podcast friday

[sabotabby]

 Go listen to the Wizards & Spaceships episode "Some People Call Me the Space Cowboy." No particular reason. It's about Space Westerns, problematic representation, and why Firefly was bad, actually.

Comments

[greylock]

IMO, it is worth watching.

But the reasons Tabby recommends for not watching it (the Lost Cause, colonalism, orientalism) plus were they were going with Inara, and the internet falling out of love with Joss are all valid, and were made at the time.
Plus Adam Baldwin.... And the Wheedonisms.

I still quote it occasionally.

I didn't like it the first time I saw The Train Job. (the network mandated pilot, Out Of Gas is Joss' preferred if I recall.

If you can deal with the meta aspects, and you love Buffy, I'd give it a shot. It's only a 14 episodes and a movie. And it is very Joss.
And it's way, way better than Dollhouse.

But, I have a Firefly T-shirt, and we were so starved for SF back in the day.

[makamu]

Thanks for your comments!

I think I can deal with the meta aspects because I'm aware of them going in, I have no particular cache with Wheedon. In fact I chose it, rather than Buffy to watch as a first Whedon because I generally like Westerns better than the tropes around which Buffy and Angel are built.

So I'll just give it a shot and see where it takes me

[greylock]

I love the fact none of us can spell Whedon!

Just looking at the Wiki, it appears the preferred option is 'Serenity' (the episode), and then 'The Train Job').
It's been a long time since I've watched it, but I reckon that's the order I'd recommend.
It's short, so it doesn't matter a lot, but I think it might land better, albeit it's two episodes.
'Train Job' may pack more Western tropes.

[makamu]

I love the fact none of us can spell Whedon!

Yep, me too.

And I'll keep the alternate order in mind when I start watching.