Firefly Lives - New Comics in 2008 117
gambit3 writes "'Serenity: Better Days' will be released as a 3 part comic in early 2008. The series is a step back in time to the early years of the Firefly crew, and the fledgling gang's turbulent attempts to cope with success after they pull off their first successful heist. It features the same creative team as Those Left Behind, with the story by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, and Adam Hughes providing all three covers this time." Ironic, considering today's brand-new poll.
Re:Irony ? Coincidence (Score:4, Informative)
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http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=383149&cid=21618577 [slashdot.org]
So we can't really call it a coincidence either.
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Dead last in the highly accurate and scientific poll. Wow.
--
Toro
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On a lighter note, I wouldn't say dead last. It's a pretty heated race for 2nd from the bottom between "Video Game" and "Comic Book."
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Then it's doubly ironic, as there is indeed a Firefly MMORPG in the works.
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You're going to continue to be modded down by posting the same thing over and over. I know this account was not intended to be a trolling account for you. I remember your early posts. You ended up being modded down for a couple of benign posts a while back, I don't even remember them now. We *ALL* have had problems with moderation at some point and I'm no exception.
I even had negative karma for a while. It happens to the best of us. I also don't re
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So we can use a poll to alter the accuracy of the article text? This is a million times better than tagging! I support development of this reality-by-consensus feature until we get to the point where we can poll the MPAA and RIAA into oblivion. (Unfortunately, knowing Slashdotters, we'd probably just unwittingly fuse them into the CowboyNeal Association of America.)
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How is this unfortunate? I, for one, [would] welcome our, uh, assimilated(?) possibly-robotic overlord!
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"I suggested above that we might think of the ball in the soccer metaphor as a quasi-technology, as that site where multitudinous forces are catalyzed and converge. Neither subject nor object in the traditional sense, the ball acts much like language when we are sensitive to the ethico-rhetorical dimensions of linguistic performance."
Hey man, can I buy some of your drugs?
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Kaylee agrees with Bender (Score:3, Funny)
Kaylee: Luh-suh?
Simon: Sorry?
Kaylee: Serenity ain't luh-suh.
Simon: No, I.. I didn't mean...
Kaylee: Yeah, you did. You meant everything you just said.
Simo
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Blah (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Blah (Score:5, Insightful)
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The last ones told a good story, and bridged the gap between the series and the movie. The way the characters were different in the movie actually made sense.
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The comic book series is going back in time, just like Star Trek did. I probably won't read them, not really into comic books. I'll have my kid tell me how it went.
And for the record, I own the DVDs for both the Firefly series and Serenity.
Re:I bet you really didn't see the series (Score:5, Insightful)
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My theory is that most fans just really like Whedon's characters, cliches and style of dialogue. If you don't know what that is, you can see it repeated exactly in Angel, Buffy and Alien:Resurrection. Examples: no one can say anything straight, it's all got to be "witty". Martial arts are for some reason the greatest power in the universe. Every character is "bad" but would do all sorts of heroics to save a
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But I am also a big fan of the Aaron Sorkin years of West Wing, so I guess that fits into your witty dialog theory.
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Re:I bet you really didn't see the series (Score:5, Insightful)
Space/western fusion could be cool, and is, but Whedon seemed to only combine the parts of space opera and westerns that were lame and didn't make any sense outside of their genre. And also - yes, we've all seen Gina Davis in "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and watched "Dark Angel." We know that crazy amnesiac chicks who escape from government facilities have always been trained as assassins. Was there anybody in the entire world who didn't guess everything about River's back story after the second episode? That person is an idiot, if so.
Hackneyed, predictable, cliched, generic. There was nothing about Firefly that ever deserved its praise, which is why it had one season and BSG's coming back for a fourth. Cowboy Bebop is still the best space western show out there.
Re:I bet you really didn't see the series (Score:5, Interesting)
Interesting characters like this was the entire point of Firefly for me. If you wanted a western, I can perhaps see why you were disappointed; I've never liked westerns.
