[TML] Alternate Firefly review

[Jerry W Barrington]

OK, I know we've had people here gush about how much they love Firefly...

Tonight I came across a different viewpoint:
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    Warning. If you're a Joss Whedon fan, this is gonna piss you off.
    Alright, I give up. Just make the pain go away. I've watched the pilot
and the first three episodes, and I've come to the conclusion that I
absolutely hate Firefly.
    "I've got a great pitch for you! Imagine if the South won the Civil War,
in the Old West, IN SPACE! Well, we downplay the space angle, all we got for
props are the ones left over from the days of westerns. But it'll be really
cool in an ironic-not-so much-actually-cool sort of way."
    Ugh.
    Seriously, I don't care how good the writing gets in the later episodes,
watching this show makes me physically ill. Maybe they go on to explain why
the entire galaxy seems to have gone insane, and reverted back to frontier
days, while still seemingly having a healthy dose of technology they barely
use, or use in absolutely ridiculous ways (holo-pool and a holo-window come
to mind). And don't give me that "well it's the new frontier" crap. 95% of
this show looks like it has the budget of a bad school play, and the sci-fi
stuff is about as devoid of artistic merit as you could imagine. That ship
is just plain nasty.
    I've seen westerns done well, I've seen space westerns done well, and
I've seen space shows with western influence done well. This does not fall
in with any of them.
    I actually sat through the entirety of "Shindig", wanting to stab my
eyes out at every couple minutes. But when it got to the trinket shop scene
in "Safe", I couldn't take it anymore. I can only take so much little house
on the space-prarie. DVD out, back in package.
    Thank god I waited till we got it in at work before I bought it. I've
never been so glad for our return policy.
    Millions of fans most certainly CAN be wrong.
<http://www.radioactivepanda.com/comic/101>
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Interestingly, from what (admittedly) little actual info I've seen on the
show, I suspect I'm closer to his camp than those who gush.  :)