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< Television ~ Alternate Universes |
| Lacey |
 Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 9:36 am |
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Joined: 01 Jun 2004
Posts: 225
Location: Columbus Ohio
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| Lotang, I'm looking forward to the LOST reruns for that very reason. Also, I too thought the crazy French woman was underground. Curiouser and curiouser. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 11:31 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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Lotang: You reminded me that twice in the past week while watching the FX Buffy second- and third-season reruns, the Mayor was mentioned--and of course in those seasons, we didn't know who (and what) the Mayor was. But the principal did.
It's annoying that there won't be another new "Lost" till next month. But I guess that's the holidays for you. And I too will try to catch the Wednesday repeats. |
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| Haiku |
| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:30 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 123
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Finished watching Firefly and loved it. I watched only one commentary because I didn't even know they were there until Lacey told me and by then I had already returned the DVDs to Netflix. Drat! I will have to purchase the set.
Joss is a fantastic story teller. I cannot wait until the film.
Sioux, the preacher obsession only got worse when River "sees" him growling venom at her and that wacky bounty hunter says that he's no preacher!!! I think he's a plant by the Alliance or the Blue Sun Company and will be a big problem for the crew.
The Simon/Kaylee romance doesn't do too much for me, although I thought it was an interesting glance into her character when Mal recalls meeting her for the first time while she's getting it on with the first mechanic in the engine room. Wow... didn't expect to see her do that. Simon doesn't do much for me. He seems so naive and a bit boring.
Mal is a great character because he is such a pragmatist, but he's not as potentially interesting as the others. In a way, he's like Buffy in that they are both the center, but it's all the Scoobies/Crew that bind me to the story. The tension between him and Inara is a bit trite, but I'll take it because ... well, they're both so damn gorgeous and I'm dying to find out Inara's secrets.
And speaking of Inara, I, for one, would love to take the courses she and the other student-companions took on reading human behaviour/body language.
Jayne is a hoot. I think he will develop in a Xander-like way, from silly to very real and nuanced; although, ultimately, I think he'll die (to save River or Simon). I don't have a real sense of Zoe and Wash just yet (yes, they're interesting, fun, intelligent, strong, etc.), but I just don't know where their relationship will go. I am very interested in seeing how Joss treats their non-traditional relationship.
Loved seeing old Buffy/Angel faces on the show.
I want to actually see Reavers (and did you all like their theme music? I think it's infectious).
Oh, and I was so surprised to see that Alliance officer who was the gay guy on Melrose Place (and who I also saw in a lame medical insurance print ad)?! Matt was his name on Melrose, right? |
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| sioux |
| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:49 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 802
Location: philly burbs
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haiku - its too bad you missed the commentaries - some of them were quite good.
One mystery bit they pointed out in one commentary was that, while it was the easy assumption that Inara was contemplating suicide during the scene while they were tensely waiting for the Reavers to pass, in fact, Whedon was trying to set up a bit of her secret, which of course never got to be revealed....he said specifically that she wasn't considering killing herself, while handling what appeared to be a knife, but he wouldn't reveal the secret that he was trying to set up. Maybe she's an agent for the Alliance.
Sometimes when I'm watching a series, I can identify the exact moment that I become hooked. On Buffy, it was during the episode where Angel first went evil. On Firefly it was during the episode when Simon and River were kidnapped by the settlers on the planet that needed a doctor. At the end, Simon says to Mal, "you don't even like me, why did you come back for me?" And Mal says, "you're on my crew", Simon presses the point and Mal says "Why we still talking about this?" For some reason, that moment, putting a point on Mal's struggle in this episode to be cold-blooded (and failing), just was the moment when I knew I was signed on for the series. |
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| Lacey |
| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 5:06 pm |
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Joined: 01 Jun 2004
Posts: 225
Location: Columbus Ohio
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Haiku, I’m glad you got to watch them all and I highly recommend getting the series and seeing them again. Like Buffy they get better with use.
I began to see Wash as being very Xander like. Especially after watching War Stories again. The Kaylee sexcapades thing was a bit of a surprise, but I came to see her as a salt-of-the-earth type character. And, you’ll notice that she loves experiences, be it new people or strawberries.
Sioux thanks for bringing up the Inara secret. I thought it looked like a syringe in the case and have heard lots of theories about what this secret might be.
The only thing Joss has really said about the movie is reavers. So, the general assumption is that he will focus on them and less on the Blue Sun company. This makes sense if he hopes to carry on the story through another genre. Barring any hope for a resurrection of the television series, I would love to see him create a comic book out of Firefly. There are too many interesting thread and I don’t see how one two hour movie can wrap them up—I need more stories.
I got hooked in Out of Gas at the end when the salesman is trying to sell Mal a ship. They set it up so you assume he’s talking about Serenity, but then the camera pulls back and the salesman is pointing at some other ship. Meanwhile Mal is staring across the shipyard at Serenity like he’s just found love. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 9:02 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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I haven't seen the Firefly DVD yet (gotta get a DVD player first). So maybe Whedon or someone else addressed this question in the commentary track. I seem to remember reading in one of the early reviews of the show that one of the few hard and fast rules Whedon established was that there would be no aliens, that all of the characters encountered during the ships travels through space would be humans. Am I recalling that correctly?
