Don’t you hate it when your friends don’t share your interests?
OK, I’m exaggerating. I’m not friends with Kevin Smith or Joss Whedon, sadly, but still you hope the people you like like the people you like. And I have read that Whedon and Smith admire and respect each others work, and this made me happy for some weird fanboy reason.
But yesterday I went to see Kevin Smith speak in Orlando for the Florida Future Filmmakers event and during the talk, as he paced back and forth in front of a large mockup of the Quick Stop, someone asked what he thought about Joss Whedon’s “Serenity.” This is a rough quote from memory:
“I haven’t seen it.
“I still haven’t seen it. I still haven’t seen an episode of… what was first? The show? ‘Firefly’? Then it became the movie? Yeah, never saw it, never saw an episode. Mewes loves it, Mewes keeps saying ‘Dude, you gotta watch ‘Firefly,’ you’ll love it, it’s like a western in space.”
(laughter)
“Yeah, no, never seen it. I watched a few episodes of ‘Buffy,’ never really got into it, so ‘Firefly’ for me was never something I’d be interested in. But I’ve had, you know, a lot of people online, all those Browncoats keep telling me, ‘You have got to check it out, dude, you would love it.’ And it’s dangerous to tell me that because it sets me up for a fall. A big buildup for a huge ****ing fall.”
He referenced a “South Park” episode I couldn’t make out — we were in a convention hall the size of an airport hanger, and we were about a third of the way back — and said people were coming up to him all the time and saying “you must love ‘Family Guy'”.
“Hate it. Same thing with ‘Firefly,’ there’s always the danger I’ll watch it and go ‘This? This is what people think I’d like?’ So I didn’t see the movie because I hadn’t seen the shows and didn’t want to see ‘Serenity’ before I saw ‘Firefly.'”
He went about his current favorite scifi show, “B-Star Galactica,” and said he liked Whedon’s X-Men comics.
If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, do so. He’s funny, vulgar, very friendly with fans, will answer any question, no matter how personal, open and honestly, and he’ll go until he’s forced to stop. Yesterday he was scheduled to speak from 2 pm to 4, with the warning that “he tends to go long.” He did; he spoke until 8:48 pm, stopping only once for 15 minutes because the hosts needed to do a raffle. We were treated to 6 solid hours of Kevin Smith telling stories, talking about genitalia (his and others), giving filmmaking advice, offering his opinions on comic book movies, calling people on fan cellphones, dispensing hugs, describing the long years of Jason Mewes’ heroin addiction and his final self-propelled cleanup, and Smith’s own medical problems this year (an anal fissure that erupted right before he got called for jury duty), and never repeating any of the stuff he did for “An Evening with Kevin Smith.” It was an incredible day and one I’m very glad to have seen, although my butt’s paying the price for it today.
But damn, that dude needs to see “Firefly.” He’ll love it!
That’s very weird. I’m watching season 2 of Veronica Mars right now and Kevin Smith and Joss both have small roles early on in the season because they’re such big fans. Hopefully Kevin gets in gear and checks Serenity out!
Maybe Joss can bribe Kevin to see it with a walk-on role in Serenity II.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Kevin many, many times. In fact I used to shop at his comic store, and used to see him often. He’s a good guy, and extremely funny. Mewes is awesome too.
This does explain why the ‘Stash doesn’t have any Serenity/Firefly stuff.
Dude, that’s almost exactly how I felt about Firefly until my friend Val nagged me into watching the pilot. Hopefully Mr. Smith’s resistance will be worn down eventually.
time to start leaving messages on his myspace…and K-Smith would be a great Mr. Universe-ish type character…
“I watched a few episodes of ‘Buffy,’ never really got into it, so ‘Firefly’ for me was never something I’d be interested in.”
I like Kevin Smith. But I’m disappointed.
What did he think? That Firefly was about a vampire fighting chick just because Joss Whedo wrote it?
For shame, Kevin.
I thought you were more open-minded and smarter than that.
Trust Mewes.
And borrow his Firefly DVD set.
Then see Serenity.
Damn.
I sort of understand his reasoning. The only way for him to watch Firefly/Serenity NOW and enjoy it is for it to happen accidentially. Like if he visits someone who is already watching it, and he just sits down, no clue, and watches it.
It is a shame to be that way, to actively FEAR being let down by something, just because EVERYBODY else has built it up, but that is life. I have been there!
So everyone that knows KS well enough for him to drop by, needs to have Firefly playing AS ALL TIMES. There are worse things for people to do!
Kevin Smith is a liar. He’s been studying Serenity and Firefly ever since they came out!!! The new Battlestar Galactica is nothing but a rip-off of Firefly, complete with the stollen special effects team–Zero extraterrestrials…shaky hand held cameras, and so on…and so forth. Kevin Smith is just jealous that Joss Whedon has blown him out of the water at Marvel Comics as a writer. BTW, I have rejoined the membership of Whedonesque.com under a new
log-in name!!! What it is???…Well, that would be telling…They’ll just have to figure it out over there!!! This proves yet once again…You can’t stop the signal…but you can always try!!! Catch me if you can!!!
