Series/Firefly

I don't try so much as it comes naturally. My two talents are remembering random things and extrapolating. Tend to fill in the gaps of a work in about six seconds.

edited 21st Dec '11 8:54:36 AM by Exelixi

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

That's true. Some people can't screen the details in their lives. Useful for some, probably irritating as all hell for the rest.

I'm a skeptical squirrel

Finally saw Hear of Gold and Objects in Space.

..and they were great

With Heart of Gold we see more of Mal and Inara's relationship (which makes it more of an Ass Pull when the movie doesn't have Mal and Inara consummate their relationship, at least it happened with Simon and Kaylee).

with Objects in Space, like everyone else it's fun seeing River be crazy and act as an evil genius.

Now I must buy the movie (or hopefully get it for Christmas) so I can have the whole sereis (sans comic books).

I'm on Youtube Reviewing Things Cause I can.

So what the fuck was up with Simon and River's parents?

I mean, they must have known something was up at River's academy. They're not stupid. Were they in on it? Did they sell her in for cash? Or did they just cut their losses and focus on Simon?

They'd have probably turned up again later that season, I'm thinking.

Though of course, can't think they'd be too happy with a gay son in that case, he said, projecting 20th century viewpoints onto the show.

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I always thought of their parents as a bit too naive and way too clueless to what's really happening. I mean Simon shows them some plausable evidence and they don't take it seriously. Had the show went on I would've expected an ep to expand on this and show how they would've felt.

Seeing as this thread is bumped a bit. I may as well give an update.

I got Serenity for Christmas and have watched it and it's special features (Fruity Oaty Bars...).

So yeah I have essenitally finished the show and movie in full circle.

edited 28th Nov '12 12:03:58 PM by JRPictures

I'm on Youtube Reviewing Things Cause I can.

There is a deleted flashback scene in safe that clarifies this a bit. I saw it in the shooting script once, but apparently the site which hosted it is down now, so i can't find it anymore. Anyway, the scene I am talking about was a conversation between Simons parents if I remember that right. It showed that they had a bad feeling to but were too afraid of the alliance or at least tried to deny that anything could be wrong because that would destroy their world view.

If that scene would have been left in it would have been clear that the Tam's had no bad intentions. They had no backbone because they didn't question what happened and did not fight for their daughter, but they weren't malicious. At least that was what I got out of that scene.

BTW: i read this a while back, for everyone who needs a fix. http://www.whedon.info/article.php3?id_article=8136 it's the script for an unproduced episode.

edited 30th Jun '12 5:46:49 AM by ZheToralf

You lost!

Yeah that probably would've been the case there.

I'm on Youtube Reviewing Things Cause I can.

Serenity leaves Mal and Inara in a better place than they were to start with. When we last saw them, Inara was leaving the ship to run from her feelings for Mal. That relationship had a lot more to overcome. And at the end of the movie, she's deciding to stay and see where things go. Remember the movie wasn't supposed to be the end, just a good stopping point that would make a decent end if it had to be.

Fresh-eyed movie blog

The show was cancelled before the movie came out, though.

How could it not have been intended as the end?

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

The movie was made to have an end point, but not an ending which could prevent the series from being Uncancelled...

Or they would have made more movies.

You lost!

It wasn't enough of a success to make more movies. Though I wonder if it would have been if they didn't have to license the property from Fox.

Fox has totally decided to patent troll Firefly. "No, of course we can't justify investing in new content. We're only making millions off other people's work."

Fresh-eyed movie blog

I tried watching the first 20 minutes. Couldn't understand a second of it.

That's not a complaint mind you. I think some of it is just because the entire genre is super-new to me.

Sci-fi? Or the Western? Or the dramatic comedy?

(Also, I can't stand much of the beginning. That flashback's pretty... poor. And a last minute mandate by the network, apparently — hence the reason why the show has two opening sequences, what with the heist that follows it.)

edited 5th Jul '12 12:16:12 AM by Nicknacks

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What do you mean? Flashback and heist are in different episodes, aren't they?

Love truth, but pardon error. - Voltaire

The original pilot opened with the flashback and a quick heist of gold (I think) with Mal and the others in spacesuits.

I'm on Youtube Reviewing Things Cause I can.

Ah, yeah. I thought "heist" was referring to the train job in the second pilot.

Love truth, but pardon error. - Voltaire

"Sci-fi? Or the Western? Or the dramatic comedy?" All of the above is new to me.

Whelp.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

Yeah. Between Asperger's and a household with very narrow interests (my mom rarely watches anything other than game shows, crime shows and the occasional sitcom; my sister, Pretty Little Liars and cartoons), I'm kinda un-accustomed to much of anything.

Regarding Mr. and Mrs. Tam:

I always figured it would be that. Wealthy people with a lot to lose don't tend to challenge a semi-totalitarian government which can make them disappear in a heartbeat. They usually opt to go along with the system and try to prosper in it as best as possible.

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |

Isn't Pretty Little Liars a dramedy? Or is it just straight drama?

And depending on the crime show, they can be dramedies, too (Psych and Monk. Also Criminal Minds and NCIS to a lesser extent.)

edited 5th Jul '12 12:51:00 PM by Mukora

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

I don't watch PLL myself, so I don't know. Also, even though I liked every episode I saw, Monk was never priority TV for me.

You'll get into it — in fact, I'm betting that you'll find that you're more familiar with the various genres than you currently (may) realise.

That said, the series does expect a modicum of familiarity between its audience and the events it portrays. Certain things, like the relationship that Mal experiences with the Aliance, or that Simon has with Mal, requires a basic understanding of the syntactic tropes associated with the Western. That and things like the Alliance hailing from a long history of science-fiction military authorities that the show assumes viewers are at least vaguely aware of.

But as I said, I'd be seriously surprised if you didn't get those kinds of fundamentals, despite you lack of familiarity. I mean, if you can describe the sorts of expectations you have of a Western, of a fantasy plot, or a heist story, then you have enough to be confident in what's going on. These are, btw, really simple things*

e.g. the heist: people tend to have a familiarity with the kind of character type the characters would be stealing from, and therefore what to expect from them. Or the way of a heist narrative tends to unfold — i.e. badly. Or, in a completely different example, if a waifish little woman turns up, one who can't really defend herself, there's an expectation that by the time her turn on the show's over she'll have grown stronger and have been able to defend herself.

Knowing these kinds of syntactic codes is important, so that when the trope representing them turns up in the narrative, the writers can use then use audience expectation to trick you. Part of the pleasure in Joss Whedon's writing is in his consistent use of misleading syntax, or the way he'll blend genre specific semantic coding (like cowboy hat = Western, or space ship = sci-fi) with the syntax of different genres. e.g. the gold bars that Mal steals from the derelict at the start of Serenity which turn out not to be gold, as would be logical to the Western, but processed nutrient, as would be logical to the sci-fi epic.

And that's been your terrible impromtu lecture for the day. Read Altman, chapters two and ten, and prep examples from other popular media for tutorials next week. :P

edited 6th Jul '12 9:14:17 AM by Nicknacks

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"I mean, if you can describe the sorts of expectations you have of a Western, of a fantasy plot, or a heist story, then you have enough to be confident in what's going on"

As I said though, I have extremely little experience with anything serial. I don't know what to expect of any fantasy plots, for one.

Not that I dislike what I'm seeing. In fact, rewatching the first few bits of the pilot seemed to go a lot more smoothly. The only reason I didn't finish was because it was 3 AM and I needed sleep.

edited 6th Jul '12 3:57:46 PM by Twentington