Whedonesque : Comments on 6465 : Another chance to Vote For Firefly.

Wow, Firefly has gone from 80 to 118 since I posted this link!!
Whedonesque-ers Rock !! :-)

Right now, Firefly has nearly 46% of the vote. :^)

50.44% now, only Enterprise is anywhere near us :)

I'd have to vote for Farscape, since our beloved Firefly has already gotten the feature film treatment -- how greedy are we?

brother_grady | April 08, 17:09 CET

May I ask something?
I never saw Firefly.
I am rather new to the "wonderful world of Joss Whedons mind" as I discovered Angel around episode 11 Season 5!!! I had seen Buffy in the past a few times but never got hooked. Thanks to reruns and DVD's I have seen most Angel episodes and is currently watching Buffy reruns on Fox and WB on weekends. I personally do enjoy Buffy bt find Angel far superior. I do not wish to start a "Buffy vs Angel war" and I fully respect those that think Buffy is far better.

Anyway, I have been at Best Buy several times holding the Firefly DVD box....but I can't buy it. It looks too Star Trek. I do not hate Star Trek but I am not exactly a fan either.

Do you guys think I would enjoy Firefly? I plan on watching the movie in the theatre when it comes out but I am curious if I should invest in the DVD box. My budget is quite strained.

Jonas | April 08, 17:23 CET

When it comes to Joss, too much is never enough - that's how greedy I am :-) We're at 54.76% now.

Bill Door | April 08, 17:23 CET

Sorry for the second post in a row - technology beating me I am afraid
Jonas, I am sure that it has been said before but Firefly is not Star Trek, in any way, shape or form so do not panic if you are not particularly a fan of that show.
I bought Firefly purely on the strength of feeling expressed by the members of this board, thinking that a programme able to spark such devotion in intelligent people had to be worth investigating. I was not disappointed, in fact I love it and am now spreading the gospel by lending it to some friends of mine as I believe is customary.
If your budget is constrained, have you checked your local library (if you have one - I don't know where you live, obviously) as they might have a copy.

[ edited by Bill Door on 2005-04-08 16:09 ]

Bill Door | April 08, 17:37 CET

Checking the Libray is a good ide. I have not thought of that. I take my children there all the time. I live outside Lynchburg, Virginia.........not a very modern or "active" place though.....

Jonas | April 08, 17:57 CET

62.72 percent and the coloured bar looks satisfyingly in the lead :D

inbetween | April 08, 18:03 CET

Jonas, my budget is strained, and I bought the Firefly DVD box. Took me awhile, but I managed, and I don't regret it. I strongly recommend it. It's not Star Trek. It's actually anti-Star Trek. In the series, The Alliance is treated at times almost like a satiristic approach to Roddenberry's pristine Federation ideal.

It's a space western with comedy, action, drama, suspense, romance, and all kindsa salty goodness.

Had some family over yesterday and I subjected them to Safe and Jaynestown. They enjoyed it a great deal. For me, Firefly is insured repeated viewings. Something that can't be said for a lot of stuff put on DVD. You buy it, watch it once, hunt for easter eggs and check out the special features then put it on a shelf. I've referred to my Firefly DVDs many times since I got them.

Brother Grady, as for being greedy? It's not that at all. Terrible television series survive on networks for several seasons, but something this good gets canned so quickly? FOX could never do enough to compensate for the mistake they made when they cancelled Firefly the first time. However, giving the greenlight to a second season would be a humble start on their part.

I still pray the network suits at Firefly will come to their senses and make up for repeated past errors in judgment. I don't consider that greed. Naivette perhaps, but not greed. Firefly deserved a longer run as a series. One feature length film with a calculated risk of two more over the course of the next five years? Not a suitable alternative in my opinion. Better than NOTHING, of course, but it DESERVES better. That's not being greedy.

It's not that it sucked or only appealed to a very thin audience demographic. This is a very well produced series that has something in it for everyone. Fox just didn't support it properly. They buried it.

ZachsMind | April 08, 18:04 CET

Jonas, I came late to the 'verse, as well, and I hesitated in buying Firefly, too. I did, though, on the strength of the praise heaped upon the series by Whedonesquers, and I was rewarded with, again, one of the best series ever. It did take me about three episodes to get totally hooked, but it happened, and I have shared Firefly as gifts to others, and all have become fans.

