Tag Archives: Firefly

by | February 4, 2014 · 6:04 pm

Dragon’s Loyalty Award

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We were very excited to be nominated for the Dragon’s Loyalty Award by Gene at The Sourcerer, and since it’s the first time we’ve had any acceptance into the blogging community, it has taken me a little while to calm down and compose my thoughts.  This time around I’ll post some facts about myself and maybe next time I’ll let Tracy have all the fun share my misery. 😉

  1. I spent four and half years at a military college and then have worked for the Navy for the last six.
  2. I have a bad habit of collecting stuff.  I use to collect card games and have sixteen 800 count, full card boxes still sitting in a dresser drawer. Now I collect comics, and they don’t fit in a dresser drawer.

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    So many cards…

  3. My sister and I look so little alike that when she lived with me for six months people thought we were dating. However, once they spend some time around us, most people discover that we have very similar mannerisms and even use the same turns of phrases.
  4. I tend to name my pets after characters from things I like. My cats are Spider (Transmetropolitan) and Kaylee (Firefly).  In high school I had a cat named Mara (from the Star Wars expanded universe).
  5. I once blew off Geraldo Rivera. He was with his nephew on a tour of my college while I was pulling onto campus. I honked my horn and waved to a friend who was standing behind him and Geraldo got excited because he thought I recognized him. With a couple of quick hand gestures I made it clear I was trying to get the attention of someone else. He looked very disappointed. I didn’t find out who he was until about an hour later.
  6. I’ve played four instruments in my life:  piano, alto sax, tuba and guitar. I’ve never been great at any of them, but I was best at tuba and would pick it back up if they weren’t so damned expensive.
  7. For years friends of mine have been threatening to record my rantings and post them on the internet. I started the blog after a similar conversation with Tracy got me thinking on the long drive down to southern Georgia. The blog kept me sane for the two months I was in Georgia for work.

I don’t really have a great method for picking other blog nominees, aside from the fact that these are ones that I have found interesting, inspiring, or are written by people I’d like to get to know better.

  1. The Thousand Lives
  2. The Verbal Spew Review
  3. The Geeky Hooker
  4. Comparative Geeks
  5. A Guide to Geekdom
  6. The Brotherhood of Evil Geeks
  7. Bag & Bored

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by | November 19, 2013 · 7:10 pm

What Might Have Been

There is a curse on our society.   It is a dangerous and insidious plague that works its way into the very heart of the most precious part of our lives:  our entertainment.  I am, of course, referring to DVD bonus features.  While tempting and tantalizing, they have cursed us with the knowledge of what might have been.  This extra content often reveals the director’s original vision, before things like budget and other physical constraints get in the way.  Without this knowledge, fans are more than happy with the final product, but with the additional knowledge we begin to ask ourselves how much more would we have loved what might have been.

An artists vision of what Starship Trooper's power armor looks like.

An artists vision of what Starship Trooper‘s power armor looks like.

Starship Troopers is my favorite book, hands down.  I’ve read it at least a half dozen times.  Robert Heinlein crafted a fantastic science fiction universe, and the centerpiece of that universe is the Mobile Infantry, with their suits of powered armor.  These suits protect the infantrymen and provide them with enhanced strength, sensory perception, communications, and weaponry. These suits are described in the book as looking like giant, armored gorillas. Of course, this is not what appeared in the film. Instead, it was a box office disaster that didn’t have powered armor at all. That being said, the movie has some redeeming qualities as a B movie and I was willing to accept the movie for what it is—that is, until I saw the special features.  In them, director Paul Verhoeven spoke very excitedly about what he was planning to do with the suits.  Special feature interviews with Verhoeven show various concepts of what the suits might have looked like and, while they were all very different, they were all really cool looking. Instead we got really crappy body armor (This same armor made an appearance in episode two of Firefly).  Had I never seen Verhoeven’s original vision, I would have never expected anything other than the final movie version.

If you thought the armor looked familiar, you were not going crazy.

If you thought the armor looked familiar, you are not going crazy.

While Starship Troopers was an all-around disappointment, of which the armor was just one small part, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek was an awesome film. Abrams was able to successfully reboot the franchise while still retaining the aesthetic, the positive vision of the future, the characterizations, etc. that made Star Trek so amazing in the first place.

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Accompanying the reboot is a refreshingly streamlined Enterprise. Everything looks so shiny and sleek. Well, almost everything. The engineering spaces are completely out of place with the new look.  They have more in common with the engine room of a modern cargo ship than with any of the previous incarnations of Star Trek engineering spaces.  I felt that this disconnect detracted from the film and for quite a while I was forced to wonder why J.J. Abrams made that particular choice. When my answer finally came, I was both pleased and disappointed.  Again, thanks to DVD special features (ok, this time it was Blu Ray) I was shown the original designs for engineering. Everything I could have hoped for, it was streamlined, and meshed perfectly with the rest of the redesign. So what the hell happened? Turns out it was the almighty dollar sign. There just wasn’t enough money in the budget to make everything happen, and since it isn’t as integral to the film, engineering was forced to take one for the team. Unfortunately, now that I have seen the concept art, I can’t help but think about what the engine room could have looked like and how cool it would have been.

