Trekkies and Browncoats: The Stuff of Legends by biped

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Trekkies and Browncoats: The Stuff of Legends

POSTED BY: BIPED
UPDATED: Sunday, January 1, 2006 19:54
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Sunday, January 1, 2006 12:32 PM

Bear with me here as I get to the point...
Quick, off the top of your head (WITHOUT Googling) can ANYONE remember what program won the Emmy for best TV show in 1966? Okay, how about this..name a single Emmy winner in ANY catagory for the years 1966-1969....
Still thinking? (Or don't care?)

Okay, now try this one. Walk through your neighborhood and randomly pick anyone to flash the finger cramping Vulcan greeting to. (You may even recite "Peace, live long and prosper" if you're the friendly type) I'd bet good money not a single person won't roll their eyes and call you a Freakin' Trekkie weirdo.

Could you pick Dick Cheney out of a police line up? What about Condoleeza Rice? How many Presidents of the United States can you name?
BUT can you name four officers from the Star Trek Enterprise? Even if you don't like the show I bet you can come up with Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty. I bet even your mom, who only watches Oprah, can come up with the name of the starship Enterprise.

Think about it...
In 1969 "the suits" thought Star Trek was unmarketable. They canceled it. I never saw the original run of the series but I used to run home from school to catch the reruns. I started a Star Trek club. We had 32 members. (yes, we were geeks!) The local newspaper did a story on the fact that although the show had been canceled years ago it had a rabid fan base of young high school age enthusiasts. The network canceled it but THE FANS KEPT STAR TREK ALIVE!!!! We wrote fan letters, bought the T-Shirts, and models and posters and went to conventions and kept the passion, kept the hope, kept the dream alive.
It took ten years for the suits to finally get a grip and produce the first Star Trek movie then you know the rest of the story. A show that was canceled for lack of "marketability" and NEVER won any awards is so part of our international culture that the phrase "Beam me up Scotty" doesn't need an explanation anywhere on the planet.

Now, here we have Firefly...
The series was canceled after only seven episodes. The fans went wild with protest. We LOVED this show! We wrote letters, built web sites, bought the T-Shirts and DVDs went to the conventions... (Sound familiar) Finally the suits got a clue and invested in a movie...
And.. it didn't have as great an attendance as hoped for........Now what???!???

Well, consider that Star Trek ran for three years before it was canceled. It never did test well with general audiences and was always hanging by a thread with the suits. Then it had 10, that's TEN, years to build it's fan base though reruns before the movie came out. (by the way, the movie really sucked.) Think what would have happened if Firefly had been given that same chance....

The movie turn out wasn't as hoped for but come on! A show canceled after only SEVEN episodes actually rated a full blown motion picture ALL due to the passion of the collected fan base. THIS is the stuff of LEGENDS!
WE are the fans, WE are the power makes the impossible happen and THAT makes us mighty. NO matter what market research says, or movie attendance ratings or suits and their accountants think WE CAN KEEP THIS 'VERSE ALIVE!

Let's show Trekkies that Browncoats know a thing or two about passion and loyalty.
The point is: Even if Joss Whedon gives up hope we can't. We won't. And NO power in the 'verse can stop us!

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 12:47 PM

KAZZAHDRANE

Yeah, we have the power! etc etc.

However, Joss gives up on the 'verse - I give up on the 'verse. Not saying he has to be the director on the next film or even the writer, but if he tells us straight that he's given up I don't think I'd be interested in a 'verse that didn't involve Joss.

Thankfully, he's nowhere near given up so it's a moot point ;)

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 3:02 PM

NEEDLESEYE

Quote:
Originally posted by biped:
... The network canceled it but THE FANS KEPT STAR TREK ALIVE!!!! We wrote fan letters, bought the T-Shirts, and models and posters and went to conventions and kept the passion, kept the hope, kept the dream alive...

I just had to say when I was little, my Mom got me Spock pajamas. They were mail order and you could get Kirk, McCoy or Spock. I dont know if we had to eat a whole lot of soup, or buy a bunch of crackers for proofs of purchase, but she did it and got her self some PJs, too. I'm sure its silly things like that that helped.

I didnt have any friends then that were as geek as me to have a Star Trek club with. Lucky you!
But obviously I do now, and we helped at conventions to promote Firefly and its future. :D

Keeper of Jayne's goggles. 8)

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 3:37 PM

JEBUS44

Ah, I was waiting for a thread to bring up Trek. Finally, I can admit that I'm half Trekkie, half Browncoat. And it does make for an intresting combination.

I think that the Browncoat community is strong enough to continue the verse. Yet, in the same respect, I don't think Joss will ever give up on Firefly. Maybe no more movies or shows, but a tale such as this will find a way to survive...

