Bingowings said:
I'm sorry but it's a very valid observation that's held up by the evidence.
The planned episodes of Crusade followed a very different path to the one it was forced into and Threshold was actually rather fun (no classic but it was beginning to go places especially with the built in direction changes).
Some of the best shows on television show very little clue to their potential in the first season.
B5 was justifiably likened to a poor man's Star Trek going from season one (which had some of the weakest stories) something it found hard to shake off when it went to more interesting and epic places.
NuGalactica's mini-series showed none of the moreish wonder it would later show as a series.
Buffy was fun from the start but if you went by the first season alone you have no idea how great and daring it would get later.
I disagree. B5 was recognizably very good from the first season, as was Buffy. The Battlestar Galactica mini series was a fair guide to what the show was going to be like. So I think the first seasons of Threshold and Crusade are indeed a good guide to what they could have become. And leaving aside the question of what they could have become, we have the question of what they WERE, which can be judged from looking at we what we've got.
Obviously you found Threshold fun. I found it dull and uninspired. As for Crusade, the objections I have to it are unaffected by episode order. The whole nature of that show was massively uninspired. The excuse about it being screwed around by the network is constantly brought up, which ignores the fact that its problems go far deeper than that. It was just poorly done, in multiple ways. Were it merely screwed around by the network, there would be some hint of greater quality, but there was no such thing, no hint that this was something that could be good that was just screwed up by interference. It was just low level all around.
C3PX said:
Just out of curiousity, what are some examples of how Firefly doesn't connect properly?
It's not the sort of thing you can give examples for. It's a general thing that affects the entire show. It lacks depth of emotional connection. And viewing the episodes in the proper order doesn't help that. It's down to the basic mentality and tone of the show. And it just did not connect you with the characters with any strength of feeling.