The Firefly Theroy by FemaleJayne

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

The Firefly Theroy

POSTED BY: FEMALEJAYNE
UPDATED: Sunday, July 4, 2004 12:51
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 5266
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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 11:02 AM

I'm gathering information to make a theroy of Firefly. ie why so many people love it, how it effects our lives, why fox droped it... Any information would be a great help to me.

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 6:54 PM

ROCKETSURGEON

Well, where to begin? I'd want to scrap the last part from the get go. Yeh, damn Focks and all that, but we have the show back now as a movie. We'll never get a straight answer unless some email or paper trail turns up from one Fox exec to another describing in gross detail what happened. That's air through the engine, focus on the positive.

Firefly is an ultimate artistic use of the medium of television.

It is an exceptional orchestration of the elements of the TV series format. The CGI technology, the artists (actors, writers, camera operators and others), the language and every other element of TV land (except maybe for good marketing, damn Focks) are used to deliver what the audience needs. In no uncertain terms, this is a story with believable people and powerful relationships. It lives in a universe of epic scale that remains, somehow, familiar. There is a definite journey and there are tough questions that need to be answered.

Firefly involves the viewer as much as it involves the creators. Those who have seen the special features on the DVD know what the makers of Firefly thought of the series. They too believed in this 'verse and "lived" in it. Many of the feelings of caring for the crew and such were not acted. They loved what they did and where they were.

One of the brilliant decisions in the making of the series was to make an actual ship. In this age of cold, evanescent CGI and crane-driven cameras, they relied on skilled camera operation and integrated lighting to achieve many of the basic effects. The most powerful of these was the immediacy of the action. You feel like you are there. I personally didn't notice the cameras were hand-held until I heard about it in the features. This 'verse feels like someone lives here.

Above, I called it an ultimate artistic use of the medium. To be sure, there will be others with a totally different take on TV, and they will make it work, but Firefly is in a league of its own. By this, I mean that it doesn't waste musical score, gunplay or video frames saying something you already know. It has a story, interesting characters, humor and harsh reality. It uses the medium as effectively as it can be used, to communicate all that it can, to achieve more than just forgettable entertainment:

- The music of the Message gives you the feeling of an end, be it of a troubled life's story or a troubled series.

- The mixed images/soundtrack of Inara's introduction in Serenity (episode) show emotion above dialogue and highlights the superficiality of her profession and possibly foreshadows a conflict within it. It is so subtle most don't notice it the first time. The sense of the scene is unequivocal. I also wonder if the bathing scene was cut roughly to emphasize the “moments” in time when she is allowed to be herself.

- The introductions of the characters capture quintessential elements of their personalities. Wash only played with his plastic dinos for a few seconds, but after that introduction, you knew him in a way you'll never know most TV characters (Kudos to Mr. Tudyk for the rendition).

Firefly uses CGI in a realistic manner, consistent with the real-life scenes. This makes it more believable.

The series format meant that the story can take the time it needs. Some things could be resolved in the next second (Agent Dobson) or after a long while (what did they do to River's Brain?). This is why I would argue, beyond the legal impossibilities, that Firefly NEEDS to be a series, regardless of what is now possible.

The bad guys

, they wear hats.

The humor and delivery make for an experience akin to watching a Shakespearean play. Once you meet Firefly, you know the overall story, but you watch it again for the delivery. There is depth here that is never captured on the first pass. There is humor that is genuinely funny the second and more times. There is music that reaches further and combines styles of the world's cultures to be informative, original and touching.

Finally, the story is not just about the knight in shiny armor coming in to save the day. It's about a group of people surviving in spite of the powers that be. The 'verse is somehow familiar because it has shades of grey, it makes you ask questions. Who is the enemy? What is right? What is good? What is victory? What colour protein are we having today?

As much as it can be simply experienced, it also achieves something powerful and nearly impossible in today's ephemeral media. It holds you long enough to make you really think about life's questions (and answers?). And that makes it mighty.

I figure I touched on the broad points of why I like it, MORE IDEAS PLEASE!

---
"Here's something you can't do ... [insert cool manoever here]"

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Wednesday, June 30, 2004 7:36 PM

THEREALME

* Stunned Silence *

* The Real Me picks his jaw up from the floor and re-connects it, in a manner befitting an old Warner Brothers cartoon. *

That was... great.

The Real Me

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 6:08 AM

ROCKETSURGEON

Thanks

Having slept on it, I've got a few more points that were glossed over:

- Endlessly quotable, testament that it covers a LOT of ground (shiny!)

- The show kinda emphasizes power of the bonds of family you choose, it's not about how people want to get under each-other's skin or get a one-up on one another. That's very much the nature of interactions in reality series.

