'The Bad Astronomer' loves Firefly! by DonCoat

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'The Bad Astronomer' loves Firefly!

POSTED BY: DONCOAT
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 3, 2006 03:46
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Monday, January 2, 2006 11:27 AM

Dr. Philip Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer, runs a great web site about astronomy and space. One of its features is a series of reviews of movies and TV shows, pointing out the bad astronomy in them.

While he's never done a review of either Firefly or Serenity, he's just added a blog entry about Firefly -- and he raves about it! Check out the Jan. 1 entry here:

http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/

Unfortunately, he's not as positive about Serenity (see the comments to the Firefly entry).

Thanks for the kind words about our obsession, Phil.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need.

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Monday, January 2, 2006 3:10 PM

DONCOAT

Hmm, guess this wasn't as interesting to FFF.net folk as I expected. There's a bulletin board associated with Bad Astronomy that has a section on media (TV, movies, etc.) with a couple active threads about Firefly/Serenity. We've been trying to get Dr. Plait to review our favorite show for ages. He finally broke down and watched the series, and gave it a glowing notice. To wit:

Quote:
It rocks! That was one of the best series in any genre I have ever seen.

Now if we could just get him to do a full review...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need.

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Monday, January 2, 2006 3:34 PM

KHYRON

Quote:
Originally posted by DonCoat:
Hmm, guess this wasn't as interesting to FFF.net folk as I expected.

I for one thought it was very interesting (although before now I didn't know he existed and so I don't know if his opinion is likely to change anybody else's), I just didn't have anything to post about it. Although now, since I'm posting anyway, I'll just say that I totally relate to how he summed up his feelings about Serenity: very good movie (better than most), but way below the par set by Firefly.

In fact, I'll say even more: what's disappointing is his initial resistance to Firefly (i.e. not watching it for months even though everybody else praises it). It's sort of as if there are some intelligent people (I assume he's intelligent) that don't want to watch it simply because it's so highly recommended; in a way it's as if they're saying "I'm above such trivial things - all these lesser intellects seem to like it, so it can't good". I guess I can sort of understand that, because almost everything that was highly rcommended to me in the past turned out to be very disappointing to say the least, so maybe he was resisting because of past experiences. But it does imply that there are some intelligent people out there that don't give Firefly a chance simply because of the hype.

--- Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

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Monday, January 2, 2006 3:48 PM

NWUKSTEVE

Thanks for the link. I do like TBA's site and have also enjoyed listening to him on a couple of podcasts. It's very cool that he loves Firefly. Now to convince him that he needs to watch Serenity again.

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Monday, January 2, 2006 3:57 PM

DONCOAT

Quote:
Originally posted by Khyron:
...what's disappointing is his initial resistance to Firefly (i.e. not watching it for months even though everybody else praises it). It's sort of as if there are some intelligent people (I assume he's intelligent) that don't want to watch it simply because it's so highly recommended; in a way it's as if they're saying "I'm above such trivial things - all these lesser intellects seem to like it, so it can't good". I guess I can sort of understand that, because almost everything that was highly rcommended to me in the past turned out to be very disappointing to say the least, so maybe he was resisting because of past experiences. But it does imply that there are some intelligent people out there that don't give Firefly a chance simply because of the hype.

Well, I don't really know if this is an accurate description of his attitude. He's a pretty busy guy and may just have prioritized it lower than some other things. Nor do I know how many people have recommended it to him over the years, although I did send him a PM when Serenity was in the theaters (or about to be), asking him if he planned to review it. He answered that he wasn't sure he'd be able to get to see it.

However, I have seen the attitude you've described in other people (not necessarily in reference to Firefly). I may even have done it myself on occasion. I have no excuse. Maybe it's a wired-in psychological thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need.

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Monday, January 2, 2006 4:16 PM

KHYRON

I'm not saying that it's necessarily the way he was thinking, but it seems like it. At least that's what I got from these lines: "In other news, after months of hounding by friends and BA readers, I finally picked up the DVDs for the science fiction show 'Firefly'."

As for that sort of general attitude I described, as I've said, I was disappointed in the past by things that other people highly recommended (and I'm sure this hasn't happened only to me), so I think it's not *wrong* to be sceptical of things that are hyped up, just unfortunate when it means that the thing that is being hyped up happens to be, for a change, a quality show.

--- Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

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Monday, January 2, 2006 8:52 PM

FLORALBUNNY

Great! I've been into the BA since long before Firefly. About time he gave up and watched. ::-)

About hounding, I try not to do it, because so often the things I've been hounded into trying weren't so gorram fabulous, whether they were TV shows, foodstuffs, or potential life partners.

bun
-- Bastards singed my turtle --

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Tuesday, January 3, 2006 3:46 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Thanks for the post ! I'm a fan of Phil's work but hadn't seen any new post by him in ages. I'm glad he finally got around to commenting on our 'verse. His site is an invaluable source of info to debunk those who think the moon landing was hoax.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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