Worst case scenario if Firefly starts up again by Bytemite

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Worst case scenario if Firefly starts up again

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POSTED BY: BYTEMITE
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 9, 2011 04:13
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/txQD93
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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 5:13 AM

I hear from people a lot that if Firefly ever came back, the new episodes wouldn't stand up to the initial fourteen, either due to writing, story direction, character direction, or simple nostalgia dissonance.

Last night, I think I started to understand the fear a little, because I had a not-scary-but-it-still-qualifies nightmare that new episodes were on the air.

And I started watching, and it was painfully disappointing. All of the remaining characters after the movie had become one dimensional, either very simplified or even changed entirely. And it made all the dialogue and chemistry and relationships of the original series just... Fall flat. There was no sparkle.

So I was thinking, we ought to discuss our worst case scenarios, get it out of our systems. Because I suspect that if Firefly came back, we might not get exactly what we want, but it would probably still be good.

I know there's also a lot of shipping out there, and people would be disappointed if their favourite couples don't pair up, or would be disappointed if certain pairings do. I think it's fair to mention that as part of individual worst case scenarios, but try not to tear down other pairings, try not to defend your OTP, and try not to get into ship-to-ship combat.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 7:01 AM

ZEEK

Well it's pretty easy to see just from the movie. A lot of big fans were very upset by the movie. The got so invested in the characters that when a couple got killed off they couldn't stand it.

I think it's a problem with a big lag between new material. We get so attached to what we have that it becomes almost sacred. The problem is it has to change in the future or the show would get stale. So, you can't keep everything from before fixed and get new content. At least not with the same crew. I think at this point it would be best to revisit the verse with a spinoff. If we get anything at all.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 7:15 AM

EBFIDDLER

My worst-case scenario is probably someone else's happy scenario. It is that Mal and Inara are stuck forever in "will they/won't they" land. And the corollary, that none of the characters is able to evolve or mature, that they remain stuck at the same point of development because the writers (or execs) are afraid that resolving some of that unresolved sexual tension will cost them viewership. This is the problem that plagues Castle right now, where Castle and Beckett have had this WTWT thing going for more than three years, and considering the significant things that have passed between them, it is getting absolutely unbelievable that they are unable to speak of their feelings to one another. So it would be with Mal and Inara in my nightmare Firefly. The writers would have a few good episodes where they appeared to make progress toward resolution of some of that tension, interspersed with cheesy episodes where the issue was ignored completely, like the proverbial elephant in the living room. Someone wrote an excellent pair of essays on this subject at http://castletv.net/castle-philosophy-rises-part-1/10340 and http://castletv.net/castle-philosophy-rises-part-2/10477. So in my nightmare Firefly, Mal and Inara continue with petty bickering and no resolution; River continues to be randomly crazy or bratty and never grows up; Simon and Kaylee can't make it past the teenagers-on-their-first-date stage; and Zoe never makes it past the earliest stages of grieving. And Jayne is, well, Jayne, and none of that possibility that Jayne, too, has a moral code (as was hinted at in the movie) ever gets explored.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 7:36 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

I agree with Zeek about the film - it was flat compared to the series - and also about the prospects for returning with the same actors = not good (there are a lot of reasons that's a bad idea), but also I've seen a number of regular shows that changed for the worse from one season to the next. Actors and writers get stuck repeating the same (often simple) character traits and hijinks over and over until the characters are parodies of their originals. That's would be death for me and would taint the first shows.
Another worse case: completely different writers and producers. There's nothing that says some producer, who starts out with a love for the show but isn't Joss, decides to be a hero and breath life back into the series. But Joss isn't available. Tim and Jane are not available - maybe none of the original writers are available. But there's this schedule and we've paid for the product so, "I'll make it happen by god and I will be loved!" And then you'd have bizarro Firefly.

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

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 8:31 AM

BYTEMITE

Quote:
Well it's pretty easy to see just from the movie.

I don't know that the movie was flat... I think we could see hints of the character depth, though it didn't help that a lot of inter-relation development was set backwards. I guess relative to the series, yeah, but then even the series had episodes that shone brighter than others.

When I say "flat" I meant something like EB's version, which was chillingly similar to what I experienced. Only in mine Mal and Inara were together but the "romance" was more like Star Wars Episode 2 and 3, and Jayne was immoral Jayne but with more toilet humour.

Actually, let's go with that. What I imagined was Firefly as directed without any emotional poignancy and interpreted as a sitcom. Something insipid, where the plot is hackneyed, and all the actors just seem bored. I think there was also a laugh-track and stupid sound effects.

Anyway.

I can kind of see what you're saying about the movie though. I propose maybe that's because Joss was the only writer on that one, and the limited time frame?

Joss has the vision, but I think the other writers were the source of a lot of the character building moments and insights. All of them working together is what made the show three dimensional and meaningful, because they all had slightly different angles and takes.

Quote:
We get so attached to what we have that it becomes almost sacred. The problem is it has to change in the future or the show would get stale.

Agreed.

I think there's a lot that we didn't get to storywise with the existing crew, like the movie didn't even get into Blue Sun, and I don't think we've followed River's arc the whole way. However, I wouldn't be adverse to introduce some new escaped students from the Academy and follow them a while. Or any storyline really, so long as it's sufficiently compelling.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 9:29 AM

WISHIMAY

I agree with EB.

Tinkle or get off the potty.

