Free Firefly novel "My Own Kind of Freedom"

[melmurray]

I don't know whether its been mentioned but I loved The Lost Room. Such a good idea. Didn't see the whole series. Was there a series 2 in the States?

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Also, we must not forget one other really good show... RED DWARF!

I've seen only one episode of Red Dwarf but found it hilarious. I can only remember that and the rather "cubist" fellow (an android?). Is it still on?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

We missed Alien Nation. Not the movie, the tv series. IMHO this show is one notch down from Firefly in the category of greatest cancelled scifi shows of all time.

I liked Alien Nation. So obviously an allegorical attempt at examining race relations in America, but still very intelligent TV. I'll second that observation.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Speaking of allegories, remember The Prisoner? Loved it! Very important to my formative years, and my understanding of people and society. I understand it is being considered for a return to TV. (Don't so much love that.)

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Speaking of allegories, remember The Prisoner? Loved it! Very important to my formative years, and my understanding of people and society. I understand it is being considered for a return to TV. (Don't so much love that.)

One of my favorites. I have all the episodes on tape with an introduction by one of the local PBS tv guys. His comments add a lot to the episodes. I was thinking about buy the DVD's from the history channel but then I would lose his comments.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

What have we missed?

Space: Above & Beyond

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Speaking of allegories, remember The Prisoner? Loved it!

I haven't thought about that a show in very long time. But I remember well those funky balloons. Thanks for mentioning it. Be seeing you!

[Dave Berk]

Originally Posted by melmurray

I don't know whether its been mentioned but I loved The Lost Room. Such a good idea. Didn't see the whole series. Was there a series 2 in the States?

It's just one mini-series. I think it was broadcasted as six episodes but on the DVD they put it as three long episodes. And yes, it's good, really good. Also, while complete, it leaves room for another mini-series.

[Bob Russell]

I've got the Prisoner DVD set. It was a fun, but weird show. The main guy was also in Secret Agent/Danger Man, which I think was better. But the thing that was most disappointing about the Prisoner was the ending... very confusing, and no one seems to understand it. The symbolism throughout the show was just a bit too confusing to me, even though it was a fun show.

I remember Blakes 7 from my early days. But don't remember anything about it. It seems dark...

My favorites are basically the "big names" I guess. I could watch these shows multiple times - Star Trek (especially Voyager and TNG), Babylon5, Farscape, Andromeda and Firefly. So many people dislike Voyager, but I thought it was the best of the Treks!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

I've got the Prisoner DVD set. It was a fun, but weird show. The main guy was also in Secret Agent/Danger Man, which I think was better. But the thing that was most disappointing about the Prisoner was the ending... very confusing, and no one seems to understand it. The symbolism throughout the show was just a bit too confusing to me, even though it was a fun show.

The Prisoner bears re-watching. And if you can find it, Tom Disch did a novelization of it which is quite fun and a cut above most such efforts.

As for the ending, think solipsism.

I remember Blakes 7 from my early days. But don't remember anything about it. It seems dark...

It was, with a premise akin to Firefly, but possibly more pessimistic. IIRC, it did not have a happy ending.

My favorites are basically the "big names" I guess. I could watch these shows multiple times - Star Trek (especially Voyager and TNG), Babylon5, Farscape, Andromeda and Firefly. So many people dislike Voyager, but I thought it was the best of the Treks!

De gustibus non est disputandum, and all, but I have to ask: whatever makes you think Voyager is the best of the Treks?

I'm old enough to have watched the original series when it premiered. It devoured it happily -- it was the best SF on TV at that point. I'd say the stakes have been raised in the years since. I thought TNG had flashes of good stuff, especially after they worked through the scripts in inventory that had been acquired for TOS but never produced, and were dusted off for TNG. TOS had been aimed at kids. TNG was written for adults, and it showed.

DS9 had some very good stuff indeed, especially when they got into the Cardassian war. Trek had always had a schizophrenic attitude about Star Fleet, stemming from Gene Roddenberry's attitudes. Star Fleet was a military organization, but Trek did it's best to avoid confronting that, portraying it more along the lines of an interstellar Coast Guard. But the galaxy wasn't always a nice place, and if there was a war, Star Fleet would have to fight it, and the Enterprise was a capital ship. In DS9, Trek finally faced that fact.

