Wonderfalls DVD review by niknak

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Wonderfalls DVD review

POSTED BY: NIKNAK
UPDATED: Thursday, March 3, 2005 17:07
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VIEWED: 2249
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Wednesday, March 2, 2005 1:56 PM

Executive Summary: Buy it.

In a move that apparently rocked Lissa's socks, I decided to buy the Wonderfalls DVD based entirely on the recommendations of browncoats. (See: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=8&t=8868 )

I got to the end on Monday and thought I'd share my thoughts on it. I'll keep it free of any major spoilers.

Wonderfalls centres around Jaye Tyler, who, despite having a university degree, works in a Niagra Falls gift shop and lives in a trailer. Her life is complicated by that fact that objects with animal faces start telling her to do things. She doesn't know if they are God, the Devil or if she's just insane. She resents them but after a while she does everything they tell her and through their often crazy instructions ends up helping people, though sometimes at great personal pain for herself. She struggles to appear sane, stay out of trouble with the law and keep it all secret from her family, her friends, her mother's psychiatrist and her favourite barman, Eric.

Caroline Dhavernas is wonderful as Jaye and the rest of the cast are great too. All the characters are interesting and their relationships are complex. The stories have are thoroughly entertaining, with drama, emotion, humour and more twists than a chromosone. Jewel Staite makes a notable guest appearance in four episodes as Eric's cheating wife, who, much to Jaye's dismay, wants him back.

I can't think of much to criticise Wonderfalls for. I don't really like the theme song but it does fit the feel of the show well. It's not as exciting as shows like 24 but that's because it doesn't try to be - like Firefly it's all about the characters. It is not as good as Firefly; but that is like criticising a car for not being as fast as a McLaren F1.

I was worried that it might leave lots of loose ends because it was cancelled. Thankfully the final episode does have a proper ending, bringing a couple of important storylines to a decent conclusion. It's a pity it wasn't a TV success. I think it would have done better earlier in the evening because it would appeal to children as well as adults. Also, I think it is hard to get people to try a new show unless its about something 'cool' like firefighters or footballers' wives.

You might like to know that I was in the middle of watching Babylon 5 series 3 for the first time when Wonderfalls arrived. I intended to balance my viewing of both but ended up taking a break from Babylon 5 because I was more excited by the prospect of an episode of Wonderfalls than and episode of Babylon 5.

To sum up, it's a great little show, well worth paying for, including inter-continental delivery.

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Wednesday, March 2, 2005 4:42 PM

SAMWIBATT

Thanks for your review and double thanks for buying the DVDs - I agree it is a good show. I was lucky (?) enough to see the four episodes F*x broadcast before memory-holing it completely. It was kind of creepy how the official website disappeared and everything. No cancellation notice, no any kind of indication it had ever existed - except for my videotapes and the outraged fans holding forth about it online.

According to the forums on getherwordsout.com, about 26,000 copies of Wonderfalls had sold by the end of February, its first month of sales. (getherwordsout is the forum part of savewonderfalls.com, a site not unlike this one but not so populated, since the show died even faster than our beloved FF.) That's better than nothing, but not too great.

I'm glad to hear the word-of-mouth campaign is getting people interested. Big salute to the dedicated fans who helped make the DVD happen. Fox screwed Wonderfalls even harder than Firefly, and while I like Firefly better, WF is better than nearly everything currently on the air, IMO.

I second Niknak's executive summary: buy it. :)

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Wednesday, March 2, 2005 6:26 PM

ASA

On a side note: Enjoy Season 3 of Babylon 5 Niknak. It's definitely the best season of the show, there are just some amazing episodes. Sure there are a few bad episodes, but it takes you on an amazing ride. In paticular there is a 3-episode storyline and a 2-episode storyline which standout as my favorite of the show. Keep watching Baby5, I think you'll enjoy it.

And the good news is that Season 4 is almost as good.

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Thursday, March 3, 2005 2:13 AM

EVILTOBZ

based on the internet buzz for wonderfalls i managed to download all the episodes before the dvd release was even announced and found it to be funny, engaging, and a pleasure to watch with all the screen time given to the delicious caroline dhavernas :) when i saw it availbale on dvdsoon.com for peanuts and that included shipping over to england i decided to buy it, more as a thank-you to the makers than me thinking i wanted to watch it again.

however, when it arrived i decided to stick it on for a bit and i'd forgotten just how good it was. it got some real belly laughs out of me and once again i was hooked. later episodes seemed to reign in on the humour a little but the entire series maintained a high level of quality and i can't recommend it enough. especially to the sort of poeple who are firefly/whedon fans.

---------------------------------------------
eviltobz - that's lowercase gorram it!

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Thursday, March 3, 2005 1:01 PM

NIKNAK

Quote:
Originally posted by Asa:
On a side note: Enjoy Season 3 of Babylon 5 Niknak....

I am enjoying it - the fact I took a break from it was a compliment to Wonderfalls and in no way criticism of a fantastic Sci-fi series.

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Thursday, March 3, 2005 3:22 PM

SAMWIBATT

Quote:
Originally posted by eviltobz:
... a pleasure to watch with all the screen time given to the delicious caroline dhavernas :)

She is a beauty - but it's odd, for some reason I think she doesn't still-photograph at all well. If she's in motion, she's gorgeous. Strange. There must be some sort of term for that (I propose "dynamic beauty"). I thought she did a great job in Wonderfalls; all the actors are good, but she carries it.

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Thursday, March 3, 2005 5:07 PM

LISSA

Quote:
Originally posted by niknak:

In a move that apparently rocked Lissa's socks, I decided to buy the Wonderfalls DVD based entirely on the recommendations of browncoats. (See: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=8&t=8868 )

haha, it's me! awesome:)
nice review!

~lissa, spwhore

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