Bad Firefly reviews on Amazon by rklenseth

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Bad Firefly reviews on Amazon

POSTED BY: RKLENSETH
UPDATED: Sunday, February 29, 2004 18:58
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 7914
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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 1:45 PM

There has recently been some bad reviews against Firefly on Amazon.com.

And this is another call to any people out here that haven't posted a review for Firefly on Amazon yet. The more great reviews we put on Amazon means the more people who will buy it and means the more people we will bring into our 'verse.

Oh, and play Cantr II at www.cantr.net.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 2:08 PM

SHINY

Here's the breakdown as of today:

*****: 595
****: 23
***: 3
**: 3
*: 10 (strangely, 2 of these are actually positive if you read the comment...)

So while it's not dire by any means, it can't hurt to keep adding to the 5-star ratings (it wouldn't hurt to mark the bad 1-star ratings as 'unhelpful' too). I'd love to see the # of reviews hit 1000!

(I'm a little confused why 1-star ratings sometimes show up on the first page of the Firefly DVD page, since they are such a small %...are they based only on the most recent submissions?)

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 2:32 PM

PUMAMANREDUX

got bored enough to look for a few bad firefly
Amazon reviews:

here are examples of two 1 star reviews - in both cases the reviewer was an anonymous user from anycity, any state, province, etc.

Mostly for Sci-Fi fans, February 17, 2004
Reviewer: A viewer from New Orleans, LA
I bought this DvD expecting it to be one of the best tv shows..i had ever seen, but i may have had too high expectations for this show...this show will appeal to the masses who enjoyed Star Trek, Stargate , and especially the people who enjoyed Star Trek Deep space nine. Firefly is similiar to Deep Space Nine and especially not to be mistaken for the next coming of Star Wars, it has some intrestinting characters but lacks plot orignality, many of the episodes lack suspense, some bland dialogue can be found as well. The show lacks alot of entertainment value aswell making a mistake on focusing on too many character at one time.The show is reminisent of anime cartoons from japan actually one of my friends pointed it out to me aswell. The show did have a couple bright spots like the semi-budding of a romance between Kaylee and Simon but not much came out of that. Fox did make a mistake for canceling , but if you are not a lover of sci-fi, i would not recommend not buying this dvd at all. Don't be fooled about the show not being a sci-fi tv show.

Boring Show, February 16, 2004
Reviewer: A viewer from springfield, IL
Poor screenwriting is killed this show. It was a great idea with great characters but was too boring. None of the shows were interesting enough to make you want to watch it from week to week.

-----------------

This is 2 bad reviews out of 110 I have just quickly looked through (out of a total of 634 TOTAL reviews) .. so far .018% of the reviews are bad ... which isn't bad

I would have enjoyed to know specifically what these reviewers hated about the show but they decided to be general about their dislike ... I hope some of the readers who come across the two reviews I posted above will write them off as lacking enough info about why they gave their one star ratings.

The first reviewer at least liked the budding Kaylee/ Simon thang ...

(just noted Shiny's post ... 10 1 star reviews out of 634 is 0.016% of the reviews)

Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. (Alfred Hitchcock)

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 2:42 PM

RKLENSETH

Well, what I am concerned about is that the two of these one star reviews are very recent and can be seen on the first page. Some people only look at the first few reviews and I think it is bad to see two one star reviews right in the beginning.

And the submissions appear in the order they are submitted.

Oh, and play Cantr II at www.cantr.net.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 2:49 PM

SHINY

Can the same person/user/account submit more than once? How about "anonymously"? I've already written one but would be happy to write more if I can do it without signing up for a new account...

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 2:54 PM

RKLENSETH

No, we should fight fair and play the game legit. You should only post one review plus if Amazon finds out they will delete both posts.

Oh, and play Cantr II at www.cantr.net.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 3:28 PM

SERENITYNOW

So to all of us who haven't done a review yet--let's pick up the slack.

