Episodes of a successful Firefly?

Well, I don't won't to start a flame war, but I think this show was beginning to bring the neoconfedates out of the woodwork as much as the pot-smoking libertarians. The presence in the show of AA characters sprouting lost cause rhetoric would've been very appealing to these people as an act of legitimisation. Yeah, the US socio-political blogs would have a had a lot of problematic stuff to ponder and write about with this show if it had suceeded.

The ideological effects of a libertarian fight over Firefly would be interesting, as I can see some people getting pissed at the inevitable Mel-forms-an-alliance-with-a-faction-of-the-Alliance plotline. Though apparently that whole thing about enemies becoming allies is a typical Whedon show trope.

Misaimed fandoms, broken bases, political fallout...yea there would be flame wars apleanty. I think though that just as Star Trek's Socialist fanboys didn't chase off the core geek audience of all political stripes that the Neoconfederate fanboys wouldn't chase off the core geek fandom of Firefly. Most of the fandom was/is smart enough to know the difference between entertainment and political theory. Though I do have to admit having a black character named after a Confederate general (Jubal Early) was a rather hilarious refuge in audacity. :D His utter personal confusion over who he was may have been a real case of fridge brilliance. (OK, that's it, no more TV Tropes for me!).
 
Ah Firefly...I missed it when it was new but managed to catch it a little while later when it was repeated. Damn it was great. I bought the box set right away.

Ghad...how did I miss this one? :rolleyes: Explains why no one bit on my post in the alt-TV shows thread.

Anywhoo...agree w/ Dale and RCAF that the Serenity plotline is at least two seasons, if not three. Add in the "Expanded Universe" plots from the Comics "Those Left Behind" and "Better Days". Note that all three of these plotlines are modified from OTL due to changes not made for the Movie adaption.

"Serenity" Plot lines not made include:

* No "missing" crew. Book and Inara were both absent in Serenity. This is probably due to the Film medium where loads of characters complicate things. Hence Book's reduction to virtual cameo and Inara's absence from the first half. Both were "explained" in Those Left Behind, but that really was a plot-hole patch more as a reaction to changes demanded by the medium change rather than part of the long-term plan, IMO. In the TV series we maybe see Inara "leave" temporarily as a plot device (since as love interest and ship's "heart" she can be removed for a while as a dramatic device), but I doubt we lose Book barring other work for Mr. Glass since his role as ship's "soul" is harder to excise.

* Perhaps no "Operative". The "Hands of Blue" are menacing villains and probably stay on longer as the chief menace for River. Chiwetel Ejioror was brought into the movie, but such "star power" concerns notwithstanding you probably see the Hands pf Blue longer into the series, possibly remaining the primary "villains" throughout the Miranda plotline, at least.

* Wash's fate. Hard to say. I think he lasts longer than the Miranda plot line, possibly indefinitely as a fan favorite. But this is a Whedon Production and his romantic connection to Zoe makes his "Death" so much more dramatically tragic, ergo more likely to be Joss Bait. Obviously being a Whedon show someone's doomed before the series is out. Wash's odds are bad for the reasons given, but I'd bet Real Life Writes the Plot in determining which character(s) eventually "die". Note that we probably have a Wash/Zoe "baby crisis" of some sort at some point.

* Book's Fate: probably not for a while, if ever. There's too much built-in mystery there to exploit for dramatic purposes. Unless the actor leaves, I think Book stays around.

* River's "outing" as a WaiFu killer death machine probably takes longer than a season. You saw the beginnings of this transformation in the first season, so you can expect this same slow-pace transformation rather than just "zero to Kung Fu master" switch from the freaky subliminal Japanesey commercial trigger of the movie. Eventually, over seasons, her powers become more apparent. Similarly, if Wash lives then her "innate piloting skill" (kind of a convenient sudden informed skill) may never appear.

* Kaylee/Simon: this will get milked for a lot longer, but once they eventually become a "couple" expect continuing problems. I expect a rocky, but ultimately caring relationship.

I agree with the Mongol.

I'm pretty sure I remember Whedon even saying the character reductions in the film were to make things less complicated for first timers.

The hands of blue would indeed be a major plotline which needs to be resolved.

