Firefly / Serenity

[Hodge]

Only got round to picking up the dvd a few days back for ?18 in the HMV sale and am glad i did. Only got a couple of eps left to watch but overall it`s been a fantastic series and can`t believe fox canceled it. Lets hope serenity does well at the box office and put one up the fox execs for canceling the show. Also just watched the serenity trailer and is it me or has jayne ditched his hilarious accent for the film

[Stuart Smith]

[Initiates bragging mode]

Just managed to nab me some tickets to the Wednesday 24th August showing of Serenity at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It's getting its world gala premiere at the Fest on the Monday, but fingers crossed Joss and co. stick around for the other showing

[weresheep]

Serenity

Saw Serenity last night. Wow!

It is quite a bit darker than Firefly but the usual humour is still there to lighten the mood when required. Story is pretty good, although it doesn't resolve all the threads left open at the end of Firefly it explains and expands on a few.

It also has its surprises and really sad moments.

If you like Firefly you'll love Serenity, although I am not too sure how a n00b to the Firefly 'verse will take to it.

Can't wait for the DVD release though

-weresheep

[Stuart Smith]

I saw this at the Edinburgh Film Festival last night too, and Firefly fans will be pleased to know, it is absolutely brilliant. I'll spoiler the rest in case, although I'm trying to not spoil anything if at all possible:

->Open Spoiler<-

What makes Serenity just so damn good is that none of the magic of the show has been lost in the transition to the big screen. Clocking in at just under 2 hours in length, the film plays out very much like a high-octane three-part episode of the TV series, and what could be better than that? There's the classic cameraderie/tension between the characters (all of whom feature in the film), even more biting humour than your average Firefly episode, some good space western-y elements, some top notch action sequences, some great space sequences...in short, everything that made Firefly a televisual masterpiece.

Tying this all together is a great central storyline revolving around River Tam that manages to involve a lot of other elements from the Firefly universe. It makes for a satisfyingly expansive adventure that makes good use of the extra runtime afforded by the cinematic medium, as well being in its own right fairly clever. It's nothing you haven't seen before, but it's well-crafted and extremely well paced and structured, and never less than interesting.

Character is still key though. There are only really two criticisms I can level at Serenity. The first is that certain characters are seriously underused. This is, unfortunately, a necessary consequence of having such a large central cast and only 2 hours to play with. No single episode of Firefly managed to give every single character incredible breathing room, different episodes catered to different characters, and so it's inevitable that the film is similar. Ultimately, the film is Mal and River's show, and Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau are superb, Fillion in particular making the jump to movie hero very successfully. Thankfully, while the other characters do to an extent jostle for screentime, their characterisation is consistent with that of Firefly, and all the actors do a good job with what the script affords them.

That leads onto the second problem, though not one that could really be avoided. It's questionable how much non-Firefly watchers will `get` Serenity. The film opens with a well-handled section of history, and throwaway dialogue throughout establishes key facts that series-watchers will already know, but in particular character relationships and personalities just carry on where the series left off, and will probably be difficult for those who haven't seen the series to pick up instantly. The film is undoubtedly enjoyable in its own right, and it's not about being a Firefly fan or not. It's simply the fact that the film is the next step on from the series, and nothing works if you haven't seen the precursor. Imagine seeing the finale of Lost without seeing any of the previous episodes.

That, however, is not to my mind a fair criticism. The Firefly DVDs can be bought for a pittance these days, and the film does stand up on its own merits. Whedon undoubtedly did the best job he could walking the line between fan and newcomer, and I think most will agree that the balance chosen is the right one.

As a Firefly fan, Serenity stands comfortably as my film of the year. Yes, that's better than Batman Begins and even, shock horror, better than Revenge of the Sith. I haven't seen a film that felt so complete in a long time, that had no sections that stood out as weaker than others, that didn't disappoint in practically anyway. Watching Buffy, Angel and Firefly, it always seemed that when it came to the big episodes, Whedon's ideas and ambitions ran ahead of budget and time constraints, leaving many of them falling flat. With Serenity, he has been given the resources to see them all to fruition, and thus is simply his best work to date.

Just awesome. Roll on the full cinema release.

[anephric]

I was with you until you make the shocking admission that you use Revenge of the Sith as some kind of corollary of "quality".

[weresheep]

Yup, agree with everything you said there, Stuart.

-weresheep

[Stuart Smith]

Anephric, my love of the Star Wars prequel trilogy is well documented around these parts, and I'll fight all comers who disagree, but whether or not I'm right about those films, it says a lot that I liked Serenity more than RotS

[JRMacumber]

Stu, I've got yer back. We can take on the haters together.