I'll do one after work today. (Why do they say a /Joss/ show lacks good writing?)

http://dryope.typepad.com/superfly/

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 5:23 PM

HORRID

done and done

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Wednesday, February 18, 2004 5:37 PM

SOUPCATCHER

It always amazes me how effective these calls for Amazon reviews are. The most recent one-star review is now off the front page. It has nine reviews ahead of it. [Out of date already. Since I started this post another 5 star was added]

To further supplement Shiny's numbers, alot of the negative reviews were posted even before the set was released.

*** - one since relase date
** - none since release date
* - five since release date

I have also been interested to see the changing tone of five star reviews. Up until a few weeks ago almost all of the posts were from people who watched the series (at least a few times) while it was aired (US, UK, Canada), or were physically converted through DVD watching. But more and more posts are from people who read the Amazon reviews and bought the set.

[editted to add] My goal in all this is to try and get a sense of the volume of sales. One indirect attempt is to compare the review numbers with other top selling DVD's. But if anyone has actual sales numbers, that's really what I'm looking for.

So there are now three generations of Browncoats!! How's that for a quality product?

I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman!

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 6:33 AM

DELRIO

I've seen lots of instances on Amazon of 1-star reviews being good reviews once you read the text. Some reviewers just don't know how to enter their star ratings. I wish Amazon would make the reviews default to not having a star rating, so that only people who deliberately entered a rating would give one.

Del Rio
"Six men came to kill me one time, and the best of them carried this."

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 6:55 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Too bad I have already long since submitted my own review.

To those that have not, bury those negative reviews! It is obvious they are a very few against the overwhelming majority of favorable reviews.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 7:07 AM

COSMICCONCUBINE

Oh geez, I can't believe this...I'll make sure I post one today. Not that I can think of anything to knock about the show but of all things--THE WRITING?!! What kind of lame-brains were those people? There are many great things about the show but the writing best of all! Cripes.

"Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing."

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 7:14 AM

DTT

Boring Show, February 16, 2004
Reviewer: A viewer from springfield, IL
Poor screenwriting is killed this show. It was a great idea with great characters but was too boring. None of the shows were interesting enough to make you want to watch it from week to week.

Okay, so TIM-MAY doesn't like Firefly. I just love, "Poor screenwriting is killed this show." I'm kind of proud not to like the same things as that person.

"You didn't have to wound that man."
"Yeah, I know. It was just funny."

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 7:32 AM

SERENA

I haven't had a chance to check yet, but let's also keep our eye on reviews on other sites - Barnes and Noble, Chapters/Indigo, and other sites that sell the DVD set.

"Every well bred, petty crook knows that the small, concealable weapons always go to the far left of the place setting."

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 7:38 AM

SERENITYNOW

Okay--I'm up. Hopefully my review'll be buried by other positive ones soon so you won't ever get to read it.

(Not that you need to. Honestly. What can I say? It's either post a few lines, or go on for pages and pages.)

I compared it to "Cowboy Beebop"--apparently a popular choice. I don't know if y'all have seen it, but it's like a slicker, more pop manga version of FF.

What's with the spammer recommending "zone food" /instead/ of FF? I realize they just go through amazon posting on everything that moves, but really. Are we supposed to think...hm, I want to watch that TV series I heard was good. Oh, wait, this guy says I'm fat. (I wonder if it has strong characters.)

Anyway, we should post in other amazon.com sites. NO ONE has posted on the french site. Guys, I spent eight years of my life learning that language (and living among them...). TELL me what you want to post it and I will TRANSLATE it for you. (f3k64@yahoo.com) I'll post/be available for translation when I get back homeside this weekend.

(That's not cheating, is it?)

German has /one/, and it's positive. (My german is scheisse. Anyone else good?)

Jeff Shannon (does he post here? It sounds familiar) posted the only one on the Japan site. (And it's very well-written and in English.)