If your library does not have the series, you might try Netflix.

palehorse | April 08, 18:08 CET

"Do you guys think I would enjoy Firefly? "

Absolutely! I wasn't convinced I would like it either, until I was given the DVD set for Christmas 2003. By the second episode, my whole family was hooked. (The first episode - the pilot - isn't as good as every single episode following, but it was necessary to establish the setting of the series.)

Find some way to see it. Check out the library. Find a friend who might have it. Look for sales on Ebay or Amazon.com. or ask someone to give it to you for your birthday or Flag Day.

Nebula1400 | April 08, 18:12 CET

Up to 63.65%, a lead of 42.63% over Enterprise. Nothing else even gets into double figures! Close contest!

catalyst2 | April 08, 18:13 CET

Jonas - I bought Firefly because it was a Whedon show. I like Sci Fic but I don't like everything that is Sci Fic. When I first started watching the set I found the first disc to be alittle disappointing - I liked the Pilot but the other two episodes didn't thrill me and I didn't get into the show. I thought to myself "this isn't that great, maybe I shouldn't have bought this". But as I watched more epsiodes I started getting into the show and to me the episodes kept getting better. I love the series however I still watch the first disc the least because really I only like the pilot on that disc.

Everyone's tastes are different so I can only tell you my experiences. An interesting thing is my sister hates Sci Fic shows, I got her into Buffy and Angel and she bought all the seasons. Everytime I tried to get her to borrow Firefly and watch it she said she had no interest in it at all. She had seen an episode on TV "Trainjob" and felt it was not a show she would want to watch. I explained IMO "TrainJob" was the weakest epsiode on the series and not the episode she should base an opinion on. Finally I sat her down to watch a couple of the later epsiodes and she has kept my set for the past month - she recently told me she is a big fan now and will buy it after she returns my set to me.

So in my long winded post it seems most Whedon fans are utimately happy with Firefly, I think it is money well spent.

Passion | April 08, 18:22 CET

Jonas,
I have been a gigantic Buffy/Angel fan from the beginning, but had no desire to watch Firefly when it was on television. I am just not a scifi fan, I have never been in to Star Trek or any other space related shows. However, my friend made me, and I mean almost physically held me down and made me watch her Firefly dvd's with her. I gotta say I think I was pretty unimpressed by the first 3 or 4 episodes, but all of a sudden it got great and I was completely hooked. Now I believe that if Firefly would have been allowed to continue it would have ended up being the best of Whedon's shows. Of course I now own the dvd set and have watched it several times. You should definitely try to get your hands on this show, it is well worth it.

In addition, I can't wait til the BDM!!!

jabby | April 08, 18:57 CET

"I'd have to vote for Farscape, since our beloved Firefly has already gotten the feature film treatment -- how greedy are we?"

Voting for Farscape? Which has gotten how many seasons? 4? You tell me who is greedy, Grady :)

[ edited by zeitgeist on 2005-04-08 17:25 ]

zeitgeist | April 08, 19:24 CET

Up to 70.83% now. Keep it up people. I expect us to get over 90%.

SpikeBad | April 08, 20:02 CET

Jonas,
I am also new to this world, having gotten hooked on Buffy in reruns a little more than a year ago. Until I hooked my friend a few weeks ago, I was the only Whedon fan in my circle of friends and aquaintences and there is nothing Whedon at our local library. I had never heard of Firefly at all and was not willing to get the DVD's on a the recomendation of strangers, even strangers I liked very much.

Then something good happened. I went to the Whedon "Support Kerry" get together and met some people, one of whom had brought his Firefly DVD's. The group agreed on "Out of Gas" as the episode to show me and when it was done, I was sure the set was worth buying. I was even luckier in that he kindly loaned me the DVD's so I could watch the rest. (Thank you again, if you read this.)

Almost everyone at the fund raiser had heard about it through Wedonesque and were a very nice, interesting bunch. You might want to check out the meet-up groups to see if there are any near you. Maybe you can arrange a showing of a couple episodes of Firefly with someone in your part of the world. If not, at least you could get to meet some interesting people and get their take on things.

newcj | April 08, 20:06 CET

"I'd have to vote for Farscape, since our beloved Firefly has already gotten the feature film treatment -- how greedy are we?"

Must echo zeitgeists repost whilst adding the fact that Farscape have also already had new material since it was cancelled. More than we're getting with Serenity as well. Don't get me wrong I'm a big Farscape fan, I have the dvds, but I prefer Firefly and we've had far less of that.

