Firefly Audio? by Nevetextor

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Firefly Audio?

POSTED BY: NEVETEXTOR
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 06:23
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Monday, January 12, 2004 6:55 AM

Has anyone considered that perhaps the perfect form for Firefly to return in would be as radioplays released directly on CD (And possibly also through the iTunes music store)? With the popularity of books on tape, I think that there's certainly a market for audio dramas, and moving to audio cuts a lot of costs that would make the show appreciably cheaper. It's also typically quite fast to do an audio drama, and would probably leave the actors time to pursue other commitments as well.

Over the past few years, in England, I know this was done with Doctor Who, with a company called Big Finish making new Doctor Who stories as audio dramas once a month. They apparently did at least well enough that the BBC was convinced to bring Doctor Who back to TV.

So why not begin promoting it as one of the ideas for what to do with Firefly?

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Monday, January 12, 2004 6:59 AM

BOOMERGOODHEART

While your idea has some merit, I'm not sure that it's quite feasible. Serenity is often considered the 10th character...how would you show it on a radio program? Also, one of the things that really appealed to me as a fan was the fact that there was no sound in space. Again, how to translate that to radio without taking away from Joss' original vision?

Just my $.02.

BoomerGoodheart
"I love my Captain."

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Monday, January 12, 2004 7:08 AM

NEVETEXTOR

I think that the lack of sound in space was really more of an element of making the show a realistic space show as opposed to, say, Star Trek. I don't think that not having sound in space was one of Joss's main aesthetic goals, though, and so I think that realism could be obtained through other means.

As for Serenity, I don't think her status as the tenth character sprung from her visual representation, but from her importance to the people on her - particularly to Mal and to Kaylee. Certainly she could be represented through the basic clangs that already mark walking through her on the show, but, again, I don't think Serenity was a primarily visual point - I think the aspect of Serenity that made her the tenth character was what she meant and represented to the crew, and I don't think that would change.

It's easy, in these days, to forget just how powerful and versatile a medium radio could be. Television made a lot of representations so much easier, and very few of us actually listen to radio programs anymore. But it really was an amazingly dynamic medium - in some ways moreso than television (Since you can get away with representing visually impossible things). I think the medium is more than up to the task of carrying the message, if need be.

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Monday, January 12, 2004 7:23 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

I had never considered audio release for Firefly before. It is an interesting idea.

Personally I would prefer to see it on T.V. or on the big screen myself, as I like to see the cast interact as much as hear them.

Of course if a new TV series or movies were no longer an option, then yes, I would be all for an audio line.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

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Monday, January 12, 2004 12:25 PM

NEVETEXTOR

Oh, certainly TV is preferable. Although I have a certain nostalgic fondness for radio, and wish more good writers would do work in audio drama.

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Monday, January 12, 2004 1:17 PM

SERENITYVALLEY

Actually that idea has come up already. We were gonna do it too. Where did Dug go?

http://www.simple-assault.com/Firefly.htm

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Tuesday, January 13, 2004 12:57 AM

RONALDRAYGUN

The Firefly verse is too rich of a visual medium to just be heard.

Yep. That went well.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2004 7:48 AM

DUG

Was Star Wars too visual? The 13 hour radio version stands up incredibly well; and delves into parts of the story that were left out of the movie due not just to time but BECAUSE of the visuals. Luke Skywhiner's meeting with Biggs Darklighter at the very beginning of the movie was cut because it looked like crap; it's in the radio version. As is Biggs vouching for this stranger at Yavin (ever wonder why they let Luke not just have a ship but command a squadron?).

Don't discount the medium because there are no pictures. Your mind is stronger than that. Even IMAX can only show a hundred-odd-feet of image...how much can your imagination show?

And where have I been? Out of the world for a bit. I've been thinking the audio thru a lot this week as well. Scariest part is the SIZE of the crew. Audio works with a cast of 5 or 6 major characters, including baddies. 9 crew members is WAY too much for this medium. I still want to do the fanfic; more on that in a bit. I'm also thinking of a spinoff with a crew of 3....

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Tuesday, January 13, 2004 4:01 PM

KELSO

I'll take anything I can get.

-------
Well, here I am.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2004 5:48 PM

KERNELM

Quote:
Originally posted by Nevetextor:
Oh, certainly TV is preferable. Although I have a certain nostalgic fondness for radio, and wish more good writers would do work in audio drama.

Interestingly, Neil Gaiman has said his favorite medium to work in would be writing radio plays. Monetarily though he can't really do it for a living. A couple of his short stories were made into very good radio plays and were/are archived at Sci-Fi's Seeing Ear Theater ( http://www.scifi.com/set/). The stories are "Murder Mysteries" (one of my favorite short stories of all time and also adapted into a great comic by P. Craig Russell) and "Snow, Glass, Apples."

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Wednesday, January 14, 2004 6:23 AM

NEVETEXTOR

Yeah, I have the Two Plays for Voices set, and adore them along with the rest of my absurdly large Gaiman collection. =)

As for the claim that radio works best with a small cast, you're right, but I think Firefly's actors all have distinctive enough cadences to overcome that to some degree - it's been one of the things that most struck me about the show, actually.

The biggest problem that I would see is how one handles River, who is so intensely a visual character (Hence hiring Glau, who is trained in ballet).

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