Serenity (2005)

The chicks all got way too skinny between the series and the movie. Other than that, I really liked it. But I saw all of it on DVD over the course of a few weeks.

I once watched the last 15 minutes on pay cable. It was intriguing (I liked the idea of the "PAX" being a forced peacefulness virus. Clever classical allusion!)


But I never caught the rest, and I never saw FF

That is... till two weeks ago

I watched SERENITY for the first time and found it engaging. Not great, but I think I'd have gotten more out of it had I seen the show upon which it was based.

PS Chiwetel Ejiofor; MVP. His villain was one of the coolest I've seen in a while. I'm almost sorry they made him go good at the end. The fact he knew he was evil but was ok with it was pretty chilling

hahahaha

What is wrong with being thin? For some people it's genetic.

First all the Flockheart skeleton remarks in the Harrison Ford Legacy thread, now this..

We evolved to be thin. You only get overweight because our genes are storing up the fat for the expected famine times

Unless it's a big medical problem and you're so thin you're going to die, it should be beneath comment.

I saw this at a midnight show. There were a few people there in full Browncoat regalia. I liked the movie well enough. IIRC, there's a great Stedicam shot early in the film that establishes all the characters and the ship in one take. I'm kind of disappointed the flick wasn't successful enough to warrant a sequel or two. The universe seemed to have a lot of potential.

As a fan of Firefly I'm glad they made it, as the series and film together feel like a complete thing rather than something started and then awkwardly abandoned. As a film in itself it's pleasant enough but unremarkable, and by shifting everything into more typical gung-ho territory it loses the understated character-driven side of the show, which is where most of the charm came from. As much as I'd like to see more Firefly I can't say I'm all that bothered that the proposed movie series didn't continue - it just doesn't feel like the natural format for these characters.

Agreed: what the actress who played Kaylee did to herself was a tragedy.

Extra pounds???

I'm actually one of the (seemingly) few people who watched Serenity in theaters and discovered the show through that.

It's fairly accessible for non-fans, at least I thought it was. I still really like it, even if I would agree that it isn't quite "Objects in Space".

I will never understand the fuckability barometers of Chewers. Too fat, too skinny. Too skinny, too fat. Fuck-ugly, too made up.

For the first 2/3 or so of Serenity, I was onboard with the idea that it was just a pleasant reunion of the cast of one of my alltime favorite TV shows.

Then, Wash. Joss pulls the rug out from under me and tells me that I can't feel comfortable about the fate of any of the characters.

Which pretty much kept me on the edge of my seat the rest of the way. It's not as good as the best episodes of Firefly, but I think it made good use of the added intensity that you can get from sitting in a darkened theater versus watching the TV show at home.

I watched Serenity in theaters before ever watching Firefly, so I can confidently say that its greatest strength is the fact that it works on its own, independent of the program. Of course, watching the program makes the movie that much better, but it's a very well plotted film with just enough explained so as to keep the material from feeling totally opaque to an outsider. And yes, Ejiofor is amazing here.

Yeah. Normal and cute looking. Not "I can play xylophone on her ribs" thin like what is considered "normal" in Anorexic Hollywood.

BTW, doesn't TV "add 10 lbs" anyway???

I think I read somewhere (or maybe it was in the dvd commentary) that Joss had her gain a few pounds for the show. I don't know why he didn't ask her to do the same for the movie.

The majority of actresses in Hollywood aren't healthy looking. When you can see bones or ribs, that's not a good thing. Its just as unhealthy as being obese.

And Calista Flockhart was and still is, a skeleton.

I saw the film before the series, and dug it a lot. Watched the series and came back to it, only to be disappointed with the Reaver origin(they worked best not being seen or explained, unless the show went on and had time to do it), and the deaths of a few characters(Book was unfortunate only because there was potentially something awesome set up there).
Chitwel is greatness though, as he always is. Same goes for Fillian. It's not just Chewers, a lot of people in general are that way. It's multiplied times 10 if they're famous.

For the love of God, when will the persecution of skinny people end?

What the hell does this even mean? I thought I was fat because I eat like shit and don't exercise. Between this and your thoughts in the proposed all white guy basketball league thread, I'm beginning to think you get most of your scientific and sociologic information from educational films hosted by Troy McClure.

Now about Serenity. I don't know why I have to always preface talk of Firefly/Serenity with this, but I cannot normally stomach the work of Joss Whedon. I loathe Buffy/Angel. Yet I adore the adventures of Malcolm Reynolds and his crew. I knew the show would be short lived- I liked it and made a point to watch it. Always the death knell for a TV show. That's right, people, I'm the reason Firefly was cancelled.