As for Serenity, I can't wait! About a month now!!

[spagmasterswift]

Saw the Serenity movie last night and found it to be wholly unoriginal, lacking any convincing camaraderie between the ships crew and at times in need of subtitles.

While the space battle effects probably looked impressive compared to the TV show (which I've not seen but heard the budget was stretched towards the end of its short life) the action was pretty muddled and the use of the reportage camera seen in Star Wars Epi2&3 and Battlestar seemed tired.

While the lead was at least watch able the rest of his 'family' came of as bad imitations of the 'pirates' in Alien Resurrection and members of Buffy/Angel.

Maybe I've just seen too many episodes of said vampire slaying series that his cheesy formula now seems very, very old. Maybe there has just been too much Sci-Fi around in the past (particularly on TV) that's much better than this.

Maybe I'm just bitter that it's the closest I will ever come to seeing a Movie version of 'Bravestar'...

[Fei Fong Wong]

Maybe you should have seen Firefly first

[spagmasterswift]

Maybe there was a lot of unspoken stuff bubbling along under the surface that I missed because I didn't see the show. Maybe...

This film hasn't made me want to watch it though.

[giogi]

Saw the Serenity movie last night and found it to be wholly unoriginal, lacking any convincing camaraderie between the ships crew and at times in need of subtitles.

While the space battle effects probably looked impressive compared to the TV show (which I've not seen but heard the budget was stretched towards the end of its short life) the action was pretty muddled and the use of the reportage camera seen in Star Wars Epi2&3 and Battlestar seemed tired.

While the lead was at least watch able the rest of his 'family' came of as bad imitations of the 'pirates' in Alien Resurrection and members of Buffy/Angel.

Maybe I've just seen too many episodes of said vampire slaying series that his cheesy formula now seems very, very old. Maybe there has just been too much Sci-Fi around in the past (particularly on TV) that's much better than this.

Maybe I'm just bitter that it's the closest I will ever come to seeing a Movie version of 'Bravestar'...

I haven't seen the film, but love the series... with that said...

I would like to pick you up on a couple of points.

With the subtitles, if you are talking about the pseudo-Chinese interspersed with English, then you are probably right. It does take a bit of getting used to. But I actually like the fact that in the series you have to accept that you don't understand everything they are saying, but you you can still 'get it'. Too many movies treat viewers like dumb ****s and explain everything to death (The Matrix - NEO "EMP? What's that?" Yeah right!!)

As to the 'reportage' camera work, it would seem a bit tired if Firefly wasn't the first show to use this kind of CGI (which it was). In Battlestar Galactica, it was the same production company, so fair enough. But George Lucas' lovely ILM just stole the effect and dropped it into Episode II. The first time I saw some of this 3d work in Firefly I was totally blown away, now it probably does seem old hat, but at least the style is consistent with the series.

As to lack of comrarderie, unless Joss has dropped the ball here, I can't believe that is true. I will have to hold judgement.

All I can say, is that you SHOULD watch the series. It was one of the most interesting, well-acted, fully rounded Sci-Fi shows on TV, that, had it been set in a contemporary setting would probably be into it's 3rd series.

[anephric]

As to lack of comrarderie, unless Joss has dropped the ball here, I can't believe that is true. I will have to hold judgement.

Apparently some of the characters are given short shrift, which is inevitable in a film of a tv show that has so much to pack into 2 hours...

I was supposed to be seeing this in Notts next week but I had to cancel, which was a bit gutting...

[Stuart Smith]

On the cameraderie point, the cast is simply too large to fully develop the relationships, but nor does the film have to. At the end of the day, it is picking up threads from a TV show. For what it's worth, the necessary relationships are well enough defined (Mal/Wash, Simon/Kaylee, Mal/Inara, Jayne/River) if you ask me. It's only really Zoe, Book and, to an extent, Jayne that don't get full attention.

[spagmasterswift]

I haven't seen the film, but love the series... with that said...

I would like to pick you up on a couple of points.

With the subtitles, if you are talking about the pseudo-Chinese interspersed with English, then you are probably right. It does take a bit of getting used to. But I actually like the fact that in the series you have to accept that you don't understand everything they are saying, but you you can still 'get it'. Too many movies treat viewers like dumb ****s and explain everything to death (The Matrix - NEO "EMP? What's that?" Yeah right!!)

It was actually the Southern drawl that I had problems with in a couple of scenes That could be a failing of the screening room sound system though tbh and my ears not used to the accent.

If that's true about the effects originating on Firefly then I take it all back

The passion you guys have for the series has persuaded me to check it out though, will grab some tapes from work and give it a viewing this week.