Up to 73.1% now - no power in the 'verse can stop us :)

Paul_Rocks | April 08, 20:55 CET

Why is Andromeda on the list? Besides the fact that is pretty lame (which I guess isn't relavent since Galactica 77 is there too) last time I looked Sorborino and the gang were still pimping new episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel.

check the results now. Firefly is kicking so much ass the other barely have bars.

[ edited by sTalking_Goat on 2005-04-08 19:17 ]

sTalking_Goat | April 08, 21:15 CET

Not to mention the fact that Andromeda is ending on it's own terms. They always intended to run for five seasons.

That is a hard list to pick from for me though. I love Firefly but i'm an even bigger fan of Farscape and personally i would prefer to see more of John and Aeryn. Then there is Space: Above and Beyond which was just an incredible piece of television history that ended well before it's time.

Had to go with Farscape though, ultimately we are getting more from the Firefly story in the form of Serenity and it's possible sequels so that is already accomplished. I've seen all there currently is to see from the Moya crew and i still want more.

Koven | April 08, 21:23 CET

The Watcher is right -- if and when this FIRST Serenity movie blows up, they will have sequels and a franchise will be reborn. Meanwhile, my beloved Crichton and Sun of Farscape are six feet under with little hope of resurrection. The bottom line is that if this movie is as good as we hope it will be, there is nothing to worry about.

As for whether or not to buy Firefly, I want to point out what a great DVD it is in terms of value. Commentaries on so many of the episodes, as well as a a little behind-the-scenes stuff. You simply don't get that all that often from television DVD sets. If I hadn't been a Joss fan, I would have jumped ship after Train Job and the next ep, but the other eps show such an amazing tapestry. Someday, though, I would love to know why they still have gunpowder guns in the future. Maybe it'll be visited on in the movie.

brother_grady | April 08, 21:33 CET

I voted for Firefly, of course, but to be fair, the only other thing I've seen on the list was Enterprise and Quantum Leap. Enterprise was boring, and although Quantum Leap has a special place in my heart, the story's done.

Jonas, 3 weeks ago, I was in the same shoes as you. I bought the DVDs as an impulse purchase, and expecting myself to be disappointed because of the high expectations.

I'm now an avid fan of the series. :D

ps. Firefly is now whomping the competitions at near to 75% and our closest competitor is Enterprise at 12.5%!!!
We rock!

NickSeng | April 08, 21:38 CET

Jonas – tricky one, because in the end it’s only down to you. It is quite natural even as a fan of someone to not necessarily enjoy all their work equally.

Like you I prefer Angel to Buffy. More grown up. For this reason alone I think you might enjoy Firefly. I also feel that, although the movie is ‘stand alone’, it will probably deepen your viewing pleasure if the characters are already familiar. (I am assuming the movie does not suck :) )

I agree with the people who said it took a few episodes to get into it, that it gets better as you go along and I wasn’t desperately keen on the Trainjob either (but I don’t want to prejudice you). Personally for me, the Joss episode ‘Our Mrs Reynolds’ alone was worth the price of the DVDs. And the bonus material is superb, as has been pointed out.

Re budget: might be worth holding on a bit longer as there has to be a sale at some point. Hell, even here in the UK prices have dropped in the last few weeks. Otherwise, maybe like most of us you have a person in your life who tends to give you presents which are *polite cough* not so useful and you could ask them for the DVDs or a voucher towards the cost (my somewhat warped logic goes, if you don’t like the show, you haven’t lost anything). In my experience most people are glad to be told what to get as presents.

Also if they don’t have Firefly, check out if you are able to request items at your library.

If it is a toss up between completing your Angel collection and buying Firefly, you are really in a bind. My own personal preference would be to complete Angel first, but that’s really only my opinion.

miranda | April 08, 22:01 CET

I was vote 781! We rule!

brownishcoat | April 08, 22:17 CET

I voted for Firefly. Jonas, I too think Angel was best. *sob*

charisma | April 08, 22:23 CET

Am I the only one that knew Firefly would be good before getting the DVDs, because of having a complete faith in Joss? My distaste of Westerns didn't stop me. Anything he creates, no matter how silly-sounding, no matter the genre, I will eat up and adore like nothing else. Come on, it's JOSS! ;)

[ edited by electricspacegirl on 2005-04-08 20:53 ]

electricspacegirl | April 08, 22:42 CET

I have to admit that I am another BTVS/Ats fan who didn't take to Firefly at first but watched it because it was by Joss and loved it. It never aired in the UK except on a channel I never watch but my DVD set is well worth it.

zz9 | April 08, 23:11 CET

vote #807! Firefly is blowing the competition away at 77%!!!!!

