Firefly Viewing
Aug. 16th, 2004 08:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thegrrrl2002Thanks to the lovely and generous ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kylielee1000, I'm now a big new fan of Firefly! I've watch the first two DVDs, up to Jaynestown, and I'm loving it. It's a fantastic show. I'm actually glad I never managed to catch it during it's first run, because the subsequent cancellation would have broken my heart. I make a point of not watching new shows, especially SF shows, when they first come out for that very reason. Because wonderful shows like this get the axe for no good reason at all.
Firefly is intriguing and funny and smart, and not only that, each character is clearly defined and very appealing. And pretty. Oh so pretty. Okay, so it took a few eps for me to warm up to Simon, but now his prissy nature amuses me. Jayne is, yes, a fine figure of a man, a big mouthwatering lug of a man. I'm digging Malcolm, too, and I've always loved Ron Glass, ever since Barney Miller (from, like, back in ancient times).
But I'm really impressed by the women. I like them. I love them. Which constrasts sharply with Stargate: Atlantis, where I kind of like Weir, but mostly because I really want to like her. And Teyla--eh. But Zoe, Kaylee, Inara and River? Love them. Zoe kicks ass, especially, and Kaylee--I just want to take her home and play with her. We'll do each other's hair, eat ice cream, then watch Monday night Stargate together, because I know she's into the slash thing.
Oh yeah, I'm feeling the Firefly love.
kylielee1000, I'm now a big new fan of Firefly! I've watch the first two DVDs, up to Jaynestown, and I'm loving it. It's a fantastic show. I'm actually glad I never managed to catch it during it's first run, because the subsequent cancellation would have broken my heart. I make a point of not watching new shows, especially SF shows, when they first come out for that very reason. Because wonderful shows like this get the axe for no good reason at all. Firefly is intriguing and funny and smart, and not only that, each character is clearly defined and very appealing. And pretty. Oh so pretty. Okay, so it took a few eps for me to warm up to Simon, but now his prissy nature amuses me. Jayne is, yes, a fine figure of a man, a big mouthwatering lug of a man. I'm digging Malcolm, too, and I've always loved Ron Glass, ever since Barney Miller (from, like, back in ancient times).
But I'm really impressed by the women. I like them. I love them. Which constrasts sharply with Stargate: Atlantis, where I kind of like Weir, but mostly because I really want to like her. And Teyla--eh. But Zoe, Kaylee, Inara and River? Love them. Zoe kicks ass, especially, and Kaylee--I just want to take her home and play with her. We'll do each other's hair, eat ice cream, then watch Monday night Stargate together, because I know she's into the slash thing.
Oh yeah, I'm feeling the Firefly love.
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Date: 2004-08-16 07:06 am (UTC)You know there's going to be a film next summer for Firefly, right? Happiness.
I love Jayne beyond belief - Adam Baldwin always brings the funny. Mal, Zoe, Walsh and Kaylee are my next favorites because they're fun, good characters. Zoe kicks butt and rocks beyond belief, as does Kaylee in a different way. I especially like how they're both women, rather than asexual (like River). Good female characters are hard to find. Which brings me to Inara, who needed more backstory to be sympathetic and until then epitomized the Madonna/whore dichotomy of women in the media (my opinion).
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Date: 2004-08-16 07:24 am (UTC)I like Inara, although at this point in my viewing she's not the most interesting female character. I do like that the show even has a 'companion' as a main character, although if they really wanted to be edgy the character should have been male. *g*
Mal's antipathy toward her work is a little odd, and clumsily done, although he's one of the more uneven characters so far. He's a hard-ass one minute, and hapless the next. But he does each so well, that it doesn't really bother me.
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Date: 2004-08-16 04:10 pm (UTC)For me, if they really wanted to be edgy they would have had her pay her way on the ship by giving blow jobs around the back of any space ports they docked at, not have had prostitution romanticized and given some sort of spiritual make over. Inara the space whore actually ruined the show for me. I never thought it was wonderful but it did have promise, but for me, Inara was just JW's wet dream and I've known too many people in the sex industry not to gag when I see prostitution romantisised.
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Date: 2004-08-16 07:41 am (UTC)Kaylee is happiness on the hoof - if she's happy, then everybody's happy. River is a huge mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in Simon. (Wait until you get to "Objects in Space" - River will be revealed to have her own portion of Teh Kewlness.)
Jayne is fruitier than a nutcake, but it's such a huge cake no one minds.
I just realized I don't have a Firefly icon - hmm, need to fix that right way...
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Date: 2004-08-16 10:36 am (UTC)He's so gleefully nutty. More like a nutty beefcake than fruitcake, though. *g*
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Date: 2004-08-16 08:10 am (UTC)(I don't love it more than SG, but only just. FF would have been one of those shows I was totally into -- like every other good genre show of the past 10 years you could name -- but that probably wouldn't have induced me to fall headfirst into its fandom. Though, maybe it would have, because I really really liked spending time in FF's world. But... I dunno, I can't explain it. Except that in 10 years, only SG has managed to grab my frontal lobes in quite that way, and the reason for that can clearly be summed up in one word: "Jack".)