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I'll grant you many of the episodes were really corny, and some were poorly done, but honestly I found "Objects in Space" to be one of the most well-written pieces of television I'd seen in years. Jubal made a fantastic counterpoint to River in that show, which itself was an exploration of the way in which we bring meaning to ourselves and the people and things we interact with -- as well as the ways in which that existentialism can be twisted when applied towards an end. The bounty hunter
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Love is a timeless, universal theme. If Joss Whedon wanted to have a show about love, he could have set it in Los Angeles. If he wanted to tell a story about love than that's what he should have done, not obscured the story with bad choices that failed the genres he tried to draw upon.
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He DID tell a story about love. It's just not about sex. It's a story about a Doctor who sacrifices every earthly possession to go rescue his sister. It's about family. It's about trusting others with your life; it's about living at the corner of no and where, and yet be rich for what you have with each other. Sorry if it was burried too deep fo
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Again, that story could have happened anywhere. When Whedon cribbed parts of it from The Painted Veil it happened in China. And it would have been a better story without the inclusion of distractingly lame elements like laser popguns that look like peacemakers, etc.
Look, you're a fanboy. I get it. A brownshirt- oops, excuse me, browncoat. It's not going to be possible for you to genuinely grapple with any criticism o
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Funny you should mention that. Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek to Desilu & NBC by basically calling it 'Wagon Train in Space'. At the time, westerns were big bucks on tv.
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Pchiw! Pchiw! You've never watched sci-fi TV? Yeah, I guess if that's true, you'd think "Firefly" was pretty good.
And I serious doubt that *you* knew River's back story by the second episode.
Bullshit. The second the character was introduced, I turned to my wife and said "I bet she's a trained assassin escaped from a shadowy government program, probably with psychic powers or something." Hand to God that's what I said.
And, hey, I was exactly right, because it was telegraphed
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Ok, this one I take issue with. Did you not see the gunfights?
And River is not a weapon because she's good at martial arts. She's a weapon because she can read minds, even unconsciously -- her martial arts (and gunplay, when she has a gun) are impossibly perfect.
So the rest of your points, I could debate for quite awhile, but it's really more a matter of opinion. (Example: Everyone does not always have to say it "witty", they do because
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I agree-- buy the DVDs. Best DVD set evar, and great commentary (I love that they brought the costume designer in for a couple of them). But still, don't oversell its presentation of the storyline. It's pretty much the same as you saw on TV (right down to
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(Wikipedia provides the air dates here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Firefly_episodes [wikipedia.org])
By putting episodes in the right order, the DVD set improved things considerably.
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When I introduce Firefly to new folks from Episode 1, I almost feel like I have to apologize for how slow and disjoint the episode seems. Episode 2 is fun and flies along.
Re:I bet you really didn't see the series (Score:5, Insightful)
You can see the basis for the long opening continuous shot in 'Serenity' at the end of this episode - something you don't
Firefly, canceled before finishing a full season. Does that seem right to you?
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In my eyes, Joss is the best talent in Hollywood, he just is so imaginative and doesn't conform to what Hollywood wants that this gets in the way of him
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Christina Hendricks on AMC's Mad Men (Score:4, Informative)
Most slashdotters are probably aware that Morena Baccarin showed up on Stargate SG1, and that Jewel Staite is the new doctor on Stargate Atlantis, and some might even be aware that Summer Glau did a stint on CBS's The Unit, but the one who really caught my eye was Christina Hendricks, as the ne'er do well called "Saffron":
http://www.entil2001.com/series/firefly/season1dvd/ff1-6p2.jpg [entil2001.com]
So if you liked her work on Firefly, then you might be interested to learn that she's now got a gig as "Joan Holloway", the head of the secretarial pool, on AMC's "Mad Men":
http://weblogs.variety.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/31/joan.jpg [variety.com]
Let's just say that she's everything you remember from Firefly and then some.
Hubba. Hubba.
