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SCIFI.COM Gives 'The Train Job' An 'A-'

POSTED BY: NEWSADMIN
UPDATED: Thursday, September 19, 2002 19:37
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Wednesday, September 18, 2002 9:38 AM

NEWSADMIN


SCIFI.COM has posted a review of the Firefly season opener, 'The Train Job.'

Here is a blurb from that review:

Quote:

Firefly features a few familiar faces, notably The X-Files' Baldwin, who is effective as the gruff Jayne, and Alias' Torres, inhabiting one of her trademark tough-chick roles. But most of the players are relatively unknown, and the standouts are the comely Baccarin, who convincingly conveys her character's sophistication, and Fillion, who is part Jimmy Stewart and part David Boreanaz. The show's biggest challenge, aside from a deadly timeslot, will be doing justice to each character in the large cast—a shortcoming of Whedon's other shows as well. — Resa



You can read the entire review here:

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue282/screen3.html

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Wednesday, September 18, 2002 4:18 PM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

... Fillion, who is part Jimmy Stewart and part David Boreanaz.

He actually tried out for Angel:

http://www.fox.com/firefly/video/trainjob_kelly.htm

Quote:

The show's biggest challenge, aside from a deadly timeslot, will be doing justice to each character in the large cast—a shortcoming of Whedon's other shows as well.
Now, that's just crap. I don't watch Angel a lot, but I never saw a show that made such good use of its actors as does Buffy.

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Wednesday, September 18, 2002 4:38 PM

ZICSOFT


I just looked at the actualy review, and have to say it has more spoilage than is really fair.

Elsewhere on the site there's a summary of new shows, and for once somebody agrees with me on the scheduling issue:

Quote:

Whether or not Whedon and his crew can pull off another great series is difficult to know at this stage. No pilot has been available for preview and only brief glimpses have been seen. But it sounds and looks fantastic, and more importantly, I trust Whedon to do a good job. As far as the timeslot, there's no serious competition for the series, which will air early on Friday night. The biggest problem will most likely be Fox, considering they don't have much patience these days with new shows.


Complete version here: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue281/screen.html

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Wednesday, September 18, 2002 6:35 PM

JERRY


The timeslot really is a mixed blessing. There is nothing that would even remotely distract any viewer who might want to watch Firefly, but many potential viewers are not watching TV then. Angel, on the other hand, airs in the timeslot which probably has the highest overall viewership, but against many shows (Sopranos, L&O:CI, Alias, NFL football) that might draw away it's audience.

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Thursday, September 19, 2002 9:29 AM

MILLERNATE


Quote:


Now, that's just crap. I don't watch Angel a lot, but I never saw a show that made such good use of its actors as does Buffy.



Actually I have to greatly disagree with you here. A lot of the time on Buffy the rest of the ensemble cast ends up as glorified extras (Xander especially) who appear only because they are contracted for every episode. This past season gave us several examples. Such as:

Xander - glorified cameo player 99% of the time, actually got less time in several episodes than Suzanne Sommers did during the infamous "Sommers minute" segments on 3 Company. Basically only got time to leave Anya (which didn't work because it wasn't close to set up properly) and save the day (in the last episode only).

Dawn - Her poor excuse for a plotline was cut short and then was given a quickie resolution.

I could also point out the general ignoring in the past of: Tara, Giles (ask 90% of fans how he was used in Seasons 4-5 and be prepared for a complaint), and Oz.

Now for a show that really uses a large ensemble cast effectively I'd point out The Shield. With only one exception pretty much every major character has some plot reason to exist in the season as a whole and also, for the most part, in the episodes (we can argue about the effectiveness of said plots and writing but that's another question).


Nathan
"It looks like a great adventure...That's what it is; that's what it feels like. When I saw the pilot, it was really engaging. It was exciting. It was unusual. It threw me off every now and then. I think people will be grabbed by it." - Ron Glass, on the pilot, during an interview with the Indianapolis Star

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Thursday, September 19, 2002 9:33 AM

MILLERNATE


Quote:



The timeslot really is a mixed blessing. There is nothing that would even remotely distract any viewer who might want to watch Firefly, but many potential viewers are not watching TV then.



Actually Firefly shares something in common with Angel in regard to scheduling: Both were placed on night's when the network does not have a chance at succeeding based on past track record. Sunday is WB's "Death Slot" (never succeeds) and Friday is basically Fox's (though 8:00 is better than 9:00, using Dark Angel as a test case). Firefly needs a thoughtfull audience but most of that audience is out on Friday's.



Nathan
"It looks like a great adventure...That's what it is; that's what it feels like. When I saw the pilot, it was really engaging. It was exciting. It was unusual. It threw me off every now and then. I think people will be grabbed by it." - Ron Glass, on the pilot, during an interview with the Indianapolis Star

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Thursday, September 19, 2002 11:34 AM

MOJOECA


I think that BtVS and AtS are not pure ensemble shows. Buffy and Angel are the central characters, respectively. And the supporting players are just that, support.

"Buffy" 6 was arguably the first time each character was given their own specific season-long arc, instead of a short detour along Buffy's journey. However, they were too thin and poorly paced.

AtS' format is different in that the season is broken down into well-defined mini-arcs (always Angel's story). Supporting players take an active role, or a backseat depending on what's going on, what's needed in each.

FIREFLY seems to be designed more as a pure ensemble show. I'll know if I'm right about that in 30 hours.

--- Joe

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Thursday, September 19, 2002 11:43 AM

ZICSOFT


Quote:

Originally posted by MollyBloom:
Of course, this isn't a very intelligent comment about the timeslot but . . I love it. One of my good friends and I were just starting high school when the X-Files premiered on Friday nights. We were crazy about the show and had sleep-overs almost every Friday. Then they switched the show to Sunday. No more sleep-overs on a school night. Now we're both in grad school in different cities and when I told her that a very cool show was going to be on Friday nights, her first reaction was "yay! Sleep-overs again!" So, whether or not Friday night will be a death-slot, it gives me the warm fuzzies.

Mol

Why is that not intelligent? Warm fuzziness has everything to do with a show's chance of surviving!

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Thursday, September 19, 2002 7:37 PM

SHUGGIE


Quote:

Originally posted by millernate:
I could also point out the general ignoring in the past of: Tara, Giles (ask 90% of fans how he was used in Seasons 4-5 and be prepared for a complaint), and Oz.



Whilst you're right about Xander, Dawn, Tara and Giles - any lack of Oz was down to Seth Green and his movie career. Joss has said on a couple of occasions that they'd have liked to use Oz more.

Shug

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