Miko | April 08, 23:14 CET

I watched Firefly when it originally aired and enjoyed it. I missed a couple of eps back then, I think. But I still watch 1 or 2 eps before I go to sleep at night. May be needing a new set myself!

brownishcoat | April 08, 23:30 CET

78.54%!

933 votes!

We Kick Anus!

Apocalypse | April 08, 23:42 CET

79.4 % » 1029 votes

Romanygirl | April 09, 00:50 CET

Hey gang!

I voted for Firefly, no doubt; but it was a bit difficult. Farscape tugged at me, but I was also really into Crusade as well! JMS is no JW, but I have always loved B5 and Crusade. I also would like to see Miracles, Brimstone and American Gothic brought back to television! And Point Pleasant and Tru Calling were just two more casualties of war. What a bummer!

Too many good genre television shows have been cancelled before their time. While shows I consider crap like One Tree Hill, The OC and Charmed remain untouched by the fickle finger of network executives. Guys like Joss Whedon, Chris Carter and JMS should be ruling the airwaves, rather than Mark Burnett and these eye candy soap operas.

Maybe Serenity will pave the way for a Lucas Buck movie!

xanderheartwillow | April 09, 01:50 CET

As to buying Firefly:
I asked my library to buy it, and when it finally came in, I had no clue what it was. (Never saw Buffy or Angel, never heard of Joss Whedon, for that matter. Okay, we didn't even have TV) My whole family watched it and loved it. Looked up this Whedon guy. Ah ha! We all watched Buffy and Angel and loved them. Bought "Firefly" because I couldn't stand not owning it. Lent it to my neighbors, who loved it (Again, they'd never seen Buffy etc, or heard of Whedon. Yes, I know: what Universe am I living in??)
My advice? Ask your library to buy it if they don't have it already. But next time you pick it up at the store, buy it anyway. It's my favorite Tv show ever (well, after "Blake's 7", anyway, and that's another story).

hako | April 09, 02:38 CET

Thanks everyone for the imput. I'll probably get it sooner or later. I'm getting a 7% raise the first of may :-)

Jonas | April 09, 02:50 CET

Since we're all telling our stories here, I'm gonna get nostalgic:

I started watching Buffy the summer before Firefly started. I had been meaning to check out the show for years, so I was excited when my local rental place actually got the first season in (I wasn't allowed to watch the it when it actually premiered, being thirteen years old in 1997 and all). Anyway, I was instantly hooked, and for me and sister, that became The Summer of Buffy. Summers.

I loved that summer.

So, there I was, all read up on Whedon, with a new show of his premiering in the Fall. I was excited to be in at the ground floor, and I enjoyed Firefly, and we all know how that ended.

So I've always been strangely relieved that I didn't get into WhedonWorld any earlier. Because however painful Firefly's cancellation was for myself, who had been anticipating Firefly for only about a month before it premiered, it must have been ten times more painful for most of you guys. Because I can just imagine how crushed I'd be if Joss announced a new television project right now, and by this time next year, it was already cancelled.

Yep. I salute you guys.

Also: Aw, xanderheartwillow, grouping The O.C. in with crap like One Tree Hill and Charmed? Why you gotta play me like that? =)

[ edited by VampiresSuckLOLOLGetIt on 2005-04-09 00:56 ]

VampiresSuckLOLOLGetIt | April 09, 02:54 CET

Congrats on your raise, Jonas, and even bigger congrats on the joy you will receive when you get the Firefly DVD set.

I'm a bit older than most of the folks on this board (as my friend Phlebottinin will attest!), and I'm not as strapped for cash as I was for ever so long. Consequently, I've become a Whedonvangelist (used to say the more euphonious Buffyvangelist, but Angel and FF must have attention paid to them, too!), and I've been more than happy to buy FF DVDs for friends I know will love the show...dozens of people (the multiplier effect comes into play with my friends's families and their friends) will go to the first showing of Firefly in the DC area, and I am hopeful of similar groundswells all over the nation.

It's almost a penance for not having watched Firefly when it first came out...figured I'd listen for the buzz and catch it in reruns...d'oh!

