OT: Firefly 5-Star Poll: "War Stories" (Possible Firefly Spoilers).
Andrew Poulter
people voting every week) - so cast your vote on how good "War Stories"
was.
If you've never voted before, then please vote this time - it's easy and
it's fun.
Pick a number between 0-5 that describes how you feel about the episode;
with 0 being the worst score, and 5 being the best.
--
AJP
Nadia
0! Because I no longer have sci-fi and can't see the episode! I'm
going off to cry now....
Nadia
Pen
<AJP_Ju...@btinternet.com> wrote:
Ooohhh.... I loved this. I know the plot was pretty unpretentious,
and I have Strong Doubts about Cap'n Mal's superheroic ability to stand
up and fight right after he'd been dead...
but...
I loved the emotional line through the story, and I adore Wash.
4.5
Pen
<who could probably up all her votes by 0.5, but never mind>
Iain Clark
Hmmm... a 4.4 I think.
Iain
--
"Well I thought about the Army
Dad said "son, you're f*cking high."
William George Ferguson
OK, I've been holding off, but if you want, here's ratings for everything
up to (your) date (comments below).
4.4 Serenity
3.9 The Train Job
3.7 Bushwhacked
3.8 Shindig
3.7 Safe
4.6 Our Mrs. Reynolds
4.4 Jaynestown
5.0 Out of Gas
5.0 Ariel
4.9 War Stories
One of the remaining 4 eps will get a 5.0 from me, and one will get a
4.9. People are welcome to speculate on which.
And the comments:
Serenity
Being in the US, I saw this at the end, rather than the beginning, so
already knew about River, the Alliance spy and so forth. It would have
been much better at the beginning. Mal walking into the middle of a
hostage situation and just dropping the guy without palaver was the first
in a long series of turning conventional tropes on their ears.
The Train Job
Mostly harmless. I like westerns, so what bothered a lot of people about
the ep didn't bother me. Nice that we got a glimpse that the
'authorities' aren't all evil monsters.
Bushwhacked
The 'reaver' plotline didn't do much for me. I liked the Jayne
debriefing scene and the Kaylee debriefing scene.
Shindig
Silliness, but we get a little insight into River's capabilities, and the
intimation that Kaylee does not respond effectively when under physical
threat.
Safe
Is Kaylee the only person on the ship without a 'dark' past? More River,
and I liked the River plot, so that was good.
Our Mrs. Reynolds
A whole lot of fun on a whole lot of levels, including several more
inversions of popular sf and western tropes. Really liked Saffron, she's
my second favorite 'guest star', and you guys (the non-downloaders, at
least) haven't seen my first yet.
Jaynestown
As overtly western as The Train Job or Shindig, but a lot more fun.
Plus, "He robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, stood up to The Man
and gave him what for. Our love for him now ain't hard to explain, THE
HERO OF CANTON! THE MAN THEY CALL JAYNE!"
Out of Gas
Lots of cool flashbacks, lots of setup, maybe the skiffiest episode of
the series. Plus payoff on setup, Kaylee had been trying to get a
backup/replacement part for the one that was destroyed causing all the
problems, going all the way back to the original, Serenity.
Ariel
Another real Skiffy ep, lots on River, some on Simon, some on Jayne. A
neat ending. One thing that has been pointed out, when River slashed
Jayne at the beginning, she actually slashed through the emblem on the
blouse he was wearing, which was the 'blue sun' symbol of the Alliance.
She had defaced the same symbol in previous episodes. It probably isn't
overstating the case to say that River's view of the Alliance would make
Mal seem a big supporter by comparison.
War Stories
This absolutely delights in turning tropes on their ears. You have to
love everyone ignoring Niska's attempts at 'bwahaha' villainy ("I'll take
him." "I'm sorry, I should have let you finish."). It turns out (it has
been initimated in earlier episodes), that Kaylee is just unable to
fight, physically. It's nice to have a good character who isn't a big
physical hero (without being relegated to comic relief). Kaylee (and the
rest of us) get our first real glimpse of how scary River can be. "This
is something the Captain needs to do for himself." "No! No it isn't!"
And of course we know have added the immortal phrase to our vocabulary,
"I'll be in my bunk."
--
I have a theory, it could be bunnies
Pen
Ferguson <william.geo...@domail.maricopa.edu> wrote:
> And of course we know have added the immortal phrase to our vocabulary,
> "I'll be in my bunk."
