Unpleasantness by Lawman

FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

Unpleasantness

POSTED BY: LAWMAN
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 2, 2007 10:08
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VIEWED: 5681
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Monday, April 30, 2007 5:02 PM

ok, i'm sure what i'm about to say might be an anathema to most of you. as much as i love the firefly series with all its nuances and smart storytelling, i have to say that i don't think bdm was so great. it was good, but not great. storytelling and plot was abit forced, almost as if joss was thinking this was his last shot to get everything into a 2 hr movie. series is too big to cram all of it into 2 hrs. i enjoyed bdm, but series quality, it ain't. the series was almost magical in its inventiveness and character development. almost as if bdm was riding the coattails. in fact, series was so good, hard to imagine something that good being continued to be written. not really happy about mr. universe being buried alongside my crew, and mal's darker pants upset me too. even though amazing to see serenity on the big screen.

i'll be in my bunk

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Monday, April 30, 2007 11:36 PM

CERES

I can remember watching a dvd (Serenity extras?) where Joss asks the audience whether they’d like more TV shows or another movie and most wanted the TV shows so I think a lot of people share some of your views. From another interview I’ve seen or read with Joss (I can never remember where I’ve got my info from) though, he was really excited about the extra things he could do with the budget for a movie. I’m sure I wouldn’t have loved the characters so much without Firefly but Serenity was such a bonus after the cancellation that I love it too. I guess I agree with Joss – and who wouldn’t –‘This movie may be a beautiful butterfly but I loved that damn caterpillar’

...................................

You can question the meaning of life on a floaty
island of your own for a while.

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Monday, April 30, 2007 11:44 PM

BLINDOUTLAW

*sniff* bless that gorram caterpillar and the big damn butterfly

----------------
That was when i found out my pants were on fire, and that's my Courageous story.

- Jimmy the Blindoutlaw

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007 1:58 AM

DONCOAT

As I'm sure you recognize, a feature film is a very different medium than an ongoing television series. Most of the things that make the BDM different from the series can be attributed to that difference.

The movie was saddled with the need to introduce the entire background story of the 'verse, the Tams, the Reavers, and the Alliance. It had to introduce the nine "regular" characters plus a couple new ones. All that before it even got going! It had to tell the story in a very limited time frame.

And all that had to be done in a way that didn't bore the audience to tears, or confuse it, or break too dramatically with "our story so far" as shown in the series.

Frankly, I think Joss did an amazing job balancing those priorities, and I love the BDM almost as much as the series, but in a different way.

I'm not faulting anyone who disagrees, since tastes vary. But I think there's some support for my view, simply because so many people on this board tell us that they fell in love with the 'verse by seeing the movie first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007 2:49 AM

SAFEAT2ND

I agree, I like the series better. The movie, for me at least, lacked the... character... of the series. It was too Hollywood/short attention span. Don't get me wrong, I still liked the movie.

Now I do agree that that is what it needed to be in order to attract a new audience. It had to be condensed. It had to match the medium, and I accept that logic.

But what really chaps my a** is the arguement you're bound to hear, that "the movie is the way Joss meant it to be." If that's the case, then I liked the F*x watered down version of his vision, that was Firefly, better.

It'd be interesting to ask the people that were turned on to the 'verse by the movie and then watched the series, if they noticed a difference.

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007 4:29 AM

GIRLYBILLY

I think that the purpose of Serenity was to draw in more fans to get the show back and to have someone come to Joss and say wow that was really great why don't we make that into a show. Since joss whendon has such a fan base all that is need is more people to join the verse. Serenity seemed to have enought holywoodness to draw people in while pleasing the hardcore joss whedon's. One of the extras on the Serenity DVD was joss saying if you like the movie and the show tell someone. So here are a couple of people you can email. A long shot but who cares, tell someone like joss said.
askfox@foxinc.com
programming@scifi.com feedback@scifi.com
Marc.Brandon@warnerbros.com
complaints@wb.com