- About not wasting screen time, it ignores the details of a technology that doesn’t exist, unlike some sci-fi that can feel more like textbook. These are fine but they don't feel like places I'd want to live.

- The creators understand how and what technology is, its distribution, its use, its politics... Yeh they’re not using laser rifles, that just means that a gun is about as good a technology as it needs to be. Kindof like an alligator, some things stop evolving.

- The above said, from an aerospace engineering/concept design perspective, the Firefly tranport is a very elegant ship design. It's fun to watch it do its thing.

In spite of all the troubles day to day, the things to be afraid of, etc... There is still a sense of hope that leads the crew to press on, in the face of the uncaring/malevolent powers that be. They don't always have a plan, but the will get through one way or another.

In keeping with conveying the evolution of technology, the show also expresses the continuation of the mistakes of our society, the world’s society. It's post apocalyptic (the earth got used up). It shows the continuation of oppression, class structure, ignorance, big brother, totalitarian government and more. There's lots of social commentary here that can make you stop and take notice.

---
"Here's something you can't do ... [insert cool manoever here]"

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 6:24 AM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Quote:
Originally posted by RocketSurgeon:
[BIt's post apocalyptic

It's so obvious that that is true, yet I never thought of it that way.

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 7:06 AM

LAILING

I think it all boils down to this: Like the most beloved shows, movies, or other artistic creations, it simply means many things to many people.
By having many layers, it is endlessly fascinating - people won't get bored after one viewing, or three, but will keep going back to it again and again.
By having many aspects, it appeals to a wider audience. Also, one person or group in it's fandom can "leave", but another group - perhaps one very different - may "join". This keeps it fresh and renews it's fanbase.
All in all, I think Firefly has a similar problem to Star Trek-TOS - It's Neilsen's failed, but it's demographics didn't. However, since shows are measured by Neilsen's, the fans got screwed. That apparently Fox, like NBC with Star Trek, didn't WANT Firefly to succeed, only made matters worse. (Yes, NBC deliberately killed Star Trek. Their shenanegins have been documented in a book called "The Making of Star Trek" can't remember the author, Stephen somebody, but probably still in print - copyright around the late 70's or early 80's.) Perhaps Universal will do better. After all, according to the TV Guide article I read, Universal bought Firefly because it was looking for a new franchise. A new franchise, not a story idea for one good movie.
(Whew! I could probably go on and on, but I'll stop now.)

"They've gone to *plaid*!"

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Thursday, July 1, 2004 7:15 AM

PURPLEBELLY

Members of a defeated and disbanded army. Scraping a living in a world rolled over by war. Trying to live life by the principles they were brought up to respect. Avoiding ravaging criminals and a ruthless military machine. Just everyday life in Iraq.

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Friday, July 2, 2004 7:40 PM

MINH

Firefly is less ethnocentric. It's a fascinating mix of cultures (language, arts, musics, clothing, customs, people, politics, and belief). *cough cough* (Still lacking Asian (and other minority) actors with *speaking* parts. There might be an opening for space journalist.)

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Friday, July 2, 2004 8:54 PM

HAUFEL

It's personal. It's not about the old comic book formula, save the world every week. It's stay out of trouble and try to make enough money for gas and food.

No aliens makes it easier for a broader spectrum of viewers to relate.

The personalities are real, varied, and deep. You understand their motivations, and you care about them.

Presents hard situations and hard choices made without compromise.

Production (set, props, camera work, vfx, et al) presents a believable world. It looks real.

The unexpected twists - no, make that jerks - pull you out of the complacent world of formula scripts.

The music is motion picture, not TV, quality. This has a big impact on the perceived quality of the show.

Yeah, and if wishes were horses we'd all be eatin' steak.

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Friday, July 2, 2004 9:11 PM

JCOBB

I don't know if anyone has brought this up, but the very fact that you can watch an episode over and over again, and it rarely, if ever, gets boring. I know I have probably watched the entire series four or five times over, and yet never once have I felt like I was "finished" with it. Often times once you see an episode of a show you will do everything in your power to avoid seeing it again. Maybe its because we didn't have that many to start with, but I am still amazed at how I can sit down one night, pop in the DVD's and enjoy the show as much, (and maybe more, as I have picked up on several nuances that I missed on my first and second run through,) as I did the first time I saw it.

I can't put my finger on why, (though I have a strong feeling its the writing/execution of the dialogue) but I think its the only show that has done this for me.

I don't care, I'm still free.

