Firefly Marathon on SciFi, September 18th 319
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!"
For who? (Score:5, Insightful)
Theres just one.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Start making space on the PVR! (Score:5, Insightful)
NOT Cancelled! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
How is this news? (Score:1, Insightful)
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.
Who is this marathon for? (Score:3, Insightful)
-- 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?
Lets hope they get the episode order right n/m (Score:1, Insightful)
Order (Score:1, Insightful)
Why this is extremely IMPORTANT to fans. (Score:5, Insightful)
--
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
Maybe it will revive the series? (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Racist, south-loving swill (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Re:Racist, south-loving swill (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Careful (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Shiny (Score:1, Insightful)
Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
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?
Re:Why Did This Even Get Posted? (Score:3, Insightful)
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
Re:Start making space on the PVR! (Score:3, Insightful)
Look at it this way, what makes for a good sci-fi show?
Now look at what advertisers are pushing - 1 season reality shows where they change the cast every season. Big brother, Fear factor, Survivor etc. The studios love them, they are dirt cheap to produce - the cast get's paid next to nothing, the sets are primative, and post production is just editing the raw film - no special effects to add, no foley stage work. I don't know the numbers, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that a season of Big Brother costs less than half of one of Firefly. As a studio, if I can make an extra half mil profit per episode by showing junk reality shows as opposed to quality sci-fi, junk it is. As an advertiser, I'm not going to pay that extra half mil, unless you can show me some truely awe inspiring viewership.
Re:HD (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Why you won't see any more Firefly made... (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Um who cares? (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't PVR, BUY THE DVDs!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
OH COME ON.... (Score:2, Insightful)
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*
Re:Who is this marathon for? (Score:3, Insightful)
I met both Alan Tudyk and Summer Glau (yummy!) in person at DragonCon [dragoncon.org] this past weekend and they were down to earth, glad to talk to the fans people. They mentioned a possible movie #2 but would not say "Yes, there will be" (of course) and Alan specifically stated that if there was one, everyone would be in it. Possible prequel movies is what he said. Now, that being said, even if I liked the show and the cast and wanted to support them by watching the marathon is it worth risking my job or using up what little vacation time we Americans get? The risk job? No. Using vacation? Maybe.
Oh, the poster above missed a third option: Those who haven't seen the show (due to time and/or money contraints) but really want to.
Re:Why you won't see any more Firefly made... (Score:3, Insightful)
You also forgot, Mal and Inara. Kind of like d, above.
Re:Racist, south-loving swill (Score:1, Insightful)