ZekeRage911
Joined Jan 2007
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ZekeRage911's rating
I don't know where to begin. This show...
Okay, I could take X-Men Evolution. I could even tolerate X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I made it all the way through the mid-90's Spider Man cartoon. I grew up watching the corny 70's Spider Man cartoons, including the 'Amazing Friends' one.
This show is so terrible, I COULD NOT WATCH IT!! It's like they decided to take everything likable about Spider Man and flush it away so they could cram in enough Avengers movie name-drops and Nick Fury screen time without actually making an Avengers or Nick Fury cartoon. Then they decided to give Peter Parker these exposition narratives with intentionally terrible animation and ungodly unfunny cartoon visuals. MJ has been replaced by a teenage Lois Lane. J. Jonah Jameson is Bill O'Reilly. The first super-villains we meet are lame even for Spider Man villains. And, the final slap in the face, Spider Man is leading a small team of teenage super heroes. The music is pretty stupid, the flashy animation attempts to mimic comic book style but only serves to bring the story to a screeching halt. I just... God, every time it looked like it might get better it derailed into pointless exposition and unfunny slapstick.
My childhood continues to be raped. Won't someone please abort this thing before it gets any worse?
Okay, I could take X-Men Evolution. I could even tolerate X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I made it all the way through the mid-90's Spider Man cartoon. I grew up watching the corny 70's Spider Man cartoons, including the 'Amazing Friends' one.
This show is so terrible, I COULD NOT WATCH IT!! It's like they decided to take everything likable about Spider Man and flush it away so they could cram in enough Avengers movie name-drops and Nick Fury screen time without actually making an Avengers or Nick Fury cartoon. Then they decided to give Peter Parker these exposition narratives with intentionally terrible animation and ungodly unfunny cartoon visuals. MJ has been replaced by a teenage Lois Lane. J. Jonah Jameson is Bill O'Reilly. The first super-villains we meet are lame even for Spider Man villains. And, the final slap in the face, Spider Man is leading a small team of teenage super heroes. The music is pretty stupid, the flashy animation attempts to mimic comic book style but only serves to bring the story to a screeching halt. I just... God, every time it looked like it might get better it derailed into pointless exposition and unfunny slapstick.
My childhood continues to be raped. Won't someone please abort this thing before it gets any worse?
Let me preface: I dislike Joss Whedon. I don't hate him. I don't like him. I would be apathetic towards him except for things like Alien: Resurrection. Rumor has it he wrote it as a satire, but I have no evidence of this. His work is so hit-or-miss that it's hard not to ascribe most of his success to dumb luck. So, I was rather surprised to watch this 14 episode series run and not hate it.
In fact, it's kind of a guilty pleasure. The series is about a group of former rebels flying a starship and taking mercenary jobs to make ends meet in a galaxy colonized by humans. Because some outer worlds are poverty-stricken, they exist in wild-west type societies instead of, say, slums. The Sci-Western thing is hard to pull off and Firefly... it does not do it well. I'm sorry, but a sawed off shotgun with bits glued onto it STILL does not make 'pew-pew' noises. The episode where their cargo is cattle, and the doctor and his sister get accused of being witches... Um, yeah. I'm not buying that premise out of the bargain bin.
The characters themselves are fairly likable. The Captain is a somewhat reckless rebel who cares nothing for authority figures but cares everything for his crew. He's got his loyal, butt-kicking right-hand woman, his hired dumb tough-guy merc, his always peppy and upbeat mechanic chick, and the doctor with his trademark Whedon messed-up tough chick sister. And a preacher guy, for some reason. Oh, and the prostitute.
The stories usually aren't too bad, but they're often bogged down by someone seriously forgetting about where the HELL it all takes place. Oh, and people keep forgetting how physics works. One episode had the ship hurtling towards some trap that would roast them all alive. Their solution? Climb outside the ship and shoot it. Better solution? Open a vent for a half-second. It'll alter the ship's trajectory.