USS_Enterprise_engineering_concept_1

Of course DVDs are not the only place to get these kinds of behind the scenes secrets. Thanks to the internet there is a plethora of information and it usually doesn’t take more than thirty seconds of searching on Google to find it. In recent years studios have gone so far as to release concept art well in advance of the movie’s release in order to drum up as much excitement and anticipation as possible. I’ve always thought this was tremendously risky. What if the final product doesn’t live up to the expectations of the fans? If they didn’t already have this information, they would have never known and might have been satisfied with what they actually got.

DVD special features are great. They can be lots of fun, but they also carry with them the inherent danger of ruining the final product for the fans. One must be careful not to become too fixated on those things that might have been.  Instead we should be content with what we have and leave the speculation for someone else.

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by | November 14, 2013 · 5:40 pm

The Road Less Traveled

One of the things I love most about science fiction and fantasy is the franchises. Sure there are great standalone stories but some of the greatest stories are part of large franchises. Between films, television episodes, books, comics and more, there is often more material than fans can take in.  Star Trek is a prime example of this. There are so many things that fans can get into. If people want to cosplay they have five TV series and twelve motion pictures full of characters to choose from, with hundreds if not thousands of possible costume ideas. It’s a geek’s dream come true.

But if these major franchises are a geek’s dream come true, then why are there those geeks who latch on to franchises that don’t have this overwhelming back catalog of material from which to pull.  Are they mentally ill? Do they not know that there are much greater treasure troves out there from which to fulfill their geek fantasies? In my humble (or perhaps not so humble) opinion I actually think there is something very commendable about these folks and their attachment to these “lesser” franchises. They are willing to go out there and show off what they love even when there isn’t quite as much of it.

Let's be honest, how many cosplayer's costumes require a car?

Let’s be honest, how many cosplayer’s costumes require a car?

I think my favorite example of this is the fan base for Ghostbusters. With only two movies and a handful of comics, there isn’t a whole lot to work with, yet Ghostbuster fans are some of the most dedicated fans I’ve met. Not only do they carry around homemade proton packs, which require considerable amounts of time and effort to put together properly, but any self-respecting Ghostbusters group must have their own Ecto-1. That’s right, these people have to have their own custom car. That is way more of an investment than a set of stormtrooper armor or a red shirt costume. And not only do they have these cars, but they insist that everything be absolutely perfect on both the costumes and the car. I’ve even heard a story of one Ghostbusters fan that stayed overnight at his job at a print shop so he could print out a full sized Vigo painting. He barely got any sleep because he was constantly checking it to ensure that Vigo printed correctly. Now that is some serious devotion.

An entire night, just for this.

An entire night, just for this.

Not only is it commendable that these fans show such devotion to things they love, but in many ways it’s also quite difficult. If I really feel like it, I can cover the entirety of the Firefly universe in under a day. This includes the show, movie and comics.  To be honest, there are only so many conversations that can be had about the same fourteen episodes—and far too many of them revolve around the show being cancelled too early or about bringing it back. But this doesn’t stop us from having the conversations. This repetition is not just restricted to conversations. Take The Fifth Element for example. I’ve gone to numerous conventions and seen people dressed up as all the various characters from the film, in varying degrees of success. The real difficulty is doing it the best you can and adding your own little touches to the costumes. What can you do to make yourself stand out from the throngs of other bottle red heads in thermal bandages? Maybe you adopt the character’s persona. Maybe you make sure that your costume is as accurate as possible.

It took longer to crop this picture than to find all these cosplayers on Google.

It took longer to crop this picture than to find all these cosplayers on Google.

So what is a fan to do? I would have to say that a fan must be true to themselves. There is no need to jump on the Star Trek or Star Wars bandwagons just because there is more material to work with. Some of the most impressive costumes I have seen and most interesting conversations I have had revolve around the smaller arenas of fandom. The most important thing is to be true to yourself and just have fun.  After all, if you’re not enjoying your leisure activities, then they just aren’t worth it.

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by | September 24, 2013 · 11:52 am

Guest Blog | Breaking News: Browncoat states, “It might be a good thing that Firefly was limited…”

You may recall the Therefore I Geek editorial recap of Mikey Mason’s performance at Atlantis Comics & Games this spring.  While we were there, we asked Mikey to do a guest blog for us.  He got the biggest grin and asked if he write an argument against bringing back Joss Whedon’s Firefly.  I said no, but sadly, I was overruled by Andrew.  Therefore, here is Mikey’s guest post. -T

Warning: This blog post probably contains some of those so-called spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen the entire Firefly series and the Big Damn Movie (Serenity, for the uninitiated.) I say that because, even though the series and movie have been out on DVD since 2005 (nearly a decade) somebody will cry. Here’s your warning. Also, I abuse the hell out of parentheses and ellipses. If you can’t abide such a thing, well… get out now.

