Neush

Best episode so far. This has cemented it for me, Firefly is my favorite new show. If Fox takes this off now I'm going to be seriously pissed off. Perhaps a preemptive letter writing campaign is in order.

Best line of the episode: "s-what?"

writteninstars

Best scene:

Mal standing over Atherton w/ his sword and he says "They say mercy is the mark of a great man."

*poke*

"I guess I'm just a good man."

*poke*

"Well, I'm all right."



~wis

Goldberg74

I gave up on this show after epsiode #3... I've got better things to do on a Friday night... like my wife!

Mourn

My least favorite episode so far...that bit at the end was hillarious, but the rest was "meh."

When r they going to get into the main story arc? Or is there not going to be one?

Darren Garrison

I still watch Firefly-- I have to wait until Saturday for my turn with your wife!

Lateralus42

Firefly is by far the best new show of the year. Todays show was pretty good. Someone save me, Im in love with Kaylee!!

spainlinx0

Always love a good threadcrap comeback.

btlives

Nielson ratings for this show were 90 out of 130 shows.
And thats includes Pax tvs line up.
With a 2.9 share.
Girlfiends & Push Nevada had the same score.
And both are cancelled. Along with Providence
that had a 7.5 share against it. And its cancelled also.
Anyways...

I finally got a feel for the series. Seems more like
a syndicated show like Xena was. Not for primetime.
Maybe more like late nite weekend fair.
For whatever reasons. The captain is the least
interesting character. Along with the Companian.
But the rest of the crew seem to hold their own,
and are rather interesting.

Will be REALLY surprised if this series makes it to spring
sweeps.

Wizdar

I tend to agree that Inara is completely uninteresting. I don’t even think she makes good eye candy. I’ve got the hots for Kaylee, myself.

But Mal is another story. Subtlety is tough to get across. He’s got that understated charm and old fashioned naiveté that counterpoints just about everyone except Shepard. I like the way he doesn’t get excited about things. Like, “Likely crash and kill us all.” “Well, that happens, let me know.”

I’m not sure where I stand with this show. I don’t think folks are up for a western these days. And that’s all this is. I wonder: if you take away the spaceship and the ATVs and such, would it ever have even made it to the [as yet unshown] pilot?

I’m encouraged that they are at least trying, as demonstrated by the change in the opening monologue. And this week they even got the CC corrected.

My vote for best lines of the show:

“I say Zoe gets nekkid.”

“Nope.”

“I could get nekkid?”

“NO!”

Something else comes along in this time slot, I’ll prolly jump ship. But, for now, I’d like to see where (if anywhere) this is going. I AT LEAST wanna see the pilot to see if I can figure out why they buried it.



[Too bad nobody around here speaks Chinese. I’d be interested to know how much of that is made up.]

vinhj

The second Mal punched that guy and turned in circles confused, it instantly reminded me of Spike Spiegal from Cowboy Bebop kicking the Beta cassette player in vain while trying to get it to work.

spainlinx0

Well I think Inara makes great eye candy, but I definitely think Kaylee is really cute too. I like the captain although I still don't understand why he has that dialect. Still doesn't bother me that much. I really wouldn't care if they moved this show from Friday nights to a more favorable timeslot, but I just don't want them to cancel it. I think the show has a lot of potential, and I hope they run with it.

mikehunt

I forgot to set the vcr

Slumbering Fist

My thoughts exactly after watching last night episode. Once again, pleasant enough characters and great humor, but I just don't have a clue what its direction is... or if it even has one. If the show isnt going to have an arc or some steady thread other than "Capt. likes the hooker", this show is not worth my time. Some kind of big bad, some kind of personal problem, secret, something period needs to happen from week to week to keep me intersted, otherwise its just lightweight.

Lateralus42

Compare this show to the first year of Buffy, Firefly is much more entertaining. Buffy was full of MOTW that first year, and most of them were pretty lame ( i still remember some lame hand puppet ). It takes time to build up a show, so far so good for Firefly.

Kaylee vs Anara: Kaylee wins hands down. SHe has got the perfect personality, if I ever meet a girl like Kaylee im just going to ask her to marry me. She is soooooooooooo cute!!!!!

Wormwood

And my TIVO didn't record because the signal was screwed up somehow.

Wizdar

They just about all do. Ain't you noticed?

Fist, what have you got against standalone episodes?

dgmayor

I agree..what's wrong with standalone episodes? Why does every new show have to have a soap opera storyline?

Once again, I really enjoyed this weeks episode, and is definately one of my favorite new shows of the year.

spainlinx0

I noticed of course, but I just mentioned him because someone mentioned not liking him. Of course Inara doesn't have the accent, I guess because she is better schooled. By watching the unaired pilot I would assume that the arc would involve

B.A.

I thought it was a pretty good episode, and the poking scene at the end of the duel was classic.

Jadzia

http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?28704

FOX's 'Firefly' Keeps the Lights On
Fri, Nov 1, 2002 05:40 PM PDT

by Kate O'Hare
Zap2it

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - To quote a would-be plague victim in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" : "I'm not dead yet."

Despite a rocky development process, a last-minute pickup by FOX, a tough time slot, preemptions by baseball and sagging ratings, Joss Whedon's science-fiction/Western drama "Firefly" is still alive and kicking on Friday nights at 8 p.m. ET.

Some reviewers rated the Oct. 25 episode, "Out of Gas," as the best yet. Written by executive producer Tim Minear (who shares that title with creator Whedon), it used flashbacks to give viewers hints as to how the crew of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity came together in a post-civil-war solar system 500 years in the future, under the command of losing-side-combatant Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion).

