geekyI don't really need four copies for my very own. So...
In my essay, I talk about my love of Buffy, and how it helped me grow into myself as both a fannish adult and a professional author. Others talk about finding community through the Browncoats, or the treatment of good and evil in Angel, or the Hero's Journey of Dr. Horrible. If you're a Whedon fan, you probably have a story of your own. Tell it! Be as detailed or as brief as you like. On Friday, I shall unleash our old friend, Random Number Generator, to pick two winners, each of whom* will receive a copy of Whedonistas.
The book officially comes out next Tuesday, so even if you don't win, you should absolutely pick up a copy for the Whedon fan in your life. Or in your head. Whatever floats your boat.
Game on!
(*North American entries only, please, unless you're willing to pay postage. I just can't afford it right now, I'm sorry.)
Part 1
March 9 2011, 11:40:22 UTC 6 years ago
Angel was a lesser care for me, though I did find it humorous that a few years after it began syndication on a local station my father (who didn't watch Buffy) got caught up in watching Angel the first season. I'll never forget the morning when I realized that the episode dad was describing was one I remembered vividly (Doyle's death).
Firefly though...it originally broadcasted during my senior year of HS and I remember being so angry because we moved that year and our cable didn't come on until the third episode aired. I was so thoroughly lost, but I kept watching because I was hooked. When it got canceled I took to the internet and for the first time in my life I did something other than RPG'ing, fanfiction reading and chatting--I looked for more information.
It was my first American run at fandom (previously anime and manga were my teachers) and I was overwhelmed. I tried to get my dad to watch it with me, but he was reluctant and I didn't pretty that hard honestly. At the time we didn't live together so it would have been hard to watch together anyhow.
The DVD release came and I BEGGED my dad to buy it for me. BEGGED him to buy it for at retail price! I didn't even wait for a sale. Then he made him sit through the pilot episode with me (since I was determined to rewatch the series in order. By this point we lived together and I don't think I ever saw him get so drawn into a show so quickly.
We marathoned the entire series over a long weekend (he didn't have work), then watched all the extras, then watched it all over again with commentary (though Joss Whedon's sometimes self-congratulatory speechifying turned my dad off from listening to commentary for a long time). It was the first show, since Star Trek and Babylon 5, that my dad and I both enjoyed equally. For different reasons, but still equally.
It was the launching point for us. From there we picked up watching Farscape, LOST, the 4400, Alien Nation and dozens of other shows together. It became a normal routine for us to seek out new shows each season to see if we'd enjoy them together or not. Before we'd watch shows together but not the same interest level. I watched La Femme Nikita because I had a crush on Birkoff and I grew up watching Star Trek TNG and DS9 so I didn't count those. Dad tolerated Xena and Hercules for the scantily clad women.
Part 2
March 9 2011, 11:40:50 UTC 6 years ago
A couple of years later my sister watched the series as well (by then we had begun to rewatch it once a year in full and certain episodes more often) and the three of us had a lot of fun discussing it and our impressions. My brother never really got into it, but he did know a lot about the special effects and such from the trade magazines he read religiously. Firefly opened up a way for us to bond.
When Serenity opened in theatres it was a family event. Forget what it meant to the audience at large, for my family it was the first movie in YEARS we all wanted to see without resorting to bribery. We were excited. We bought midnight tickets and planned our entire weekend around it. As a family we saw it once, individually I saw it 5 times (with various friends in various states), my dad saw it 3 times (once with a coworker friend) and my sister saw it 3 times (twice with me, once with our stepsister).
Our dinner conversation was dominated by the movie for a couple months afterwards. We'd start out by talking about the day but one of us would say 'I can't believe they did that!' and it would start a new round of 'why did he do such a thing?!' And it resparked me and my father's ongoing debate on the truth of Book's past. Though I cared to learn more about Inara's, Book was my dad's large interest and thus we talked about him moreso.
Firefly went from being this show that we enjoyed to a way for us to learn more about each other. My dad liked Jayne and Niska the best, my sister obsessed over Wash, my brother grudgingly admired Jayne and I loved everyone (though Mal and Simon were eyecandy loves for the most part, Inara and River were thought-provoking loves and Kaylee was who I wanted to be). Our favorite episodes give a good indication of why we love the series (my dad loves "War Stories" and "Out of Gas", my sister loves "Heart of Gold" and "Our Mrs. Reynolds", bro enjoys "Train Job" and I love "Ariel" and "Shindig").
Later I would find out my friends all enjoy the series too and while I enjoy watching it with them, its not the same. The inside jokes my family has, the western allusions my dad points out...can't have that with my friends. In the end Firefly gave us a common thread to build off of that's just shiny.