ysbreker

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I like Firefly, and I'm with him. I don't want anymore Firefly. At this point it's been so long it's not worth going back to without some HUGELY wonderful idea that could probably be the basis of a new show that wouldn't have to be saddled with living up to Firefly's legacy. Just make that new show, let Firefly rest in peace.

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I like Firefly, and I'm with him. I don't want anymore Firefly. At this point it's been so long it's not worth going back to without some HUGELY wonderful idea that could probably be the basis of a new show that wouldn't have to be saddled with living up to Firefly's legacy. Just make that new show, let Firefly rest in peace.

Even if it was Joss Whedon, with the budget he should have had and a full four seasons to tell the whole story?

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Even if it was Joss Whedon, with the budget he should have had and a full four seasons to tell the whole story?

Yes, even that. I'm with Speedy on not thinking that Joss Whedon is THAT special. He had a great run with Buffy, and Firefly was pretty fun, but I haven't been super impressed with other stuff that he's done. I think he's pretty talented and has created some great stuff, but not everything he touches turns to gold. I don't know if he's got it in him to bring Firefly back and have it live up to what people would expect.

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Yes, even that. I'm with Speedy on not thinking that Joss Whedon is THAT special. He had a great run with Buffy, and Firefly was pretty fun, but I haven't been super impressed with other stuff that he's done. I think he's pretty talented and has created some great stuff, but not everything he touches turns to gold. I don't know if he's got it in him to bring Firefly back and have it live up to what people would expect.

Don't get me wrong, I don't worship at his dark altar or anything, but I really, really liked Firefly and Angel, and Buffy wasn't bad.

I feel like there's more to be gotten from Firefly, but I can happily accept that what we have is it. It's sort of a morbid curiosity as to what else he could do.

(Dollhouse was a festering pile of shit.)

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Yes, even that. I'm with Speedy on not thinking that Joss Whedon is THAT special. He had a great run with Buffy, and Firefly was pretty fun, but I haven't been super impressed with other stuff that he's done. I think he's pretty talented and has created some great stuff, but not everything he touches turns to gold. I don't know if he's got it in him to bring Firefly back and have it live up to what people would expect.

I don't care. I just know that that's what he WANTS to do, and quite frankly, that's a good place for an artist to start from. He's said many times he would return to it in a heartbeat, and that the losing of that show broke his heart more than anything he's ever done.

The idea of not taking the opportunity to finish what he started, just on the off chance that it wasn't as good as people hoped, is a pretty silly reason not to try, if you ask me.

Bring back Firefly. If you don't want to watch it incase you don't like it, that's your prerogative. And if you're not that big of a Joss Whedon fan, why do you care what he works on next?

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I don't care. I just know that that's what he WANTS to do, and quite frankly, that's a good place for an artist to start from. He's said many times he would return to it in a heartbeat, and that the losing of that show broke his heart more than anything he's ever done.

The idea of not taking the opportunity to finish what he started, just on the off chance that it wasn't as good as people hoped, is a pretty silly reason not to try, if you ask me.

Bring back Firefly. If you don't want to watch it incase you don't like it, that's your prerogative. And if you're not that big of a Joss Whedon fan, why do you care what he works on next?

That strikes me as a rather bizarre argument. It's not like he's vetoing another series of Firefly; he's just saying that he's not interested in one, and perhaps that he has less faith in Whedon's ability to pull it off than some others, including the man himself. I mean, sure, ignore his opinion if it's irrelevant to you, but don't dismiss it as if it's irrelevant to everyone.

Edited by JamesM

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That strikes me as a rather bizarre argument. It's not like he's vetoing another series of Firefly; he's just saying that he's not interested in one, and perhaps that he has less faith in Whedon's ability to pull it off than some others, including the man himself. I mean, sure, ignore his opinion if it's irrelevant to you, but don't dismiss it as if it's irrelevant to everyone.

I'm not sure if you read Miffy's statement correctly? He that other people might be disappointed if Firefly returned, and used that as a reason for it not to (stating that he's not a big fan of Whedon himself). That's speaking for a lot of people. Certainly more than my statement was, which you've claimed is your problem with mine.

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I hope I'm not misinterpreting things. Miffy stated that he doubts Whedon's ability to meet expectations. As I read it, he's not claiming to speak for people, rather judging that a revival would disappoint; as such, it it's a claim about the prospective revival's relation to people's hopes. He might be wrong, but it's an opinion I'm just as interested in hearing. Your response just seemed a little over-defensive. Perhaps that's just me.

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I hope I'm not misinterpreting things. Miffy stated that he doubts Whedon's ability to meet expectations. As I read it, he's not claiming to speak for people, rather judging that a revival would disappoint; as such, it it's a claim about the prospective revival's relation to people's hopes. He might be wrong, but it's an opinion I'm just as interested in hearing. Your response just seemed a little over-defensive. Perhaps that's just me.

You're probably right. I'm currently sleep deprived, which can make me "spiky". That said, I still read Miffy's statement as: "I don't think it should be revived because other people might be disappointed." The way he wrote it sounds like he speaks for other people (re-read it again, it's pretty clear). Considering I'm a member of "other people", I take a little offence at that -- I don't care if Whedon ultimately fails to meet my expectations, I want him to have the opportunity to try. It's especially annoying because Miffy says he's not a big Whedon fan.

It's like me saying, "Mario was pretty fun, but I don't think Miyamoto should ever make another Mario game because other people who love Mario might be disappointed."

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Well, I guess I've gotta reply somewhere in here now, huh?

