I find it hard to choose with Joss, becasue there's just sooo much to choose from, but Dollhouse does have a special place in my heart. I wish I had more difficulty choosing because it's obvious that so many people get so much out of his earlier projects, but sadly Dollhouse is the only thing of his that I really love. (Well, I had a few squeeful weeks over Dr. Horrible, but it's such a wee little thing.) Buffy I basically just did not like. AtS I really enjoyed for about the last season and a half, but before that it was mostly just a late-nineties scifi/fantasy-type show of decent quality that managed to mash fewer of my buttons that Buffy did. Firefly is nice for what it is, but didn't get a chance to go anywhere.
Not in a warm cuddly sort of way, but almost because it is so shocking. The twists and the turns and the fact that, how can you love these characters who are either someone else every week ,or else are implicitly involved in a really horrific business. Yet i did love then and root for them. *nods* I love the scifi horror of Dollhouse and the host of philosophical questions it brings up. I think most of the time it works better as meta than as entertainment, but oh, what meta! I just feel like Dollhouse started from such a more ambitious premise than anything else he's done. And despite all the network meddling and time constraints, I think they did a really incredible job of teasing out so many of the possibilities of that premise. Or maybe I just like science fiction premises more than the looser fantasy premises he's worked with before ('What if we had technology to let you write a new personality onto a person?' versus 'Blonde cheerleader in an alleyway turns around and dusts her attackers, oh and high school is hell . . .').
And the characters! Yes! I find connecting with Whedon's characters a bit of a trial in general? So the early stages of Dollhouse were pretty much par for the course for me, though I gather the difficulty of finding characters to relate to drove a lot of people off. But then, as you say, it's amazing how much you do end up rooting for these people, and I loved the little shocks you occasionally got while watching when you suddenly remembered what you'd been lulled into accepting as 'normal.'
And Adele. Oh, Adele. Amazing character. <3
You've seen the Epitaphs, right? The 2 eps that are set in the future? Yup! I think they absolutely make the show.
I also adore Firefly. For me it's the sheer scale and richness of the world he created with it - such a wonderful idea to draw on American history that way. The world-building was fantastic. I would not at all have minded getting more time to play in that verse.
I loved the chemistry between all the different characters, I found each of them really interesting and i thought they all had so much potential to develop in an amazing way had they been given more time. I was impressed with Firefly with how very distinct, memorable, and slightly surprising each of the different characters was. As I said to someone above, I think Whedon often writes in stereotypes, and he managed to escape that on Firefly. Despite how long ago I saw that show, I still retain very crisp memories of each of those characters, which . . . props where props are due.
And of course the biggest tragedy is the cancellation of the show. I fully believe that had Joss been able to continue with Firefly it would have become the best thing he's ever done, because...gods,...the potential that was there was immense. Would you mind elaborating a bit? Because I confess I'm a bit bemused over the internet's rabid enthusiasm over Firefly and often wonder what I'm missing. Not that I feel like Firefly couldn't have developed into something amazing, but I wonder where all the certainty comes from. I do feel I need to watch it again sometime because it's been quite awhile and I do have a better understanding of Whedon now.
And the story that ultimately unfolds in Serenity...assuming you have watched Serenity too? I have, but unfortunately I don't remember it well at all.
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Date: 29 Jan 2012 02:40 pm (UTC)I find it hard to choose with Joss, becasue there's just sooo much to choose from, but Dollhouse does have a special place in my heart.
I wish I had more difficulty choosing because it's obvious that so many people get so much out of his earlier projects, but sadly Dollhouse is the only thing of his that I really love. (Well, I had a few squeeful weeks over Dr. Horrible, but it's such a wee little thing.) Buffy I basically just did not like. AtS I really enjoyed for about the last season and a half, but before that it was mostly just a late-nineties scifi/fantasy-type show of decent quality that managed to mash fewer of my buttons that Buffy did. Firefly is nice for what it is, but didn't get a chance to go anywhere.
Not in a warm cuddly sort of way, but almost because it is so shocking. The twists and the turns and the fact that, how can you love these characters who are either someone else every week ,or else are implicitly involved in a really horrific business. Yet i did love then and root for them.
*nods* I love the scifi horror of Dollhouse and the host of philosophical questions it brings up. I think most of the time it works better as meta than as entertainment, but oh, what meta! I just feel like Dollhouse started from such a more ambitious premise than anything else he's done. And despite all the network meddling and time constraints, I think they did a really incredible job of teasing out so many of the possibilities of that premise. Or maybe I just like science fiction premises more than the looser fantasy premises he's worked with before ('What if we had technology to let you write a new personality onto a person?' versus 'Blonde cheerleader in an alleyway turns around and dusts her attackers, oh and high school is hell . . .').
And the characters! Yes! I find connecting with Whedon's characters a bit of a trial in general? So the early stages of Dollhouse were pretty much par for the course for me, though I gather the difficulty of finding characters to relate to drove a lot of people off. But then, as you say, it's amazing how much you do end up rooting for these people, and I loved the little shocks you occasionally got while watching when you suddenly remembered what you'd been lulled into accepting as 'normal.'
And Adele. Oh, Adele. Amazing character.
<3
You've seen the Epitaphs, right? The 2 eps that are set in the future?
Yup! I think they absolutely make the show.
I also adore Firefly. For me it's the sheer scale and richness of the world he created with it - such a wonderful idea to draw on American history that way.
The world-building was fantastic. I would not at all have minded getting more time to play in that verse.
I loved the chemistry between all the different characters, I found each of them really interesting and i thought they all had so much potential to develop in an amazing way had they been given more time.
I was impressed with Firefly with how very distinct, memorable, and slightly surprising each of the different characters was. As I said to someone above, I think Whedon often writes in stereotypes, and he managed to escape that on Firefly. Despite how long ago I saw that show, I still retain very crisp memories of each of those characters, which . . . props where props are due.
And of course the biggest tragedy is the cancellation of the show. I fully believe that had Joss been able to continue with Firefly it would have become the best thing he's ever done, because...gods,...the potential that was there was immense.
Would you mind elaborating a bit? Because I confess I'm a bit bemused over the internet's rabid enthusiasm over Firefly and often wonder what I'm missing. Not that I feel like Firefly couldn't have developed into something amazing, but I wonder where all the certainty comes from. I do feel I need to watch it again sometime because it's been quite awhile and I do have a better understanding of Whedon now.
And the story that ultimately unfolds in Serenity...assuming you have watched Serenity too?
I have, but unfortunately I don't remember it well at all.