Of all the San Diego Comic-Con 2012 coverage I read over the weekend, I think I love this most:
"When you come out of a great movie, you feel like you're in that world. You come out of 'Brazil', and suddenly everything is duct piping and everything's weird and too much. You come out of certain things, and the world has become that. when you're telling a story, you're trying to connect to people in a particular way ... The way in which you guys have inhabited this world, this universe, have made you part of it, part of the story. You are living in Firefly. When I see you guys, I don't think the show is off the air. I don't think there's a show. I think, that's what the world is like. I think there are spaceships, there are horses, and our story is alive."
Those are the words of Firefly creator Joss Whedon, getting emotional about how much he loves the fans of his most beloved show, at a Firefly: 10th Anniversary panel that took place at Comic-Con on Friday (I borrowed a piece of Alan Sepinwall's live-blog of the event, which is a good read if you have a few minutes) with guests Whedon, producer Tim Minear, writer Jose Molina, and actors Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Sean Maher, Summer Glau and Adam Baldwin.
I guess what I love most about this quote is the thought that a show means as much to those who make it as it does to those who love it.
The nature of the industry means that, whereas Firefly was devastatingly cancelled back in 2002, the folk involved in making it quickly moved on to other projects - Whedon hit it big this year directing The Avengers, Fillion has a hit on his hands with Castle, Adam Baldwin landed in Chuck, and so on.
It's easy to assume that creators, writers and stars might not give a second thought to some show they used to work on back in the day, in the same way that you and I may not look back fondly on a job we had a decade ago.
But making television isn't like any other job. My first job working on a petrol station forecourt isn't revisited and celebrated by the customers I served, nor is it the subject of a celebratory panel at a petrol company conference. Good television is an artistic creation to be given to the audience, and a shared experience for everyone who views it.
A beloved show such as Firefly lives on in the hearts of those who watched it and loved it - and who continue to love it. And Whedon's heartfelt ode to the fans shows that it isn't all one-way adoration. When we find ourselves in love with a show, we're not just pouring love into something that doesn't mean anything to those who conceived it.
One of the comments I get most often, not just here at the blog but in everyday life, is that it's just TV. If you haven't worked your way through every Battlestar Galactica episode in less than a month, if you haven't watched and analysed every episode of Lost, if you don't own Firefly on DVD and have a T-shirt featuring one of the classic lines from the pilot - if you're just not that interested in TV, then an obsession with all things television probably doesn't make any sense.
But as fans, when we get heavily invested in a show, we become an integral part of it. And among all the scheduling problems, programming delays and overpowering ad breaks, it's easy to lose sight of what it is that we love: we're a part of a show, but the show becomes a part of us too - and more than pure entertainment, great performances or engrossing stories, it's that sense of mutual belonging that we love.
It's nice to know we're not wasting our time.
Make sure you like On the Box on Facebook and add Chris on Twitter.
Or, feel free to email Chris with any questions or ideas.
This is a spoiler-free blog - please comment responsibly.
Sponsored links
Newest First
Oldest First
I'll be honest, I teared up quite a bit watching this panel, but then so did Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion. Time for another Firefly rewatch, methinks...
God I love me some Whedon, though. That man just gets shinier and shinier.
When you die I don't think that as your life flashes before your eyes you will say to yourself "God - I wish I had watched more television"; on the contrary I think as we sit in front of a television, hour after hour, doing something that is socially acceptable (i.e. nothing), snacking on our snacks, numbing out, escaping, eventually it will be seen that the social, physical, and mental impact of TV on our society is way more destructive than we ever thought possible. OK, people are making their living in the television industry but overall most of it is a pathetic waste of time and you have to ask yourself – “If I hadn't watched that programme would I have missed anything? - and the answer, nine times out of ten, would be - no.
I agree. I'm a Firefly fan (yip I have all the episodes as well as Serenity) and I was gutted when it was cancelled - I have so many questions! The actors, the director (BIG Joss Whedon & Jose Malina fan) writers (everyone involved with this project) made it come alive and I DID invest in this make believe world, they were fighting for ME! And that's what I love with a lot of tv that hit a chord with me on a personal level, because the characters all have elements that I admire, can understand and know. Obviously not all tv is good tv but when one programme hooks me in, I'm there til the bitter end, even if it starts going down the tubes - when they start bringing in new writers or just plain run out of ideas, it's guaranteed that it won't meet expectations (Desperate Housewives *smh*)and it limps along. But those writers and directors like Whedon, who put something fans-tastic on the screen, will ALWAYS have people like me, waiting with anticipation for that small chance that it comes back. Brown coats forever!
