I really, really like Alan Tudyk.

[eurydicebound]

I do. I've noticed him and liked his work ever since 28 Days, that questionable but not too awful Sandra Bullock flick. Now I've seen that he's in Firefly, and so I'm going to see that soonish. I wish I'd known it when the show was on. I'd have tried harder to see it then.

So.... Firefly. Is it really good? I mean, I've had various friends enthuse generally about it, but always as though I knew what the hell they were talking about in great detail. Thoughts? Reviews?

Comments

[dvixen.livejournal.com]

It's well worth watching. I've seen it through no less than 6 times :)

[metallian.livejournal.com]

It's very, very good.

Well, assuming you like Joss Whedon's "style" and don't mind mixing sci-fi with "Western" elements. Though I suppose it's really more of a "Western with sci-fi trappings."

Hmmm, I'm not sure how to describe it without just spewing out lots of examples from the show, thus detracting from your enjoyment.

Here are some of the things I liked about it, in a non-specific kind of way:

- Very strong characterization.
- Excellent use of pacing, timing, and editing.
- Episodes that work as one-offs, but with a compelling backstory underneath it all.
- Lots of quotable quotes.
- Frequent use of humorous understatement.
- The twisting of action/adventure cliches.
- Characters faced with tough decisions.
- Characters that do not always do the expected.
- Brutal prgamatism side-by-side with nobility.
- Drama side-by-side with comedy.
- All of the characters are interesting.

Those are some of the things I liked best about it, anyway.

[anaka.livejournal.com]

I like Whedon, though I will admit to never having seen any substantial part of Angel or Buffy, the series. I liked the movie, which probably marks me as a heretic among some circles.

I wrote the book for Trigun and liked the show. Western and Sci-fi mixing are not a problem for me.

I heard that the original episodes were not shown in order, throwing it all into a sort of clusterfuck. Is this true?

[adamjury.livejournal.com]

I think they showed Episode 1 first, but you really need to see the pilot for it to be really cool, so they more or less cut the show off at the knees.

The little bits I saw seemed cool; now it's not the geek-OMG-so-cool-must-jism-about-it-everywhere~! show I've been thinking about watching it through. :-)

[metallian.livejournal.com]

What of Whedon's have you seen/read other than the Buffy movie? I'm a huge fan of his current X-Men comics.


The pilot was shown towards the end of the series' run. Many people claim that the series sucks unless you see the pilot first. I disagree, as mrsmetallian and I fell in love with The Train Job without even knowing that it wasn't the pilot.

I will, however, say that watching the series ruins the ending of the pilot. The plot revolves around certain mysteries that will be ruined by watching any other episode first.

[anaka.livejournal.com]

Toy Story, which he has a credit for, so I assume it's actually his work, and Titan A.E. I've heard excellent things about the comic books too, but I've only seen one issue.

[metallian.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhh yeah....I forgot he did those. Yeah, I liked those, too, though they don't bear what I think of as his signature style as much as the others. Then again, maybe if I looked at them again (I saw them both before I saw any of his TV or cmic work) I would notice that they did...

[trollbabe.livejournal.com]

Well, I can still quote most of the original Buffy movie from memory, so you're not a heretic in my circle. :)

(Um, we spent a summer with no cable, so we watched the same dozen or so movies over and over and over again. I will not mention the other movies which are still largely committed to my memory - it's too embarassing.)

Firefly was wonderful. I think you will really love it. We bought the DVD set as soon as it came out, and have loaned it out to a number of people, all of whom came back singing the praises of Joss Whedon. themoocow visited us at one point, we made him watch the pilot "before he left". He didn't leave until about five hours later, having watched the next three or four episodes after the pilot.

If/when you decide to watch Firefly, I would advise you try to leave yourself opportunity to obsess about it. Just about everyone I know of who has watched the DVD set has reported the same thing - sudden inability to think about or do anything else but watch the darn show. grin.

[adamjury.livejournal.com]

Serenity has been pushed back to October, I believe.

[Which means the licensed RPG is scheduled to come out before the movie ...]

[adamjury.livejournal.com]

Margeret Weiss Productions... which is apparently a distinct company from the Sovereign Press people, even though it's, uh, all the same people. :-)

[adamjury.livejournal.com]

It's not d20, actually... its's a whole new system that "uses every dice except the d20", according to Jamie Chambers.

[eynowd.livejournal.com]

I was slow coming into Firefly and it took me three or four episodes for it to really grow on me. I'd heard it was a space western, but I wasn't quite prepared for just how much of a western it really is.

But, like Buffy and Angel, the real strength of the show is in the characters and the interactions between them. Whedon has created some really interesting ones, and they work really well together.

It took me a while to warm up to the captain though, until I realised that he was very much like Han Solo when we first meet him in Episode IV. Once you can accept that fact, he's pretty cool.

I really dig Wash, which is Alan Tudyk's character as well. He's a bit eccentric, which is always cool with me :)

If I were you, I'd see if you can borrow the DVDs from someone and just sit and enjoy them for a while :)

[gammahamster.livejournal.com]

I'm hyper-critical man.

No, really, I am. When it comes to shows that want my limited leisure time, I make Statler and Waldorf look like Glee Club members.

After watching the first aired episode of Firefly, I shut up. I just watched and enjoyed.

When it came out on DVD, I bought it, ASAP. I ended up buying another set, because the first one has been out on floating loan to different people for well over a year now. It's that good. People want to share it, because they've discovered something cool.

Is it perfect? No. It has first season roughness in a lot of places. Do I even particularly care for the setting? Not really. I'm a fantasy junkie. SF is firmly 'okay' for me.

The genius of Firefly (in my opinion) is with the characters. The writing and the casting were so perfect that you end up with a group of people you would watch do laundry, just to hear them bicker and joke back and forth.

Oh, and stuff happens between good dialog exchanges. Gunfights and explosions and felonies and stuff. You can fast forward through that if you want. :D

[trollbabe.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I really really like Alan Tudyk too. Have you seen Dodgeball? The movie itself was pretty funny, but he was awesome in it - and had sexay pirate hair, too. :D

Thumbs up!

[roserain.livejournal.com]

Firefly is a great series. Whedon's storytelling seemed to get better with each project he worked on (I'm a rare person who prefers "Angel" to "Buffy"). I actually lucked out in that I saw the pilot episode as the first episode (when Fox finally ran it. After watching the DVDs and hearing which episode aired first, I think they intentionally screwed it). I own the DVDs and watch them about once a year. I'm typically not a Sci-Fi fan (other than ST:NG), but this really sucked me in because the stories and the acting were simply excellent.

[brannonb.livejournal.com]

Watch Firefly. You will be glad you did. It's what every ensemble cast show should be, what every sci-fi show should be. Others have sung its praises, so I will not repeat what they have said, but will only assure you it is all true. So true.

How do I put this...

[mercuryeric.livejournal.com]

...if Crimson Skies had all the planes stripped away, and was a space opera instead of a 1930s aviation pulp, and a healthy dash of cowboy 'tude added to the mix, it would be Firefly.

Highly keen.

-E