Series Premier of Firefly

RayCav of ASVS · Post by **RayCav of ASVS** » 2002-09-20 09:10pm

Watching it on Fox right now. What do people think of the firste episode ever of this show?

paladin · Post by **paladin** » 2002-09-20 09:38pm

I only saw alittle part of Firefly but I like.

The cool part was when the merc was thrown in the ship's engine and killed after he promised to kill the captain next time they meet.

That's something you'd never see on ST.

RayCav of ASVS · Post by **RayCav of ASVS** » 2002-09-20 09:59pm

paladin wrote:I only saw alittle part of Firefly but I like. The cool part was when the merc was thrown in the ship's engine and killed after he promised to kill the captain next time they meet. That's something you'd never see on ST.

Yeah, that so fucking rocked.

My only gripe is about the Alliance. Hmmm, can someone say, "Imperial RIP-OFF!" ?

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2002-09-20 10:10pm

Damn! I missed it. Summary?

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2002-09-20 10:12pm

Grumble fires keeping me from watching fox.

COOL SG-1 kicks ass tonight on cable.

RayCav of ASVS · Post by **RayCav of ASVS** » 2002-09-20 10:32pm

Cyril wrote:Damn! I missed it. Summary?

Standard spoiler warning applies, folks

Intro - Alliance tries to unite all worlds in the galaxy. They win, but the "Independents" not to happy.

BTW, Alliance = Imperials, Independents = Rebels. Guess who the good guys are

Independents are chased to the Outer Rim (whoa, when will the parallels never end

) They try to eek out a living using 20th century tech on many planets. Ships are valuable commodities, and captains struggle to find jobs, which are usually criminal in nature. (think GTA 3 in space

)

background info over, the captain (I don't think they've mentioned his name yet) gets into pro-Alliance bar, kicks ass, runs away.

They find a job with a man who hunts down and kills those that fail him. Hmmm...reminds me of a certain black-clad Sith Lord.....

Anyway, they need to steal something from an Alliance train on a desert planet. They succeed, but not without Jane (the "tough guy") getting shot. They dope him up for his own good because he wants to leave the captain and Zoe (first mate and wife of helmsman) behind because they have not made contact yet as planned. Meanwhile, Captain and Zoe are stuck at train station because they start having moral second thoughts - the cargo they are to steal is medicine needed by the locals because the air was posioned during terraforming. However, the medicine also brings a hefty price on the black market....

Anyway, they decided to return the medicine. Not before "Vader's" henchmen arrive to pick the medicine up, though. A short gunfight ensues, and they win. Captain wants to return the payment "Vader" already made, but head honcho spits at the offer, so he gets to be Engine Fodder. The rest of the mercs accept the offer, however.

They dump the medicine in the town, but get caught by the Sheriff. Not liking the Alliance himself, the Sheriff emphasizes, and further shows admiration for their willingness to return the medicine. After seeing that it's all there, they let them go. Final scene is of Firefly in space.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2002-09-20 11:06pm

Does anybody know if this is going to be on again? It's being preempted by baseball in my area. Stupid FOX, let's preempt the series premiere and see how well the show is going to do.

RayCav of ASVS · Post by **RayCav of ASVS** » 2002-09-20 11:13pm

neoolong wrote:Does anybody know if this is going to be on again? It's being preempted by baseball in my area. Stupid FOX, let's preempt the series premiere and see how well the show is going to do.

Chances are, no. For years the preemted the Simpsons Holloween specials because they couldn't figure out that the World Series would be running then, an event predicited only months in advanced

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2002-09-20 11:17pm

Yeah, that's what I figured. I thought that maybe since it was the series premier they might make an exception. Then again what do you expect from a network that puts Futurama in the stupidest time spot ever.

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2002-09-20 11:17pm

I like how all the space shots are devoid of any noise except for the background music.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2002-09-20 11:18pm

I finally got Fox really funny staticly and YES it's been Preempted by fucking Brewers vs. Giants.

RayCav of ASVS · Post by **RayCav of ASVS** » 2002-09-20 11:18pm

neoolong wrote:Yeah, that's what I figured. I thought that maybe since it was the series premier they might make an exception. Then again what do you expect from a network that puts Futurama in the stupidest time spot ever.

Yeah, Fox blows

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2002-09-20 11:41pm

Woo Hoo. They're actually playing it from the beginning. It's alright everybody, well if you're on the west coast.

Diamedes · Post by **Diamedes** » 2002-09-21 04:45am

**********Spoilers**********

Intro - Alliance tries to unite all worlds in the galaxy. They win, but the "Independents" not to happy.

BTW, Alliance = Imperials, Independents = Rebels. Guess who the good guys are

Independents are chased to the Outer Rim (whoa, when will the parallels never end ) They try to eek out a living using 20th century tech on many planets. Ships are valuable commodities, and captains struggle to find jobs, which are usually criminal in nature. (think GTA 3 in space )

I'd say another equally strong interpretation is that the Alliance equals the Union of the Civil War and Wild West era. The captains quip about "rising again" would support that too. The Alliance and the war is basically the American Civil War, with the war against slavery removed, and only the North's desire to maintain the Union being the motive of the war. The frontier becomes the place where people can escape the dislike for rebels in the central planets, and the post-war reprisals on the rebellion planets. It plays up the space western aspect of the show, by modelling on a historical precedent.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2002-09-21 12:57pm

**********SPOILERS*************

Diamedes wrote:**********Spoilers**********

I'd say another equally strong interpretation is that the Alliance equals the Union of the Civil War and Wild West era. The captains quip about "rising again" would support that too. The Alliance and the war is basically the American Civil War, with the war against slavery removed, and only the North's desire to maintain the Union being the motive of the war. The frontier becomes the place where people can escape the dislike for rebels in the central planets, and the post-war reprisals on the rebellion planets. It plays up the space western aspect of the show, by modelling on a historical precedent.

