I think it's wrong to poll about which Joss show is the best by jwhedonaddict

BUFFYVERSE

I think it's wrong to poll about which Joss show is the best

POSTED BY: JWHEDONADDICT
UPDATED: Saturday, November 18, 2006 13:34
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VIEWED: 3461
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Saturday, November 18, 2006 6:48 AM

They're all great, and none are better than any other. It just mean, to me, to do this. Buffy had a full run of seven years to tell her story, Angel was cut short at five before Joss was finished, and Firefly was cancelled at around half a season and got one movie, whether the overall story was finished or not. We all have our favorites, but who are we to judge which one's "better" than any other? It's unfair.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 6:59 AM

NBZ

It's about personal taste.

You either like something or you do not.

Firefly was different from the other two, and most other TV out there.

I like it.

Firefly is less angsty than the other two while remaining dark. The latter episodes are all pretty dark, what with Mal almost dying, Mal and wash being tortured, Tracey dying, Nandi dying, Inara deciding to leave. (count the movie in and it gets darker)

One saving grace is that I do not hold Joss on a pedestal, and am not sure if he would have eventually messed the formula up or not.

So for me Firefly is heads and shoulders above the other two. But there will be those who hold a different position. We call those people crazy ;)

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 7:06 AM

JWHEDONADDICT

I didn't say I didn't like Firefly as much as the other two. They were all very different and I just think it's unfair to comare them.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 7:11 AM

NBZ

I didn't think you said you liked firefly less. You said (IMO) you liked it just as much.

It probably is unfair to compare them.

I was just saying it's personal taste, and there is no accounting for it.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 7:40 AM

LIGHTMEDARK

If it's unfair to compare them, then we all do things that are unfair all the time. Life is full of comparisons and choices based on those comparisons. Take me, for example...Firefly blows the other two out of the water - but that's just my opinion. I wouldn't say that anyone who feels the opposite was wrong, just different.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 8:01 AM

DAVESHAYNE

Well the themes and characters of Firefly speak to me in a way that neither Buffy nor Angel do so while the characterizations, story, and wit are roughly equivalent across the spectrum Firefly is certainly superior from my point of view. I can certainly accept that for some people it's the other way around though and I don't think polling is wrong in this case. Even though polling on a site such as this will lead to somewhat skewed results.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 8:19 AM

JWHEDONADDICT

This is how I'm basing my opinion of the whole thing:

With Buffy, it was almost instant the way I connected with it. Mostly it was Xander and Willow, and of course the writing and everything else was amazing. Despite all the ups and downs over the entire run, my love for it never faded, even a little.

With Angel, it was a little slower. I started watching because I already loved the characters, but I wasn't crazy about the show (even though it wasn't exactly horrible) until it became about THEM. By season 2, I was completely in love with every single thing about it.

Honestly, if it weren't for Buffy and Angel, and the internet, and the knowledge about Joss that resulted from all three, I wouldn't've given Firefly a shot at all. I've never been into westerns, or sci-fi, and FOX's handling of the show did little to change my mind. The main thing that did draw me in despite the confusion was the language, which was very obviously Joss. I was just starting to get truly into it when it ended and it wasn't until the DVDs when I was able to see it the way it was meant to be seen that I finally "got it" and was able to consider myself a real fan.

So, my opinion is emotion-based. I completely love and adore all three, but without Joss, I wouldn't have had Buffy, without Buffy I wouldn't've had Angel, and without any of them, I wouldn't have Firefly and Serenity.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 8:43 AM

AMYEL

I hate comparisons too. Joss had several years working out his writing, directing, and showrunning skills with Buffy (and to a slightly lesser extent, Angel, because he was never the showtunner there and wrote/directed a lot less episodes) before he made Firefly. Buffy was the education and Firefly was the fruition of it. Firefly would have never existed without Buffy. I think a lot of Firefly-only fans don't give enough (or, you know, any) credit to Buffy, but Firefly just wouldn't have happened without it.

Plus, duh, this is a Firefly board so opinions will just be unbalanced here! Like if you talk to people who saw Buffy first, there's a whole lot of nostalgia attached to their opinions of which show is better.

But it does irk me that there are "Firefly is better" threads posted on the Angel and Buffy sections of this forum. Why does that have to be announced?