Of the stuff you mentioned, I considered Babylon 5 by far the best of the lot. Some folks were turned off by the dense story arc, and the necessity of watching regularly to comprehend what was happening. Personally, that was exactly what I loved. The problem with shows like Trek was the lack of real dramatic stakes. At the end of any episode, the Reset button got pushed. Whatever challenges the main characters faced, you knew you'd see them next week in a new show. Real life isn't so sanitary, and B5 wasn't either. Some of the characters didn't survive. B5 is one of a very small number of shows that have made me cry.

(And I'm one of an assortment of folks who thought the late Andreas Katsulas deserved an Emmy for his work as the Narn Ambassador G'Kar. To convey that depth of character and emotion while layered in latex is an astonishing piece of work. The other cast members were of the same standard of quality.)
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I liked Alien Nation. So obviously an allegorical attempt at examining race relations in America, but still very intelligent TV. I'll second that observation.

I'll third it. Brilliant commentary on the position of the immigrant in a new society. It's one of the few shows I actively tried to keep up on, and was deeply unhappy if circumstances made me miss an episode.
______
Dennis

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

I've got the Prisoner DVD set. It was a fun, but weird show. The main guy was also in Secret Agent/Danger Man, which I think was better. But the thing that was most disappointing about the Prisoner was the ending... very confusing, and no one seems to understand it. The symbolism throughout the show was just a bit too confusing to me, even though it was a fun show.

I have to admit, I was acutely attuned to its commentary on society and its impact on the individual... it became one of the clarifying points of my life. I had no trouble following the series, including the conclusion... although there were clearly bits of many episodes, including the conclusion, that were meant to be ambiguous. (Somewhere I have a detailed treatment of it, but damned if I know where it is right now...)

When I watch Lost, I see many of the elements of the Prisoner in it (perhaps a discussion for another time, or thread)...

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

De gustibus non est disputandum, and all, but I have to ask: whatever makes you think Voyager is the best of the Treks?

Voyager was the first Trek to get past the technobabble and do real stories about the crew. I loved a number of the characters. My favorite missed opportunity was when Lt. Paris wasn't sent off during the Year of Hell to be brought back a couple seasons later as a pirate Admiral, with a squadron of ships. (I am such a geek.)

Voyager was also the first show to fully let the characters grow into 3 dimensional persons. The crew of ST:TNG never seemed to exist when they were off screen. The DS9 crew magaged to achieve this towards the end, though.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

(And I'm one of an assortment of folks who thought the late Andreas Katsulas deserved an Emmy for his work as the Narn Ambassador G'Kar. To convey that depth of character and emotion while layered in latex is an astonishing piece of work. The other cast members were of the same standard of quality.)

Ditto. He was brilliant.

[Cthulhu]

I could never get into Firefly, firstly because Fox did the "Dangerous new show shuffle" with it, and I don't get much time to watch broadcast TV (kinda work nights), and secondly the 'cowboys in space' seemed a might played out.
Had just come out of catching the end of Buffy, so there was Nathan overload.

Hope that I can enjoy the book with the rudimentary knowledge of the Firefly universe that I possess.

As for NuBSG, I can see the appeal, and all the easily ported ethical/political/social dilemmas are intriguing. However, social commentary aside, either I missed way too much of the show or I'm dumb, but what in the world is with robots building protein-based robots that are robots but no they're clones no but wait they're robots with wifi brains and downloadable neural networks.

I like SF to explain themselves. Some friends claim that such details are secondary. In a soap opera, maybe. In a Sci-Fi show with robots? Not so much.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I agree that the ambiguous nature of the Cylons is one of the most frustrating points of NuBSG... but it is obviously supposed to be. The Cylons' nature opens up questions of exactly what makes a Human being, and is one species actually superior to the other. Episodes have repeatedly explored the dichotomies in such a way as to remind the viewer of race-inspired issues we've faced in the last century, including the idea that other species were somehow sub-human, "no better than animals," etc. It's a Genocide/ Oedipus complex/ Religion/ Prejudice/ Evolution orgy. Very deep and frightening... mainly because the characters, overall, do not see that at all--or, at least, they haven't yet. I understand this season various characters, who have been revealed to actually be "closet" Cylons, have to figure out how to deal with that knowledge.

So, just as Alien Nation dealt with subjects of immigration, race and intolerance, NuBSG is jumping into the same burning circle.