PS: Did I mention, that Kevin Smith is a liar???!!!
BSG has the same SFX people, whouse some of the same techniques began at Firefly. That’s pretty much it as far as comparisons go, far as I’m concerned. Aside from being in the same genre, there’s really no comparison between the two that couldn’t be made between many other sci-fi shows.
Kevin Smith has little reason to lie about this, and he’s known for being very open about his opinions. He was… disinterested. Since I feel the same way about BSG — totally not my cup of tea, no matter how great others tell me it is — I can’t come down on him for it. Nor should anyone else, as that’s one of the reasons he avoids it.
Someday he’ll catch an episode and maybe things will change. In the meantime, comments like the one above aren’t going to help convince him, or anyone else, at all.
Last week I had a Kevin-Smithathon. I’m talking every movie, every movie with commentary, extra features, etc. The guy’s got talent and no one will ever question that. But that doesn’t mean I won’t question HIM.
Not down with Firefly because of a fear that you won’t like it? Come on. How many people could say that about Clerks. “Nah, I don’t like black and white movies”.
Watched a few episodes of Buffy and didn’t like it? Maybe that’s because you watched a FEW episodes. Television works differently than movies. You don’t tell your story in 120 minutes. You tell it in more like 120 hours. In percpective, it would be like someone watching approximately 5 minutes of one of Kevin Smith’s movies and already making their mind up about it. It doesn’t work that way.
You can’t force people to watch things that they don’t want to watch. You can’t make people do what they don’t want to do. But, when it comes to Whedon’s TV shows, they are the ones missing out. And because of that, I can sleep knowing that I tried something that Kevin Smith is afraid to try (Firefly and Buffy).
I love Kevin Smith. He’s an inspiration to me when it comes to writing. But Whedon takes the cake, hands down. I know this because I was open-minded. I watched everything by Smith and Whedon. Even if I was skeptical to begin with. It’s entertainment, let it entertain.
Ron Moore stole the Fx team from Firefly/Serenity…The look of FX shots were stollen. The rule of no aliens on the show…and no sounds in space was also stollen. The flash backs…the hand held camera stuff. The hardened attitude of the show’s characters…were all stollen too. The only thing the new Galactica has in common with the old Galactica is some ship designs and names of certain characters…period. No…the new Galactica instead looks and feels like it could easily take place in the Firefly/Serenity verse. In fact…everything down to bathrooms in space was stollen from Firefly/Serenity!!! Joss Whedon is now the most ripped-off writer/director/producer in modern television history!!! The people over at Supernatural can’t keep their hands off of actors from his past series. Smallville stole his writers and directors, etc.–24 stole some of his writers. Alias grabbed a number of Joss’ people. Lost grabbed some of them…Charmed…Veronica Mars…and now the new Galactica, etc.!!!
Kevin Smith is just a two bit jealous hack who’s somewhere right now plotting his own Joss Whedon rip-offs, hence the reason why he is pretending like he’s never seen an episode of the show or seen the movie Serenity. Negro Please!!! I’m certain he’s watched each episode 3 and 4 times over and over again…as Ron Moore and his Galactica crew and writing team were reported to have obsessively watched the Firefly DVD set…stealing as they went, episode by episode. That’s a well known industry fact!!!
Now, as far as Kevin Smith’s false claims that he has never seen so much as an episode of Firefly goes…could this have something to do with long held rumors that Kevin Smith is involved with the upcoming Star Wars live action tv series??? I mean, if he’s planning to steal some stuff from Joss Whedon in that regard, he certainly would want to distance himself in case of a lawsuit or two!!! Or perhaps he just wants to gain good publicity from his stealthy stollen work without having to give props to Joss Whedon, a man he clearly despises simply because Whedon is so brilliant…and Smith, well…all he can write is poo jokes…the same that any 5 year old can make up off of the tops of their heads!!! That’s really got to sting the talentless Smith.
He’s as transparent as hacks come…and Joss even knows that!!! Kevin Smith is a liar and has no integrity to speak of…and quite frankly…that interview can be viewed as a psyche test that Smith failed…by way of inferences that can be drawn from his obviously bogus answers as related to Firefly/Serenity!!! Another deserved spanking…another day!!! Kevin…you and your professional apologists can pull up your pants now.
So, if I’m understanding you correctly, every single aspect of Firefly and Serenity was completely original, never ever before seen in media, and all science fiction written afterwards is a ripoff?
Please.
“2001” had no sound in space decades before Firefly. Heinlein, among many others, was writing space stories without aliens since the 50’s. “Star Wars” was the first big screen movie to show a grittier, seamier side to the future. Whedon owes them all.
