Firefly / Serenity

[anephric]

Yep: it's viewing figures weren't disastrous by any measure, but because they weren't splondiferous it got shunted about, shown out of sequence etc. Basically someone in the Fox Executive decided in advance it was doomed and essentially made that a self-fulfilling prophecy...

Hey, at least there's a whole series of it: I really like Harsh Realm and there's only nine friggin' eps...

[Stuart Smith]

Well, there isn't really a whole series of it, as it was supposed to be a full season, 22-episode run. But it got a lot closer than some shows do.

This isn't meant as an apologia for Fox, as clearly they didn't give Firefly the chance it deserved (certainly not compared to the leniency they showed towards the early years of Buffy and Angel). Addressing the out of sequence issue, what happened was, Joss Whedon turned in his first version of the pilot, Serenity, and Fox were not satisfied with it at all, but had no time for reshoots to decided to launch with The Train Job. Now, Serenity is actually a fantastic pilot, but while filming the rest of the series, Joss reshot several key parts of it and the version on the DVDs and shown here on Sci-Fi is the amended version. Having not seen the original version, it's perfectly possible that Fox were harsh in dismissing it, but my point is, whatever their subsequent callous treatment of the show, they may have been justified in that first decision.

[Stuart Smith]

There were some exclusive screenings of an early version of Serenity at various locations around America last night. Few responses on IMDB message board from people who've seen it, all sounds good to me. The majority seemed very satisfied. Roll on September

[recipher]

This might have been said earlier but IMDB quotes Alan Tudyk as saying that Universal have a 3 picture deal for Serenity. God, I hope so, and that they carry it through.

Anyone else love the theme as much as I do?

[Wild_Cat]

No, you're not alone. It won't leave my head either. It's a beauty.

[recipher]

I'm wondering how the film can revolve around River without involving the Blue Sun?

[Wild_Cat]

No Blue Sun? o.O Where did you read that?

[Stuart Smith]

Perhaps Blue Sun were an intermediary hired to take care of River by the Alliance and the film will instead be focused on the direct connection between River and The Alliance?

[Wild_Cat]

According to the series' making-of, Blue Sun is like some sort of Microsoft/OCP gone bad. They're pretty much in control of the Alliance.
Besides, River is *really* afraid of them specifically (remember the scene where she slashes Jayne across the chest with a kitchen knife? Have a look at his T-shirt...).

I don't see either how they could make the movie about River without Blue Sun... That'd be like making a movie out of The Pretender without the Centre, i.e. pointless.

[Stuart Smith]

Potential spoiler, but then again, this is fairly obvious from the trailer:

->Open Spoiler<-

A key part of the film's plot seems to be a new character hunting River, so presumably he'll be in the employ of the Alliance rather than Blue Sun specifically and that's how they'll run the storyline without Blue Sun. Or perhaps the Joss quote just meant that the blue guys from the series won't be in the film?

[recipher]

The guy hunting River seems reminisent of the Abe Early character (and not just because of the colour of his skin).

[anephric]

I thought that too: he's a lion, don't you know.

[Durham Red]

Absolutely crushing but not 100% confirmed SERIOUSLY BIG spoiler:

->Open Spoiler<-

Wash is killed in the film. I'm gutted if it's true.

[JRMacumber]

Durham, I wouldn't have picked that one to die. Not at all. But, Joss is pretty chavalier with human life on this shows, so why should this be any different?

[Durham Red]

I know what you're saying (and I was completely suckered by the Kaylee fake out in the pilot) but I'd have thought given the original plan was to have several seasons worth of shows and so time to fully round out everyone, he'd have held off from reverting to his bloodthirsty type so soon after picking up the story. Foolishly, I went looking for preview reviews to see if it is true and not only does it appear to be but in fact that's just the tip of the iceberg..!

Damn you, Whedon. I was expecting high adventure, not a weepy!

Still can't wait, mind.