The three shows are like three siblings. Buffy is the older, more established well-known older child. Angel is the mostly ignored and overlooked very smart and talented middle child. Firefly is the show-offy prodigy younger child.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 9:22 AM

JWHEDONADDICT

Sadly, I think this board was chosen to display a thread like that in order to try to offend Joss's Buffy/Angel fans. I should've known better than to follow. That's not what Joss is about, that's not what his 'verse's are about and it's not what I want to be about in coming here, either.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 10:49 AM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by jwhedonaddict:
Sadly, I think this board was chosen to display a thread like that in order to try to offend Joss's Buffy/Angel fans. I should've known better than to follow. That's not what Joss is about, that's not what his 'verse's are about and it's not what I want to be about in coming here, either.

I had a longer response to this that got eaten by the dreaded internal server error. The jist was that I'm sorry if you've felt ill served by posters here and though I disagree with your position regarding polling I certainly don't think this topic is off limits for discusion or that your tone was anything other than apropriate.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 11:15 AM

LIGHTMEDARK

Quote:
Originally posted by amyel:
I think a lot of Firefly-only fans don't give enough (or, you know, any) credit to Buffy, but Firefly just wouldn't have happened without it.

I'm glad he had Buffy to work out the kinks and gain enough recognition to start a new series. I don't see how I have to credit the show for that, though.

Quote:
But it does irk me that there are "Firefly is better" threads posted on the Angel and Buffy sections of this forum. Why does that have to be announced?

I didn't know that was happening. While I agree with them, doing that is pretty lame =/

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 11:24 AM

JWHEDONADDICT

I've changed my view on the thing slightly, or rather am explaining it so that my point is a little clearer. I don't think it's necessarily wrong to do the poll at all, I just feel that by choosing to word it the way that it was ("Why Firefly is Better", or whatever) and have it placed on a part of the board designated for Buffy/Angel fans, it felt as though it was intended to offend those fans. Why couldn't the same thread be placed in General Discussions (where fans are possibly more mixed) or any other section designated for Firefly? That way, any Buffy/Angel fan can go there with the understanding that they might possibly be in the minority.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 11:39 AM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by jwhedonaddict:
I've changed my view on the thing slightly, or rather am explaining it so that my point is a little clearer. I don't think it's necessarily wrong to do the poll at all, I just feel that by choosing to word it the way that it was ("Why Firefly is Better", or whatever) and have it placed on a part of the board designated for Buffy/Angel fans, it felt as though it was intended to offend those fans.

My longer response did cover that part more specificially. Mostly I said it was a shame that even a board as generally friendly as this one has it's share of trolls.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 11:50 AM

HUGHFF

I don't think it's unfair or wrong at all. I think part of the enjoyment of art/entertainment is to discuss and debate our preferences and to back them up with objective and subjective evidence.

For example: objectively, someone could say Buffy was best as it ran the longest. Subjectively, I would say that Firefly is the best because it is sf rather than supenatural (which I prefer) and because it's target age demographic is older (as am I.)

www.cpfc.org - my life
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Saturday, November 18, 2006 12:10 PM

JWHEDONADDICT

I realize it sounds naive to think this way, but from the get-go in discovering Joss and what he's about and finding out that there are others who get him and share this view of him and the world(s)he creates, I NEVER would have thought that "trolls" could or would exist here at all. It was the same way with the old Buffy boards, though. I just thought that this would be a community of people where EVERYONE respected each other, and each other's opinions, regardless of whether they agreed or not because we do all have one thing in common. I mean, to go out of your way to intentionally try to offend someone who might simply have a different opinion? I understand that a few bad apples doesn't necessarily mean the whole tree is bad, it's just disappointing to me that they exist here at all.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 1:34 PM

DEEPGIRL187

Unfortunately, we do have some trolls here. But they're mostly in Troll Country, so things function pretty well for the most part.

I have to agree with HughFF. I think debate is healthy activity, and doesn't necessarily do harm. And I didn't see any outright attacks to Buffy and Angel fans, but then, I also haven't seen all of the threads. And Amyel is right; this is a Firefly board, so things are going to be a bit skewed here.

I'll admit, at one time I was one of those who was highly critical of Buffy and Angel. And at times, I was known to attack both shows as being inferior to Firefly. That was, however, until I watched both shows. Now I'm a rabid, nay, obssessed fan of the entire Buffyverse.

Despite all of this, Firefly is still my first love, and always will be. But I can also appreaciate what came before. I enjoy comparing and contrasting all the shows, and my love of them is not lessened.

*************************************************

"So long and goodnight."

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