Serenity opens this weekend, and until recently, I had no interest in going to see it. Serenity, for those who don't know, is a movie based on the short-lived Firefly television series by Joss Whedon (aka the creator of Buffy and Angel). When Firefly first came out, I tried to watch it. I wanted it to like it. After all, it was the guy who wrote Buffy and made her so funny and tough. Plus, it was sci-fi, something that was rarely done well on television. Or, at least, that was the case at the time (yea, Battlestar Galactica!).
But I'm not even sure I made it through the first episode. I think it was just marketed incorrectly. The concept is an interesting one. Former rebels who lost the war are now forced to take odd jobs (semi-legally) around the galaxy. Reminds me very much of one of Linnea Sinclair's books, Finders Keepers. But if other people, like me, went in expecting some form of Buffy, it was a bit of a shock. It has almost a western element to it, gun slingers, prostitutes, etc., which is part of what makes it work. After all, space is "the final frontier." But if I remember right, they (probably studio execs) were trying so hard to capture the Buffy/Angel audience, I had the completely wrong idea of what the show was about. Not that I thought it was about vampires or anything, but the western/frontier thing seemed so out of place. Of course, this was before BG showed us that the future can look old, dirty and damaged. Prior to this point, everything pretty much looked like the Enterprise. : )
Just recently, I started catching the last five minutes of Firefly before SG-1 on Friday nights. And then, for whatever reason, I found myself watching a full episode a couple of weeks ago. And guess what...it's good. It's nothing like Buffy, except in the razor sharp humor department. It's got loads of that. But it's really good sci-fi. Sci-Fi channel ran a marathon today (not hard to do as only 11 episodes, I believe, were ever aired) and I've got it Tivo'd.
So, here's my plea. For the sake of good sci-fi, consider renting the Firefly series from wherever you choose to get your videos and then go see Serenity, if you deem it worthy. I mean, how can you not want to see a movie with the following pieces of dialogue:
Pilot (Wash): "This is going to get pretty interesting."
Captain (Mal): "Define interesting."
Pilot (Wash): "Oh, God, oh God, we're all going to die?"
OR
Captain (over intercom): "This is the captain. We may experience some brief turbulance...and then explode."
Hee, hee. Make sure you check out the trailers here.
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3 comments:
Well, I'm very glad you've come over to the right side on this one :)
Firefly was (is?) a wonderful show and I really think the movie will follow suit. (Or maybe I just really really want it to).
My only worry is that the movie was written for The Fans (tm) and the general public who've many only heard of the show a little or even not at all will just Not Get It.
I guess these questions will be answered on Friday. :)
I've heard very good things about the movie. It appears they did this one right where there is enough exposition to bring in the uninitiated, but also not so much the hard core fan gets bored.
Everybody in Live Journal land has already seen the movie--or at least the folks where I've got a 'Friends' link. I live in the middle of nowhere so no early showings several months ago.
But the buzz is good.
Heresy alert: I. Don't. Like. Star Trek. Too shiny. Too clean. (I am a fan of Babylon 5, however, which also featured a grittier version of the future.) So Firefly totally worked for me.
I like it when Mal says: "Do you want to be captain?" [obviously expecting a "no."] And he gets the answer "Yes" from obstinate crew member. Mal blinks and then stammers, "Well, you can't." Classic Wheddon dialogue and timing.
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