So--let's concentrate on the foreign sites, I say.

http://dryope.typepad.com/superfly/

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 8:03 AM

KURUKAMI

Quote:
Originally posted by dtt:
Quote:

Boring Show, February 16, 2004
Reviewer: A viewer from springfield, IL
Poor screenwriting is killed this show. It was a great idea with great characters but was too boring. None of the shows were interesting enough to make you want to watch it from week to week.

Okay, so TIM-MAY doesn't like Firefly. I just love, "Poor screenwriting is killed this show." I'm kind of proud not to like the same things as that person.

No kidding. How reassuring to know that this guy wasn't burdened with an overabundance of education...

I've posted my own glowing five-star review on the page with no qualms whatsoever. Keep flying!

History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it merely shouts "Weren't you listening the first time?!?" and lets fly with a club.

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 8:17 AM

ADEPTUS

I think that the couple of one-star positive reviews are a good thing. There may be folks out there who are seeing all these five-star ratings and wonder, "Gee, I wonder if anyone didn't like it." They'll scan for one stars, see one and it says, "Wow, great series. Buy it!" Then they'll be all like, "Hmm, guess most everyone likes it." Then they'll buy it and the show will make it back on the airwaves at a regular time on a regular channel sometime after the movie is a box office smash hit!

No power in the 'verse can stop me.

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 10:29 AM

CALHOUN

Seems pretty obvious to me that these poor reviews are written by impotent self agrandizing(is that a word? or did I make it up?) Fox execs who whenever they see positive reviews feel embarrassed and ashamed by their woeful actions in cancelling Firefly.

Or the posters of these poor reviews could just be stupid..

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:20 AM

COSMICCONCUBINE

Hey, should the reviews post right away? I did one a couple of hours ago and it's not on Amazon's site...

"Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing."

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:34 AM

SOUPCATCHER

The reviews don't post right away. It took a few hours for mine to show up. Be prepared for your review to move off the front page very fast

. There have been 21 new reviews (all five star) since Shiny did his breakdown.

I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman!

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:42 AM

ENRAGEDAPE

And if you all get a chance, stop by BarnesandNoble.com and leave your mark. A lot of people go to B&N to buy DVDs, books, etc. (myself included), and last time I checked there were only about 40 reviews on their site. Two of them were bad (1 star) based on the following criteria:

1) One was written before the DVD set was even released, and the reviewer mistakenly thought the DVD was in full-frame only.

2) One reviewer has an obvious axe to grind regarding the cancellation of Dark Angel for Firefly.

So if any of y'all have any spare time, maybe you could throw in a good word or two about your favorite show, whichever that is

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 11:47 AM

BECKINSALE

The review from New Orleans was written by an online friend of mine. I speak to him nearly every day. He wrote it basically just to spite me.

A few facts you may be interested in:

He does not own the DVDs. Nor has he seen every episode. He downloaded 3 from the internet and did not like them. (Safe, Bushwacked, and Ariel according to what he said to me last night.) We were actually in the middle of a messenger convo while he wrote the review. He did not tell me until he’d submitted it.

Also, he said that since he had not seen every episode, he came HERE to THIS site to gather negative info from us for his comments.

The episodes he watched did not have an abundance of Simon/Kaylee. His comments on that… I’m fairly certain… were added for me because I am a Simon/Kaylee fan. Maybe it was some kind of “See? I’m not THAT mean” sort of tactic.

I knew when I introduced him to the show that I ran the risk of him pulling something if he didn’t like it. He’s just the type of person who enjoys somewhat cruel practical jokes.

I apologize to my fellow Browncoats for his action. He has apologized to me for being “mean.” But not for this specific event.

I have to admit that I felt very much betrayed by this. We all work very hard at promoting the show/DVDs/movie. I know I do. It hurt to have someone turn around and use it to bite me. Especially while in the middle of a conversation with me.

I just had to get that off my chest and give some insight into that particular review.

