.
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.
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.
Firefly will start airing on Universal HD (in HD obviously) on September 24th @ 9PM ET (SERENITY - PART 1 & 2).
More importantly, Universal HD also airs the new Battlestar Galactica in HD on Sunday's at 8PM ET and 11PM ET.
http://www.universalhd.com/
George C.
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.
I just checked again on the list of bestselling DVDs on Amazon. The Firefly set is ranked at #59. That may not sound impressive, except consider the following:
This is about as low as I've seen its rank, as the interest is gradually fading. They update this list HOURLY, and I've checked on it quite frequently over the past year or so. It sat consistently in the top 20 for most of that year. The other thing is that DVDs come and go from that bestseller list frequently. The ones on there now are not the ones that were there 3 months ago, or 6 months ago, or a year ago. And yet Firefly has been on there all that time, mostly in the top 20. The Serenity movie was hanging in there about 10 spots lower than Firefly through most of that time.
There are some pretty impressive amounts of sales going on for it to sit in the best selling list that long. Also, I don't think the point is lost on the network people that this show has managed to build up a following much bigger after it was gone and off the air than it ever had in its short life. That shows that it's not just the hype and publicity and TV ads for it that are keeping up interest for it. It is actually people being introduced to the show by friends and loving it and telling others about it--THREE YEARS AFTER IT WAS CANCELLED!
I have been listening to a podcast about the Firefly universe called The Signal. One of the things they broadcast was an interview with Jewel Staite, who played Kaylee. She mentioned that the rights deal they signed for the making of Serenity options the cast for a trilogy of movies. Joss and Universal's deal to get those rights from Fox included that they cannot make more of the TV series for 10 years (from the cancellation in 2003). They do, however, have full rights to keep making movies. Also, if it does well, they could offer to buy out the remainder of that 10 years from Fox if they really wanted to.
If anything is going to float this boat, I think it will be the very strong DVD sales, which are already showing. They could even make more episodes to release straight to DVD. That probably wouldn't qualify as a TV show, so they could do that without running afoul of the Fox deal.
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
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
Advertising is the reason that the studios want to have DRM-and-no-commercial-skip viewers for their on-line-available content. I'm not opposed to having the commercials in the downloaded versions. I think that if they were smart, they'd have 5 second commercials (not long enough to skip, but short enough to not be bothersome) or "really good commercials" that people want to watch. It's the obnoxious commercials that we all hate. If there were 24 5-second commercials sprinkled throughout an hour and 2 really great commercials that were worth watching, they could probably sell the time for much more, because people would probably see them, instead of channel surfing for a few minutes, or getting up and going to the frig or potty. Four extra minutes in a 45 minute show would be fine. Everyone would win. The advertisers would have their commercials seen. The studios would get their advertising money. The people would get their programming. If they charged people $1.00 for an early download of the show (before the free version is made available, like two days before - If you just have to see what happens on Lost before the rest of the office), that would supplement things a little more, and people would not have to shell out $3.99 for a show, and they wouldn't have to use a DRMed, crappy, viewer. And they could use Windows, MacOS, Linux, iPod, PSP, whatever...
Can't people use a little common sense to come up with alternatives for the current tv model that isn't working for everyone? Give everyone what they want, but do it so that no one is feeling the pain. Common Sense!!!
Because I have the boxed set, and too many people to loan it too.
And because the more people that see it and enjoy it, the more likely this momentum will continue to build and there will be new seasons.
Let's face it: Some shows have had more seasons than they should, while this show was put down with many years ahead of it. Sure, it wasn't for everyone, but Joss has left it open to a little creative re-working. There are character openings, and an opportunity to make Serenity a little less goose like in profile.
To be blunt: if SciFi wants money, they need to invest in this show. Buy it off Fox, and spin three seasons of Joss's production payroll. Look at the Trek phenomenon's origins as a lesson in profit if nothing else.
kulakovich
I think the only people who understood that Chinese were the scriptwriters... The Chinese in Firefly makes no sense. See my corrections and notes.
This is news for Nerds. Stuff that matters.
If you have derived enjoyment from the space opera/trading game genre, then you will most likely enjoy Firefly - and you may not know that until you read it here. Joss Whedon has done a terrific job capturing the nature of these games, intentional or not. There are many other reasons to enjoy Firefly, this is just one. That SciFi is making a boost on this show again is worthy of note if you are science fiction fan of any sort.
kulakovich
I really enjoy good sci-fi, but I will not watch anything which is sci-fi just for the sake of it being sci-fi. I am more interested in a quality piece of entertainment than in indulging the genre itself.
I watched a bit of Firefly because it was hyped so much, but to be honest I thought it was just as clichéd as 95% of the rest of the sci-fi tv shows/movies out there and I gave up on it. Perhaps it was marginally better or marginally more imaginative than most shows, but when a genre's fans start celebrating slight improvements or changes as if they were quantum leaps of imagination, then I think there is a problem.
Besides Firefly itself, sci-fi fans keep looking backwards (which funnily enough goes against the premise of being a sci-fi fan), and sinking more and more time and money into the old standards like Star Wars and Star Trek. Think about this; Star Trek/Wars are still at the pinnacle of sci-fi creativity, and they are 40 and 30 years old respectively. At what point do Star Trek/Wars become inherently too old? By its nature, sci-fi shouldn't be stuck in the same creative rut as the western movie genre is. How long will it be until really new ideas surface?
Sci-fi publishing is in marginally better shape with some creative ideas being presented, but there doesn't seem to be the same crossover from printed fiction to cinema in sci-fi the way there is in mainstream fiction. Why is this? Do sci-fi fans read?
For myself, an important part of sci-fi is imagination, and sci-fi tv/movies are no longer imaginative (there is some product which has imaginative concepts but suffers from poor plot/production/other dismal flaws). Sci-fi is a sick animal with its head up its ass, eating its own shit, proclaiming how delicious and nutritious it is. I would think more sci-fi fans would look forward to the day when something fresh comes along.
RTFM; please, I beg you.