[dabblerblue]

I dunno if you guys liked the Firefly tv series or not, but I sure did, despite only having watched it on TV before it was cancelled, and never since.

I need to get the dvds and watch them now just so i have the whole picture before the film...

Serenity.

 

[HiWire]

It was a genuinely intelligent show, where the heroes didn't resort to gunplay at the drop of a hat. Great characters and an interesting universe... I'm also looking forward to the movie and to buying the DVD set.

 

[jpelg]

Awesome! This was a very good show. Not quite "Buffy" level, but very, very good. Cancelled only a few episodes into the first (and only) season, it never had the opportunity to reach it's potential.

Get the DVD set. It contains eps that never aired, but were excellent (see "The Message").

From the trailer, it looks like there's a much bigger budget behind it than for the series. Great visuals. Some new & expanded storylines. I'm looking forward to it. Go Joss!

 

[Salt Peanuts]

Thanks for the link! I'm really looking forward to the movie. It really is too bad that the release got pushed back to fall from May because of some *other* movie aimed at same demographic.

 

[YamiTenshi]

I liked the series too, though some of the characters were a little stereotypical. Too bad it got cancelled so soon, it was much better then some of the shows that are on now.

Anyway i didn't even know there was a movie coming out, thanks for the heads up.

 

[episiarch]

I saw the rough cut of the movie on Thursday night. I cheered as much as anyone in the theater when the show began (introduced by a short and truly terrific thank-you video from Joss). But I left pretty disappointed.

I won't post any spoilers here, but here's how I experienced the film.

Serenity had plenty of the kind of attributes that go with exclamation points in movie marketing. "Bigger!" "Bolder!" "More drama!" "Nastier villains!" "Love!" "Adventure!" "Peril!" Lots and lots of all of that stuff.

But very much at the expense of the really good stuff that made me love the show in the first place. Moments between the characters. Warmth. Unforced humor. Unanticipated moments of honor and courage. The feeling of making a family of the people you're stuck with, despite all reservations and misgivings.

Those elements weren't entirely missing from the movie, but they were extensively sacrificed in favor of (to sum it up in a word) spectacle. That made me pretty sad. I wanted more Firefly, and instead got an action space drama with Firefly's characters and setting. Not the same thing at all.

Don't get me wrong - if you like what you see in the trailer, I think you'll like the movie. But I don't think it's going to break out and attract an audience broader than the quality sci-fi / action audience. And that's really too bad.

 

[jpelg]

Well after much anticipation, "Serenity" opened this past weekend. Unfortunately, I have to agree with episiarch's earlier preview impressions. I agree that the nuances of the crews relationships were sacrificed for bigscreen "bang". Wash's humor & sarcasm were minimized. Book's contradictions just weren't used to potential. Jayne's humor is actually the funniest of all. Without giving anything away, this movie is all about River.

Don't get me wrong - it was ok, but just not "great", as I've come to expect from Joss Whedon. Perhaps the best parts of his style don't translate well to the big screen? He seems to do better with smaller budgets, which force him to be more creative with writing and sets. Dunno. One thing Joss seems to do better than most is create strong heroines out of young women.

Fans of the series (as I was) will surely like it enough, and think the $10.75 is worth the experience on a big screen. The CGI is terrific, and certainly in accordance with a bigger budget. And it's probably the last chance we'll have to see of Mal & his crew. Too bad - Inara is majorly hot!

The basis of this movie could have provided a nice season's-worth of story arc for the TV series. Instead you get a two-hour blitzkrieg that will probably leave non-prior fans wondering what the heck they just sat through.

Moving on..."Aeon Flux", anyone?

 

[tyrion]

I never heard of the series until the girl that cuts my hair started raving about it. I have to take her word on it as she got me into George R.R. Martin (fans of his series will understand). She recently gave me the season on DVD, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. To busy catching up on the early Alias seasons. I guess I will catch the movie after I finish the t.v. series.

 

[en480c4]

I'll disagree here... This movie exceeded my expectations.

While I agree some of the nuances may have been lost on the big screen, I think the movie was a big success. I think the only thing that hurt it was the movie's plot is probably what the arc intended for the second half of season 1 was, forced into a 2 hour movie. I don't think the budget had anything to do with it. It's just that over 12 or so episodes, that continuing arc would've been developed with additional "side-jobs" mixed in as stand-alone episodes, allowing the viewers to enjoy more character development and Joss' superb storytelling.

Joss has said that he hopes it does well enough to warrant another movie because he still has so many more ideas to develop. And I agree... the movie did a good job to wrap a number of things up, but there are certainly MANY things that still need to be taken care of. Unfortunately, the movie will need quite the cult following and repeat viewings considering a modest $10M opening weekend take.

 

[YamiTenshi]

I just finished the series but haven't watched the movie yet, but I was very impressed with the series. The characters were developed well (as well as can be in 14 eps.

) and I liked where the storyline was going. Unfortunately there were a lot of questions left open and it felt like there was a lot of build up for something bigger, especially concerning River.

I'll try to catch the movie later if I have time, but I've heard a lot of good reviews so far.