Wash- yeah, I agree there. Have some more stuff in the relationship, some nice adventures with him but then he eventually dies in series 3 or so. Someone just needs to die.

River's outing. Yep. Would be drawn out and gradual.

Kaylee/Simon- would be kept natural, I agree.


Perhaps Simon's rescue of River (as seen in Serenity with the Operative watching it) could be the opening scene for series 2. Though this rescue would be a lot less action packed and more drawn out- it starts with the opening scene then is steadily expanded in flashback throughout the episode.

Book would be interesting. We'd have a slow unveil of his history with the alliance...whatever it is.
Hopefully he wouldn't be unveiled to be a villain. That would be a bit cliche. But...cliche happens in such series....hopefully not here though.

Also a thing in the film that annoyed me as a taste of what might have been- Mr Universe. He's just there for no reason. Never in the series. Such a character would probally be introduced in series 2. And hopefully done properly.

I'd hope they would do the Reapers better too. The way in the film....being an alliance experiment with the drugs and all that- yeah, fine...but...I dunno. It just didn't feel right quite how it was done.

Tom Veil said:
[Summer Glau doesn't miss a beat. She probably loses her supporting runs on The Unit and The 4400. But in 2008 she'd still become The Terminator -- no reason to think she wouldn't take that extremely high-profile role again ITTL.

Your other summaries sound good from what little I know of the crappier side of US TV. This though...I'm unsure about.
If Firefly is more of a success then she's River. To have her suddenly as the Terminator....She'd just be less believable in the role. The core target audience would look at her and see River.
Would she too want to continue with sci fi and find herself heavily genre-cast? She would be getting lots of other offers with Firefly being succesful.


Merryprankster said:
*The Operative is now a free-agent who might go after the Alliance leadership to redeem his personal honor.

*It's possible Jubal Early is still alive. I remember scuttlebutt that if the show continued, he might return. He knows stuff about Book ("that ain't no Shepherd") and he might want revenge on River and Mal for the trick they pulled. Perhaps he got picked up by the Reavers and in the aftermath of their defeat at Alliance hands, made himself their king?

*To make things more tricky, perhaps Zoe is pregnant? I saw a fanart of her with a Wash/Zoe baby wearing an outfit made of one of Wash's Hawaiian shirts. It was really quite sweet, but the timing would be horrible given how the Alliance is going to be after them big-time.

*We might see neo-browncoats, if formerly Independent worlds think they can bolt from the weakened Alliance or if the Miranda incident provokes an insurrection against the Alliance government in the core worlds.

Jubal Early=The Operative. Mostly. He wouldn't be as important as the operative is in the film (where you need a main villain) but would fill that sort of role.

Zoe pregnant would certainly fit in with the dynamic of her relationship it seemed Whedon was going for. He was wanting a 'proper' married couple in the middle of all this adventure stuff. Trouble is though thats the kind of story which would only be suitable for a episode or two and through the rest of the series just kneecap her character.....A miscarriage? Possibly caused by a big bad attacking her?

Neo browncoats...I like that idea. The trouble is that idea would be too cool, its at risk of happening too fast- a rebellion rumbles in episode 3 and two episodes later its full scale war with the independants having a full army.
 
Last edited:
Star Trek's Socialist fanboys

A little OT: I have a hard-Left-influenced (anti-hard Left influenced?) theory about Star Trek, and it's not one any democratic Left person is going to like--the reason why Captain Kirk et al are able to continually break the Prime Directive and yet make everything be alright by the end of each episode is that each Captain's Log entry is a case a Stalinist historical revisionism. Whenever the Prime Directive is broken it's done so deliberately, and things are never fixed or made to be better again in every case. What happens is that Starfleet subjugates every society they come into contact with.

Starfleet is like the Red Army steamrolling over Easter Europe, and Captain's Log is Pravda. What we see is only ever Pravda-approved.

Okay, I guess more people than just the anti-Stalinist Left would disapprove of that theory.:D
 

Very well done, although we still have to deal with the Uncomfortable Truth (panel 2):
well.png
 
Much like the Movie of the Cancelled Series, I hereby resurect this thread!

Rise! And live...again!!!

Just to compliment the similar thread going on at the moment...
 
Top