Revisiting Firefly by HAKEN

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Revisiting Firefly

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POSTED BY: HAKEN
UPDATED: Thursday, March 3, 2011 11:09
SHORT URL: http://goo.gl/aEw9S
VIEWED: 3546
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Thursday, March 3, 2011 1:21 AM

Likes to mess with stuffs.

POST-GAZETTE.COM - It's not unusual for past failed series to get rerun on cable networks without much fanfare -- anybody care that "Frasier" reruns bow on Hallmark Channel in April? Didn't think so -- but news that Science Channel will rerun the 2002-03 Fox series "Firefly" beginning Sunday at 8 p.m. brought a rush of blog posts and news items. Partially that's because this news is geek catnip and partially because of what "Firefly" star Nathan Fillion said in an interview. In what I'm sure was an offhand remark, Fillion said if he won the lottery he'd buy the rights to the show and re-launch the franchise. That was all some fans needed to hear before they started expressing a desire to fundraise for just such an effort. Fillion asked them to essentially simmer down...

http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/arts-entertain
ment-living/tuned-in-journal/27525-rethinking-firefly

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Thursday, March 3, 2011 5:09 AM

TWO

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

The article continues:
Even before this latest "Firefly" flareup, I had the chance to talk with the woman who canceled the show, former Fox Entertainment president Gail Berman.

When asked about some of the more painful cancellations during her tenure, Berman mentioned both "Dark Angel" (2000-02) and "Firefly," which was created by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" impresario Joss Whedon.

"Canceling 'Firefly' was as difficult as anything I'd ever been involved in because Joss and I had been creative partners at one time," she said. Indeed, I remember seeing Berman sitting with a script and headphones on the set of a season two episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." "I worked with him very closely on this particular show and when it didn't perform [in the ratings], having to cancel it was very difficult."

When Fox aired "Firefly," the network chose to air episodes out of order, presumably in an effort to put forward what executives considered the better episodes first. Of course, that decision wrecked Whedon's attempts at character development and also screwed with the show's continuity. I asked Berman if she thought changing the episode order hurt the show and if she'd do it different if she had to do it again.

"If I had to do it over again, I might have reconsidered it but I'm not sure it would have changed anything," she said. "It was a numbers things. It was a wonderful show and I loved it and I loved working with him on it but that was a big show, a very expensive show and it wasn't delivering the numbers."

From a practical standpoint, Berman is probably right. Maybe "Firefly" would have still failed, particularly in a dreadful Friday night time slot. But part of me does wonder because when the show first aired, I was not that charmed by it. I gave it another shot when Fox released it on DVD -- in the correct episode order -- and watching the show the way it was intended did have an impact on my appreciation of it. While I quit watching "Firefly" episodes on Fox, I made a point of watching the whole series on DVD, so clearly the episode order did have an impact on my willingness to commit to it.

There are other comments at Whedonesque http://whedonesque.com/comments/25996

Charlize Theron and Gail Berman at event of Æon Flux www.imdb.com/media/rm2617612800/nm0075762

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity," where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, March 3, 2011 6:28 AM

ZEEK

That just strikes me as the totally politically correct stuff to say. "Firefly was awesome and I loved it! However, the numbers weren't there and business is business. Hindsight is 20/20 and I might do some things differently, but the end result would probably be the same because our decisions and our corporate overlords certainly were not to blame." blah blah

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Thursday, March 3, 2011 6:38 AM

OLDGUY

What Would Mal do ?

I'm not saying it's the greatest product ever put on broadcast.. could sit here and pick holes in it all day.. and since I'm not a TV series watcher ( I wait for Castle,Chuck , etc to come out on DVD then I watch...so I'm part of the problem)...

All I've ever said is that Firefly hit me right..dug deep into a place of feelings that I have...small group of folk living out beyond the radar..differences, but having to and wanting to coexist for a common goal..we all know the deal.
I'm simply saying that it hit me right and I have rewatched my DVD set more times than I have watched anything else ever.
The Fox execs did it an injustice, heck I never even knew the show existed when it was in broadcast..it wasn't til the movie trailers started showing up that I paid attention. How many times have we heard that story?
That is not a Whedon issue, nor an actor's draw issue..it's the network's failure to launch.
They simply did not do their job, and numbers or not, Firefly is a heartbreak that I believe everyone regrets.

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Thursday, March 3, 2011 7:25 AM

BRUCEPLUTO

Quote:
Originally posted by Zeek:
That just strikes me as the totally politically correct stuff to say. "Firefly was awesome and I loved it! However, the numbers weren't there and business is business. Hindsight is 20/20 and I might do some things differently, but the end result would probably be the same because our decisions and our corporate overlords certainly were not to blame." blah blah

I second your post Zeek

BP

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Thursday, March 3, 2011 8:47 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

Quote:
Originally posted by two:

Charlize Theron and Gail Berman at event of Æon Flux www.imdb.com/media/rm2617612800/nm0075762

That woman should never stand next to Charlize Theron... sorry, the article makes me feel petty.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Thursday, March 3, 2011 11:09 AM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.

I hate her and her lies.

It's not personal. It's just war.

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