So, since I have more than a few of you hooked on Battlestar...

[CybrSlydr]

Have you heard of Firefly?

It was a show that ran for less than one full season on Fox.

And I tell ya, it ranks right up there with Battlestar for greatness.

Think of it as a western in space.



The series is set in the year 2517, after humans have arrived at a new star system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Firefly_planets_and_moons), and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_%28Firefly_vessel%29), a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The ensemble cast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensemble_cast) portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity. Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things".[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-torontosun-3)

The show explores the lives of people who fought on the losing side of a civil war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_War) and now make a living on the outskirts of the society, as well as the pioneer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settler) culture that exists on the fringes of their star system. In addition, it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_%28Firefly%29), resulting in the fusion of the two cultures as well. According to Whedon's vision, "nothing will change in the future: technology will advance, but we will still have the same political, moral, and ethical problems as today."[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-4)It's an extremely well-written show and ya know... it's not hyper realistic or gritty like Battlestar, but it's very real, relatable and has a lot of heart. Some of the most likable cast of characters you'll ever meet.


Do yourselves a favor and check this show out - you can pick up the entire series via Blockbuster or NetFlix for a good price. You won't be disappointed. :)

EDIT: Or, if you want to watch them on your computer...
As of March 12, 2008, all fourteen episodes are available on-demand through the Hulu.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulu) service launched by FOX's parent News Corp. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation) and NBC Universal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Universal).[61] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-60)

[CybrSlydr]

Here are the opening credits for the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrAS20mNZUE

This is one of my favorite moments in the show. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mq_96Entks

[Toastmaker]

Well, then why didn't it continue beyond one season ??


Oh, and by the way - would you guys SHUT UP about all these new episones of BSG that I HAVEN'T SEEN YET ??? I have to wait for them to come to my local Blockbuster. . .

Every new episode seems to result in one of you running to your computer and spilling the beans about "Adama grows a tail", "Starbuck is/is not/wants to be- a Cylon", "Col. Tighe bakes a really ****ty poundcake", etc.

I gotta read all these posts to try to catch somebody calling somebody else a ****heel or an asswipe or something so revealing everything that's happening is queering the whole deal for me. Ok ?

[CybrSlydr]

One word for ya, Toast.

FOX.



Firefly consists of one two-hour pilot and thirteen one-hour episodes. The show originally aired in the United States in 2002 on FOX, although FOX aired the episodes out of the intended order and did not air three of the fourteen episodes. These first appeared with the rest of the series during repeat broadcasts on the Sci Fi Channel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCI_FI_%28United_States%29).[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]

Although Whedon had designed the show to run for seven years,[72] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-71) and the show had a loyal following during its original broadcast,[73] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-72) low ratings resulted in cancellation by FOX in December 2002 after only eleven episodes had aired in the United States and Canada.[74] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-variety-73) Prior to cancellation, some fans, worried about low ratings, formed the Firefly Immediate Assistance campaign whose goal was to support the production of the show by sending in postcards to FOX. After it was cancelled, the campaign worked on getting another network such as UPN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Paramount_Network) to pick up the series. The campaign was unsuccessful in securing the show's continuation.[75] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-74)

The Onion A.V. Club (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_A.V._Club) cited several actions by the FOX network that contributed to the show's failure, most notably airing the episodes out of sequence, making the plot more difficult to follow.[76] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-75) For instance, the double episode "Serenity" was intended as the premiere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiere), and therefore contained most of the character introductions and back-story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-story). However, FOX decided that "Serenity" was unsuitable to open the series, and "The Train Job" was specifically created to act as a new pilot.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-ttjc1-9) In addition, Firefly was promoted as an action (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_film)-comedy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_film) rather than the more serious character study it was intended to be, and the showbiz trade paper Variety (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_%28magazine%29) noted Fox's decision to occasionally preempt the show for sporting events.[74] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-variety-73)

A box set containing the fourteen completed episodes (including those which had not yet aired in the United States) was released on region 1 DVD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD) on December 9, 2003, region 2 on April 19, 2004, and region 4 on August 2, 2004. The box features the episodes in the original order in which the show's producers had intended them to be broadcast, as well as seven episode commentaries, outtakes and other features. The DVDs feature the episodes as they were shot in 16:9 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_%28image%29) widescreen, with anamorphic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic_widescreen) transfers and Dolby Surround (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Surround) audio. By September 2005, its DVD release had sold approximately 500,000[77] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-76) copies and was one of the top movers at Amazon.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com) for months. At Amazon.com the DVDs had average daily rankings of between 1st and 75th in 2003, 22nd and 397th in 2004, 2nd and 232nd in 2005, and 2nd and 31st in 2006 as of June 27, 2006.[78] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-77)

FOX remastered the complete series in 1080i (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i) hi-definition for broadcast on Universal HD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_HD), which began in April 2008.[79] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-78) The series was re-released on Blu-ray Disc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc) on November 11, 2008, comprising three discs; exclusive extras to the Blu-ray release include extra audio commentary from Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk and Ron Glass for the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds", as well as an additional featurette, "Firefly" Reunion: Lunch with Joss, Nathan, Alan and Ron.[80] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-79)

The entire series is also available for online viewing on hulu.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulu.com), an online video-on-demand collaboration between FOX parent News Corporation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation) and NBC Universal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Universal).[81] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28TV_series%29#cite_note-80)

[Toastmaker]

Um. . . Oh, Ok.

[CybrSlydr]

Check it out - I think you'll like it. :)

Besides, you can watch the episodes for free on Hulu.

[Toastmaker]

And if I do will you shut up about BSG ??

[CybrSlydr]

No.

:D :D :D :D

[Willy]

Have to admit I'm a fan of Firefly/Serenity.

[Scratch]

You got me hooked on BSG, but I watched an episode of Firefly and wasn't impressed.

[CybrSlydr]

What episode did you watch?...

[Scratch]

I really don't know which one. I only watched about 20 min. of it.

[Hans Jaeger]

I watched a Sci-Fi movie called `Serenity`a few months back but I don`t think it looked anything like that.

[CybrSlydr]

In, Serenity is the movie for the show. It came after the show was cancelled. Good movie.

[Hans Jaeger]

Yes, the movie was quite good but it didn't have any "wild west" in it, as I recall, so I didn't think they were related.

It had a humans vs "mechs" theme to it as I recall?

[Snuffy]

Ineffective ... I still haven't caught the first or any episode of any of this.

[CybrSlydr]

Yes, the movie was quite good but it didn't have any "wild west" in it, as I recall, so I didn't think they were related.

It had a humans vs "mechs" theme to it as I recall?



LOL No, it was human vs human vs Reaver. No mechs.

[Hans Jaeger]

"Reavers" - mutated humans? Have I got that right now? :)

[CybrSlydr]

Not really mutated, no.

But very different, yes.

[Hans Jaeger]

I'll have to watch it again some time. I thought by the end of the movie we learned that the Reavers were humans who had been attacked by some kind of disease that changed them.

[CybrSlydr]

Yes, that is true - however, I don't think that "mutated" is the right word.