Friday, July 22, 2005
Real-Life Reavers
A few years back "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon (if Buffy's not your bag, he's also written for Disney's Toy Story and Lion King II) developed a SciFi/Western series, Firefly, for Fox. Fox botched the marketing and the series was yanked after eight or nine episodes were shown. The Sci-Fi channel is rebroadcasting the series beginning tonight at 7:00 (you can also get it on DVD), building up to the debut of the big-screen movie Serenity this fall.
Last night I was watching the pilot episode w/ commentary on DVD when a dry lightning storm began a'brewin' outside. Two things need to happen under these conditions: 1) the dog needs to come inside (she doesn't care for thunder) and 2) I need to stand outside like a fool and watch the show.
The show was pretty good. The clouds lit up from the inside, silhouetting the trees and mountains. Big impressive booms. Real end-of-the-world type stuff.
Of course, a lightning strike could spell the end of our camping season, too. Things are still pretty green in our immediate area, but you never know. All of a sudden the show overhead wasn't as much fun as it had been. I found myself looking up and hoping it would all blow away and leave us unscathed.
There's a scene in the Firefly pilot episode that's much the same: the intrepid crew and passengers of the ship, Serenity, find themselves flying by a huge ship manned by Reavers (insane space cannibals). Like a minnow swimming past a shark, everyone hopes the beast has just eaten and doesn't have room for another bite.
It's not often a TV show is directly applicable to life (the "El Guapo" speech in ¡Three Amigos! comes to mind, but that was a movie). Do yourself a favor and tune in to the Sci-Fi showing tonight (and/or get the DVD boxed set). Great writing, great acting, and Barney Miller's Ron Glass as a chaplain on a pirate ship. It doesn't get any better than that.
(Bad News Alert: If you are offended by Calgon/body-wash commercials and/or are likely to take someone's assessment of someone-else as a whore at face value (even if there's substantial evidence to support it), Firefly may not be the show for you.)
(Good News Alert: If you were considering watching the show until you saw there's a guy named Adam Baldwin in the cast, please re-reconsider: he's not related to Alec and is really, really a lot of fun (really!).)
Last night I was watching the pilot episode w/ commentary on DVD when a dry lightning storm began a'brewin' outside. Two things need to happen under these conditions: 1) the dog needs to come inside (she doesn't care for thunder) and 2) I need to stand outside like a fool and watch the show.
The show was pretty good. The clouds lit up from the inside, silhouetting the trees and mountains. Big impressive booms. Real end-of-the-world type stuff.
Of course, a lightning strike could spell the end of our camping season, too. Things are still pretty green in our immediate area, but you never know. All of a sudden the show overhead wasn't as much fun as it had been. I found myself looking up and hoping it would all blow away and leave us unscathed.
There's a scene in the Firefly pilot episode that's much the same: the intrepid crew and passengers of the ship, Serenity, find themselves flying by a huge ship manned by Reavers (insane space cannibals). Like a minnow swimming past a shark, everyone hopes the beast has just eaten and doesn't have room for another bite.
It's not often a TV show is directly applicable to life (the "El Guapo" speech in ¡Three Amigos! comes to mind, but that was a movie). Do yourself a favor and tune in to the Sci-Fi showing tonight (and/or get the DVD boxed set). Great writing, great acting, and Barney Miller's Ron Glass as a chaplain on a pirate ship. It doesn't get any better than that.
(Bad News Alert: If you are offended by Calgon/body-wash commercials and/or are likely to take someone's assessment of someone-else as a whore at face value (even if there's substantial evidence to support it), Firefly may not be the show for you.)
(Good News Alert: If you were considering watching the show until you saw there's a guy named Adam Baldwin in the cast, please re-reconsider: he's not related to Alec and is really, really a lot of fun (really!).)
Mikesell
2 Snarky Remarks:
Chris, why? Now I have to watch the show before I watch the finale of Into the West on TNT. Too much TV for Friday. But since Selah's at a sleepover and Gaspard is still in Ohio....thanks:)
Unknown, at 6:22 PM
According to imdb.com, Adam Baldwin is in Into the West (he's not named as far as I can find). Alan Tudyk (Nathan Wheeler in ItW) plays Wash, the pilot, on Firefly.
Enjoy!
--Chris
Enjoy!
--Chris