"She understands. She doesn't comprehend."

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 4:17 PM

PEULSAR5

We sniff the air, we don't kiss the dirt.

It was almost ten years between the end of TOS and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (not including the cartoon in the early 70's) and yet the fans kept it alive. Star Wars took even longer and just look at Battlestar Galactica. I would think that Firefly's continuation is just as inevitable. Just have to keep pushing.

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 4:26 PM

ITSBROKEN

I used to think startrek and things like it were very uninteresting until i actually sat down and watched a few episodes. Never went to a convention for startrek, but i never really do change the chanel anymore either (unless firefly is on). Fell in love with firefly, like most of Joss's creations, and im pretty sure ill be hooked for as long as the FF verse doesnt disappear. Hopefully we'll get more movies, and if we're lucky more tv shows too! (i wouldnt be so into it if it werent the same crew though, same cast too

)
---
geez, i hope Firefly(the show) comes back

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 4:47 PM

GUNRUNNER

"Could you pick Dick Cheney out of a police line up? What about Condoleeza Rice? How many Presidents of the United States can you name? "
Yes. Yes. and...
Bush Jr. Bush Sr. Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Nixion, LBJ, JFK, Eisenhower, Truman, FDR, Hoover, Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt, Grant, Cleveland, Andrew Jackson, Washington, Lincoln, McKinley, Andrew Adams, and my favorite: William Henry Harrison.

And just to prove I'm not 'unhip':
"BUT can you name four officers from the Star Trek Enterprise?" I assume you mean the NCC-1701 ("no bloody A, B, C, or D"... or E, or J) and not the NX-01 (that sentance could be read eather way): Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Scotty, Uhura, Checkov, McCoy...

If you did mean the NX-01 then: Archer, Tucker, Reed, Sato, T'Pol, Mayweather, Phlox (technicly not an officer)...

EV Nova Firefly mod Message Board:
http://s4.invisionfree.com/GunRunner/index.php?act=idx

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 4:56 PM

SUBTORPMAN

I agree, the Verse will go on. I see it building every day with my friends as they discover Firefly. In the words of a great Naval Hero "I have not yet begun to fight". I look forward to many years of watching and reading about the Firefly verse.

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 4:56 PM

VIPATRIP

Okay,Gunrunner, you're cool and way smarter than the average bear! ;-)

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 4:56 PM

VIPATRIP

Okay,Gunrunner, you're cool and way smarter than the average bear! ;-)

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 5:48 PM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Quote:
Originally posted by jebus44:
Ah, I was waiting for a thread to bring up Trek. Finally, I can admit that I'm half Trekkie, half Browncoat. And it does make for an intresting combination.

I don't see why you can't be all both.

Quote:
a tale such as this will find a way to survive...

I concur.

-

I've never been to a convention of any sort, either way, but I was raised on Star Trek, and I remain loyal, if disappointed in recent times. On the other hand Firefly is where I am right now, and it is where I will remain. It's not like I have to renounce Star Trek. I was talking about tribbles before watching Serenity (the pilot episode not the movie) last night.

I just wish that the most recent Star Trek had been as good as Firefly. Actually, proving that I am not a Trekkie but just a fan, I wish any Star Trek had been as good as Firefly. (Ok, some was. Probably more hours of it were at that level than Firefly ran for, but consistency would have been nice.)

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 7:42 PM

CHINDI

But ya see.. Gunrunner is proof of why this 'verse is so special... geeky AND Smart!!

lol

God I LOVE This place...

we are just going through that post partem thing... we birthed a movie.. and now we wait..

it's natural I reckon.. I hope our wait isn't as long as the trekkie wait.. but I hope we get a LOT of return.. series, movies, all of it..

someone in another thread bets that Serenity Squared greenlighted in 6 mos...lol..

any takers on that bet?? anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

CHindi

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Sunday, January 1, 2006 7:54 PM

ROCKETJOCK

Hey, Serenity didn't do too badly overall; a decent theatrical performance by the standards of the soft box office month it opened in, and then making up most of its original budget (minus advertising) before it went to video--and then opening as Amazon's #1 pre-order, and holding onto the spot for days during the pre-holiday rush. My local Hollywood Video has a wall-rack full of copies, and my daughter reports all but one were rented when she checked.

And Heckfire, the BDM hasn't even reached pay-per-view yet. Although, remarkably, the original TV episodes have! How weird is that?

I'd say our chances of getting an eventual sequel are at least fair-to-middlin'. And we've beat worse odds than that already!

"Hermanos! The Devil is building a Robot! Andale!" -- Numero Cinco

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