Bill Cross
but a Girly Billy

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007 5:55 AM

CHANNAIN

i DO aim to misbehave

Quote:
Originally posted by Lawman:
ok, i'm sure what i'm about to say might be an anathema to most of you. as much as i love the firefly series with all its nuances and smart storytelling, i have to say that i don't think bdm was so great. it was good, but not great. storytelling and plot was abit forced, almost as if joss was thinking this was his last shot to get everything into a 2 hr movie. series is too big to cram all of it into 2 hrs. i enjoyed bdm, but series quality, it ain't. the series was almost magical in its inventiveness and character development. almost as if bdm was riding the coattails. in fact, series was so good, hard to imagine something that good being continued to be written. not really happy about mr. universe being buried alongside my crew, and mal's darker pants upset me too. even though amazing to see serenity on the big screen.

i'll be in my bunk

I would have to agree - the BDM was good, but it wasn't as good as the series. I'm known to give a jaundiced eye to anyone who bases their knowledge of the 'Verse strictly on the BDM. Too many folks have tried to start RPs based on that and totally miss the essence of Firefly. Oddly enough, I don't watch the movie by myself. I wait for times when I can watch it in a room full of browncoats.

However, seeing Serenity on the big screen totally ROCKED. In particular, I recall the part where Wash took her to rescue the crew from the Reavers - you could hear her growl.

And the part when she took off at the end. I get chills just thinking about it.

My brother has seen the BDM once. I loaned it to him, he watched it, brought it back and told me I didn't ever have to bring it back. It happened just that quick - but I had him watching the series first. See the difference?

Doing the impossible makes us mighty
Minnesota Browncoats
http://www.mnfirefly.com/portal/html/index.php

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007 5:59 AM

REDHEAD

Yep, I agree. Serenity is an action packed romp. Very fun but I would never have fell so passionately in love with it as I did Firefly. I love the character development, the tiny moments where nothing big happens like Jayne kneeling outside the infirmary, or Mal smelling Inara's hair. There was no time for that in the movie.

I just came to the 'verse but by way of Firefly. I think I sat down to watch with my husband in the middle of Shindig. Then watched Safe and then the next day watched all the episodes up through Safe and was waiting impatiently for my husband and sons to come home so I could watch OMR.

I never watch TV but this hooked me. The time taken to watch Kaylee eat the strawberry. The knowledge of the actors that had River reacting to Book's hair. The love between siblings. My God, everytime Simon looks at River so much is said. And what about Zoe and Wash--there is a marriage, its not perfect but its warm and Firefly gave the marriage time to show the little stuff.

Serenity, not so much. Still fun. But, oh if I could, I would pay a couple hundred a year just to see the series back.

To paraphrase Kaylee: Whedon's Firefly is just so lush. I want to take a bite out of it all over, you know?

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Wednesday, May 2, 2007 10:00 AM

ORANGEHAT

I like the movie just as much as the series. That may have to do with the fact that I saw the movie first but made no connection until I watched the box set my dad kept telling me he wanted so very badly. I can distinctly remember watching the movie, pointing at Wash and saying "He's going to die". (a game I play in every movie where the characters lives are on the line) It didn't occur to me what a sad SAD moment his death was until after I watched the series and went back to the movie and nearly cried when he was impaled. It was like some horrible foreshadowing that dictated my life with the series.

ANYWAYS I like the movie for its flare and the whole point of it was NOT to explain the characters (as we the devoted fans were to already know the story) it was to make a splash and prove that average people can do amazing things. (Of course they were amazing to us, but the rest of the world didn't know that). If the movie set up and explained where these people came from dutdutdutdutdahhh it would take FOREVER and loose the audiences interest. SO the movie did an amazing job of making the watchers love the people and the plot without needing the backround story, and turn to the series to fill in whatever blanks were there. I liked the fact that you didn't need a backround and could fall so easily into their lives and root for them. (I loved River the moment I saw her bein' all creepifying and kickassish)

That nerdy hat

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Wednesday, May 2, 2007 10:08 AM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by OrangeHat:
I like the movie just as much as the series.

Me too, OrangeHat. To me, the BDM is just a three-part finale, not at all a different animal from the show, just an intense last three eps, so to speak.
My favourite flick of all time, if ya want to see it as seperate from the series, though.

What a whiner Chrisisall

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