Anyway...
Yes, you've put your finger on one of the things that really struck me about the show. I'm not proud to admit it, but I usually connect more with some male character on a genre show, than the female characters. Even when the show features good female characters whom I like and admire (Ivanova and Delenn on Bab5; the female cast of Buffy; Aeryn and Zhaan and even Chiana on Farscape; etc.). I felt that FF was truly groundbreaking, as a show and for me as a viewer, in that it made the effort to give us not *one* good female regular; not even *two* good female regulars; but *FOUR* good female regulars, each in a different mold, and each delightfully non-stereotypical for the roles they were fulfilling.
(Of the four, I was consistently least fond of River, but I didn't hate her, and occasionally something absolutely cool -- like that Bible-ripping thing -- would be done with her.)
Firefly is just profligately rich with characters.
I'm still mad that it was cancelled, simply because, so many other genre shows have finally bit the dust and although my heart *does* belong to Stargate, I would really like it if there were another show for me to be following as well. Especially, another show that will ease the pain when SG-1 finally bows out (as I'm sure it will...one of these...years). I wanted to have "Firefly" as an ongoing part of my life for a few years, at least.
I know it was expensive. (You could see every last dollar and cent on the screen; it's *SO* beautiful and original and gritty.) I'm sure the economics weren't in its favor. But I'm mad at FOX for being *so* stupid as to fail even to give it a shot at another time-slot. (Do the executives at that network truly not realize, after all these years, what a dead-zone Friday night is for them?) And I'm mad that no other network (including, or especially, SciFi) realized FF's potential. (But then -- I'd be willing to bet that FF was as expensive, or more expensive, than Farscape, which SciFi stupidly dropped for economic reasons as well.)
I'm glad there's going to be a movie, though. It's nice not to have to talk about the show completely in the past tense.
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Date: 2004-08-16 10:41 am (UTC)Yes, exactly. Real, genuine, well-thought-out characters, as opposed to The Girl, who will be used as needed for flirty, pairing off moments or just plain old looking pretty, whatever the plot happens to warrant at the moment.
I've come to the conclusion that network execs are the Stupidest Beings Alive.
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Date: 2004-08-16 08:15 am (UTC)Zoe definitely kicks ass and Kaylee is so wonderfully likable. I completely understand the urge to take her home and show her Stargate. Although I think she'd get a crush on Daniel, and maybe Carter.
I'm not liking Weir, although I want to. I really, really want to. But so far neither she nor Teyla have a personality, at least not a locatable one. Teyla's the strong, yet empathetic alien, and Weir is simply the woman in charge. I'm hopeful that things will get better as the show goes along.
I'm going to do some work now. Really.
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Date: 2004-08-16 10:44 am (UTC)Oh no, no, Siler would be her true love. *g*
I tell you, I saw pics of Dan Shea(?) from a con, and, um...MUSCLES! Woo baby. Very nice.
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Date: 2004-08-16 08:59 am (UTC)Good, good...now when, perchance, may you be feeling the Firefly slash? (Not to pressure or anything. Oh, not at all. But if you wanted to, say, get Simon and Jayne in an enclosed space, then I wouldn't be adverse to reading the results...)
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Date: 2004-08-16 10:48 am (UTC)But right now I'm just sitting back and taking it all in with wide-eyed wonder. It's fun.
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Date: 2004-08-16 04:39 pm (UTC)I have to admit that I never understood people's love for Simon 'cause he just sort of annoyed me. After watching the dvds, so that I actually saw the episodes in order, he no longer annoys me but I still can't see him in a pairing. Well, maybe Kaylee/Simon, but I think Kaylee's too good for him.
Favorite episodes are 'Out of Gas' and 'Jaynestown'.
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Date: 2004-08-17 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-16 09:05 am (UTC)I adore this show. There isn't a character on it who I hated or who lacked personality, which two things are probably related. When it was airing, I was heartbroken, even though I knew going in it was probably going to get cancelled. It got better every week. It's awful that by the last few episodes you can see them really hitting a groove and then whoosh, rug gone. *sigh*
You're completely right about FF compared to Atlantis. It's not really fair to compare the characters since, well, there's Joss and then there's everyone else in tv, but still. *sigh*
"Serenity." April 25, 2005!
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Date: 2004-08-16 10:52 am (UTC)He's clearly a very talented individual.
awesome icon. Kylie will be so pleased.
Date: 2004-08-16 11:50 am (UTC)Though I will say the first two seasons of Buffy were some of the best tv ever. *ahem*
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Date: 2004-08-16 09:19 am (UTC)yay, Firefly love. They're all so hot, aren't they? And the women rock. When can we expect a story?
