Why is this considered THAT good?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Firefly
tolis-maltez — 12 years ago(February 05, 2014 08:38 AM)
It's not a hate message, I just don't get why is it a 9.2 show. I love sci-fi and I had all the good intentions to watch it but after 3 episodes I stopped it. So, I honestly don't get why the rating is so high. I mean no disrespect towards the fans, the creators and all the crew, I just want an answer why do you guys think it's so good that it deserves a 9.2 rating.
Also sorry for my english. -
NVDan — 12 years ago(February 05, 2014 10:27 AM)
You can't really judge this series by the first three episodes. The show gets a lot better very quickly. Give it another chance. You haven't reached the incredible episodes.
Some of the technical things that attracted me to the show were things like no faster than light drive, no aliens, and no sound in space. But more than that, it's the interaction among the characters. They fight, they joke, they get on each other's nerves - just like real people.
Sorry, sometimes my wife forgets that she is not an alien from outer space.
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jbaddock — 12 years ago(February 05, 2014 01:15 PM)
But more than that, it's the interaction among the characters.
Exactly - each character has something of a backstory and, as the episodes progress, these begin to emerge. It certainly isn't like, say, Star Trek, where everyone thinks the Captain is God and there is no bickering among the crew - there's bickering a plenty on the
Serenity
. The series is more about the characters than the action, to be honest (although the action is still pretty good when it happens) and you end up really caring about what happens to them (except possibly Jayne) -
NVDan — 12 years ago(February 05, 2014 01:23 PM)
It certainly isn't like, say, Star Trek, where everyone thinks the Captain is God
Exactly! I'm one of those few people that saw the show when it first aired (as Walter Brennen used to say in an old TV western, "No brag, just fact") and the first thing that caught my eye was when Zoe made that move against Mal in Chinese Checkers. When I realized Mal was the captain, I thought, "Spock never beat Kirk at chess", and I knew this was going to be something special.
Sorry, sometimes my wife forgets that she is not an alien from outer space.
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Zen-2-Zen — 11 years ago(December 17, 2014 10:44 PM)
So you were the original Browncoat ? Cool.
To me, this show first became a legend, then I watched it. The legend of a show that had rebells who fought big bad system and lost and where that transcended into the audience that fought big bad system (for the show to be continued) and lost. When the rest of us watched we already knew the proper episode ordering and were binge watching so some of the flaws were not that visible and we already "knew" that we were watching a legend.
Add surreal Summer Glau, mesmerizing Morena Baccarin, insanely sexy Christina Hendricks, off the charts Adam Baldwin, and Nathan Fillion wasn't bad either
Christina Hendricks was particularly good at misleading the audience and pulling a surprise. So I'd say that one aspect was that characters mostly didn't telegraph their future actions. You couldn't read them easily. That aspect needs to be credited to Joss Whedon and his writing/plot design.
I guess if you'd want to scrutinize it as a "disinterested party" it certainly wouldn't be 9.2 but the thing is that there are no disinterested parties when it comes to "Firefly". Viewers became Browncoats. Consider it too meta if you like but that's what happened.
Suffice to say that Fox took a lot of long term hate for being a piece of goza and much latter stuck with "Fringe" way beyond all cancellation predictions. So the influence of "Firefly" also became meta. It changed the way Fox treats Sci-Fi. Now that aspect is worth 9.2. -
Beren44 — 9 years ago(June 28, 2016 01:38 AM)
So well stated. The entire regular cast could not have been more perfectly put together. Sexy women, and sexy men, to attract all audiences, and they worked so VERY well together. I have to agree, upon first watch, Christine Hendricks, as a guest star, was totally a surprise in 'Our Mrs. Reynolds'. She did a great, great job. As did Alan Shepard as 'Badger', and Michael Fairman as Adelai Niska. Just all of the guest stars were as stellar as the regular crew!
~Oh, I'm well aware it's not a picnic, Mr. Save the Day~ (Fitz, Agents of Shield) -
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lufts — 12 years ago(March 16, 2014 10:33 AM)
No offense but I don't think you ever watched the original Star Trek. There was constant tension between the characters. Everyone respected Kirk, but certainly didn't view him as a G-d. Sulu felt he should be the captain, Bones hated Spock, etc.
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ttrek-1 — 9 years ago(August 08, 2016 06:29 AM)
Bones never hated Spock. They had wildly different viewpoints, oeing to their emotional and logical natures respectively, and they bickered like an old married couple half the time, but there was never anything less than total admiration and respect between them.
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electricshysta — 12 years ago(February 07, 2014 09:37 AM)
Personally I consider it to be one of my favourite shows of any genre.
I don't speak for all the fans, but what I liked:
The back and forth between the characters, I thought the dialogue was great.
It didn't seem overly derivative, which a lot of sci-fi doessure you could draw similarities from anything to anything in this sense really, but it came across as something unique to me - the universe was one I found interesting.
I also liked the range of different characters, depending on their origins and line of work.
I enjoyed that there was an appropriate ratio of intensity and light heartedness across the episodes.
The situations the crew landed themselves in, made me feel - for better or worse, I consider this a plus.
Perhaps it was just that it was cut short and left people so thirsty for more?
For me, it was just a decent idea done well, with a good cast of varied charactersit was absorbing. -
Tjanssen411 — 12 years ago(March 14, 2014 07:01 PM)
You cite a lot of reasons, and to some degree I think it is the 'perfect storm' of any/all of the things you cite.
the one that resonated with me is 'Cut Short and Thirsty for more' Buffy lasted 7, Angel lasted 5 now how much control Joss had at the end I don't know but in Both Cases those shows did run into a case of 'Broken bases' either because a beloved character was killed or an arc took a left Turn
Because Firefly didn't last long enough to "break the Base", almost everyone who invested in it at the start remains so today. had it made it to season 3 How many fans would have walked away if Wash or Book's Death were in the Season 2 Finale (I've read rumors that the Movie's plot was based on the Outline of 'season 2')
another thing that keeps the Fans drooling is Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin(and probably some of the others) both making references in Social Media, or Post-Firefly projects that show that they are as much Fans of the series as anyone in the audience (Both dressed up in their Series Costumes, well after the show Fillion as a 'space cowboy' on Castle and Baldwin one year for Halloween, complete with a "It's Halloween?" quip on twitter -
hansenmv2002 — 12 years ago(March 16, 2014 09:23 PM)
took me a good year to get into NF being some writer on Castle. That Captain on "enterpise" was the same thing i thought Quantum Leap sucked soooo badly.
Ive never seen more than 5 minutes of "Buffy" - just dont get it.. obvious HUGE hit - still - guess i missed it.
John: yeah, yeah, yeah. Russell: no, no, no
John: Ill drive Russel Ramis: OK. -
Iamnotasuperhero — 11 years ago(April 20, 2014 11:22 AM)
As I understand it, though the entire Miranda thing was originally planned for Season 2, Book and Wash were written off as the actors were unable to immediately commit to another film.
So there is reason to think they were not going to die in Season 2's version of the Miranda arc. -
Tjanssen411 — 11 years ago(April 20, 2014 10:26 PM)
I think One of them (likely Wash) was Due to Die in "Season 2" because well; Whedon.
and when they distilled said season into 'The Movie' Both ended up getting cut due to a combination of schedule and the original plan. -
picturetaker — 12 years ago(February 08, 2014 04:57 PM)
Why is Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead considered so good? Characters! Characters! Characters! The character development of those shows is why they are rated so high. It isn't about making Meth or getting eaten by Walkers. Same with Firefly. It isn't about space. Like wow what a good show!