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and some might even be aware that Summer Glau did a stint on CBS's The Unit,
True story:
Last week I had the television turned on to Fox (I think NFL football) and wasn't paying attention to the commercials. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Summer Glau (speaking in a "not quite right" way) in a promo for a new Fox science fiction-y type show. My hopes shot up through the two apartments above mine.
Could it be true? Is Fox bringing back Firefl...
It turned out to be a promo for Fox's new show Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles [wikipedia.org] . Glau plays a Terminator sent back in t
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Hendricks getting work on "Life" too (Score:2, Informative)
New Poll... (Score:2)
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Better Days (Score:3, Interesting)
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Like the Star Wars prequels, Serenity was so bad that it retroactively ruined the original series for me. The character of River, for example, lost all her charm. I can't watch the TV shows anymore.
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I have. I've also bought the DVDs of Blake's 7. You should, too. You'll find an interview with Paul Darrow, I think somewhere in the Series 4 discs, which is rather fascinating. He's specifically asked about the attempted resurrections of the series, and he replies that it has already been done and it was done much better than "they" could have done it, in the form of Firefly.
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It wasn't even sci fi. It just had a sci fi setting. It would have been exactly the same show set in 1800s Oklahoma, and I still would have
Meh! (Score:5, Insightful)
So, meh. I don't want an artist's attempt at facsimiles of Mal and Jayne - I want more Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin. With shows like BTVS and Firefly, my enjoyment doesn't come from the script. The script is corn. My enjoyment comes from the actor's execution of that script. In comics, you don't have an actor giving a performance - you have a penciller (and then an inker, then a colorist) executing their impression of what they think the writer is trying to convey.
I hobby in comics, I've done bit parts in short films and web serials, I've made my own shorts - a great - or even a good - actor can make a passable pulp script a cult phenomenon. Anthony Stewart Head and Nathan Fillion are great examples of this. You cut down the creative team (as opposed to scale UP the creative team), and something gets lost in the process.
It's one thing to turn a comic book into a TV series or a movie - going the other way has always felt like a giant step backwards - not only do you lose the acting, you lose the cinematography and the editing, And even if all of that wasn't an issue, there's the fact that individual comic issues are as saturated with ads as a nuclear reaction chamber is with radiation - and with comics, the shift in visual style between comic content and ad content is even more jarring than it is with television ads or movie previews.
So, it might be good but as far as I'm concerned it won't actually be Firefly. If I'm lucky it'll be available in trade paperback by the time I'm finished with my reading list of comics that only exist as comics (currently plugging through The Invisibles as the spare change permits).
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Completely agree. I described them -- to a comic book store owner, as I was purchasing Angel: After The Fall -- as reading like bad fan fiction. He seemed to agree. I'm terribly disappointed that these are the officia
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But I think the Buffy comic, particularly the last arc with Faith, is excellent in all the ways the Angel comic isn't. It really captures the feel of the show for me.
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Re:Meh! (Score:5, Interesting)
Man, I wish I could mod you +1000.
Sorry folks. I love Joss. Seriously love pretty much all the man has ever done. But without his cast, his work isn't 1% as good. Joss writes good. With the right actors he writes GREAT. Every comic I've read based on Whedon work has seemed like a sad attempt to cash in on a hot franchise.
Then again, I'm not into the 250 Star Wars Universe novels released every year, even though I love the movies. So take what I say with a mountain of salt. I'll hand in my Comic Book Guy badge now
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Er, another important bit is that in between, he went bat$#!7 insane.
http://www.hanshootsfirst.org/ [hanshootsfirst.org]
Need I say more?
It is true that both Anakins were atrocious . . . however, recall that Lucas really liked them! If his taste changed that much, his writing could have too! (Granted, he's never been good at dialogue . . . another major reason the originals were better is that Lucas got some help for Ep. V & VI - Lawrence Kasdan [wikipedia.org] and Leigh Brackett [wikipedia.org]. As part of the new insanity for 1-3, he backed away
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comics already exist... (Score:5, Informative)
The characters were drawn as the actors, and it was very well done, with a forward by Nathan Fillion.