*innocent smile*
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Date: 2004-08-16 10:54 am (UTC)And how come nobody told me about the cool music, either? Huh? I so dig it.
I'm not quite ready for the smut just yet, but I'm sure something will come to mind eventually. I need more watching first!
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Date: 2004-08-16 09:22 am (UTC)"Dear Diary, today I was pompous and my sister was crazy. Today we were kidnapped by hill people, never to be seen again. It was the best day ever!"
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Date: 2004-08-16 10:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-16 10:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-16 10:01 am (UTC)And the women. Not hyper-feminized into male fantasies nor desexualized in order to have a brain.
The movie can't come soon enough! AND there's rumours of it returning to series TV after the movie. Probably on SciFi which sucks a tad because I don't get it but if it happens there will, eventually, be DVD's.
I'm a little jealous that you're having the joy of discovering it! *g*
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Date: 2004-08-16 10:57 am (UTC)I hadn't heard about the possibility of it coming back to television. Way cool!
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Date: 2004-08-16 01:01 pm (UTC)God forbid you should show the episode that would introduce all the damned characters and set up the plot threads.
As it was, they finally showed the pilot almost last. At which point we started at it, and at all the subtly wonderful set-up stuff it did (like, for Book, and so on), and wondered anew at the stpuidity of the decision. Especially as I don't think it was very draggy at all.
OT9, baby!
Date: 2004-08-16 10:40 am (UTC)it WAS heartbreaking, just because the show was so very, very good. comparing it to other shows that got on the air and stayed on longer ("tremors") was just heartrending. but joss has name value, and he is leveraging it for all he's worth. he will prevail, because he is good, and so are all the Firefly crew. LOVE them all!!!
Re: OT9, baby!
Date: 2004-08-16 10:59 am (UTC)Heck, I still haven't gotten over the cancellation of "Max Headroom".
Re: OT9, baby!
Date: 2004-08-16 12:57 pm (UTC)Firefly. Still haven't watched my DVDs, but I recall being *very* enchanted with Mal. Very.
::looks at stack of "to be watched" DVDs::
We need to have a weekend-long sleepover and watch all of Firefly and as much Stargate as we can fit in. While drinking ourselves silly and eating lots of junky food.
Re: OT9, baby!
Date: 2004-08-16 01:04 pm (UTC)Oh, we definitely need a viewing weekend. I'll bring the popcorn and the jelly bellies!
And the gin. Can't forget the gin.
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Date: 2004-08-16 10:48 am (UTC)Firefly is perfection.
Simon is a git.
I hate him.
Kaylee is my friend.
Wash is the brother I never had and would've kicked the crap out of in a loving way as a kid and loved to death.
Jayne is my fallen angel who never knew there was a heaven.
Mal is angst on a stick.
There is much joy and pretty.
I'm so glad you've come to play.
*folds hands and patiently waits for fic*
So very much joy and pretty!
Date: 2004-08-16 11:03 am (UTC)Mal is angst on a stick.
He's also the silly, though. Especially after watching "Mrs. Reynolds". We laughed through the whole damn thing.
Re: So very much joy and pretty!
Date: 2004-08-16 01:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-16 10:59 am (UTC)I'd love to see you write a fic of Jack/Daniel watching firefly together. Or at least discussing the show at work.
I think Jack would like Mal alot. He's very proactive.
Ohhh, I feel the firefly love right withya.
;)
So much love!
Date: 2004-08-16 11:04 am (UTC)Yes, like I needed another fandom right now, with Atlantis knocking at my brain. But, oh, the pretty.
And I think Daniel would like Jayne a lot. *g*
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Date: 2004-08-16 02:51 pm (UTC)I am the only person in the universe who doesn't like Firefly.
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Date: 2004-08-17 06:30 am (UTC)Sorry, that was so very mean of me. ::hugs::
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Date: 2004-08-16 04:20 pm (UTC)A thousand horrible deaths to the dumbasses that run Fox. Yes, 2 years later we.are.still.bitter.
(psst. There is almost no Jayne/Mal fic. Fill the gap.Fill the gap.)
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Date: 2004-08-17 06:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-17 05:57 am (UTC)I knew it! Hee! Glad you feel the love. I agree with you about the women characters--real women, complex women.
I actually found the fact that the whore was the only respectable one to be amusing. She does accept female clients, btw, just so you know it's not all het. (If you watch her viewing potential clients, you'll see there are both men and women.) I also like Crazy!River quite a bit. The actress is mega talented; her British-accent scene is to die for.
Mal/Jayne? Yes. Tasty. I too want to go there, when I finish my last Jayne/Simon fic (based on "Out of Gas" and it will close out my series).
Spread the love!
All because of you, sweetie!
Date: 2004-08-17 06:36 am (UTC)I must reread all your fics when I get back now that I have some context for them. *g* And I'll bet I'll come home to find my husband has watched the rest of the eps without me. He's very into it.