What Was So Great About Firefly?

I've followed the posts of people who liked Firefly for years and there seems to be an undercurrent of the idea that this is a "science fiction show people are SUPPOSED to like".

I don't get why we're "supposed" to like it.

You do know that in concept, the Serenity crew fought for the side that Josh Whedon conceived of as the Confederacy in the American Civil War?

Yet instead of investigating it yourself, you're left to wonder.

The pattern of your life continues.

I've tried to understand it shootER. I don't. Which is why I started this thread.

You're supposedly pretty smart. Why is my explanation difficult for you to understand. ?

What I understand is that this is yet another trolling thread by you in Media Central and I'm treating it with the seriousness that it deserves.

I see you're using the TrekBBS definition of trolling.

"Trolling is any post or thread designed to provoke responses".

Notice shootER negative reps........but he doesn't deny it.

You start dumbass threads like this not because you're interested in answers, but because you're just looking to stir up shit. Witness the legion of "Question about [some episode of TOS]" threads.

It's your mainstay troll and, by rights, you could be warned for it.

You're not supposed to like it. You're supposed to make up your own mind. Are you able to think critically or do we have to feed thoughts to you?

I never saw it when it was on TV. Saw it all in one shot on DVD. I loved it. Damn shame they cancelled it. The movie was okay but I didn't like what happened to Wash.

No show is perfect of course and this one had it's flaws but it was a first season. How many shows look radically different from their first seasons. Fox really blew it on Firefly. It had the potential to be a hit for them. Once they saw the strong support after they cancelled it they should have tried to bring it back.

Actually the "Question about [some episode of TOS]" threads. are quite serious on my part. Especially regarding the original Star Trek episodes I have an intense interest in them "making sense".

I have all of Phil Farrand's "Nitpickers Guides"

But you haven't tried. You only watched 2 episodes. That's like just eating the tip of the Twinkie and saying it's just a bunch of cake. Get to the cream filling man!!

Let's look at it comparatively percentage wise.

I'll bet I could watch say 10 episodes of the first season of the original Star Trek and still be mightily impressed with the series.

Same with Babylon-5.

Some series like Space: Above & Beyond or Terra Nova had their best episodes as the series pilot.

Shut. Up.

Ah, but if those 10 eps were all from the 3rd season, you might think the show sucked. Same with TNG 1st or 2nd season.

Watch the whole thing! Then have an opinion. You can knock it out in one weekend.

Only if you cherry picked the bad ones. There were plenty of good Star Trek episodes in the Third Season.

how does this serve as a counter-point to it being great?

For me, characterization and dialogue were huge, the overall storytelling, telling a good episodic story while layering in the larger universe and character background was very skillful, and it had a near perfect balance of high drama and light moments.

All that and yes, it was space opera - which I happen to like a lot.

as it happens, my youngest son has been watching it with me for the first time, we're up to Out of Gas tonight and so far, it's all thumbs up

Dayton is just butt-hurt that he's left out of something.

Get over it, Dayton.
The BSG reboot left me cold, whatever magic everyone else was seeing passed me by.
The years it was on felt kind of lonesome.
I still didn't start troll threads about how it really sucked, and people were defective for enjoying it.
You're not gonna be in on everything.
How it goes.
Move on.

To be fair, you should watch the first 10 (or 12) episodes of any of those series in contrast. THe latter three were all likewise designed to be chapters rather than episodes so the pace and quality of development can be judged by how well that was achieved by each show.

great origin story.

Did the sarcasm not come through on that one?

It's a 17-pounder mounted on a Sherman! What's not to like?

He compared the crew to defeated CSA vets, that's about the extent of it. As the war was about not joining the Alliance rather than secession from it, there isn't much of a parallel.

Ever notice that it was the Anglo/Sino, rather than American/Sino or Russo/American for that matter? The suggestion that when Earth was abandoned, the two strongest nations left standing were Britain and China...

Well it was science fiction.

The Alliance was clearly Sino-American.

Good point, yet it's a parliamentary democracy with elements of British monarchy and government ministers. Besides, slapping the US flag on is pretty much mandatory to sell it to Americans. Thinking about it, the Independents really were more like the 13 colonies than the CSA, except their revolution failed.

Also, ever wonder what happened with Earth that was left behind?

I like to think that for whatever reason they contact contemporary Earth and Buck Rogers is on the viewscreen. (only 28 years separate their first season settings).

Anglo is used to refer to Americans as well.

In the show it was the United States and China. Clearly a tiny backwater hole like the UK could not hope to have the strength to get humanity to another planet.

And the war was about secession. The outer planets left the Alliance and wanted to make their own alliance. That's what started the war. This is why Whedon referred to the Confederacy.