I saw Serenity with almost zero exposure to Firefly. Still haven't seen most of the series, actually. I thought it was a pretty enjoyable piece of western-flavored space opera, with maybe a little much cheese melted over some of the dialogue. But there were definitely bits that I had to have explained to me. Since Whedon's stated goal was to draw in non-converts as well as fans, I guess that sort of makes it a failure. But it's a fun film.

Its greatest service to humanity, though, was bringing Chiwetel Ejiofor to an American audience, minuscule though it was.

Meh, I figure he was an operative that got himself redemption. Fits well enough.

Yeah, I don't think that required exhaustive detail.

Same here pretty much, I'd heard Firefly recommended but didn't know about its crazy cult status and had only caught about half an episode when I ran across the Serenity trailer on TV one evening in 2005 and whipped my hand out of my pants as I sat up bolt upright on my couch going, "Motherfuck I should see that." So I did, and as much as I could tell the film wasn't made with a Lucas budget I was impressed with the production and thought the story and characters were really nicely developed and very entertaining. I thought it worked well as a stand alone film too, I didn't get the little callbacks obviously but it was well enough scripted and directed that I was never lost in it.

I'm overdue to watch the show again; I haven't seen any of it for over two years but I count it among my favourites. I think after I've gone through Band Of Brothers again in prep for The Pacific I'll probably take another ride with Firefly.

I love this movie, warts and all. Like several others, I saw the movie first and then the series, and it's frankly a miracle that it feels as much like the show as it does. Yeah, it's bigger and more gung-ho, but it's ultimately still a very personal story that depends on the characters to move the story along and is more interested in how the crisis in the film affects them than most other blockbusters would be. The action is thrilling, the humor is typically Whedonian and funny, and the drama really works.

Also, in addition to introducing me to Eijofor, this movie also gets the credit for introducing me to any of these people (well, except Alan Tudyk, who I "saw" in I, Robot). They're all amazingly talented actors, especially Fillion and Baldwin. I'm really not getting the skinny complaints about Jewel Staite; she looks about the same to me as she does on the TV show. Maybe I just have a crappy eye for that sort of thing, I dunno.

Execpt when it's not. Some people's bones are just more prominent than others

Sure, it can be a sign of ill health, but not always
You jest, but it does happen. In highschool someone who didn't like me told the guidance office I was "anorexic" to try and get me in trouble. In a scene out of Kafka, I was forced to defend myself against that charge. My parents were called and everything, and to this day they still think I have food issues because of that erroneous accusation

The school would not even believe my denials. The stupid guidance person asked "Why do you never get the hot lunch, then?" when I said I always got enough food. See, I'd been buying Nachos and cheese every day since seventh grade. My reply "I eat the nachos because the hot lunches are awful and gross and make me sick to my stomach" did little to satisfy them

It means the human body evolved to deal with fat tissues in a specific way. We evolved leading active lives where food was scarce. So whenever we got extra fat, our bodies would store it up for later. Now of course we don't need to worry about storing up fat for the lean times. But our bodies don't know any better

Hence my comment, we evolved to lead skinny lives.


So, anyway, I just get annoyed when I see all the hand wringing about every person perceived to be "skinny"

I think "Serenity" deserves the award for ugliest poster of the '00s.

Saw this baby in a theater and i loved it, one of the best sci-fi movies i've ever seen. It's too bad it bombed in theaters as it's now a cult favorite.

I saw Serenity before Firefly. I bought the 2 disc set when it came out, and when I watched it, I barely let the credits roll before I ran out and bought the series. Chiwetel's delivery of the murdering children line brings chills to my spine. Spoiler: After Wash dies, I actually thought more members of Serenity were gonna die. Simon especially.

About the whole skinny thing: Mal does say that pay has been light and they have a "powerful need to eat sometime this month". I just associate Jewel's weight loss to that.

It was great for that too, I'd liked Tudyk in Knights Tale and Dodgeball but didn't love him until Serenity. Same with Fillion who I liked in Two Guys A Girl And A Pizza Place (also the first place I came across Ryan Reynolds I think). He brought a perfect vibe to Mal that I can't really imagine anyone else doing better.

And to me Ejiofor is right up there in the league of guys like Jeff Bridges and Sam Rockwell, guys who it doesn't matter the quality of the film around them - they're always good to watch in their own way. He's one classy SOB.