It was one of the many intriguing aspects of the show for me. I liked the idea that he would never have the whole "contact with other life form" thing to fall back on as a writer. I'm going off of my memories of the original FOX airings of the show, since that's all I've ever seen of it. But it was easy to forget the "no alien" rule during discussions of The Reavers. The way they were described and the look of fear on characters' faces when they were mentioned made them seem the furthest thing from human. But they must have been, right? |
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| sioux |
| Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 9:18 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 802
Location: philly burbs
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earl - you are right about the no non-human rule. There was also a no non-laser rule. All humans, all guns.
The episode that dealt with the reavers most closely demonstrated definitively that the reavers are human, at least technically. Humans at their least humane. Which was scarier than any monster. The other evil in the show were the blue gloved ones, also human. In contrast to Buffyverse, in Firefly, humans are the demons. Which made it the perfect stretch from Buffyverse. |
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| Lacey |
| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 8:55 am |
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Joined: 01 Jun 2004
Posts: 225
Location: Columbus Ohio
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As Sioux already said, the reavers are humans who have reverted to a savage existence. The Blue Sun guys (they wear blue surgical gloves, hence the names) are like evil corporate power gone mad. The company has strong government ties, a presence everywhere and they are doing secret research. The guns do have some kind of laser element, and there is an episode where the first laser gun (I think it’s called the lassiter) ever created is considered a rare antique and targeted for theft.
Even though it was set in the future, Joss talks about wanting the show to always deal with the things we still deal with today. |
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| dlhavard |
| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 12:02 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 1352
Location: Detroit (where the slow are run over)
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| I liked Firefly for the same reason I preferred Deep Space 9 to Star Trek TNG because even if it IS the future - times change, people don't as the old saying goes. And the best part is always about the struggle. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2004 8:31 am |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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Lacey wrote: As Sioux already said, the reavers are humans who have reverted to a savage existence.
Well, except for the space travel 
Couldn't help noticing on the premiere episode of Lost last night that the little kid (Walt?) was reading a comic book which wasn't his--he said he found it--and one of the illustarations in it was of a polar bear. Nice foreshadowing. If anyone taped it, perhaps they could say what was on the page after that, because I missed it. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 2:39 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4607
Location: Norman, OK
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| I finally figured out where I have seen the actress who plays Claire (the pregnant girl) on Lost. (It's been bothering me.) I think she was on Roswell in its later seasons. Glad to see she is playing a more sympathetic character here. |
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| lotang |
| Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2004 6:47 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 184
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Earl, Earl, Earl-Go get a dvd player and then you can watch Firefly and everything else out there! My uncle just bought one from Fry's (here in California) for $15 after rebate. No excuses!
AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
I just got back from a long visit with family and definitely glad to be sleeping in my own bed again. Love them but need my own space too - maybe Serenity sized? 
And just one thought about the human monster thing. What I remember so vividly from Buffy was that the worst monsters were the human ones like Warren when he killed his girlfriend or shot Buffy. Monsters you expect to be monsters but humans have the capacity to be Angels or Demons. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2005 9:02 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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lotang wrote: Earl, Earl, Earl-Go get a dvd player and then you can watch Firefly and everything else out there! My uncle just bought one from Fry's (here in California) for $15 after rebate. No excuses!
OK, point taken. I've actually never researched DVD players because I assumed the cost made buying one prohibitive. I'd no idea they could be found that cheap.
Also, and I know I'm going against a popular current trend here, I have little interest in "behind the scenes" or "the making of" bits of info about movies and that seems to be a big allure of DVD's. (Or at least that's what I'm getting from the way they are marketed. Since I've never seen a DVD, I could be wildly off the mark with that comment.) I just wanna see the movies and be done with it. In most cases the work should speak for itself.
I worry, too, about connecting so modern a device to my old TV. The set was made in the days before Closed Captioning became a standard feature in all TV's. Would the May/December romance work?
Having said all that, the idea of being able to see episodes of Firefly which didn't air might be enough incentive all by itself to get me to buy one. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2005 9:24 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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Re Lost
It looks as if ABC will finally start up with some new episodes this coming week. I've been enjoying the reruns shown during December because most were new to me and helped fill some plot gaps.
I still believe the show would have been better served if Charlie had died. (That's not a knock against the actor or the character, both of whom I like.) I can only paraphrase a comment made many times by my fellow Buffyites about the Buffyverse: The idea that a show would be willing to let an audience come to care for a character and then kill him unexpectedly would make every subsequent episode riveting. Anytime another character was in danger, how could we be sure they'd survive?
By the way, why is Lost discussed on the "Alternative Universes" thread? Have we seen anything so far that, while weird or eerie, couldn't potentially have a real world explanation? |
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| mitty |
| Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2005 1:09 am |
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Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 1359
Location: Way Down Yonder.......
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Earl
If you do buy a DVD player for an older tv, be sure to ask for the connector that will supply you with all the different plug in thingys. I had to go back to the store, and buy such a connector. About 20 buck in all, with wires and stuff. Fun, fun, fun! |
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