Can’t stop the signal, indeed.

This is a video from Firefly 10th Anniversary Panel at ComicCon.

1. original airing
Only in this era of technological advancement, something like the Firefly phenomenon can happen. In 20 September 2002, Fox aired the first Firefly episode to be aired, The Train Job. In the course of its running, it received positive yet mixed reviews and gained a loyal fan base with an average of 4.7 million views. To the fans’ and creators’ dismay, the show was cancelled after 11 episodes. In 2005, the show was brought back as a movie entitled Serenity, with the same characters and actors.

The only thing this cancellation, which no one seems to be unable to get over, did was to make the show a martyr. Its fan base grew into one of the biggest and most loyal fan bases ever seen for a television show. They, dubbing themselves the Browncoats, raised fund to bring the show back; an effort cutoff by the logistics of television broadcasting, namely rights and actors availability.

The video is a panel celebrating its 10th anniversary at Comic Con starring Joss Whedon, Tim Minnear, and most of its main cast with the exception of Gina Torres who played Zoe and Jewel Staite, who played Kaylee. For anyone needing proof of the sensation of the series, the loyalty of its fan base and the love the cast and crew had for this wonderful series, look no further. The panel said it all. It’s a true epitome of the Browncoats’ mantra, We’re Still Flying. Teary Whedon’s last say on that panel said it all:

“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.”

I jumped into the Firefly bandwagon last year, when I gulped down all 14 episodes, including the original pilot and two other unaired episodes and the movie, in about a week. I’ve been a Browncoat ever since. It’s a fascinating universe filled with fascinating, fun and witty characters. The acting is fine and the character development has Whedon’s fingerprints all over it. And if you’re looking for character development, no one in the industry is finer than Joss Whedon.

That being said, this is why, for my first television review ever, I chose Firefly. Reviewing television shows is a harrowing task, but it is one that I have been dreaming to do for a long time. After all, I’m the kind of person who goes on to every review sites there is after watching any episode of any TV show. Firefly is fun, it’s short enough for the task not to be that harrowing, and I’m passionate enough about it to be willing to go through it and really, truly watch it again. Maybe too passionate. We’ll see. So starting tomorrow, I’ll post a Firefly review every Friday, in the order that Whedon meant it to be.

We are still flying, indeed.

Cheers,

Me

YouTube Channel 1: Vlogbrothers. It’s Not Bad Being Green

I would like to keep this blog, but I have attachment issues. So let’s start off easy by going through the fascinating universe that is YouTube. So every Tuesday for the next 10 weeks I’m going to highlight 10 awesome channels on YouTube.

Let’s start with The Vlogbrothers.

10 Awesome YouTube Channels: 1. Vlogbrothers

I have been watching vlogbrothers’ videos religiously in the last 2 years. And in that 2 years I have managed to catch up with 7 years worth of videos. In between, I still managed to re-watch the entire series of Buffy, Firefly, Breaking Bad, and the occasional binging of Friends. I have super powers. The super power of not having a life outside my dimly lit room and my super bright laptop screen.

Aaaanyway. Vlogbrothers began with the Brotherhood 2.0 project in which brothers John and Hank Green agreed to communicate by video blogs and cease all text-based communication for one year. They alternately post a video every weekday to YouTube and their Brotherhood 2.0 website. They posted videos on everything: their lives, pop culture, science, philosophy, current events, politics, everything. Throughout the year their fan base grew.

On 18 July 2007, Hank Green posted a video of him singing his original song called Accio Deathly Hallows, an homage to the last book in the Harry Potter series. The video went viral. And by the end of that year, when the project ended, they decided to keep posting videos. When the project ended on 31 December that year, they decided to continue making videos.

The rest is history.

Now 7 years later, their channel on YouTube has over 2 million subscribers, the Nerdfighteria (their followers) has managed to raise and donate millions of dollars to various charity, Hank Green has released five music albums and worked on a project with NASA, John Green has become a best-selling author and is one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and yet, the brothers remain the same dorky, kind, loveable, intelligent people that Nerdfighters have come to know and love. They are still constantly mesmerised by the good fortune that have befallen them. They still love and appreciate their original fan base. They still say how lucky they are to be a part of this. And most importantly, they continue to post some of the most thoughtful, educative, intelligent, interesting, entertaining and genuine videos on YouTube.

Needless to say, I’m a fan.

DFTBA.