In fact, Whedon himself has said on many occasions that he was moved to create “Firefly” after reading “The Killer Angels,” a book about the Gettysburg War, and after thinking about the Millenium Falcon. My God, what a ripoff artist! The Civil War should totally sue that bastard!!!
I’m also a bit confused about the actors and staff. They can’t work in the industry ever again, because that would be stealing from Firefly? Tim Minear may as well get that 7-11 job, Jewel Staite and Morena and Summer can all just knock off that “acting on TV for a living” thing and start selling happy meals? Or should they all just create a Firefly shrine and sit around worshipping it all day?
Yes, the SFX house took many of the techniques they developed during Firefly and used them elsewhere. More than a few of those techniques were their ideas, why not? The BSG people have said they were inspired by Firefly, and I’m glad to hear it. I want every show on TV to aim for that level of quality, damn few do. Whedon did not create every single aspect of the show and movie singlehandedly. Many talented people brought their full game to that show and that movie, and it is absurd in the extreme to assert they should never use anything they learned in future jobs.
Whedon’s genius is in understanding people. That’s why he writes the way he does, and that’s how he pulls together amazing crews of insanely talented people and inspires them to create art. And then they move on to their own projects, and they take that fire and the lessons they’ve learned about creating art despite budget and studio restrictions and they apply it to other shows, other movies. And this makes me happy. I love it when Whedony writers and actors get jobs on other shows. I’m happy for them and I’m happy that the level of quality on TV just went up a notch. I’d be happier if Firefly had stayed on the air, leading the way, but I blame FOX executives for that, not Ron Moore.
I am very aware of the works of both Joss and Kevin. I’m a fan of both, for different reasons, and I can’t think of anything in Smith’s work that could have been “stollen” from Joss. Is Kevin jealous of Joss? No clue, but I wouldn’t assume. I don’t know the man, can’t see into his heart. For all we know Joss was jealous of Kevin because Kevin could get movies made regularly. Until one of them out and says it, we don’t know, and saying it doesn’t make it true. Doesn’t surprise me a bit Kevin hasn’t seen “Firefly.” I’ve never seen an episode of “Lost,” not one, and I’ve never watched “24.” Or seen the movie “Titanic.” I’ve also haven’t watched a single sitcom from last year (with the exception of two “How I Met Your Mother” shows, for Alexis). They just don’t interest me, but friends look at me as if I’ve been in a coma and tell me how great the shows are. I’m sure they are, but they’re not to my tastes and there are plenty of other shows for me to kill my time with.
Please understand, outside of our community Joss isn’t that well known. He’s a god to us, but to the rest of the TV community he’s the Buffy guy. They’re finally starting to perk up and take notice, and yay for that, but I doubt others hows sit around and wonder What Would Joss Do? I kinda wish more of them would.
Actually you are wrong. Joss Whedon happily gives credit where credit is due, to those who inspired Firefly/Serenity…namely…George Lucas and Star Wars. He also gives open credit to the creators of The X-Men, and others for inspiring Buffy. The difference between Joss Whedon, and let’s say Ron Moore, is simple…Ron Moore never gives credit to those who he is inspired by…hence, turning his efforts into nothing short of a rip-off!!! Did he give credit to Tom DeSanto (X-Men 1 & 2 and the upcoming movie The Tranformers) who came up with the idea for human Cylons when he was attempting to produce the new version of Galactica with director Brian Singer??? Answer: No!!! Did he credit DeSanto for coming up with the “human resistance movement” story line for the new Galactica…which is being exploited by Ron Moore this season??? No!!! What about Ron Moore ripping-off Babylon 5 and helping to usher in Deep Space 9…Babylon 5’s concepts were shown to Paramount by its creator, JMS, years before Deep Space 9 was even thought up??? Answer: No!!! Ron Moore hasn’t given the first thank you to any of these people…Rather, he sits around acting like he made it all up, as the acolades pour in from ignorant members of the press and the public who are as yet unaware of his history of thefts!!! There has been no credit given to JMS after Paramount ripped him off and threw together Deep Space 9 in order to beat babylon 5 to television by 6 months…all in a effort to kill any competition in syndicated television that might hurt its then hugely popular Star Trek franchise. And now, here we are with the latest Ron Moore rip-off target…Joss Whedon and Firefly/Serenity!!! Ron Moore has never once given credit to Joss Whedon, even though a number of people have come forward to report that Ron Moore and his Galactica writers, as well as his crew, were desperately studying episodes of Firefly so they could pilfer from the show, in order to incorporate those things into Galactica. Look, there is nothing wrong with being inspired by another person’s work…really. But there is something wrong when you fail to give them credit for your inspirations…And in that regard, Joss Whedon never fails to give others their proper acknowledgements…unlike the now infamous Ron Moore!!!
PS-As far as Kevin Smith goes…why would Joss “The Man” Whedon be jealous of a hack like him???!!!
I like to watch Supernatural and also Lost, becous the sexy cast lol. BTW found this site on google, searched for some TV Show Plot.