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 12:58 PM

SAINT JAYNE

Quote:
Original Amazon review at:
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001B3YTM/qid=1077228610/sr=2-1
/ref=sr_2_11_1/302-0190994-3852830

Let me take a crack at it. Or wait 24 hours and see if one of the many European fans will tackle it.

-----
4/5 stars, February 14, 2004, by Opi-Os: Firefly, the somewhat different sci-fi series!

As I watched this series I was excited from the beginning.

It occurs about 500 years in the future where a war has just been won by the Alliance. The captain, Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds, of the Firefly-class cargo ship Serenity, had fought in the war and now earns his bread as a smuggler.

The rest of the crew includes Zoe, a commrade of the Captain, the pilot Wash, the ship’s engineer Kaylee, Inara, a sort of call-girl, and Jane (sic), the mercenary. The Pilot episode also brings Doctor Simon Tam and his sister, who is very gifted but sadly would be abused for medical experimentation. And then the last to come is the priest, Shepherd Book.

The few episodes are well made and the characters develop further with every incident.

Unfortunately the provider FOX cancelled the series during the first season so there isn’t a proper ending, even if you’ve seen all the episodes there are still too many loose endings and cliffhangers in the story, and I asked myself after the last episode why it was that they stopped in the middle of it.

For bonus material there is also a Making Of and deleted scenes if the Ausstatung (??? export?) is like the US version, which I assume. Unfortunately there is no German Audio track, but that’s not amazing even with UK imports.
-----

BTW, Opi-Os also gave 5 stars to Charlie's Angels, and the Firefly DVD set costs 55 euro on Amazon.

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 1:50 PM

SPERCUSSIONIST

Ahoy, fellow Browncoats! This is my first post here, but I thought I would emerge from lurking long enough to say hello, that this is a great little community, and we can now add one more 5-star review at Amazon since I quit procrastinating. I'll nudge a few other Firefly fans I converted to do the same.

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 2:02 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Hey Beck, ask him if he's familiar with the words of Shuan Yu....

I'll handle the rest, heh heh heh.

-frem
diefuxdie

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 2:51 PM

COSMICCONCUBINE

Oh Beckinsale, that's so yucky! I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Please don't feel bad. If anything at least it helped push the more lazyheaded of us (read: me) to write some.

"Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing."

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Thursday, February 19, 2004 3:06 PM

CUDA

Also on Amazon,under different DVD titles, there is an option to "Recommend an Item". Seems to me there are many DVD titles like Babylon, Stargate, Star Trek under which we could be recommending Firefly. Hell, on a daily basis we could just recommend Firefly under all Amazon's top sellers.

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Friday, February 20, 2004 3:50 AM

TJ63

Just posted my review on the Amazon UK site. Mine's only the 8th one, so some openings there.

TJ

"Best not be taking it as a suggestion"

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Friday, February 20, 2004 10:10 AM

LTNOWIS

Somebody's gotta put a new reveiw on, right now it's at 666 reviews!

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Friday, February 20, 2004 10:35 AM

LTNOWIS

Sorry to post twice, but I just had a thought. I think most of the 1-star reviews with indifferent comments were trying to balance out the average somewhat. They saw a never-ending parade of glowing reviews, and they wanted to say. "Hey, it's not that great." If all of the reveiws were 1-star, they'd give it 4, and say "I kinda liked it; it was ok." Whatever, it's a theory.

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Sunday, February 29, 2004 6:58 PM

CUDA

I don't know if anyone has noticed but "The Complete Assholes Guide to Handling Chicks" has been recommended on Amazon instead of Firefly. I was kinda thinking that might not be the type of recommendation we would want under it. Also it's pretty hilarious, and awesome, to see Firefly recommended under the "Friends" DVD box sets, it'd be great if we could continue to recommend it in addition to every one of Amazon's top sellers on their site! Kinda like free advertising. Also we're just shy of 700 reviews, so if you haven't done one yet...

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