For the last year or two most everyone in the Cantina has been talking about a show by Joss Whedon called Firefly which was axed midway through it's first season. A combination scif-fi/western show it sounded interesting to me but I have to admit after the last few decidedly lacklustre seasons of Buffy I was a bit wary of getting too enthusiastic about it.... especially since it was canned.
It never ended up showing on Australian TV or if it did it must have been somewhere north of midnight and I missed it. I kept my eyes out for it on DVD but only ever saw it available on Region 1 online and though my DVD player has been 'region unlocked' I didn't feel like paying international S&H for a cancelled tv show. Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks ago when my wife spotted the region 4 version of the Firefly DVD boxset in a local department store for a reasonable price, so we grabbed it.
Wow, they actually cancelled this? The hell?! That's basically what was running through my head as I watched all 14 episodes. I loved it, simply a terrifically executed concept with interesting characters, excellent witty writing and impressive production values. Very fresh and dynamic, much like Buffy was back in the day before the angst cloud set in. I found myself getting more and more depressed with each episode…part of me hoping it would start sucking so I could somehow understand why it never took off. That never happened…and indeed the final episode, Objects in Space, was likely the best. This show was going place dammit, what happened??
Then I watched the special features...... could 20th Century Fox have possibly ****ed up any bigger? They started airing the show on tv in the U.S. from The Train Job (which was supposed to be the 2nd episode)....what?......WHAT???....HOW ****ING MORONIC CAN YOU GET???? Don't get me wrong I greatly enjoyed that ep (hahaha engine kick), but the double episode pilot is where the characters, the story and indeed the universe is defined! How on earth is a series supposed to succeed if you chop its ****ing head off and pitifully roll it out much later, out of order?? At that point I went from depressed to really really angry, as you can see. There is so much garbage on TV these days and what happens when something new and fresh comes along? Fox does it’s best to kill it from day one. They completely messed up the viewing order no doubt making the story very disjointed and never even aired three of the episodes, even though all three were very well done…..’Trash’ in particular was wildly entertaining.
Now I fully realise that the skyrocketing DVD sales (since when shown in freaking order it’s impossible to ignore the quality) prompted Universal to buy the rights off Fox and commission a feature length movie for cinemas (Serenity, out April 22, 2005) and if it succeeds the cast is signed on for two more movies…. but as pleased as I am about the movie(s), I’d have much preferred an ongoing TV series. Sigh.
Anyway, to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet (especially you other aussies) and enjoy interesting well written sci-fi, check it out….and to anyone who gave up on it because of Fox’s best attempts to kill it off, you might want to give it a second look too....and yes I know this post is coming 18 months after it was canned but I can't help it if they never aired it here![[http://forums.massassi.net/html/tongue.gif]](http://forums.massassi.net/html/tongue.gif "http://forums.massassi.net/html/tongue.gif")
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Cantina Cloud | BCF | The Massassian 1, 2 & 3 | Gonk WoW Petition <- SIGN!
Corrupting the kiddies since '97
It never ended up showing on Australian TV or if it did it must have been somewhere north of midnight and I missed it. I kept my eyes out for it on DVD but only ever saw it available on Region 1 online and though my DVD player has been 'region unlocked' I didn't feel like paying international S&H for a cancelled tv show. Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks ago when my wife spotted the region 4 version of the Firefly DVD boxset in a local department store for a reasonable price, so we grabbed it.
Wow, they actually cancelled this? The hell?! That's basically what was running through my head as I watched all 14 episodes. I loved it, simply a terrifically executed concept with interesting characters, excellent witty writing and impressive production values. Very fresh and dynamic, much like Buffy was back in the day before the angst cloud set in. I found myself getting more and more depressed with each episode…part of me hoping it would start sucking so I could somehow understand why it never took off. That never happened…and indeed the final episode, Objects in Space, was likely the best. This show was going place dammit, what happened??
Then I watched the special features...... could 20th Century Fox have possibly ****ed up any bigger? They started airing the show on tv in the U.S. from The Train Job (which was supposed to be the 2nd episode)....what?......WHAT???....HOW ****ING MORONIC CAN YOU GET???? Don't get me wrong I greatly enjoyed that ep (hahaha engine kick), but the double episode pilot is where the characters, the story and indeed the universe is defined! How on earth is a series supposed to succeed if you chop its ****ing head off and pitifully roll it out much later, out of order?? At that point I went from depressed to really really angry, as you can see. There is so much garbage on TV these days and what happens when something new and fresh comes along? Fox does it’s best to kill it from day one. They completely messed up the viewing order no doubt making the story very disjointed and never even aired three of the episodes, even though all three were very well done…..’Trash’ in particular was wildly entertaining.
Now I fully realise that the skyrocketing DVD sales (since when shown in freaking order it’s impossible to ignore the quality) prompted Universal to buy the rights off Fox and commission a feature length movie for cinemas (Serenity, out April 22, 2005) and if it succeeds the cast is signed on for two more movies…. but as pleased as I am about the movie(s), I’d have much preferred an ongoing TV series. Sigh.
Anyway, to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet (especially you other aussies) and enjoy interesting well written sci-fi, check it out….and to anyone who gave up on it because of Fox’s best attempts to kill it off, you might want to give it a second look too....and yes I know this post is coming 18 months after it was canned but I can't help it if they never aired it here
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Cantina Cloud | BCF | The Massassian 1, 2 & 3 | Gonk WoW Petition <- SIGN!
Corrupting the kiddies since '97
