Free Firefly novel "My Own Kind of Freedom"

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by tsgreer

It does frustrate me that they keep regurgitating ideas when there are so many great books and ideas out there.

I recently watched the anime Paprika, and couldn't help but think how good and original a TV show based on that premise could be (psychologist, working with scientists and engineers to develop a dream-sharing device, helps people with personal problems through imaginative dream therapy and a bit of live detective work).

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by tsgreer

Yeah, and sometimes it can be done well, but for the most part it doesn't really work out. It does frustrate me that they keep regurgitating ideas when there are so many great books and ideas out there.

But I suppose regurgitating ideas isn't always bad. I LOVE the series Heroes even though it's basically a tv series of the X-men.

It's mostly risk aversion, I think. TV shows, and even more, movies, are expensive to produce. That's one reason reality shows are popular: they are relatively cheap to make.

(An old friend once recounted her daughter talking about a school assignment: the class was to divide into teams. Each team was to watch a show, and then answer some questions.

First, what kind of show was it? What were the tropes? What made it that kind of show?

Second, what commercials were run during the show? What did the selection of commercials say about the demographics the show was aimed at?

Finally, each team was to make a presentation for a TV show of their own creation, with the kind of show it would be and the audience it was aimed at. The daughter's team chose a reality show. When Mom made a disgusted face, daughter said "But Mom! They pull down such big numbers!"

I thought daughter had a future in TV... )

The preference will be toward proven quantities that have worked before over new stuff that might fail. A lot of this stuff is coming back because it was popular the first time around. That may not say much for mass taste, but I think that's been true for about as long as TV has existed.
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Dennis

[tsgreer]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It's mostly risk aversion, I think. TV shows, and even more, movies, are expensive to produce. That's one reason reality shows are popular: they are relatively cheap to make.
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Dennis

True. I guess it's easy for me to sit here and complain about tv shows and movie ideas, but it's not my money that's being ponied up and invested in the hopes that people will watch.

But do the TV people seriously think that a show like the new Knight Rider will be popular again?! We had much less entertainment to choose from in the 80's, so we were sort of a captive audience.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It's mostly risk aversion, I think. TV shows, and even more, movies, are expensive to produce. That's one reason reality shows are popular: they are relatively cheap to make.

I think it is also a personal risk aversion. If you propose or accept a show or film based on something that has been shown to work before then if it fails you will be blaimed less.

[JSWolf]

BSG from the 70s was good. It was when they reached Earth that it tanked.

And do you know that by watching Firefly you are watching a western and by reading Brusts's book, you are reading a western novel. Firefly is a western in outer space.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

BSG from the 70s was good. It was when they reached Earth that it tanked.

Hmmm. Are you familiar with The Book of Mormon, by any chance? You'll see where the original BSG lifted some ideas... (IIRC, the show's creators were Mormons.)

And do you know that by watching Firefly you are watching a western and by reading Brusts's book, you are reading a western novel. Firefly is a western in outer space.

Agreed on Firefly, but not on Brust.

However, _The Phoenix Guards_ and _500 Years After_ are pastiches of Dumas.

I read _The Phoenix Guards_, and a friend who was a Brust fan asked how I liked it. I complained the the protagonists were idiots. "Of course they are!", he said. "Dumas' characters were idiots, too!" I thought about it and realized he was right. Brust's characters were young, with good tailoring, exquisite manners, and sharp swords in whose use they were expert. What need had they for brains?
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Dennis

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Agreed on Firefly, but not on Brust.

However, _The Phoenix Guards_ and _500 Years After_ are pastiches of Dumas.

I read _The Phoenix Guards_, and a friend who was a Brust fan asked how I liked it. I complained the the protagonists were idiots. "Of course they are!", he said. "Dumas' characters were idiots, too!" I thought about it and realized he was right. Brusts characters were young, with good tailoring, exquisite manners, and sharp swords in whose use they were expert. What need had they for brains?
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Dennis

I didn't mean ALL of Brust's books. Just you know the one in the topic My Own Kind of Freedom.

[tsgreer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

BSG from the 70s was good. It was when they reached Earth that it tanked.

And do you know that by watching Firefly you are watching a western and by reading Brusts's book, you are reading a western novel. Firefly is a western in outer space.

Yes, Galactica 1980 was when they reached earth. Oh wow, that was bad. But it did have a pretty cool episode, told in flashback, about Starbuck and a Cylon crashing on the same planet and having to work together to get out of their situation. Starbuck and the Cylon, named "Cy" had a love/hate thing going on.

Starbuck wasn't in Galactica 1980 except for that episode.

And yes, Firefly was very much a western in space. To be honest, it took a while before I actually watched it (I only started watching after it was canceled and came out on DVD) because it was so "westerny." Even had a pack of wild horses in the opening credits!!

But I ended up liking it. Actually it always seemed to me that on Firefly, Mal the captain, was what Han Solo was before he became all girly in Return of the Jedi! Turns out that the writer and the actor thought that too!

So Mal is sorta Han Solo. Excellent!

The Firefly movie, Serenity, was very good too. I would have preferred that they spent their $20 million on another season (maybe even direct-to-DVD) than on a movie. They probably would have made a bigger profit.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by tsgreer

But do the TV people seriously think that a show like the new Knight Rider will be popular again?! We had much less entertainment to choose from in the 80's, so we were sort of a captive audience.

As much as they redo old series they must be convinced it's a good bet. A friend told me the other day he read they were working on a remake of the V series now.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by tompe

I think it is also a personal risk aversion. If you propose or accept a show or film based on something that has been shown to work before then if it fails you will be blaimed less.

Oh, definitely. Make a losing bet with large amounts of Other People's Money and expect to be jobless in short order. There's a lot of pressure to bet on sure things.

A good insider look at the process is the late John Gregory Dunne's _Monster_. Dunne was a novelist (_True Confessions_, among others) and married to novelist and essayist Joan Didion (_Slouching Toward Bethlehem_, _The White Album_). They wrote books independently, but collaborated on screen plays, including "Panic In Needle Park" and "A Star Is Born".

_Monster_ is Dunne's tale of scriptwriting for a proposed film of the life of Jessica Savitch, the late TV news anchor. The film as finally produced as "Up Close and Personal" bore little resemblance to the initial concept.
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Dennis

[JSWolf]

Why remake V? It was a bad idea then and it's a bad idea now. Oh how I hated the movie and the series did nothing better.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I didn't mean ALL of Brust's books. Just you know the one in the topic My Own Kind of Freedom.

Oh, OK. Since Firefly was indeed a western, Brust's Firefly novelization qualifies as well.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

And speaking of digging for promising source material for films and TV...
http://www.variety.com/VR1117981181.html
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Dennis

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

And speaking of digging for promising source material for films and TV...
http://www.variety.com/VR1117981181.html
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Dennis

Let's hear it for MONOPOLY: THE MOVIE!

[tsgreer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Let's hear it for MONOPOLY: THE MOVIE!

Yeah, I mean look at the runaway success of the Clue movie!