Firefly
I admit, I’ve always been a sucker for that cheesy, short-lived, most of the times ignored by the mainstream TV shows. I didn’t miss a single Sledge Hammer! episode back in the 90ies (hey, it was crude, cut, german dubbed and ran a few years later than in the US, but what). I even signed the petition to bring it back on DVD (and I do have bought both sets).
I enjoyed Special Unit 2, even though it was actually quite a cheesy show but they showed all the episodes on german TV (in the wake of the X Files/Buffy/Angel craze about “monster and conspiracy” Shows) and I booed when they canceled Glory Days after just three or four episodes, a show that was renamed to an unbelievable “Crime Scene: Lake Glory” title trying to suck some popularity from the various “C.S.I.” shows (that attempt obviously failed big time. It ran on RTL 2, a network that is not exactly known for its sophistication in taste and selection. They now run “Big Brother” almost 24h/day…).
And then SF TV shows came back. Even though Enterprise got cancelled with its stylish, clean, CG generated look, it was a sort of trail blazer for shows that don’t look perfect. Where the dome of the captain isn’t always polished and wounds are not gone after the next cut. Where you have character development and a longer story arc than just a series of 60-minute adventures.
When I accidentally tuned in to the Battlestar Galactica mini series (I read about it in the TV guide and decided to steer clear of it because of the unbelievable bad acting in the 197o’ies show. Even I have my standards), I was simply stunned. Someone with taste actually threw out everything that sucked about it back then and put in a working story, working characters with flaws and everything and built something that works. “They should make a show from that” was my thought when the credits rolled. And they did. Even german TV decided to pick it up this fall (to give some credit here: It will be shown undubbed on Pay-TV which is a huge win).
And then there was Firefly.
Unheard of over here. Too short (just 14 episodes), first ran on a network that was practically guaranteed to first kill and then cancel the show (they did cancel Futurama, didn’t they?). But that kind of show that you will ask yourself forever what might have been if it hadn’t been on FOX. Fun. Humor. Space. Horses. Cheering for the small guys. No “latex on forehead” alien of the week stories. But stories of people. You could imagine to live in that kind of world if you were born 500 years later. CG that actually looks good. Because it is not perfect. It is not Enterprise-style, always in focus, clean cut, laser-beam action. They overdid the train, though.
I read about the Serenity movie. Let’s not fool ourselves. It will probably fail in the theaters, either because it is launched in parallel to some block buster or because there will be a number of really bad reviews, as all SF movies got lately. Over here it will go straight to DVD, badly dubbed, probably cut and maimed. Sell some copies and then to be found in the bargain bins for 4,99 in a few years.
I watched the whole DVD set straight back to back on a few train rides that I did in the last few days. I will re-watch it. I will lend it to my friends. Even to those that are not into SF TV shows. Because it is not a SF show. It is a show about people that is just set 500 years in the future. Firefly is above everything else a “Western” show. Because it plays on the frontier. It is about individuals. About staying alive, getting through another day. No shiny winners and heroes here. The “Alliance” (which is a thinly veiled stab at “The Federation”) are what they would be today: A bureaucratic monster with small cogs that “do what they are told” (who screamed “european union” there in the back seats?).
It would be nice to dream about the show getting picked up and continued e.g. by SciFi Channel. But that will not happen. That slot currently is taken by BSG and they will not produce two simiar shows (rag tag gang/fleet trying to muddle through) at the same time because of fear for their ratings. Too bad.
battlestar galactica firefly glory days sledge hammer tv showsWhat do you…
…call a polar bear in the jungle?
Yeah! Finally! About time.
lost tv shows