Okay, so you’ve wandered
onto this website or you’re a friend and you’ve wandered onto this this
my rant, my ramble.
Every season, a lot of new
shows start up. There's a serious family drama. A cop show. Some reality
crud. Okay a lot of crud. For this crop, I just want to say, if you’re
not watching Firefly, don't wait, watch. It’s a good show in a terrible
time slot.
Science Fiction that really
is on the Final Frontier. Their ship is small and dirty and lived in.These
people aren’t representatives of some clean powerful government. They are
the side that lost. The war of Unification, their families, themselves.
The ship, the Serenity, named after a state of mind and a lost battle in
the late war. The Alliance/Federation as not so nice.
The producers mix science
fiction and American Western elements to create this sense of gritty worlds
and people who live on the edge. Where you can't just run to the corner
store to get that multi-phasic whosit. The corner store is a few stars
to the right. A bit farther away than morning.
In a very nice touch, everyone
swears in Chinese, because English and Chinese (Mandarin) are the meld
of cultures that went into space.
It's a future where people
don’t necessarily get along. There’s tension and adventure and gunplay.
What Voyager should have been. Babylon 5 with a much shorter arc span.
Cramped like Alien. Pumped like Aliens. Enterprise, only you know, they're
criminals, so kind of the A team, only you know, well written. Kind of
like nothing else. Unique. New. Fresh.
Like Buffy and Angel before
it, it’s the kind of show that takes a few episodes to build. In
this case, a very little while.
In the last episode, Ariel,
the show escalated from good, to incredibly good. I was actually worried
for the characters, because Joss Whedon, the show's creator, does kill
characters. Being in the credits doesn’t mean they are safe. Death walks
the narrow halls. Creepy villains with blue gloves. No way to describe
the creep factor. Trust me, I've watched Hellraiser, some seriously dangerous
villains. There was also a very nicely thought out caper. A really realistic
fight scene. No kicks, just struggling for your life. Talk about tense.
And the end of the episode, oh my God! From he's gunna die to, that was
the sweetest thing ever.
But you won’t know any of
that if you’re not watching. Friday, 8:00, Fox. You know how to use Tivo
or your VCR. You don't have to stay home. Go to the 10:00 showing of that
movie. Clubs don't get hopping 'till 11:00 anyway.
The show's pilot will be
shown on December 20th. Do I have to say it again, watch it.
And if you are watching and
not a Nielson, like most of us aren’t, have you written Fox yet to, gall
darn it, say I exist. I watch. Heck just send a postcard with your demographics.
Go here for more info.
I suppose this is a save
my show rant. But really, it’s a watch some good science fiction rant.
Seriously, the world doesn’t need another cop, doctor, reality show. It
needs drama. It needs good writing, with clever symbolism. It needs men
in tight leather pants.
Try it. You'll like it. Promise.
