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How come firefly fans are so rabid?

Mycroft

High Priest of Ed
Mycroft
Joined
Sep 10, 2003
Messages
20,501
I watched the series, I kinda like it. My wife and I saw the movie, we enjoyed that too. It was a good yarn.

But it seems to me many of the fans are just a little too excited. How come?
 
I don't know about this one.

It took me a while to get into Firefly. The first three or four episodes, to me, seemed like they were trying too hard to establish their characters with exposition. One expects that in the pilot, but they were doing it for three or four episodes.
 
The series is full of a great cast and the special effects are well done. It's 90 percent the characters---how they interact.

It's not a wooden Star Wars type sci fi the characters are just ordinary people trying to get by, like a soap opera. Why do people watch the same soap opera for 20 years? If you know sci fi you'll notice like Star Trek that almost all of it is about soldiers vs aliens. They never make anything but that. Firefly was completely different from the normal form they always use in that it was more a soap.
 
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jay gw said:
The series is full of a great cast and the special effects are well done. It's 90 percent the characters---how they interact.

It's not a wooden Star Wars type sci fi the characters are just ordinary people trying to get by, like a soap opera. Why do people watch the same soap opera for 20 years? That's what the creator tried to do and he did Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and had great success. I'm sorry Firefly didn't go on any longer than it did.
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That's one way of looking into it. Firefly had a sort of refreshing quality. The format allowed them to do a lot of different things within the context of the series.

Still, however, I feel that it never really hit its stride in the run it had.
 
I don't understand any TV shows that aren't Futurama. I'm so rabid about that, however, I will bite you on the leg with my frothing mouth if you even dare criticise it.

My sister has just converted to the Firefly cult, which is a good enough recommendation for me to rent the DVD and see what all the fuss is about. The movie was so-so, but perhaps it was an in-joke that I'm not nerdy, sorry, cool enough to understand.
 
jay gw said:
the characters are just ordinary people trying to get by, like a soap opera.
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I don't know what soap operas you watch, but the ones my mom watches have mobsters, the super-rich, heads of multinational corporations, and the landed gentry. Everyone seems to have some exciting source of vast wealth, and they're all used to kidnappings and murders and evil twins and everyone has had at least two affairs with every other character. If that's what you consider "ordinary people trying to get by", well, you live in interesting times.
 
Mostly because the series had such great potential, but died a too early death.

Also, it's been a very long time since we had som real science fiction on tv, and Firefly seemed to be the show to fill the gap.

I'm a huge fan, but wouldn't call myself rabid.
 
Hutch said:
FWIW, saw the movie, haven't seen the series. I'm impressed, but not overawed.
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The movie continued where the show stopped, and ended the storyline. So if you didn't watch the show, I don't expect you'd get much out of the movie.
 
I enjoyed Firefly. I do wish there was more of it to see.

Are the Firefly fans really more rabid than Trek or Babylon 5 fans?
 
It helps to have watched some of Whedon's previous work. The man is great at creating real characters - genuine personas that the viewer cares deeply about, even the antagonists. The writing is witty, subtle, and plays on our expectations in ways that are surprising and enjoyable. There's very little cliche. The man's skilled at his craft - and I feel I can use the word without seeming silly. Other shows are produced, Whedon's are crafted.

I liked Buffy, was fond of Angel. Saw one episode of Firefly on DVD at a meeting of SF fans, and was instantly hooked. (It was War Stories.) Then I saw the musical episode of Buffy, and I just fell completely in love with Joss. Not erotic love, mind you, although I'd probably be up for some cuddling.
 
I didn't like Buffy and I absolutely hated Angel, but I still loved Firefly :)
 
Ryokan said:
I didn't like Buffy and I absolutely hated Angel
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There's great stuff in each. I like to appreciate the shows on multiple levels, and I liked that the shows could be appreciated on multiple levels.

On the other hand, I'm somewhat fond of the Xena and Hercules shows, so you could say I have a taste for camp. If you don't like the occasional bit of camp, the genre-parodying aspects of Buffy and Angel might not go over so well.
 
How come firefly fans are so rabid?
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That's a classic begged question.

I had no interest in watching it at first; only watched it because my daughter virtually duct-taped me to the sofa one evening, and put on the DVD. Ten minutes in, I was hooked. I find it genuinely witty, as opposed to loaded with the sophomoric one-liners that often pass for tv wit. I'm intrigued by the vision of the future - the human race spreading to another system, and immediately setting about all its old mistakes. The characters have depth, and are likeable even when they're - er - not. The plot twists manage to take even this jaded old tv veteran by surprise. What's not to love?

As for the perhaps exaggerated enthusiasm of the Browncoats over the last few months, that's at least partly to do with their hopes that Serenity could make a good enough showing that Joss Whedon would be given the lolly to continue making movies in that 'verse. History is on their side - I seem to recall a short-lived sf series in the '60s that was kept alive by fandom until it was revived in the 90s. What was that show called again?
 
Ryokan said:
Hey, I liked Hercules and I loved Xena :p
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So much trash, so much wonderful material, all put in the same pot and cooked up as Action Hour soup. Ah, those were the days.

In all that mindless fun, they occasionally hid thoughtful diamonds. I still consider the episode of Xena where she travels to China at the request of an old mentor one of the best things I've ever seen on television.
 
Yeah, I remember that episode. I always prefered Xena over Hercules, as she seemed much more like a real person to me, having both a good and evil side.
 
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