Other than a few glaring faults (Most of which are trademark Whedon-isms) the show itself seemed fairly well written... then I realized why. He didn't write the bulk of the series. Concept, design, themes, these are all Whedon's ideas. Even episode stories are largely his ideas. But in the hands of better writers, and a competent director, they actually become quite good. Like when the ship was disabled and we see flashbacks to how Malcolm Reynolds set up his little crew in the first place... that was well done. Joss didn't write it.
All in all, tone, style, and stories are slightly above average. I've seen better shows cancelled for worse reasons, so I don't think Firefly was treated unfairly. They even got a movie out of the deal, you can't say that for most sci-fi shows.
And now for the part of the show I liked to call: What did Joss Whedon rip off hoping no one would notice?!
Outlaw Star - Engineered super-girl in a box Cowboy Bebop - Crew of outlaws performing merc work and usually getting screwed Star Wars - Han Solo, his right-hand Wookie, skirting the law as lovable rogues Farscape - Crew of dysfunctional people evading capture and swearing in another language
And that's really the key to Joss Whedon. See something that's been done before, steal it, combine it with something else that works and see what happens. I guess with Dollhouse he read a lot of P.K. Dick and took a crack at cyberpunk... And crack is really the right word. But seriously, all in all, Firefly isn't a terrible show. It's an okay show. It's probably the best thing Joss has ever done.
In fact, it's kind of a guilty pleasure. The series is about a group of former rebels flying a starship and taking mercenary jobs to make ends meet in a galaxy colonized by humans. Because some outer worlds are poverty-stricken, they exist in wild-west type societies instead of, say, slums. The Sci-Western thing is hard to pull off and Firefly... it does not do it well. I'm sorry, but a sawed off shotgun with bits glued onto it STILL does not make 'pew-pew' noises. The episode where their cargo is cattle, and the doctor and his sister get accused of being witches... Um, yeah. I'm not buying that premise out of the bargain bin.
The characters themselves are fairly likable. The Captain is a somewhat reckless rebel who cares nothing for authority figures but cares everything for his crew. He's got his loyal, butt-kicking right-hand woman, his hired dumb tough-guy merc, his always peppy and upbeat mechanic chick, and the doctor with his trademark Whedon messed-up tough chick sister. And a preacher guy, for some reason. Oh, and the prostitute.
The stories usually aren't too bad, but they're often bogged down by someone seriously forgetting about where the HELL it all takes place. Oh, and people keep forgetting how physics works. One episode had the ship hurtling towards some trap that would roast them all alive. Their solution? Climb outside the ship and shoot it. Better solution? Open a vent for a half-second. It'll alter the ship's trajectory.
Other than a few glaring faults (Most of which are trademark Whedon-isms) the show itself seemed fairly well written... then I realized why. He didn't write the bulk of the series. Concept, design, themes, these are all Whedon's ideas. Even episode stories are largely his ideas. But in the hands of better writers, and a competent director, they actually become quite good. Like when the ship was disabled and we see flashbacks to how Malcolm Reynolds set up his little crew in the first place... that was well done. Joss didn't write it.
All in all, tone, style, and stories are slightly above average. I've seen better shows cancelled for worse reasons, so I don't think Firefly was treated unfairly. They even got a movie out of the deal, you can't say that for most sci-fi shows.
And now for the part of the show I liked to call: What did Joss Whedon rip off hoping no one would notice?!
Outlaw Star - Engineered super-girl in a box Cowboy Bebop - Crew of outlaws performing merc work and usually getting screwed Star Wars - Han Solo, his right-hand Wookie, skirting the law as lovable rogues Farscape - Crew of dysfunctional people evading capture and swearing in another language
And that's really the key to Joss Whedon. See something that's been done before, steal it, combine it with something else that works and see what happens. I guess with Dollhouse he read a lot of P.K. Dick and took a crack at cyberpunk... And crack is really the right word. But seriously, all in all, Firefly isn't a terrible show. It's an okay show. It's probably the best thing Joss has ever done.