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Date Posted: 16:25:10 10/12/02 Sat
Author: Robert
Subject: My Answer
In reply to: Cactus Watcher 's message, "With no episode, new or old, to talk about this week" on 07:49:34 10/11/02 Fri

>> 1. Are you watching Firefly primarily because of
>> a. Joss' track record.
>> b. I like sci-fi.
>> c. I like westerns.
>> d. other (explain).

a. because I really, really, really like Joss' work to date.
b. because I have read and watched science fiction since I was a little person back in the late 60's.

>>> "2. Are you a fan of Star Trek? If so, what do you like and dislike about the franchise? Feel free to talk about individual series, and the movies separately or to lump them together."

This is a multi-faceted question. The Star Trek franchise now includes so much; five TV series, ten motion pictures, one Saturday morning cartoon, and only God knows how many novels and sundry items. I am a fan of part of the franchise. I watched the original show during its first run. I was 7 or 8 at the time. I liked everything I saw, even though a lot of it was not very good.

I watched all of ST:TNG, most of ST:DS9 and ST:VOY, and a little of ST:Enterprise. My current complaint with Enterprise is that it is more of the same. In the context of 60's television, that "more of the same" was be very excellent indeed. However, evil people like Joss Whedon have spoiled me, and made me jaded (oh I feel so dirty).

Never the less, I had (and still have) the utmost respect for Gene Roddenberry. He brought us quality science fiction on television at a time when Irwin Allen was burning up the air waves with such memorable classics as "Time Tunnel" and "Lost in Space" and (I believe) "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". Roddenberry raised the bar. Even more, the Star Trek fanbase served a wake-up notice to the networks. NBC attempted to cancel Star Trek at the end of season 2, but a fan driven campaign lead them to change their minds. This may be the only instance of this happening. Regardless, NBC insisted that Roddenberry be removed from his control of the stories. Consequently, the third season of Star Trek was vastly inferior to the preceding two, thus proving that if the network hates a show enough, they will find a way to kill it. Firefly fans take note!

>>> "3. Are you a fan of Star Wars? What do you like and dislike about it."

Yes, but not rabidly. I haven't yet watched the latest movie. I'm waiting for it to come out on pay-per-view. I watched the first movie when it came out in 1977 -- I was 18 at the time. It was the greatest thing I had ever seen, but in the following 20 some odd years, I'm afraid I've grown out of it. It was have been better if Lucas had found a way to produce the movies more quickly.

>>> "4. Are you a fan of Babylon 5? Are all 'deep' sci-fi TV shows doomed to both low ratings, and to being pushed to the margins of broadcasting?"

HELL YES! In its day, Babylon 5 was the BEST science fiction on television ... bar none. X-Files and ST:DS9 tried, but they didn't come up to the level of Babylon 5. I might add that Babylon 5 was produced for about a quarter the cost of ST:TNG. Roddenberry put more emphasis on the look and cast of the show. J. Michael Straczynski put his emphasis on the story. The story arc was epic and grand on the grandest scale.

Yes, I am afraid that intelligent science fiction will always hang out on the fringe.

>>> "5. If you like sci-fi, what are some of your other favorites, TV, books or movies?"

As a kid, I watched them all; good, bad, and in between. I watched great shows such as "The Twilight Zone"; Rod Sirling was the best. I watched good shows such as "The Outer Limits", and I watched shit like "Land of the Giants", "Time Tunnel" and "Lost in Space". Words do not sufficiently describe my contempt for anything that Irwin Allen produced.

The strange thing is that after Star Trek was canceled in 1968 (I believe), there was almost nothing until "Battlestar Galactica" in the waning days of the 70's. Yes, there were shows like "UFO", "The Starlost", "Space: 1999", "Wonderwoman", "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "Buck Rogers", but they were only trifles. I am sorry if you disagree, but I had severe problems with them all. Some have stated their favor of "Space: 1999", but the very foundation of the show was ludicrous and the internal logic was non-existent. "The $6M Man" had Lee Majors and "Buck Rogers" had Gil Gerard, both being the most wooden actors that I had the displeasure to see. In a posting above, Cactus Watcher spoke about how wooden Michael O'Hare was on "Babylon 5". He should take a look at Majors and Gerard. They make O'Hare look really good. "UFO" was a silly show, but they did have the girls with the purple hair, so I can't complain. Next we have "Wonderwoman" where the choreography of the fight scenes was so bad that you could see the stunt actors leaping as Linda Carter was supposedly throwing them. Anyone who has a problem with the fight scenes in BtVS should view a few episodes of "Wonderwoman". Did anyone else see "The Starlost"? I would personally like to nominate this TV series as the worst science fiction ever shown on network television.

Then of course there are the more modern shows which others have mentioned. I've watched nearly all of them with varying degrees of favor and enjoyment.

Since junior high school, I have read many science fiction novels (hundreds, possibly thousands). I very much prefer "hard" science fiction, which I define as science fiction which is based upon current scientific theory or theory which could reasonably follow current theory. My favorite writer is Robert Forward, though I haven't seen anything lately from him -- such a shame. His first novel "Dragon's Egg" was magnificent. I also enjoy the space opera of David Weber, especially his current Honor Harrington series.

I watched most of the science fiction movies in the last couple decades, but I am becoming less and less interested in the cinema. The movie industry in even worse on science fiction than the television industry.

>>> "6. Westerns have mostly faded from the tv screen. Do you have any old favorites? Do you have any favorite Western movies? Do you think the genre is worn out?"

The only western I ever followed was "Maverick". I was born too late to see it in its original run, but I caught it in syndication during the early 70's. I liked "Maverick" mostly because of James Garner. I was less interested in Jack Kelly, though he was very good too. The genre wore itself out by over saturating the market and because ultimately it was only genre television. The western genre was much older than television. For decades, children watched their favorite western stars on Saturday matinees. I suspect the western genre was already dying by the time television came around.

>>> "7. I would say that Buffy and Angel are about complex relationships and tearing down fixed ideas about good and evil. Assuming Firefly gets the chance to develop do you think it will follow the same pattern?"

Oh yes! I can only hope so.

>>> "8. Play Joss for a moment. Where do you think the meatiest potential parts of Firefly lie?"

I believe that at some point (maybe at the season half-way point), Joss needs to begin showing us the nature of the Alliance and the civilization at large. So far, we know little more that the principle characters.

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