Joss Whedon Is Still Bitter About Firefly

[Radelaide]

I can completely understand how he'd still have bitter feelings toward Fox. He has two shows that had great ideas and we're pretty popular amongst the less mainstream fans, but because of "ratings", they were cancelled. It's a pity another channel picked them up. There would have been such a cheer if.. er, ABC? Or whatever (I'm not familiar with American TV channels) picked it up.

 

[Arrers]

I watched Firefly again a few months back and really couldn't remember why I liked it in the first place. I think I've grown out of Joss Whedons style.

 

[MattAn24]

Sorry should have clarified. Dollhouse isn't on DVD here in Australia. And look at the DVD releases for OZ or Eureka and what about new Sci Fi releases like Warehouse 13? I bought Dollhouse from the states and had it a Supanova for Eliza and Dichen to sign and everyone around me was wondering how I'd gotten it. I didn't even realise. To be fair there is plenty of unreleased stuff on DVD here that is out in the states and even Europe. As someone who has an extensive DVD and Blu Ray collection I feel I know a bit about that topic especially for Sci Fi stuff

As for foxtel and Austar a lot of us just can't afford it and for a lot can't justify the expense for a few shows you can get "elsewhere". That's why we have free to air in this country though right? So we have the choice to buy or not. We get stuff on the new HD channels sure but nothing ever sticks. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

Caprica not being aired kinda sucks though. That's the one show I'd get cable for at this point still I have already seen it at this point

Completely agree on the Dollhouse front though. Looved that show and yes Dichen was AWESOME!!

Ah! Sorry for the misunderstanding! ^^;; I seemed a little harsh in my last post, hopefully I didn't offend. >.>

That's totally a fair reasoning for not getting Foxtel, etc. Not saying it's bad you don't have it, I was just confused that you said Dollhouse was never here yet.. Go us for meeting Dichen and Eliza though! I opted for a photo with Dichen, which was awesome. All the Whedon folk there (Summer, Dichen, Eliza and Charisma) were all really nice! A few of the people I'd met at Supanova Perth had the DVD too, this then became my mission to find it for myself. First though, Firefly DVD.

You're right though, DVD's are supremely late here. Hell, Warehouse 13 only JUST started a few weeks back on SciFi Australia.. Le sigh..

 

[Kenko]

I pirated the first episode of Firefly due to it being really hard to get where I lived, after I saw half of it I was already mesmerized and bought the Firefly DVD box. Then when I went through all the episodes on that I went to look for more but then realizing after reading a few articles here and there that I was a few years late. I fucking raged and im bitter about what Fox did. That show deserved better, Fox is a fucking cancer.

 

[2fish]

I watched Firefly again a few months back and really couldn't remember why I liked it in the first place. I think I've grown out of Joss Whedons style.

I would have to think that for firefly that is possible due to the limited amount of it. Watch it enough times and you will need a break from it. The characters feel great but the story never gets to go far enough to free itself from the generic space tv show idea. It only got far enough to establish the base feel of an epic story.

Those roots are in every great story such as the oddesy and are planted into all tv shows and movies that wish to tell a grand tale. It is a pity those roots have become very cliche and over used. Too many grand tales makes all tales seem more generic and allows only a handful to truley shine.

 

[Sproingy]

I also think part of Joss Whedon's lack of success has largely been him bouncing around onto obscure projects. To be honest I don't think anything he's done has risen to the bar of Buffy or Angel, and that includes Firefly... though that might have happened if it lasted longer. Having read some of his comic stuff, I personally think it's not his best genere even though many fans disagree, his run on the "X-men" was to me pretty average.

To put it simply I think he needs to go back to campy, episodic TV. He's not at his best when he tries to be perfectly serious. He needs to come up with a concept similar to things he's already worked on like "Buffy", or "Firefly" and move from there. In general when it plays with other people's works, or tries to get too serious (and oddly I think this was one of Dollhouse's problems, while it had it's lighter side it was too much of a "hard" science fiction concept to really shine under his hand) I think he fails. Teenage monster hunters, soulful vampires, and space confederates acting like Han Solo are more his thing.