It's actually kind of a mix of how both of you are reading it. I'm speaking for some others, and in anticipation of the internet's greater reaction to things like this, but mostly from my own point of view. In high school, I absolutely loved Firefly. I watched it over and over, totally into it. When Serenity came out, I was stoked as hell and went to see it multiple times (nearly unheard of for me). It was one of the first movies I did a private screening of when I became a projectionist. There's a poster for it hanging above my TV.

That said, in the years since, I've grown up a lot. I've become a very different person. I suspect this to be true for many of the people who loved Firefly when it came on the scene. In growing up, my opinion has mellowed on Whedon a lot as well. I used to think the man could do no wrong, now I believe that he's got some good ideas, is very good at writing in such a way as to appeal to teenagers, and has had some lucky breaks. Still worthy of respect of course, but not untouchable.* Even with my mellowed expectations, I'm quite doubtful that he could bring back a Firefly that would do any kind of justice to my memories of it. Knowing that I feel that way, and considering myself to be fairly reasonable about these things, I shudder to think of the greater internet's reaction to this. If Whedon has a great idea that would be worth bringing back Firefly to include, I feel like he'd have a much greater chance of success with it (both in avoiding pointless internet rage and in creating something with mass appeal) if he were to avoid trying to shoehorn eight year old characters and their baggage into it and just create something new based off of that idea. I hope he does. I'd love to see him recapture some of what made me love him so much when I was younger. I don't think rebooting Firefly is a way to do that, and that the potential risks and disappointments (for myself, who would just be quietly sad, and the internet, who would be vocally outraged and probably start a petition or something) far outweigh the long-shot reward.

*(As an aside, I wonder sometimes if his writing actually has substance or if my teenage affection for his work is all that keeps him from falling into the "What the fuck do people see in his smug, reference laden but ultimately meaningless dialogue in which speed and juvenile sarcasm is substituted for quality?" pit of my mind that people like Aaron Sorkin and Diablo Cody reside in. Then I re-watch some Buffy and remember that it's still pretty damn good. I hope that's a legitimate evaluation rather than nostalgia, because Buffy holds a special place in my heart. Still, fuck Aaron Sorkin.)

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I don't know how deep to go into this, but I would be cautious of a part of you that feels your inability to appreciate things is "maturity". That may just be me, but it's not like Firefly was aimed at teenagers. The theme of Serenity is something only an adult can appreciate.

Also, I don't think there's a human being on the planet who would argue that Whedon has never been involved with anything that's not perfect. Hell, even HE dislikes some of the things he's been involved in (just listen to the commentary on the first Dollhouse episode!). Whedon fans, even fervent ones, aren't without taste.

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I don't know how deep to go into this, but I would be cautious of a part of you that feels your inability to appreciate things is "maturity".

Wow dude, you really do have a knack for paying attention to the wrong parts of posts lately. I wasn't saying I'm more (or less) mature than I was, just that I'm a different person. People change over eight years, so do tastes. It's not that I'm unable to appreciate it, I just see the flaws more than I used to. Maybe it's having been exposed to a greater variety of things that I've seen things done better now, maybe I'm a more cynical person, maybe I just like different things. Who knows? The thing is, if you're the same person now as you were when Firefly came on the scene, you probably wouldn't be a very interesting person. I think the original fans may have changed too much, and in too many different directions among them, to be able to satisfy now.

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Evil

Troy and

evil

Abed! :clap:

Oh man, tears in my eyes.

Honestly the best episode so far, in my opinion. Even better than the paintball ones.

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A friend has just told me about 'Eastbound and Down', about a past-it baseball star with a wicked mullet. Here's some clips:

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It has the air of 'Trailer Park Boys' about it - anyone seen this long term? Is it good? It looks it!

Veep ep 1 was a little disappointing, although had some gems of one liners in it. You can see that it's Ianucci behind it, for sure. Will give it some more goes.

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Veep ep 1 was a little disappointing, although had some gems of one liners in it. You can see that it's Ianucci behind it, for sure. Will give it some more goes.

Yeah, I felt the same. I didn't know anything about the series before it suddenly turned up, but I was very excited when I realised it was a political comedy show. I was imagining some sort of lighter hearted West Wing affair. Perhaps that expectation was unrealistic, but I was pretty disappointed. I've watched the second episode too, and was possibly even less impressed. Willing to wait a little longer, but definitely not feeling too good about it now.

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This is probably patronizing and unnecessary, but I really must recommend that anyone interested in Veep watches The Thick of It if they haven't already done so. After seeing what little I have of the former, I think the latter succeeds much more in both comedy and verisimilitude.

Anyway, I'm sure you're already thoroughly familiar with it. Sorry for wasting your time.

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So last year, rather quietly, More4 showed Mark Cousins' documentary The Story of Film. It is probably one of the most complete, exhaustive and important studies on the history of film, and it's now out on dvd! (in the uk).

It is seriously good, just fucking gorgeous to look at and with a narration crazily dense with information. It does a great job of making a cohesive whole out of the story, and in that, showing how under-represented aspects of the history of film are, like the actual beginnings of techniques like close ups or continuity editing, or that the beginnings of Hollywood (and all its first achievements) was pretty much dominated by women. If you are fucking remotely interested in film, try and get a copy.

Soo, yeah. It's alright

(getitbuyitgetitnowbuyit)

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Way ahead of you:

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I found it fascinating when it was on TV. This time around I hope to actually remember more film names to catchup on. Perhaps I'll sit there with a notebook or something.

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I watched about ten minutes and didn't like it, can't remember exactly why. Perhaps it's because I studied film, but I think I found his style overbearing or vapid or something. Stupid old man's brain...

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