Tag Archives: Firefly

Firefly: Ten Years Later

Posted on by

SHdi6kFBack in 2005 I remember going to the movie theaters to see “Land of the Dead” with my mom an equally rabid horror fanatic, and sitting down to watch the previews. I remember fondly sitting in front of the screen watching the trailer for the upcoming movie “Serenity” and marveled at how interesting it looked. It wasn’t love at first sight, it wasn’t immense curiosity, but just a mild interest that made me think about it and push it in to the back of my mind for a good while.

Months later prior to the unleashing of “Serenity” in to theaters, the Science Fiction channel in America aired a marathon of the entire “Firefly” and when I sat down to watch it from beginning to end it dawned upon me why “Firefly” was cancelled and taken off television so quickly many people didn’t even know it was on. “Firefly,” during the marathon, often began every episode with a brief prologue from Nathan Fillion explaining the basic premise of the series. And then it kind of saddened me that the producers or network simply didn’t have confidence in the show. And worse, they didn’t have confidence that the audience could play catch up.

Continue reading →

Our Favorite Bad Ass Chicks of Pop Culture

Posted on by

Although folks like Quentin Tarantino and Joss Whedon have always pushed strong independent influential female characters on fans through their films and television series, they haven’t unfortunately been as widely accepted in pop culture as most of us would want.  But the last few years saw a major turning of the tides with many hit shows featuring strong female characters like “Nikita.” Not to mention what with Scarlett Johannsen kicking ass as Black Widow in “Iron Man 2” and “The Avengers,” Zoe Saldana dominating in “The Losers” and “Colombiana,” or Rick Jacobson garnering a cult following with three ass kicking sexy lesbians in 2010’s “Bitch Slap.”

There’s also Noomi Rapace winning the hearts of film buffs everywhere as Goth hacker Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish critically acclaimed murder mysteries “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Disney’s “Tron Legacy” putting the gorgeous Olivia Wilde center stage as the enigmatic game heroine Quarra, and Zack Snyder giving us a super team of tough warrior women in his 2011 fantasy epic “Sucker Punch,” we thought we’d pay tribute to the bad ass chicks of pop culture that we loved and couldn’t get enough of. For those among you expecting the obvious, you will not be getting the typical list as we took about as much precaution to pick the more unusual characters we relish in reading and watching, those women who could kick your ass up and down the street and look good doing it.

After heavy consideration and much switching and deletion, here are warrior women you’d want in your corner during a when the chips are down.

Continue reading →

Cinema Crazed's Top Ten Favorite Television Shows of All Time

Posted on by

This list by no means reflect the opinions of the entire list of contributors on Cinema Crazed, it’s instead a list by yours truly, Felix Vasquez, and what constitutes as a top ten of my favorite television shows of all time. True this may not be of interest to general readers, but I’ve been meaning to write this list and post it for a long time anyway, mainly because I’m such a fan of lists. And to give readers an idea of my general flavors of pop culture.

This list will by no means change in the immediate future, nor will it be altered, it’s instead a fun list I just felt the need to write once and for all. These are ten of what I feel are the best shows I’ve ever seen. They’re shows I re-visit time and time again and constantly meet with throughout different times of my life. These are shows that mean a lot to me, and I hope readers will enjoy this article and feel compelled to send me their own top ten.

Continue reading →

Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale

Posted on by

serenitysheptaleShepherd Book is one of the greatest male characters of the Whedonverse, one who is bound by his strict sense of morality and religious beliefs, but one who isn’t at all overbearing. He uses his religion as an instrument to help and guide folks, he never uses it as a means of clubbing non-believers over the head. When we see him in the first episode of “Firefly” he meets a band of wicked sinners and criminals, but he never judges. He lives and lets live and that’s likely why he’s become such a beloved fixture of the “Firefly” universe for such a long time. He’s not only the heart of the crew, but he’s also the wise father everyone on the ship needs. By the time we reach “Serenity” and the crew are on their last options against the operative, even Mal has realized that Book is the man he needs in times of great stress who can offer wisdom, knowledge, and strategy where everyone clearly lacks it.

Continue reading →

V: The Complete First Season (DVD)

Posted on by

When I saw “V” for the first time in 2003, it was a refreshing experience. I watched them recorded on VHS tapes from my uncle who insisted I see the first mini-series and then its sequel, but avoid the spin-off TV show entirely. And I did so, accordingly. “V” is famous not just because it’s an epic science fiction mini-series from the late seventies but because it’s one of the most intelligent and relevant science fiction series of all time that is much more about aliens taking over the world. What seems like just a struggle of two races trying to live side by side after a visit from a massive army of human-like visitors from space actually becomes a very thought provoking metaphor for the Nazi regime and their occupation of new territory that inevitably turned in to an all out invasion and war.

The aliens who are declaring to be our friends at first soon become our mortal enemies, while the remaining humans who catch on to their ruse are soon symbols of the Jewish culture who resisted their invasions and were either murdered in mass numbers or taken prisoner. The show was such a brilliant take on world history even down to its trademark love became V for Visitors, then V signifying a peace sign, and soon took on a life as the Visitors own swastikas.

Continue reading →

Serenity: Float Out

Posted on by

17163I would have killed to be in the audience of hardcore Browncoats as Wash led the Serenity through a swarm of deadly Reavers and land the ship within an inch of his life only to be impaled and die before our very eyes. I can only imagine the gasps and cries among the women as their favorite character died in a flash. Admittedly the “Firefly/Serenity” graphic novels and one-shots have been mixed. They range from mediocre to just plain abysmal, and leave it to nerd extraordinaire Patton Oswalt to take the reigns of the Whedon Universe and bring it down to its emotional core.

Continue reading →

Serenity: The Other Half [Webcomic]

Posted on by

serenity-the-other-halfI didn’t want to admit it but… well… “Serenity: Better Days” sucked really badly. I kept insisting to myself that it was just mediocre, but re-reading the issues I can safely say that it sucks. If Whedon and co. were trying to show us what a poor imitation of “Firefly” would look like, then it worked. Thanks Joss. It was so bad I didn’t even finish the final issue. Yeah, that bad. So, along comes “Serenity: The Other Half,” a web exclusive mini comic book following the gang of “Serenity” in the middle of a gorram battle.

Continue reading →