This, but I don't think people enjoy being pigeonholed into one set genre. Perhaps he was beginning to be, and wanted change, which resulted in FireFly and Dollhouse. Or maybe he just wanted a challenge. Either way, I'm not surprised he's bitter; Fox screwed up two of his shows-regardless of quality-and never done anything to right it. Can't be too happy an experience for any man.

EDIT: Wrong person quoted Sorry guys and sorry for the double post...tried to correct the mistake without double posting but failed miserably...

That being said I agree with you. It must suck not being able to see out all the ideas and plans he must have painstakingly thought over and perfected in his head prior to cancellation

 

[Sproingy]

Sorry should have clarified. Dollhouse isn't on DVD here in Australia. And look at the DVD releases for OZ or Eureka and what about new Sci Fi releases like Warehouse 13? I bought Dollhouse from the states and had it a Supanova for Eliza and Dichen to sign and everyone around me was wondering how I'd gotten it. I didn't even realise. To be fair there is plenty of unreleased stuff on DVD here that is out in the states and even Europe. As someone who has an extensive DVD and Blu Ray collection I feel I know a bit about that topic especially for Sci Fi stuff

As for foxtel and Austar a lot of us just can't afford it and for a lot can't justify the expense for a few shows you can get "elsewhere". That's why we have free to air in this country though right? So we have the choice to buy or not. We get stuff on the new HD channels sure but nothing ever sticks. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

Caprica not being aired kinda sucks though. That's the one show I'd get cable for at this point still I have already seen it at this point

Completely agree on the Dollhouse front though. Looved that show and yes Dichen was AWESOME!!

Ah! Sorry for the misunderstanding! ^^;; I seemed a little harsh in my last post, hopefully I didn't offend. >.>

That's totally a fair reasoning for not getting Foxtel, etc. Not saying it's bad you don't have it, I was just confused that you said Dollhouse was never here yet.. Go us for meeting Dichen and Eliza though! I opted for a photo with Dichen, which was awesome. All the Whedon folk there (Summer, Dichen, Eliza and Charisma) were all really nice! A few of the people I'd met at Supanova Perth had the DVD too, this then became my mission to find it for myself. First though, Firefly DVD.

You're right though, DVD's are supremely late here. Hell, Warehouse 13 only JUST started a few weeks back on SciFi Australia.. Le sigh..

EDIT: Oops wrong quote...

Anyways

No offence taken I forget about cable all the time because its just not something I have or am going to have

It's an issue I think for the studios because so many of us are in that boat and honestly the ability to go and get this stuff illegally for free is just too easy and convenient...not that I would ever stoop to this *cough cough ahem...

As for the girls, they were an amazing four at nova! My friends decided to ask for the Whedonverse photo with all of the Whedon guys even though we didn't have the insanely price Whedon ticket and THREE different ppl said it was fine as long as they paid the 180 bux for it which was basically the price of getting a photo with them all seperately. Four of them split the cost as group photos had never been an issue for us. long story short the head dude their got massively p&%$ed off and refused to let them do it until they pointed out they had gotten permission from three ppl. So he conceded but would only let ONE of them have it. All this happened while Eliza, Dichen, Summer and Charisma battled for them to have the photo. Dichen was so nice she let us have photo's with her at the signing area recognising my friends after the incident!

 

[Eponet]

It really isn't. The western thing was half assed, and it's basically star wars (better yet, LOTR) with River as the last jedi.

Did... did you even WATCH the show? Because if you did you'd know how silly you look making totally false comments like that.

