No Right Answer: Required Viewing Before You Die
- Thread starter Firefilm
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I liked Lost but it has nowhere near the impact or pop culture of Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones.
For nerdier options the aforementioned Avatar: the Last Airbender, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or my personal vote Neon Genesis Evangelion (first 24 episodes, substitute the original 2 movies for episodes 25 and 26).
And who can honestly say they enjoy Lost more than Firefly? Firefly's episodes are beautiful in that they are complete packages, but also build on each other throughout the series. You can watch an episode of Firefly and understand what's going on and enjoy it. You CAN NOT watch an ep of Lost without having seen all of that season's previous eps and/or researched wtf is going on. And when the episode is over you just have to watch the next one not specifically because you enjoyed it, but because you need to know what happens next. The mystery box is a lazy hook that compels viewing not by having a good, enjoyable narrative/characters/humour/etc but by dangling a carrot on a stick.
For nerdier options the aforementioned Avatar: the Last Airbender, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or my personal vote Neon Genesis Evangelion (first 24 episodes, substitute the original 2 movies for episodes 25 and 26).
And who can honestly say they enjoy Lost more than Firefly? Firefly's episodes are beautiful in that they are complete packages, but also build on each other throughout the series. You can watch an episode of Firefly and understand what's going on and enjoy it. You CAN NOT watch an ep of Lost without having seen all of that season's previous eps and/or researched wtf is going on. And when the episode is over you just have to watch the next one not specifically because you enjoyed it, but because you need to know what happens next. The mystery box is a lazy hook that compels viewing not by having a good, enjoyable narrative/characters/humour/etc but by dangling a carrot on a stick.
"People still talk about Lost" No they don't... I haven't heard a single thing about that series except for this video to be honest. I saw a re-run of Fyrefly on TV, from which I might've watched 2-3 episodes and it was really cool, but when I saw Lost's cloud monster I thought "What?" and never cared about it anymore, and whenever someone said "Lost is SO good" all I had to say was "Cloud monster" and they would just quietly sit down and stop talking altogether.
Yeah.... no. Just... no. Nope.
I watched Lost and was, at first, quite enthralled by its evident charms, its impressive cast of then-nobodies and a stream of odd, cool, unique and impressive dialogues and scenes that just made me come back for more.
After a while, though, it just went over board with its randomness, beating even David Lynch or gorram Monthy Python when it comes to unrestrained, pure Chaos with a capital C. Then the cast got expanded, the black smoke started to appear and take first place as what just had to be some of the cheapest digital fx available and things took 720 degree turns for the worse until hope, common sense and reason left the building to go hunt Elvis Hitler that obviously got kidnapped by aliens.
The plot was acting like a fluffy pink bunny rabbit in heat, afflicted with rabies and on acid. It was just all over the place, just not where you'd expect or want it.
Firefly and Serenity, on the other hand, has everything that makes TV and movies magic, excluding obviously long life and success. Just compare it to Defiance and you'll quickly realize that everything that worked quite perfectly in Firefly isn't easily replicated or aped, as it was just pretty perfect and awesome as-is, with everything just falling into place nicely. That just didn't happen in Defiance.
I watched Lost and was, at first, quite enthralled by its evident charms, its impressive cast of then-nobodies and a stream of odd, cool, unique and impressive dialogues and scenes that just made me come back for more.
After a while, though, it just went over board with its randomness, beating even David Lynch or gorram Monthy Python when it comes to unrestrained, pure Chaos with a capital C. Then the cast got expanded, the black smoke started to appear and take first place as what just had to be some of the cheapest digital fx available and things took 720 degree turns for the worse until hope, common sense and reason left the building to go hunt Elvis Hitler that obviously got kidnapped by aliens.
The plot was acting like a fluffy pink bunny rabbit in heat, afflicted with rabies and on acid. It was just all over the place, just not where you'd expect or want it.
Firefly and Serenity, on the other hand, has everything that makes TV and movies magic, excluding obviously long life and success. Just compare it to Defiance and you'll quickly realize that everything that worked quite perfectly in Firefly isn't easily replicated or aped, as it was just pretty perfect and awesome as-is, with everything just falling into place nicely. That just didn't happen in Defiance.
Required Viewing Before You Die? Is that a good title for this episode? The most influential show would be more accurate.
If I have to follow the title, then my pick would be The Wire. I've never seen another shows that's so thought provoking, realistic and unforgiving. Breaking bad does similar things, but it's way too pulpy for me.
As for an influential show, then it's Twin peaks. I'm not in love with that one, but there are many stories that were influenced by it.
I dislike Lost. It's effective, but it achieves everything through confusion. As they said, the only selling point is the mystery.
At least Firefly died before it could take off. I'm more sad about Deadwood, since it already picked up speed before the cancellation.
If I have to follow the title, then my pick would be The Wire. I've never seen another shows that's so thought provoking, realistic and unforgiving. Breaking bad does similar things, but it's way too pulpy for me.
As for an influential show, then it's Twin peaks. I'm not in love with that one, but there are many stories that were influenced by it.