I’m known (to some, at least) as an unabashed Browncoat, the “She Don’t Like Firefly” guy.  I’ve played at least one Can’t Stop The Serenity event each year for the past couple of years and plan to continue so long as they’ll have me. Hell… I’ve even written a song called “Please Bring Firefly Back For Christmas.”  But the secret truth I harbor in my little Browncoat heart is this: I think that it might (MIGHT, mind you) be a good thing that Firefly was limited to 14 episodes and a movie. Furthermore, I propose that it might (again MIGHT) not be a good thing to bring Firefly back.  Before you scream at me, hear me out. Then scream at me (or your computer screen, rather.  Or type in all caps in the comment section and pretend I’m reading it. I’ll be doing other things…)

I’ll address the first part first: the one about why it might have been a good thing the series was cancelled. We have fourteen episodes and a movie. I love ’em (all except the bit where Wash dies, at least.) I watch ’em a couple times a year (at least.) I impose them on my family. I think they’re pretty keen. And maybe, just maybe the key to their unsullied reputation is that short life span. They never had a chance to jump the shark. Never had an episode where the actors were no longer in love with their characters, or where they were tired of each other, or the grind of making the show. Never had to deal with third season ratings drops, a between seasons re-casting, or the introduction of a character with the sole intention of boosting the ratings in their final season. Think of shows, solid shows, like Roseanne and Married…With Children, that completely sucked in their final seasons. One had a cast member leave and the plot change dramatically, only to learn it “was just a story written by the main character” in the final episode, and the other had a child character named Seven dropped into the mix, a throwback to the last ditch ratings efforts of the Brady Bunch‘s cousin Oliver–which also failed.

I’m not saying any of that would’ve happened. I’m simply saying it never had the chance to. It’s a mosquito larva, preserved in amber. It stayed perfect and never got the chance to suck.  In a perfect world, Fox would’ve aired the pilot before they aired episode two, instead of well afterwards, and they would’ve kept the show in a consistent time slot. I trust that Joss and crew would have ran the tightest ship they could have, and that we’d have enjoyed every episode of every season, and that there never would be contract disputes or budget disputes or any of that. But we’ll never know–and that means it’s possible that we dodged the bullet of watching something we love slowly degrade into something we despise. Ever catch yourself saying something like, “I really love (*series*,) but only the first (x) seasons. After season (x), it’s all downhill”? It’s a popular refrain from fandom, and luckily something we don’t say about Firefly.

Now for the second part: why bringing it back might not be a good thing. It’s simple really. You’ve read or seen Pet Sematary, right? They bury the dead cat; it comes back… changed. They bury the dead kid; he comes back… changed. And that’s what we’re talking about. We’re not casting a Phoenix Down on the series, here. What we’re talking about is necromancy, and what we may end up with is a zombie. At the very least, it’s going to be different–perhaps very different–from the Firefly we’ve loved these past many years.

The actors (many of them) have other contractual obligations, and possibly couldn’t return.  And Wash and Book are DEAD. Remember that feeling in the pit of your stomach when your favorite dinosaur figurine-playing pilot took a shaft of metal through the torso? How exactly are you going to feel when they try and replace him with another lovable, offbeat pilot? Oh… They won’t do that? The pilot will be completely different? Bam. Chemistry changed. Show changed. And now the cat has come back with glassy eyes and a musty smell, and it’s not the lovable kitty we buried in the Sematary… What? You think we should just retcon that bit? Yeah. Fans always react well to retcon situations, and it seems fan support is more than half the reason this series would ever get rebooted. I thought you wanted this thing to happen… And you really don’t expect Joss Whedon to drop directing huge movies and give up being the warden and guardian angel of Marvel Studios movies in order to write and direct this series, right? He’d want too much control—control a network will be very reluctant to give.

Because if there’s an excuse to put up a picture of Nathan Fillion, I’ll take it. 😉

Look: *IF* Joss would and could have total control, and *IF* the actors (the ones whose characters were still alive) could return, and *IF* a network were really willing to front the requisite monies and forfeit series control, and *IF* the network were willing to commit to a complete story arc submitted by Joss in advance, regardless of ratings, I’d be all in. Frankly, I’ll be excited if there’s ever another series set in the ‘Verse  (which seems far more likely than a Firefly revival.) Even a Firefly Christmas special… But I’m not expecting any of those things, and if they do come, part of me will actually be wary, looking for the changes (and hoping when I find them, as we all assuredly would, that they’re GOOD things. Not the same as before, but still good.)

Until then, I’m just gonna sit here counting my blessings, cooing over this mosquito larva preserved in amber, and still feeling pissed that Wash died, but happy to have seen him fly at all.

– Mikey Mason

Check out Mikey’s music videos and his own blog, Beer Powered Time Machine, at http://www.mikeymason.com

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