In a galaxy far, far away...
The Empire has taken over. The Rebels defeated, remain on the outer brinks in worlds that vaguely resembles the Wild West. A band of hearty travelers who were once part of the rebel alliance are now workers for hire. Their band consists of Aragon, Han solo and his wife Lorien Chewbacca, Gimli, a whore, a hippie, ben kanobi, a doctor, and the last jedi named Frodo. However frodo is merely a byproduct from an experiment gone awry which led to the creation of orcs that roam the galaxy and kill anyone/thing in their path. The band of travelers become family in their quest to escape the Empire's clutches and foil their evil plans. While frodo strives to attain inner peace, dealing with the increasing burden his powers give him.

Maybe I am taking things out of context. But for me, it's just so easy to draw parallels from both worlds that all meaning is lost when I try to watch Firefly. I've seen the show, and the movie, and I thought it was bad.

You wanna know what show I'm pissed off about (but I've made my peace with)?
Dead Like Me
The movie was complete shit, even the cast admitted it, but Dead Like Me is infinitely better than Firefly.

I never thought about it that way. Probably because I've never watched the show, but when you put it like that, it sounds pretty awesome.

 

[Sproingy]

You wanna know what show I'm pissed off about (but I've made my peace with)?
Dead Like Me
The movie was complete shit, even the cast admitted it, but Dead Like Me is infinitely better than Firefly.

Man Bryan Fuller is another one I feel Sorry for. More then Joss. At least Buffy and Angel had decent runs but Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies all cut in their prime!!

 

[Jonny49]

Hello? Has everyone forgot about Serenity?! One of the sci-fi films of the past decade?!! A brilliant fuse of science fiction and western?! That's hardly a failure.

 

[Firia]

I love Joss. I disliked Dollhouse, and was not sorry to see it go.

Spoiler: the reason why

Dollhouse never focused, and many of its main characters were uninspiring. I found that I'd like the implanted characters much much more than the dolls themselves. They were like an army of River Tams (Firefly/Serenity) on extra-boring. River was the one character is really didn't care for. So when Dollhouse got canned, I wasn't to sad to see it go. I honestly said, "now that Joss is free, I hope some exec grabs him and says, "Hey, that Firefly thing you did some years ago; that was pretty good stuff."

Joss is easily the markets most successful failure. He gets something going, it gets canned. But the fans loved whatever it was. He makes something else? Canned. He finally scores a series that goes into another season, and that gets canned too. The man simply cannot win! And yet... I can think of few other names in Hollywood I'd love to see directing more than Joss Whedon. (I naturally have my faves. Joss is up there.)

 

[Firia]

Firefly is 8 years old
you people seriously need to move the fuck on.
(it wasn't even that good of a show anyway)

I hope you put a flame shield on for that, but I agree with you.

Whether or not Whedon is bitter about it I won't feel any sympathy for him.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
He doesn't learn, he just doesn't learn.

I think (and cannot for the life of me find my source, so take it as mere rumor), if I remember correctly, Joss had a contract with FOX to deliver on X amount of seasons to fulfill his contract with them. I'm not sure he had to much of a choice but to try to make the best damn shows he could, and hope they stick.

Contract employment really blows. I feel like he got suckered into gifting some of his best ideas to shitty business.

 

[Sproingy]

Hello? Has everyone forgot about Serenity?! One of the sci-fi films of the past decade?!! A brilliant fuse of science fiction and western?! That's hardly a failure.

But Serenity is the conclusion or what's meant to be a conclusion of Firefly so really we are talking about it

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

To be fair to Joss, his original script for Alien Resurrection was apparently very positively received from what I understand from those who read it. They apparently butchered it bringing the movie to the screen, which wouldn't be the first time that happened.

As for Joss being overrated, I agree Dollhouse was his weakest effort thus far IMO and I wasn't really sad to see it go, but Firefly is my absolute favourite TV show ever. I mean of all time. I understand not everybody is as nuts about it as I am, but if you think it wasn't a good show at all, you're just insane.

 

[HellbirdIV]

Firefly is 8 years old
you people seriously need to move the fuck on.
(it wasn't even that good of a show anyway)

This, a hundred times this.