Cheers,
Me

The Thing About Fiction

[This post is a reflection on fiction in general. But since the post is inspired by 1 month of binge-watching all seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it naturally contains some spoilers. So if you mind Buffy spoilers, please thread carefully]

I just finished re-watching the whole series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And right now, I’m left with that familiar feeling that you get after finishing a good story, whether a good book or a good TV show. It’s a distinct feeling; a mixture of sadness, loss, exhilaration, pensiveness, and a hunger for reflection.

Before watching the last episode of Buffy, I was watching this Comic Con panel of Firefly on YouTube. In the Q&A portion, this kid came up and asked the panel the same thing I’ve been asking myself, “Why do adults care so much about Firefly?” I couldn’t help but thinking, why. Why do we care so much about fictional stories and the characters in them.

After Buffy, and that gut-wrenching ending that  killed my favourite Sex Pistols-loving vampire, I couldn’t help but asking myself why I care so much about this show. Why is Spike’s death painful to me? (And why does it piss me off so much to find out that he comes back to life in Angel? – but that’s a different story.) Why was I proud of Buffy, with everything she has overcome and, relieved for her, knowing that the burden she bore was no longer hers alone, despite how much I hate that last couple episodes of season 7?

It’s been a long time since I stumbled upon a story that got me this invested. So there I was, at 6 in the morning with a million thoughts swimming around in my head. Thoughts about destiny, about loneliness, about growing up, about good and evil, about morality. It’s a wonder how a bunch fictional characters and a made-up story can get one person to think about all those things.

And then, after much contemplation, I realised why. Fiction allows its characters to be honest. More honest than any real person could ever be. Fiction lets the characters to lay it all bare. Since you, as the audience, are privy to the innermost workings of a character, you know the motivation behind that character’s action, and, understanding the motivation, you are able to sympathise. It does not necessarily mean that everything a character does is acceptable, but at least it’s understandable

When a character lies, you know why. Even when a character kills, you understand the drive behind it, which does not make the act of killing in itself acceptable, but it does give you some kind of a perspective on why; a perspective that you can relate to. When Willow flayed, yep, flayed, Warren in BtVS for example, the flaying is still a gross action done out of proportion of his crime, but you understand where it’s coming from. You can relate to her pain and anger from losing Tara. You understand that desperation, vengeance and sadness that drive her action and you understand how those emotions may lead to, well, flaying. Not that you’d do it, but you get it. Kind of. You see, fiction gives you access into the heads of its characters and let you explore their psyche, down to their deepest darkest secrets.

You just don’t get this kind of luxury with real people. Even the closest friend you had keeps secrets. Not the she-has-been-sleeping-with-an-evil-vampire-who-used-to-try-to-kill-her-and-you-and-all-your-friends-on-his-free-time-from-destroying-the-world kind of secret, but secrets nonetheless. With these secrets, you are deprived of the necessary knowledge to fully understand that person. And with that failure to understand, you fail to relate and, in extent, to fully sympathise.

Same goes for the story. Stories like Buffy’s are so popular because it allows you to understand your own situation.  The thing is, fiction allows you to see the big picture of the story. You understand to a degree, depending on the structure of the story, all sides to the story. You know how a problem unfolds and why all the parties involved do they things they do to get to that point. And that way, you understand your life a little better. When Angel leaves Buffy on the show, you understand the pain that comes with it, but you also understand how they come to that point. You understand the necessity of that action, and that helps you understand why certain people have to leave your life. You understand why shit happens in your life.

On top of that, it makes you feel like you’re not so alone. It does help to see someone else, albeit fictional, going through the same thing you are. Buffy is the chosen one so she feels like she is the only person who can bear the cross and she is lonely. Well, you are not the chosen one, but everybody has a cross to bear and you certainly know a thing or two about loneliness. Ronald Weasley’s best friend is the chosen one and he often finds himself jealous of all the attention while feeling guilty for being jealous. Your best friend is not Harry Potter but you understand that tinge of jealousy as you try to be happy for your friends. Through these characters, you know that those emotions you are feeling are normal. You know that other people are feeling it too because, hey, if these characters are going through it, you understand subconsciously that at the very least the author behind it must be feeling it too. And you don’t feel so alone anymore.

So that’s the thing about fiction. That’s why we spend hours and hours of our lives watching movies, reading books, or watching TV shows. Because they let you see the whole story. They let you understand.

Cheers,

Me