Chris inVirginia | April 09, 03:22 CET

Jonas, it took me forever to buy Firefly. I'm not really into Spec Fic or Westerns, so I figured I wouldn't like it. But when I finally rented it from Netflix (They have the whole series, incidentally. You should try that before you buy them) I fell in love immediately. It has everything that I love about Buffy (wacky cohorts, clever dialogue, subversion of expectations, great costumes) and all the good Angel stuff I like too (Some dark storylines, believable yet creepy bad guys, morally ambiguous main characters). I really think it's Whedon's best work. Now I go rent Toy Story to rewatch it and look for Jossiness.

Once again, I recommend Netflix. They have an AWESOME selection.

pixxelpuss | April 09, 06:20 CET

Yes, Jonas, congrats on the raise.

Go Firefly!

Harmalicious | April 09, 07:09 CET

Jonas, shoot me an e-mail.

Madhatter | April 09, 12:17 CET

82.63% and 1518 votes... Yeah, we rule! :)

Djungelurban | April 09, 15:32 CET

I also voted for Firefly but it was hard not voting for Farscape too. I love both shows but I feel that Farscape got four seasons (should've been more) but then they also got the mini-series to tie up the loose ends and wrap up the existing story. Yes, I'd love to see it hit the big screens but at least in tv land it was allowed to come back and finish what they started.

Firefly, on the other hand, was never given a fair shot on tv. Fox mishandled it badly and treated it badly. We barely got a half season of shows when it was cancelled. It was shown out of order, it's time slot was bumped repeatedly to accomodate baseball games. Yes, we are getting our BDM but we all would've prefered to get at least 5-7 years of great tv. I love BtVS and I love AtS but Firefly blew me away right from the start. I felt it was Joss' masterpiece and was just getting better and better as each episode aired. I can't wait to see the movie but I still mourn the loss of this great show on tv.

Firefly Flanatic | April 09, 20:04 CET

Okay, now I feel bad for Enterprise, since the poll is on a Star Trek Website.

NickSeng | April 09, 22:06 CET

Outpolling 2nd place Enterprise by more than 10 to 1.

On a Trek Web site.

Awesome, just awesome.

Chris inVirginia | April 09, 22:51 CET

Oh dear. We are in trouble. We have been accused of stuffing the ballot box because Firefly came out WAY ahead of everyone else. The new poll asks what to do with people like us! Castration is offered as one option.

Lioness | April 10, 01:33 CET

Here's a novel idea. Let's not post every single poll and vote that's out there on the web.

Caroline | April 10, 02:28 CET

What, so a big group of people voting once is considered ballot stuffing?

electricspacegirl | April 10, 03:00 CET

You can't vote more than once, so I'm wondering how ballot stuffing is even being talked about. I voted once, as probably everybody who voted did, with maybe a tiny few exceptions.

Chris inVirginia | April 10, 03:13 CET

Ah, the Firefly nostalgia. Never even heard of it until a year or two ago, and didn't bother buying it until maybe two months ago. Was catching up on Buffy, discovered in 2002. The more I read about Whedon, the more I kept thinking back to a comment I read a long time ago, some poster on the Angel WB boards who said Firefly was better than Buffy. It's not better, it's just different. Same quality, of course. And they look to have had a much larger budget than did the first seasons of B/A. I love it just as much. I also hated Caleb from Buffy, another reason I put off buying it. Now I'm convinced Nathan Fillion is a great actor, because I hated Caleb, just like I was supposed to, and by the end of Mal's first scene in the original pilot, I loved him. Just as I'm supposed to. *sniff* I was totally and utterly addicted by the end of Mal's first scene. Some eps are better than others. I found the advice and opinions of all the other Whedonoids to be totally right on.

April | April 10, 05:28 CET

"Here's a novel idea. Let's not post every single poll and vote that's out there on the web."

Silly, silly Caroline. Everybody knows voting means we, like, count.
Same way as we did when we saved Angel and Firefly and Wonderfalls.

What?

miranda | April 10, 15:26 CET

miranda, Firefly *was* saved. Maybe not the way most of us would have preferred, but I know what I'm doing come the end of September.

Chris inVirginia | April 10, 19:08 CET

Ya know, the webmaster's logic (I've read his message) is irrefutable ... and ridiculous. If you want to have a closed membership poll, have a closed membership. One of the best promotional things that TheOneRing.net did was made sure that every poll with Lord of the Rings in it got swamped. It does at least two things - it demonstrates the real size and interest of the fan base, and it raises awareness in areas outside of the main fan base. Anyone notice that Firefly DVD's rank on Amazon bumped up briefly over the weekend?

Hasufel | April 11, 23:32 CET

April 08 2005