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Date Posted: 14:49:29 10/11/02 Fri
Author: Rattletrap
Subject: Re: With no episode, new or old, to talk about this week
In reply to: Cactus Watcher 's message, "With no episode, new or old, to talk about this week" on 07:49:34 10/11/02 Fri

Great idea, CW. I humbly offer my answers:

1. Are you watching Firefly primarily because of
a. Joss' track record.
b. I like sci-fi.
c. I like westerns.
d. other (explain).

A, B, and C in some combination. This show seems to be tailor made for folks like me who like Joss, Sci-Fi, and Westerns.

2. Are you a fan of Star Trek? If so, what do you like and dislike about the franchise? Feel free to talk about individual series, and the movies separately or to lump them together.

Not really a Trek fan. I watched TNG sporadically for about a season and that's it. The story just never got hold of me, so I can't comment on how it is strong and weak.

3. Are you a fan of Star Wars? What do you like and dislike about it.

Yes. Lucas' writing is at times gnawing, and the acting is frequently terrible, but none of that seems to matter in the end. The stories are powerful and engaging. So many recent movies are little more than detailed close studies of character psychology, I often feel as if Hollywood directors have forgotten how to tell a decent story. Lucas never lets me down in this regard. I also love the repeated homages to Kurosawa that recur all the way through.

4. Are you a fan of Babylon 5? Are all 'deep' sci-fi TV shows doomed to both low ratings, and to being pushed to the margins of broadcasting?

Never watched it. I think 'deep' shows of any genre will tend to gravitate toward the margins. The same rule seems to apply in literature, music, and film alike; so why should TV be any different? Sci-Fi as TRM (or someone else, don't remember) said above is an excellent vehicle for examining hypothetical situations unavailable in other genres and, therefore, lends itself nicely to 'deep' development. Hopefully FF will live up to my expectations in this regard.

5. If you like sci-fi, what are some of your other favorites, TV, books or movies?

In literature, I am a bigger fan of fantasy than of true Sci-Fi--Neil Gaiman and J. R. R. Tolkien would both come in near the top of my list. Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker trilogy (?) merits a mention for the Sci-Fi side.

6. Westerns have mostly faded from the tv screen. Do you have any old favorites? Do you have any favorite Western movies? Do you think the genre is worn out?

I have loved westerns since I was a kid. I am particularly partial to John Wayne's movies. In books, Elmer Kelton's novels of the modern west are some of the best books I've ever picked up. As much as it pains me to admit it, I think the Western genre is dying, at least in its traditional form. Most of the American population today is so far removed from the rural life and wide open spaces of Western books, movies, and TV that it is no longer even an idealized past; it is a forgotten one. Ironically, the best mindless shoot-em-up Western movies I've seen in recent years were science fiction--"Independence Day" for example--cowboys and Indians has become space cowboys and aliens, go figure.

7. I would say that Buffy and Angel are about complex relationships and tearing down fixed ideas about good and evil. Assuming Firefly gets the chance to develop do you think it will follow the same pattern?

Not really. I think that story works for the Buffyverse because Buffy is a coming of age story and Angel is about dealing with what you've become. I think the story for Firefly is different--more elemental, maybe. This is a story that deals with people scraping by during tough times, living from job to job. Their world is already so gray that it can't get much grayer.

8. Play Joss for a moment. Where do you think the meatiest potential parts of Firfly lie?

I'm fascinated by the bottom up world view--what Joss describes as "the people that History stepped on." This is nearly the only show I can think of that has a kind of grassroots, almost populist worldview. The lawyer, cop, and government shows on TV all have a very top-down look. I find seeing another, IMO more realistic, perspective refreshing and I hope Joss runs with it.

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Replies:

  • Re: With no episode, new or old, to talk about this week -- Ete, 16:11:17 10/11/02 Fri
  • You've read more than I have. -- CW, 21:50:49 10/11/02 Fri
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