Nicely put, Chris.
My sister was at the Firefly 10th Anniversary panel. It was very emotional for all who attended, not at least for those on stage. Seeing big Nathan Fillion clutching at his tissues, wiping away tears - how could anyone not be moved?!
Classical music and Shakespearean plays are still performed and celebrated hundreds of years after they were written/composed. I am not at all suggesting classic tv will last anywhere as long but dismissing it as "just tv" (and the fans in the same breath) is unfair. It's another creative medium/platform. Why it should be seen as a lesser one because it aims to reach a broader market is always interesting to me.
#3
I can assure you that the ability to stick the telly on and get invested in TV shows that are creative, amazing story telling is one of the biggest blessings of living in this day and age to me. As someone who has suffered in the past from serious depression, medicating myself with a bit of 'get away' time has made me much more efficient and effective with my other time.
Should I learn I have 24 hours to live, will my most pressing concern be to e-mail WB and ask how Fringe ends? No, of course not. There are more important things. But your view clearly comes from your own perspective, and it doesn't let in the possibility that TV can actually have some pretty big positive impacts as well.
More or less every social gatherer in society throughout history has had the ability to have negative social, physical and mental impacts. As well as positive ones. To decry TV as 'just a waste of time'... its actually pretty demeaning to someone who has lived and understood the positive impact it can have.
@3
That's why some of us only watch GOOD Tv shows. Anything with the name Joss Whedon on it is usually a good start.
Also, I wonder if you know that people used to make very similar comments regarding the effect of reading novels, especially on the impressionable young female mind...
I sometimes try to think of what else I could be doing if I wasn't watching a TV show. The answer is usually nothing. So watching the show is therefore totally justified.
Its not like I spend every waking moment watching something, although I probably could do that. But I would have to lower my standards as to what I watch in that case.
As for the "scheduling problems, programming delays and overpowering ad breaks" - for those shows that I go out of my way to watch all such disruptions are rejected. Which means maybe the local channels should actually consider the "fans" a bit more than they do. Several channels treat us pretty abysmally. I think Prime "gets" it though.
@3
You're right....to a point. I agree that indiscriminant and endless consumption of TV dross is very unlikely to benefit anybody. However, while vast amounts of TV is as you describe, that's also true of other art forms too - not every novel or painting is a culturally uplifting masterpiece. I see nothing wrong with enjoying art that you connect with, be it a great TV show or in some other form. I do wonder though, how much TV is simply watched rather than genuinely loved and appreciated (as Chris clearly feels with Firefly).
#3-give me a break. What do you suggest we spend our time doing? Reading the bible or studying the mating habits of pre-historic African ants while simultaneously reading the Bone People artfully placed on the coffee table?
I love TV-we watch a lot of it-and I have yet to see any empirical evidence to back up your assertion about the imminent demise of civilisation as a result of the insidious influence of television. Actually #3 (segue here) your statement about the effect of television on us (obviously not you) is a great example of begging the question.
New season shows to look forward to
Good and bad decisions from Upfronts Week
Arrow: good show, badly delayed
Gritty reality in Counties Manukau
Fringe: one of the greatest sci-fi shows?
Dear TV3: please bring back The Americans
Roses, lakes 'n' bikies: three reviews in one
Power rankings: the best shows of April
Go Girls: Back with new cast, new vitality
Reviewing Thrones, at the halfway point
2013 Comedy Gala: a running diary
Tourists land to rude Kiwi awakening
Tamahere couple drop brothel bombshell
Humbled Mark Hammett fuming at officials
New leads in Madeleine McCann case
Police officer accused of working with gang
Taylor, Williamson help steady New Zealand
Flush Kiwi charities failing to pay out
Innovative accessory based on firm footing
Flush Kiwi charities failing to pay out
A stop smoking money-back guarantee
Tourists land to rude Kiwi awakening
How I told my kids I have Parkinson's
Legitimate ways to keep the tax man at bay
I have the DVD of Firefly, the DVD of Serenity, the DVD of all four seasons of Battlestar & the mini series' .... I have 6 (SIX!) Firefly quote t-shirts, and was watching the whole Firefly cast/crew comic-con panel on you tube at 11am yesterday. I watch certain shows obsessively.
It may be "just TV", but for those of us on budgets, where trips out, restaurants and holidays don't feature; TV is our window to the world. I like the view from my window to be full of rich, textured characters in beautifully rendered sets, with something to say about the nature of humanity.
I love Firefly & Battlestar.
Keep flying Chris :)