There are no absolutes. No right and wrong. Haven't you learned anything working for the Powers? There are only choices.

Jasmine ,'Power Play'


Angel 5: Is That It? Am I Done?  

[NAFDA] This is where we talk about the show! Anything that's aired in the US (including promos) is fair game. No spoilers though -- if you post one by accident, an admin will delete it.


Lyra Jane - Jan 06, 2005 8:03:37 am PST #2946 of 3531
Up with the sun

To someone who doesn't like the concept, I'm more than certain that those would be JUST as eh, feh, or meh as any of it.

I'm still in the "I'll get around to renting the DVDs at some point, probably, even though the concept doesn't thrill me" camp. So I guess that makes me part of the Kingdom of What's That, Some Television Show? in our terms.


libkitty - Jan 06, 2005 8:25:24 am PST #2947 of 3531
Embrace the idea that we are the leaders we've been looking for. Grace Lee Boggs

I missed most of this discussion, 'cause I was playing with real, live buffistas who are so incredibly wonderful that I can't really be coherant about it yet. It was so much fun catching up here, though, even though it's making me late for enjoying sunny California.

It's hard for me to decide between Angel and Buffy, because I love them both so much. While I appreciate ita's sentiments on Firefly:

But if Firefly gets included, I get confused.

I have to say that there is no confusion for me. If Firefly is included in the equation (the whole Firefly, in order, definitely not as aired), then it wins every contest. I've said it before and will say it again. Firefly is the best show ever, and Out of Gas is the best episode of any series. Can others disagree with me and not feel the Firefly love? Certainly. And I'll feel much pity for their poor, misguided, tv-watching souls.


§ ita § - Jan 06, 2005 8:26:58 am PST #2948 of 3531
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Firefly is the best show ever

See, I can't judge any show that didn't make a whole season the best ever. No matter how brilliant.


libkitty - Jan 06, 2005 8:28:55 am PST #2949 of 3531
Embrace the idea that we are the leaders we've been looking for. Grace Lee Boggs

I can.


Topic!Cindy - Jan 06, 2005 8:30:37 am PST #2950 of 3531
What is even happening?

Firefly is the best show ever, and Out of Gas is the best episode of any series. Can others disagree with me and not feel the Firefly love? Certainly. And I'll feel much pity for their poor, misguided, tv-watching souls.

When I was large with the Firefly love, certainly Out of Gas was my favorite episode, and seeing Serenity last nearly killed me. But I never thought OoG was the best episode ever, of any series.

Love,
Ms Guided


§ ita § - Jan 06, 2005 8:31:41 am PST #2951 of 3531
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

I can pull 13 sequential Angel episodes I like just as much, if not better. Probably can do the same with Buffy.

However, it got blazingly out of the gate for me, so that counts for something.


Lyra Jane - Jan 06, 2005 8:35:40 am PST #2952 of 3531
Up with the sun

I can't judge any show that didn't make a whole season the best ever.

I agree with ita, though I can't speak to this point as it applies to Firefly. I love My So-Called Life more than anything else ever televised. But even with that, I can't say it's "better" than Buffy or even Six Feet Under, simply because it never had the chance to get bad.

To me, what makes a TV show great is the way the canon stretches across years and off- and on-screen changes; the way the writers, directors and cast deal with different concepts and forms, and characters who have grown and changed.

It's a lot easier to be brilliant for 13 hours, than to be consistently great for 100.


DavidS - Jan 06, 2005 8:39:31 am PST #2953 of 3531
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Standard Ple Avert Your Eyes Warning

In baseball terms, this argument is summed up as Peak Value vs. Career Value when discussing Greatest Player Ever. And I think it's a useful distinction here. Peak Value, Firefly was (to my mind) as good as BtVS S3 (my gold standard). Career value? It didn't last as long to cover the kind of territory Lyra alludes to.


Vonnie K - Jan 06, 2005 8:47:10 am PST #2954 of 3531
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.

Hmmm. I don't know about "best episode ever". I usually have a bunch of episodes that impressed the hell out of me out of each show, but it's difficult to compare superior episodes on the merits alone. I mean, if someone told me to choose the "best" among "Innocence", "Becoming", "The Wish", "Hush" "Restless", "Once More With Feeling" for example, I'll be hard-pressed to choose one. Now, if someone asked me which one is my favorite, I'd probably say "Restless", which has as much to do with me as the skills with which the episodes have been crafted.

I adore Firefly and I mourn it deeply, but... eh. Different things ping for different people. I'm one of the people who didn't really "get" Wonderfalls-- not that it didn't entertain me in bits, but it didn't fire me up with "OMG! My show!"-type of recognition. Obviously, there are bound to be people for whom it's the other way around.


Topic!Cindy - Jan 06, 2005 9:01:00 am PST #2955 of 3531
What is even happening?

I adore Firefly and I mourn it deeply, but... eh. Different things ping for different people. I'm one of the people who didn't really "get" Wonderfalls-- not that it didn't entertain me in bits, but it didn't fire me up with "OMG! My show!"-type of recognition. Obviously, there are bound to be people for whom it's the other way around.
I think I'm one, although I had no idea my Firefly love was so shallow, when it was on the air. I thought I was a true lover. Turns out I was fickle.

Standard Ple Avert Your Eyes Warning
When Natter was all pimp cup talk, penis talk, and penis-in-pimp-cup talk yesterday, I decided I was not going to feel badly mentioning baseball, again. Not that Plei was talking about any of these things (as far as I recall, anyhow)--just that I had a clear moment of "Okay, this is getting to be not-so-much-for-me" and scrolled by, and then realized I didn't have to be self-conscious about the baseball talk.

In baseball terms, this argument is summed up as Peak Value vs. Career Value when discussing Greatest Player Ever. And I think it's a useful distinction here. Peak Value, Firefly was (to my mind) as good as BtVS S3 (my gold standard). Career value? It didn't last as long to cover the kind of territory Lyra alludes to.

I think what you and Lyra say covers some of what I meant, when I mentioned I can't compare a 13 episode series to a 144 episode series. And now reading this, I realize also though, that I just didn't think any of Firefly at its best was as pleasing to me (although it was pleasing) as BtVS and Angel at their best, and that Firefly's best, for me, doesn't have the same sort of staying power. For me, Firefly is that guy I went on a handful of dates with. We had a great time, and he really made my knees weak. When he stopped calling, I was broken hearted for about a week. Two years down the line, I realize I never think about him at all, until someone else brings him up.