I dislike Lost. It's effective, but it achieves everything through confusion. As they said, the only selling point is the mystery.
At least Firefly died before it could take off. I'm more sad about Deadwood, since it already picked up speed before the cancellation.
WHATDRTJR said:
NO
GO IN THE CORNER AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DID
Seriously though, Buffy is fantastic. The first season can be kind of bleh, but after that the show gets exponentially better. The first season is just there to make you think it's a by the numbers campy action horror show so that Whedon can rip your heart out more easily later.
OT: I haven't a clue what he's talking about with people talking about LOST. I've heard very little of lost, and when he was listing off the references the only thing that sounded vaguely familiar was the hatchet, but I think that might just be me remembering seeing the book Hatchet around a lot when I was a kid. The only thing I know about LOST is the ending, that a bunch of people crashed on an island in a plane, and there's a smoke monster apparently (and those last two bits have been heavily reinforced by the easter egg in Just Cause 2).
If anything I'd argue that the amount of Firefly references has continuously grown. Hell in just the last year, Saints Row 4 included Mal's Pistol, Cold Days (a book in an ongoing fantasy series) referenced Shepard's "special hell", I see "shiny" and "gorram" on almost every show that targets geeks and every site that sells geek-related paraphernalia.
I'd make an argument for how it has influenced the media, but I honestly don't watch enough to make a valid one. Point is, Firefly has a rabid and expanding fanbase. Lost had a fanbase.
Exactly. Anyone on their death bed who chooses to watch a hipster space-western above the epic, majestic Babylon 5 probably deserves to die anyway. I'm serious.KaZuYa said:
And Lost is just stupid. The only other contender I'd put would be Carnivale.
I don't know why he said Lost put JJ Abrams on the map, um, Alias, hello. Also, JJ Abrams had very little to do with Lost passed the first 2 seasons, it was all Cuse and Lindelof.
Lost generated 2 copycats, The Event and FlashForward, both of which bombed. After that serialized drama made sure to indicate that they were going to be the anti-Lost, or that they would give answers within a reasonable amount of time, especially after the Lost finally which either gave no answers or conveluted answers, depending on your point of view. No one really knows how FireFly would have performed if Fox handled the show better.
Lost generated 2 copycats, The Event and FlashForward, both of which bombed. After that serialized drama made sure to indicate that they were going to be the anti-Lost, or that they would give answers within a reasonable amount of time, especially after the Lost finally which either gave no answers or conveluted answers, depending on your point of view. No one really knows how FireFly would have performed if Fox handled the show better.
...am I seriously the only person who never hears anything about LOST anymore? 'Cause this "debate" certainly made it sound like I was missing out on all the references drowning pop culture in LOST material. I don't think I've ever gone to a con and seen people running a LOST booth or dressed up as LOST refugees. If I hear someone shouting about "what's in the box," it's usually a Se7en reference.
I dunno. I just don't see it, guys.
That said, I don't think I'd call Firefly "required viewing" either. I love the show, but I also recognize that it's not for everyone.
I dunno. I just don't see it, guys.
That said, I don't think I'd call Firefly "required viewing" either. I love the show, but I also recognize that it's not for everyone.
Wow EVERYONE in this thread hates Lost huh... well didn't expect anything else but still. Such a great show to be so universally panned, mostly by people who haven't even seen it, who just heard someone badly explain the ending. Great ending, great show, absolutely worth anyone's time.
I haven't seen Firefly yet but I mean to do so as the internet won't ever shut up about it.
I haven't seen Firefly yet but I mean to do so as the internet won't ever shut up about it.
I don't like Buffy nor do I like Angel. At first I thought that Firefly was going to be tepid at best, then my mind was blown. The only Character I liked was Seth Green's, it's hard to pull at my strings by messing with characters I don't care about.Hattingston said:
My thought exactly, on both shows. People are watching Lost with the wrong mindset if all they care about are the mysteries and will completely shit themselves if the explanations aren't entirely to their liking. The characters were great, the setting was fascinating, and writing mostly better than 90% of other stuff on TV. Sure it lacked direction at times but was hell of an entertaining ride with an ending that I found great. Best show I've ever seen (I'm holding judgment on GoT until it's finished and have Wire waiting on my DVD shelf).LightspeedJack said:
"So Lost wins this not because it's a better show, because clearly Firefly is more entertaining, Lost though keeps the debate going even now, so you want to be in this discussion"
So please explain how that would matter to you if you're about to die - which is the whole premise of this episode. The admitted additional entertainment of Firefly would surely trump the "debate" about Lost that YOU'RE NEVER ACTUALLY GOING TO HAVE!
So please explain how that would matter to you if you're about to die - which is the whole premise of this episode. The admitted additional entertainment of Firefly would surely trump the "debate" about Lost that YOU'RE NEVER ACTUALLY GOING TO HAVE!
Woah! When was there a sexy photoshoot of the cast of Firefly? I'm turned on by all of them, even Ron Glass!