Obviously not as good as the return of the show, but so long as the series makes profit off the air there is a chance it will return in some form or fashion.
Check it out [wikipedia.org]
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I don't know if that's because it just isn't the actors, or because I was traumatized at a young age by Splinter of the Mind's Eye.
Jumping the shark (Score:2)
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But unfortunately, I don't think even the bible is prequel-proof.
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For a prequel, it's not bad!
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There's actually a past. (Score:4, Interesting)
But think about it -- the first few minutes of Serenity were a prequel, after all. And there actually is a ton of story there, maybe written out, maybe not.
Example: What did Book do before he was a Shephard, and why does the Alliance like him so much? Where else can you find out, except in a prequel or a flashback?
How did Mal come to side with the Independents, anyhow? Why did Inara leave House Madrassa? Why was the Alliance formed?
I'd much rather have a sequel, but unlike you, I'm not ready to kill it off. I want more Firefly, because I'm convinced the show was good enough that it wouldn't jump the shark. Think about it -- would Firefly really suck as much as Star Trek did after 7 seasons?
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Example: What did Book do before he was a Shephard, and why does the Alliance like him so much? Where else can you find out, except in a prequel or a flashback?
That's the biggest mystery of the series (OK, it's as obvious that he was a hunter-killer like the guy in Serenity as it was that River was trained as a super-assassin early in Firefly . . . but there's no *solid* evidence, and it *could* be anything), and one of the things I am most dying to know more about . . . but it's also the most important one to leave mysterious, because that's where it gets its power. It was awesome to slowly realize what we can surmise during my first viewing of Serenity, thoug
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Any other show, any other writer, and you'd be right.
But look at River. Her mystery was powerful, wasn't it? Poor, crazy little girl, what did they do to her in that hospital... slowly finding out over the series, and then, explosively, fully realized in the movie. And just as powerful, just as tragically beautiful -- her theme song in the movie is a broken, slightly out-of-tune piano.
Ask yourself: Is River
How about a traditional novel? (Score:2)
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Dialogue (Score:1)
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Little pointed out because it's also completely wrong. Firefly borrows from lots of things; Cowboy Bebop is one.
I'll accept it's in the same genre (subgenre?) as Bebop, but, for example, where'd Inara come from? I know Jayne was inspired by a character from Alien, for instance. And the box River was in? Taken straight out of the first episode of Outlaw Star.
What sets Firefly apart isn't that it's revolutionary
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So tell me... (Score:2)
How about Inara? Are you seriously going to argue that she's Faye?
Let's try the other way... Who's Ed? Are you claiming she's River? Are you fucking serious?
Bebop doesn't have a doctor. Firefly doesn't have a dog. Bebop doesn't have Companions. Firefly doesn't have hackers. Bebop doesn't have Jayne, and no, Jet doesn't count -- he has much more depth than Jayne, and Jayne is a lot funnier. Neither is just a giant
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Generic Hardass Space Captain no. 225.
How about Inara?
Hooker w/ Heart of Gold no 3256.
Bebop doesn't have Jayne
Unintentionally Humorous Thug no. 123.
Should we go on? Book is Preacher with a Mysterious Past no. 410, River is Rogue Psychic Assassin escaped from Government Program no. 60, Zoe is Tough Sassy Black Woman no. 2304, Wash is Wiseass Sidekick no. 1,000,000, and Kaylee is Sheltered Engineer no. 230. (Oh, but at least Joss came up with one unique quality - she's easy! Sure, never se
That was a reply... (Score:2)
...to this:
Never did I claim that Joss was original, or that he came up with a single original idea. And I'm sure there's some debate in that, but I think I pretty much debunked the claim that it is a "copy" of Bebop -- or that even a single character in Firefly is a "copy" of a single character in Bebop.
In fact, if I take you at your word, comparing i