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Saturday, July 3, 2004 12:19 AM

PURPLEBELLY

^^JCobb, t's 'coz the're all so purdy

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Saturday, July 3, 2004 1:18 AM

DRAKON

The opinions expressed by me in no way reflect my employer, my co-workers, my family or anyone but me. But they should.

Firefly is great because of the witty dialog and believable characters in its stories. Because the Firefly crew resemble a family, and most folks have met folks, or would like to meet just like just the members of her crew. Because despite Joss's own self profesed lack of a scientific education, it is believable.

It has elements that harken back to America's frontier, and once you think about it, the final frontier will have some commonalities with America's last one. It is familiar in ways that stories taking place in a galaxy far far away don't.

It does not preach some utopianist pipe dream, where folks have evolved beyond money, power, greed, hatred or hard heartedness, (in a scant few centuries). Lets face it, without such factors, stories become boring all too quickly, and one has to go back in time, or reverse age in order to keep viewer interest. It shows sex in a more positive and realistic light than has been seen before. It is thought provoking as only science fiction can be, yet familiar and easily understandable to most folks who have actually seen it.

It avoids trying to depict aliens, which in most attempts come out as either one note caricatures of human, or equally as bad, monsters to be slain. It avoids many science fiction cliques, blaster pistols being one example. And when it does depict such technologies, it does so with an inventive twist.

The crew are ordinary joes, just like you or me. Not paragons of virtue, nor important and highly trusted military or political elites. That makes them more believable and more accessable to their target audience.

Why Fox canceled it is simple. They had no idea what they had. So they shoved it off on a Friday night, when most of their target demographics was out dating and not home watching TV. They pre-empted it for baseball games, and thereby undercut any efforts to garner a fan base.

Some have suggested malice on the part of the Fox network. I think it is more a case of stupidity, of simply not watching their own programing.

"Wash, where is my damn spaceship?"

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Saturday, July 3, 2004 4:56 PM

FEMALEJAYNE

Thanks to everyone who has given me their thoughts. I have enough thoughts to have a theroy but... A theroy with out any evidence is only a opinion. When enough people agree, opinions become fact (at least to those when agree)
Thanks again!
If you have anymore ideas please share them!

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Sunday, July 4, 2004 11:38 AM

PURPLEBELLY

I have a theory about onions, but no evidence

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Sunday, July 4, 2004 12:14 PM

REMI

Well the show has great writing, flawed and human characters and the chemistry is high level.

The best thing is a great show is mmade greater when the actors enjoy what they do, for it shows across in how they interact.
The cast are very much in tune to each other and one can see that they feel a connection with the characters as well as each other...a show like that comes along once in a blue moon

Remi is here to save the day...

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Sunday, July 4, 2004 12:36 PM

WAVE

It's pro-liberty, pro-individual-responsiblity, pro honour; anti-government, anti-mysticism, anti-political-correctness, and is therefore completely unlike 99.999% of everything else in today's art and media.

Add its fundamental joy at being alive (in more ways than one), along with a tinge of existential terror, wrapped up with wonderful writing and performances, gorgeous visuals and music, and presented according to the overriding, consistent vision of one person... how could anyone not love it?

Thankyou Joss!

We are not in the 8th dimension! We're over New Jersey!

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Sunday, July 4, 2004 12:51 PM

NUMMY

Well, my theory, for all that it's worth, is that this series was just so good because it was about us normal peeps. Just about getting by, paying the bills (if you can), trying to do the right thing (again with the if you can), even though there may be some (not actually harmful to people) ducking and diving on the way.

What this series clearly illustrated was that most of us live this way. Not because we are worse people, or because our social contributions, views and values are morally lower than those lucky enough to be higher up the tree, but just because that is the nature of the world. Darn it!

I have recently exposed my ex (a dear friend, but an SF-phobe), to this frankly outstanding series. Oh, how he laughed at my commitment to other series..."What, a vampire with a soul? How lame is that?"! Oh, yes, I am sure you can just gauge my mirthful response to that straight lift from a Buffy script, but not my point here. He has latched onto Firefly immediately and with no reservations, because it is about people who feel real. And he loves them. As do most of the people I know. Even my mother. And believe me, that is going some.

So a big hussah to Joss and all involved for creating what I really think was, for all it's short lifespan, the best TV proggy ever seen. Ever. And I have seen a lot of TV!

As for the cancellation? It clearly involved numpties. Indeed, I am convinced that a great deal of non-TV-quality-controlling, look-at-my-shiny-suit-it-is-very-fine and oh-blimey-my-brain-has-been-swapped-for-a-lump-of-Emmental numptiness may have been a major contributing factor to this. Bleedin' execs!

By the way, what a darn fine ship! Luvverly!

Greetings to all.

Nummy (as I have just chosen to be known).

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