Salon reviews “Firefly”

YaRness writes, Salon is often a bit extreme in it’s reviews, but in the case of this review they basically describe exactly the way I feel about “Firefly” so far, that is, it’s not living up to its potential. They do mention that part of yawning feeling it’s causing may be due to network intervention (i.e. shelving the pilot). Anyway, it’s way more well written than anything I could come up with, so check it out and post your responses.

5 replies on “Salon reviews “Firefly””

  1. Harsh
    I’ll Agree That They Haven’t Really Gotten Started Yet, But I Blame The Lack of The Two Hour Pilot. I’m Sure There Are a Lot Of Subtle Conflicts We Aren’t Seeing At All Yet, Since We Missed The Character Expositions Of The Pilot. For Example, What If We Knew Mal Actually Had Some Odd Fear Of Women. Then The Companion That He’s Kinda Vaugle Talked To Probably Holds A Lot More Significance Than Just Having a Sex Object On The Ship. Maybe Jay=ne Knows The Doctor From highschool, Where He Picked On Him All The Time. It’s The Smaller Relations Like That Tham Make A Series. We Haven’t Had Enough info To See All Those Yet.

    In Other Words: Damn Fox And Their Meddling!

    It’s This Sort Of Problem That Will Get The Show Canceled Before We Can All Really Enjoy It.

  2. The reviewer is clearly not objective :)
    Then again, neither am I. :)

    It seems the reviewer is a fan of Buffy but completely dislikes anything remotely approaching a western theme unless it’s the Real Thing. That said, the review itself is farily well written and it is clear the reviewer has seen Firefly.

    There are some valid points raised. Most notably that we do not have the “character exposition”; we kind of join in the middle of a story in progress. Then again, the next few episodes may be able to correct that. Myself, I kind of enjoy trying to figure out where each of the characters come from and what their motivations are. Still, having something that explained how they all came together would be enlightening and would go a long way to clearing up a lot of questions.

    And what’s with dissing the “western” stuff? I mean, isn’t it somewhat realistic that a frontier planet would face the same challenges as the old west? And aren’t projectile weapons considerably easier to make and maintain than, for example, particle beam weapons? After all, the materials are likely readily available on the planets. And considering human nature, why couldn’t there be “high noon extra” type folks hanging around on the train?

    The point about network interference is valid. After all, how many shows really suck because the network thinks it knows what the viewers want and gets it horribly wrong. After all, the networks tend to glom onto a type of show and insist on that and only that to near exclusion of all else and try to make all the various stories fit into that mould. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if some of the show has been “simplified” for what the networks perceive as simpletons in their audiences.

    All in all, after two episodes, I am personally satisfied with the show. It isn’t a blockbuster based on these episodes, but then neither was Buffy. It takes time to build up the backstory that allows the extraordinary events to take place. We’re still meeting key players in the overal drama of the series yet reviewers (and viewers) expect to know “everything” already? Isn’t that half the fun of watching a series? That you don’t know everything and you want to find out more?

    Well, enough of my ranting.

    • Re: The reviewer is clearly not objective :)
      Hmmm. Seems I need to learn how to operate a mouse and actually press “Preview” when I mean to. Sorry about the formatting mess.

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