Otherwise, BRING IT!!! I ain't skeeered....
I think after all this time I'd watch ANYTHING and be thrilled. I no longer expect quality from Hollyweird, so that makes me a little easier to please than most.

There's a Japanese?... philosophy about no moment in time will ever be exactly like any other moment in time, so I think the WAY we loved the show will never come again. Can we welcome a weird little decendant into the family?? I can. I can't speak for everybody though....

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 9:42 AM

BYTEMITE

That's a different way to put it.

Yeah, I also agree. Although this dream of mine reminded me WHY some writers are so nervous about resolving will they won't they.

I do think I could be happy about Firefly in any form. The verse itself has just a lot of potential.

Heck, a Saffron spin-off would be something else. And really entertaining to watch, as well as possibly full of insight.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 11:48 AM

ZEEK

Oh I should clarify I'm just talking about how some fans really don't like the movie. I thought it was amazing. The emotional rollercoaster is something I've never experience from a film before or after Serenity. The first time I saw the movie was borderline magical.

Which I guess goes against my case in the first place. There's a chance that new material could knock our socks off. I just think after all this time it would be really tough and there would pretty much always be some fans that don't like whatever happens next.

A Saffron series would be so awesome. Unfortunately I'm not sure you could pry Christina Hendricks away from Mad Men. My guess is people have already been trying with the way her star has risen over the past few years.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 12:24 PM

BYTEMITE

Quote:
I just think after all this time it would be really tough and there would pretty much always be some fans that don't like whatever happens next.

Ah.

Well, Christina might be willing to fit in some kind of miniseries. So might some of the other cast members, too.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 1:33 PM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
And I started watching, and it was painfully disappointing.

Forget the future of Firefly - you're writing critical reviews of TV shows you see in your dreams!? That's either deeply impressive or deeply worrying

I don't think I've had a Firefly-related dream, but if I did, I'd have difficulty remembering whether I was watching it, acting in it or living in it, let alone critiquing the characterization. Plus it would be spoiled by a silly scene in which Mal found himself in an airport with no passport and Inara discovered she had a whoring theory exam and had half an hour to catch up on a years work.

But seriously - yes, I think if it came back after all this time it should be as some sort of sequel/prequel/spinoff that didn't try to follow on seamlessly.

As for the comments on the film: one of the appeals of the series is the characterization, and there isn't time in a film to continue the stories of nine characters in a satisfactory way. In a series, it doesn't matter if one character doesn't have much to do in an episode, when they can have the A-plot in a later installment. I suspect that the reason that Joss killed off a couple of regulars in the BDM was to thin down the cast a bit for future movies.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 2:01 PM

BYTEMITE

Most of my dreams are lucid dreams. When it finally got too stupid, which was about when Inara-rewritten-as-a-clingy-lovesick-ditzy-ingenue declared her everlasting devotion, my dream-self stood up and left in disgust. I could hear the smooch-fest the whole thing had devolved into behind me as I left, and I thought, "Yuck."

In my defense, it was positively gag-worthy. Mawkish and saccharine are the words that come to mind. And keep in mind, I'm actually a Mal/Inara shipper. That's how bad it was.

Quote:
Plus it would be spoiled by a silly scene in which Mal found himself in an airport with no passport and Inara discovered she had a whoring theory exam and had half an hour to catch up on a years work.

That's actually got some potential. Mal could be at a space port with Alliance customs breathing down his neck, and Inara might still be at the training house and was writing an exam for her students.

Wash and Book were probably always meant to die, I think, but Joss just chose for that to be in the first movie. Perhaps for the exact reason you just gave.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 2:57 PM

WISHIMAY

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite

...and Inara might still be at the training house and was writing an exam for her students.

What kinda exam would THAT be, now??? ...and where can I get a video of it??

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 3:18 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

River ends up stable/in remission/cured of her touchedness. That would make the show really boring and she'd be a Mary Sue because she's so brilliant and then she could do everyone else's jobs, thus it would be boring. "A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya. Plus there are plenty of neurotypical psychic assassins out there in stories, but how many touched psychic assassins do you know? It would just be boring if her wits weren't touched.

Related to that, if she hooked up with Jayne or Mal I'd die, pure and simple. Now if she were no longer touched, if she were stable or what have you then I wouldn't have an ethical problem with it, but I'd be bored. If she were still touched and rutting with some neurotypical guy I'd have an ethical corinary because it wouldn't be mutual concent etc. So yeah, River being stable or River hooking up with crew are my things that I fear would happen in a new Firefly movie or show and I'd be soooooooooooooo bored if that happened.

I'd much rather see a spin off, that would be cool, that Saffron one sounds allright. Maybe Saffron vs. Badger, she'd try to screw him over in various ways and he'd try to con her and they'd go 'round and round and I'd be laughing the whole way through.

Other than the River situation I'm actually pretty flexible about Firefly believe it or not. But I really would miss Wash and Book, they are so cool and killing them was just mean.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 11:50 PM

VERASAMUELS

For me the worst case would be River and Jayne having a sexual/romantic relationship. Ick!

Devout Keeper of Jayne's Lunchbox

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Wednesday, November 9, 2011 4:13 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

The only worse case for me would be if Joss had nothing to do with the revival. Maybe Tim Minear could pull it off, but without Joss as the driving force I would be very hesitant in embracing it. I wouldn't want to put any restrictions on Joss as to character and plot development, because even something that doesn't appeal to me at this time could be written in such a way that I could accept it. Joss is that good.

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