Thursday, October 20, 2005
Firefly - good review
Yes, I’ve blogged about Firefly before, especially on the other blog. But a more formal entry about it.
First, thanks to Wen for introducing me to Firefly. Firefly is surely great. Its colourful cast, the variety of situations they put themselves in, the great lines – all of it comes together very nicely.
First, the cast. The cast is wonderfully put together, from the regular cast, and the guest cast too. The acting is great and fits so nicely, and the cast, as I said, is colourful. Each with their own sense of self, a different feeling. We have the noble captain Mal Reynolds, the funny Pilot, the mean tough guy, the girl who wants to be a regular girl (I’m talking about Kaylee), the upper class doctor, etc – all really good together. How each connects to each other, and how they make you feel.
For a story about a crew that lives on a ship, it’s actually quite good. Each character brings something to the story, whether it’d be their attitude, history, or actions, which makes it so lively. And the world, the ship, it feels like a real location – like Wen said, as if people actually lived on the ship. The sense of atmosphere is pretty good.
And lastly, if I was writing an essay, comes the great lines. Not like one liners, but the writing is very good – it’s also very funny. Of course, it’s not just the lines – it’s how they say them. Joss Whedon himself said it in the commentary that sometimes he would write something, and the actors just bring it to life, and that he was surprised when they did that.
Sometimes an episode or movie becomes very memorable because of memorable conversation pieces. My two favourite conversations are between Malcolm Reynolds and Saffron, when they first talk by themselves about the stupid planet she’s from. The other conversation is between Simon and Early, about River’s room.
Earlier one time I said that I think David wouldn’t like this show, but I think I’m wrong. Okay, so I’m done with getting David to see movies, but I still like trying to do so with TV shows and anime. The reason why I thought David wouldn’t like it because… well, the first few minutes of episode 1 are very different from the rest of the series, and episode 1 is definitely slower than the other episodes. Of course, you don’t know the characters well in episode 1, and everyone is uncomfortable around each other so that isn’t there either. However, after that, when the cast all knows each other, it’s a beautiful series.
Favourite episodes? Definitely Episode 6, Our Mrs. Reynolds – truly what I think is the funniest episode. After watching Jaynestown again, man, that’s funny. And episode 14, Objects in Space – very good episode also. Mr. Jubal Early, Bounty Hunter is really a cool character.
Oh, Malcolm… such a great captain. Anyway, so I recommend this series. Sorry if I made Episode 1 sound like a bad episode. If you’re unsure, I’d say start with Episode 6, Our Mrs. Reynolds – it’s funny in any situation, I think even if you don’t know the characters. Then go to Episode 2, and then start from Episode 1 and go to the end from there.
Hmm… something seems wrong with my FTP, so I can’t upload anything at the moment. I was going to upload the 2 minute conversation between Mal and Saffron in Episode 06. The conversation is probably better with video, but it would be okay for those who’ve seen the episode already, so me and Wen… Wen and me… Wen and I… …
::edit:: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. I love the addition of the unsubtitled Chinese! It seems to add a bit of culture to the show, and it fits nicely. I think it's more enjoyable if you don't understand Chinese - it's still easy to understand what they say. So yeah - I love this.
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First, thanks to Wen for introducing me to Firefly. Firefly is surely great. Its colourful cast, the variety of situations they put themselves in, the great lines – all of it comes together very nicely.
First, the cast. The cast is wonderfully put together, from the regular cast, and the guest cast too. The acting is great and fits so nicely, and the cast, as I said, is colourful. Each with their own sense of self, a different feeling. We have the noble captain Mal Reynolds, the funny Pilot, the mean tough guy, the girl who wants to be a regular girl (I’m talking about Kaylee), the upper class doctor, etc – all really good together. How each connects to each other, and how they make you feel.
For a story about a crew that lives on a ship, it’s actually quite good. Each character brings something to the story, whether it’d be their attitude, history, or actions, which makes it so lively. And the world, the ship, it feels like a real location – like Wen said, as if people actually lived on the ship. The sense of atmosphere is pretty good.
And lastly, if I was writing an essay, comes the great lines. Not like one liners, but the writing is very good – it’s also very funny. Of course, it’s not just the lines – it’s how they say them. Joss Whedon himself said it in the commentary that sometimes he would write something, and the actors just bring it to life, and that he was surprised when they did that.
Sometimes an episode or movie becomes very memorable because of memorable conversation pieces. My two favourite conversations are between Malcolm Reynolds and Saffron, when they first talk by themselves about the stupid planet she’s from. The other conversation is between Simon and Early, about River’s room.
Earlier one time I said that I think David wouldn’t like this show, but I think I’m wrong. Okay, so I’m done with getting David to see movies, but I still like trying to do so with TV shows and anime. The reason why I thought David wouldn’t like it because… well, the first few minutes of episode 1 are very different from the rest of the series, and episode 1 is definitely slower than the other episodes. Of course, you don’t know the characters well in episode 1, and everyone is uncomfortable around each other so that isn’t there either. However, after that, when the cast all knows each other, it’s a beautiful series.
Favourite episodes? Definitely Episode 6, Our Mrs. Reynolds – truly what I think is the funniest episode. After watching Jaynestown again, man, that’s funny. And episode 14, Objects in Space – very good episode also. Mr. Jubal Early, Bounty Hunter is really a cool character.
Oh, Malcolm… such a great captain. Anyway, so I recommend this series. Sorry if I made Episode 1 sound like a bad episode. If you’re unsure, I’d say start with Episode 6, Our Mrs. Reynolds – it’s funny in any situation, I think even if you don’t know the characters. Then go to Episode 2, and then start from Episode 1 and go to the end from there.
Hmm… something seems wrong with my FTP, so I can’t upload anything at the moment. I was going to upload the 2 minute conversation between Mal and Saffron in Episode 06. The conversation is probably better with video, but it would be okay for those who’ve seen the episode already, so me and Wen… Wen and me… Wen and I… …
::edit:: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. I love the addition of the unsubtitled Chinese! It seems to add a bit of culture to the show, and it fits nicely. I think it's more enjoyable if you don't understand Chinese - it's still easy to understand what they say. So yeah - I love this.