Of course, all this was also laid out in the series' two-hour pilot, but, as Whedon says, "There's a lot of confusion, because they didn't air the pilot, which explains everything. We tried to do that as best we could in an hour show."

Reportedly not met with unreserved joy by 20th Century Fox Television studio head Sandy Grushow, the pilot is scheduled to finally air on Dec. 20, begging the question of whether "Firefly" is likely to stay on the air until then.

"Looks like," says Whedon. "We're hoping that we'll get some slow growth, which is what Sandy Grushow said before this season ever started. He said, 'Look, you're going to be hit with baseball. It's not an out-of-the-box thing, we don't expect it to be.' So there's something good on that side. They're letting us keep going, and it really feels like we're ready to hit our stride."

"The shows that we're working on now have the adventure and the excitement that FOX is looking for, along with all the character stuff, which is why I show up."

"I think we've found it," says Minear. "I do, I do."

FOX has ordered three more scripts, over and above the original 13-episode order. "That makes 16," says Minear. "I think I can count. This is the land bridge that connects the two continents. The notion being, they haven't made a decision. If they decide to pick us up, the scripts will already be in development, in the stages of being written, and we won't have to stop production."

One major difference between "Firefly" and Whedon's previous shows -- UPN's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spin-off, The WB's "Angel" -- is that there is no obvious mission for the characters of "Firefly." They're not charged with saving the universe from anything, and seem to have no mystical destiny to fulfill.

"I wanted to get away from this sort of overweening Chosen One," Whedon says. "There's a messianic steam in popular culture right now, with 'Buffy' and 'The Matrix.' One chosen person -- it's been cropping up a lot. I want to get away from that."

"I want to show people -- although they have River there [a disturbed " genius" girl, played by Summer Glau], who's extraordinary, and they're big damn heroes, all that good noise -- I want to show people that really aren't chosen, who would not make the list, who are not the saviors of the world."

"Frankly," Minear says, "Mal's mission is to keep these people alive and keep flying. It's just about getting by. That's always been the mission statement of what the show is -- getting by."

Asked if he thinks that's enough for appointment television, Minear says, "I do. It depends on who the people are. It depends on if an audience resonates with the stories that are told week to week, and if the cast is engaging."

One cast member seems to have broken through already -- the mercenary Jayne, played by Adam Baldwin. Blunt and lumbering, his deadpan humor and bullheadedness have struck a chord with fans. "I was a little surprised that Jayne was as popular as he was," Whedon says. "He's kind of like Cordelia [on 'Buffy' and 'Angel']. He's the guy who says the thing that other people are afraid to say. That usually means that it's the funniest thing in the room."

Minear says that "Firefly" is not planning any particular story arcs for the November ratings-sweeps period. "Actually, we're trying to make every episode big," he explains. "Something big for the series does happen, pretty much in every episode, but it's not a three-episode arc like we would do on 'Angel' yet. We're not to that point."

"We're trying to make sure that it's user-friendly for as long as we can make it, so we can hopefully build an audience and stay on the air."

Neush

That's a good article Jadzia, thanks.

I totally agree with what Minear says regarding long story arcs. Long, complex story arcs are great (see West Wing) but sometimes I just wanna veg in front of the TV for an hour without having to think too hard. Some of the best shows on television right now are just standalone series, with no discernible story arc from episode to episode. These are the shows that have the most rewatch value because you can enter the series anywhere and immediately "get it". I find myself rewatching a lot more of "The Simpsons" and "Star Trek" then I do of "24" or "The West Wing" because I don't have to have watched the past 7 episodes to pick up on what's going on.

I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't have thoughtful indepth shows, I'm just saying I think you can make a series that is equally enjoyable without having to invest so much time in watching it. To me, Firefly is witty, intelligent and damn funny, without being pretentious or gimmicky. It's a much more enjoyable show IMO than John Doe because when the episode ends that story is done, and you're not baited into another deadend plot tease for the next week.

DeputyDave

16 episodes? And the 2 hour pilot?

This, my friends, makes me verry happy.

Slumbering Fist

I guess I should define my grumbles. Stand alone episodes are fine, but after some thought, it is more that the character arcs dont seem interesting, that I need more from them, something that will develop (even if subtle) throughout a season... They drop hints at the “Blue Hand” guys first episode and we havent seen squat of them since.

Even if, for instance, Buffy were a non-arc oriented series, the characters all have some quirk and growth I can relate to and I enjoy seeing. I just haven’t found that in Firefly's characters yet; even though Kaylee is cute and Jayne is a funny brute, I just dont find the crews niches clicking with me. One way to solve that problem, naturally, is some kind of minor character arc that develops throughout a season. So far its just "Capt. likes the hooker" and “Kaylee likes the doc", fairly bland and the kind of situation that proves disastrous both, if its played out too long becoming tiresome, and if it is consummated, like in Moonlighting.

Patman

I get excited when I see Jane Espenson listed as the writer of any episode of a Whedon show. Espenson has a knack for clever dialog and "getting" at the core of the characters. This episode did not let me down.

River's diversion was splendid (albeit wasted on the rest of the crew). Kaylee was splendid as well in her own ways. So just how long will they play the "will they or won't they" for Mal and Inara?

Is it just me, or is some form of Chinese being used as a "universal" language that the character revert back to when they are stressed or exclamatory? When Kaylee says "shay shay" to Mal, I took it to mean "thanks" (in Chinese).

Wizdar

Most often it's used to imply swearing, as in when Inara cautions Atherton about his language, and then uses it herself.

Frankly, I would think if there were a bastardization of two languages in the future, and English were one of the ones to survive, that Spanish would be the mixer. You may argue that Chinese would win by numbers alone, and I would counter that for that reason Chinese would win as the primary language.