Ooh - yeh! This week's cue for Complete Hysterics from daughter and
self. Not *quite* on a par with the plough, but...
Pen
Keith Gow
4. One thing I've noticed about Firefly, I'm not feeling like giving
ambiguous scores. They are all solid things.
-- Keith Gow --
Jonathan Dupont
Despite having next to no arc or gimmick, manages to be extremely good
indeed. A lesson for Angel (I would have said & Buffy - but y'know,
finished already).
David Meadows
5
No explanation required :-)
--
David
Andrew Poulter
--
AJP
MAn Mountain
--
www.whistlefish.net for all your alt rock needs!
"Andrew Poulter" <AJP_Ju...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:bf0fki$9ns5o$1...@ID-98124.news.uni-berlin.de...
Claire
Do you think?
Spoilers ahoy
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I think the episode is only as strong as it is _because_ of the arc. It is
because we knew that the sadistic bad guy was a) sadistic and b) genuinely
'wronged' by Mal and therefore c) out to get him that this part of the plot
hangs together well. With no background it would be a bit jarring for 'some
random evil guy from Mal's past comes back to get him'. Workable still, but
much less well integrated.
Also the River plot development, that she is able to have fun with Kaylee is
a definite improvement on her behaviour so far, and that is why when she
displays some of her startling abilities in front of Kaylee by shooting those
men with her eyes shut, it is more poignant that Kaylee can't understand or
handle that and rejects River some, and that this will have implications in
River's recovery no doubt because she isn't 'normal' and will be rejected by
even her friends because she isn't. Again, without knowing what we know
about River so far this would be way less meaingful.
And to see a little bit of marital disharmony between Zoe and Wash after all
these weeks of their depiction as a perfectly happy couple, that lent the
story more weight as well. "Look, they fight like everyone else" but without
it being "all marriages don't work on TV".
Anyway. Love it all. I particularly loved the way this episode demonstrated
the relationships so well.
Claire
--
Still prettiest by far.
Jonathan Dupont
news:bfgb6b$2h24$1...@news.xenopsyche.net:
Um... that is true.
OTOH I don't think he is much more than a random evil guy, and having a
figure who had a unknown grudge against Mal wouldn't exactly be much of a
problem - I think you could very easily get away it, actually. And more
importantly, I don't think the *strength* of the episode comes from the
fact that we already know Niska - its just a plus/
> Also the River plot development, that she is able to have fun with
> Kaylee is a definite improvement on her behaviour so far, and that is
> why when she displays some of her startling abilities in front of
> Kaylee by shooting those men with her eyes shut, it is more poignant
> that Kaylee can't understand or handle that and rejects River some,
> and that this will have implications in River's recovery no doubt
> because she isn't 'normal' and will be rejected by even her friends
> because she isn't. Again, without knowing what we know about River so
> far this would be way less meaingful.
Indeed. And it certainlly adds to the tapestry of the episode - I actually
originally wrote "no arc" and then edited in the "next to" when I
remembered this. However, to be honest, it's certainly not the most
important part of this episode, its just a sidestory. Adds something for
the long term watcher, but won't confuse or put off a newcomer at all.
> And to see a little bit of marital disharmony between Zoe and Wash
> after all these weeks of their depiction as a perfectly happy couple,
> that lent the story more weight as well. "Look, they fight like
> everyone else" but without it being "all marriages don't work on TV".
Another very good point, but TBH I've never really counted this sort of
thing as 'arc' so much - its just the emotional underside of the story.
Practically every show does this, even the extremely insular episodic ones.
> Anyway. Love it all. I particularly loved the way this episode
> demonstrated the relationships so well.
> Claire
I most liked the way it deliberately ignored convention ("This is a battle
he needs to fight for himself...") - a very fun trick to play, although
admittedly not one that can go on forever,
Jon
Claire
>he needs to fight for himself...") - a very fun trick to play, although
>admittedly not one that can go on forever,
It's something he's using very heavily so far. Let's set up a standard issue
SF plot and then... do the opposite to what you expect to happen. They don't
'save' the 'wife' from her oppressive male society. They don't negotiate
with the bad guy. Zoe has no problem choosing between her partner and her
captain. Etc. And eventually, that's going to become predictable in of
itself I imagine. But it's still ok for now.
Girl on girl action, though, it's starting to look like Mr Whedon has a thing
for. *&)