I might add that I enterpreted the situation about the same with one difference. In the case of Firefly the Alliance decided all the planets should
be part of The Alliance and forced everyone else to comply. The other side was fighting to not be part of The Alliance, not to secede from it, at least form their point of view.

I would imagine it is *exactly* like you put it from The Alliance's point of view though.

By the way, I thought the Alliance troopers looked like they might be wearing gear similar to that worn in the Starship Troopers movie.

Aaron2 · Post by **Aaron2** » 2002-09-21 03:58pm

I wasn't too impressed with the show. There seemed to be too many extra characters floating around. Of course, since Fox didn't want us to see the 2-hour pilot that makes sense. (the show last night was episode 2).

The show seemed to Star Trekky for me. Especially the huge sick-bay. Why would a transport ship with a crew of 8 need a doctor and that giant medical lab? That kinda stuff bugs me to no end.

Aaron

Larz · Post by **Larz** » 2002-09-21 07:34pm

It would seem to mimic the wild west by the way it started. The sandy salloon, the trenchcoats, the brawl where the Mal gets thrown out a "window", and finally the fact that their weapons all look like Peacemaker Revolvers or are shotguns, the favorites of the wild west. The show seemed to remind me sort of "Cowboy Bebop" except in a skewed way. The crew is a bunch of people who seemed to gather on the captains ship, they are an odd bunch with contradicting yet complimenting characteristics, they're looking for money, and get themselves in trouble due to their morals. Overall: Hard to tell how I'll like the rest of the series, but the premiere rocked and if it keeps going at this pace, I'll end up having to clear friday nights even moreso to watch it.

Subnormal · Post by **Subnormal** » 2002-09-21 08:52pm

I was way more interested in the beginning credits, showing in the background scenes of what appeared to be space and lots of ground combat, which would be great. I thought it wasn't that bad, I liked John Doe better though. Im going to check TV guide.com and see if Firefly comes on again in my area.

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2002-09-21 10:10pm

The whole thing had a really jerked the "Space Cowboy" concept off. The salloon, the dress, the guns, the train robbery. Take away the space ships and all you got is a western show.

A good western show though, with characters that have brains. I kinda thought that the Claw guy was going to be a reoccuring character in the show.(DAMN YOU TREK!) I laughed so fucking hard when he was mangled. Unfortunatly, at least for a while, we won't have much to any space combat. Hopefully though, we might get to see some fights that the Firefly is not involved with, the Firefly to get refitted with weapons, or both so we can see the strengths of this galaxy. I'm thinking it may have a good FTL speed since the Allaince consisted of about 1000 Earth-like Terraformed planets.

RayCav of ASVS · Post by **RayCav of ASVS** » 2002-09-21 10:39pm

anarchistbunny wrote:The whole thing had a really jerked the "Space Cowboy" concept off. The salloon, the dress, the guns, the train robbery. Take away the space ships and all you got is a western show.

A good western show though, with characters that have brains. I kinda thought that the Claw guy was going to be a reoccuring character in the show.(DAMN YOU TREK!) I laughed so fucking hard when he was mangled. Unfortunatly, at least for a while, we won't have much to any space combat. Hopefully though, we might get to see some fights that the Firefly is not involved with, the Firefly to get refitted with weapons, or both so we can see the strengths of this galaxy. I'm thinking it may have a good FTL speed since the Allaince consisted of about 1000 Earth-like Terraformed planets.

In other words, more or less a middle ground between ST and SW.

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2002-09-21 10:50pm

Yeah. Hell, so far I saw, what? 12, 18 armored and armed soldiers? Already has Ground Combat over Trek.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2002-09-23 02:22am

anarchistbunny wrote:The whole thing had a really jerked the "Space Cowboy" concept off. The salloon, the dress, the guns, the train robbery. Take away the space ships and all you got is a western show.

A good western show though, with characters that have brains. I kinda thought that the Claw guy was going to be a reoccuring character in the show.(DAMN YOU TREK!) I laughed so fucking hard when he was mangled. Unfortunatly, at least for a while, we won't have much to any space combat. Hopefully though, we might get to see some fights that the Firefly is not involved with, the Firefly to get refitted with weapons, or both so we can see the strengths of this galaxy. I'm thinking it may have a good FTL speed since the Allaince consisted of about 1000 Earth-like Terraformed planets.

Weird. That was one of my first thoughts on seeing the show. "Wow, this is so much like an anime!" My second thought was that the whole train robbery bit seemed rather contrived. You'd think somebody would notice a big frigging spaceship flying above the train. And I don't think you'd see very good FTL speeds out of this show. It's easy to find 1000 worlds suitable for terraformation within just a few hundred lightyears of Earth.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2002-09-23 09:00pm

How easy would it really be considering that it was a train. I mean I doubt that the train had radar and with no windows on the ceiling the only way to see it would be if it flew down next to the side of the train. Unless of course the train was quiet enough to hear a space ship, which I don't think it was. Also, I doubt that there were that many people outside the train in that area, probably why they picked that area do rob it.