Also the worst title, something I think contributed to its box office failure. A sci fi action adventure comedy...what's the perfect title to communicate these disparate elements? "Serenity". Oh yeah, that'll draw the general audience. That sounds in no way boring as hell.

It is unnecessarily confusing. I don't understand why they just didn't call it "Firefly: The Movie."

Your claims are retarded and not at all based on real science.

I'm betting you make fun of fat people.

Are you kidding me? That's 10th grade biology. For the first 100 000 years of human existence till the invention of agriculture, food was a scarce and unreliable resource. So our bodies store all the extra energy they can, in the form of fatty tissue. Some animals need a constant stream of calories or they'll drop dead. Our bodies try to store energy.



You seriously think that's not real science?

You did use a still from The Incredible Hulk in your post. That probably didn't help much.


Back on topic, I'm hoping they eventually make another one, even if its DTV. I want to see a continuation of the Operatives with the blue gloves.

For fucks sake, stop quoting her please.

Agreed, this show deserves some DTV movies. Fillian did White Noise 2, I think he would be down for some more Firefly flicks.

I used a HULK still to make a joke about protruding bones.

I see what you're saying, but my science was sound. It's not like I was talking about using star fish DNA to regenerate tissue or something

This is a pretty decent movie, though it kind of seems weird throughout the whole thing seeing these characters seemingly in an entirely different universe than the series. It was...very cinematic?
I thought after watching the film I would understand the CULT OF RIVER. But no, I still don't get it. And I'm fed up with Whedon killing off the most likeable characters because LIFE IS CRUEL. So fucking irritating.

Love the series. Hated the movie when it came out and on second watching I still really dislike it. Killing Wash doesn't feel edgy as much as it feels mean-spirited, but there's a harshness to the entire film which was only really prevalent in the Pilot.

Yeah, the film is a darker, less cuddly beast so I can understand that even some Firefly fans don't dig it. And even though I prefer the series, where it is more cuddly and cute and plays like an ensemble, I still like the film quite a bit.

Saw the movie first and dug it enough to buy the series on DVD sorta blind. It'd been a while since I'd seen the movie by then, so I just eased myself into it and really enjoyed it.

Then I checked out the movie and was thrown by how agitated the whole affair came across. Really night and day. From the commentary, I understood why Whedon made the choice, but it was just so odd.

I can buy into the darker elements of the film simply because that's understandable, and a progression from the series. It's clear throughout the show that taking on Simon and River coincided with greater Alliance expansion and crackdown on the territories, and the longer they stayed, the more Mal got the idea that, members of his crew or not, these were fugitives wanted by some very important and dangerous people.

Plus, in Whedon's commentary for the pilot of the series, he talks about how Mal was always intended to be a character with more edge to him than we got, and so the movie returns to that months after this continued pressure of having to take shit jobs for low wage just to keep flying. In an ideal world, we would have gotten at least one more movie and things might have been a little more "relaxed."

I get all that Rath, but to be fair to other fans this isn't stuff that's immediately apparent from the film itself. I also buy that things could have realistically gone in this direction following some of what we know in the show but it's still something the viewer has to connect in their own head, because if I remember right the film doesn't really connect it for us. That's why it can feel jarring intially.

And the bottom line for a lot of people seems to be that even if this is believable enough, it's simply a less enjoyable crew dynamic than the Firefly they fell in love with.

Mal says all that stuff in the opening monologue.

Fuck me then, I guess I need to see it again even more than I thought.

In your defense, itt WAS a big chunk of breathless exposition. I find that I sometimes just let that stuff pass straight through me. Hehehe.

This should have swapped release dates with Land of the dead and they both would have made a lot more money. Nice move, Universal marketing.

This was 100X better than ROTS.

I really like that they use low-tech, practical effects. EG, their hovercraft at the beginning. It's held up by some crane thing, but is actually moving OUTSIDE, as opposed to the prequels where it's an obvious green screen

Fixed.

Can't understand how Book continually gets overlooked. I was as shocked and devastated as anyone else by Wash, but Book was one of the most intriguing characters on the series. Besides being the most benevolent member (aside from perhaps Kaylee), he was also the most intriguing, and had the potential to be the most complex bad-ass on board. The loss of his character was every bit as traumatic as Wash's.

I was first taken with the series, and when I saw Serenity, I didn't know what to make of it. This wasn't the crew I knew. Mal, River, Simon, and Jayne were all cranked up to dangerous levels. There were character holes where Book and Inara should have been. Kaylee felt peripheral (as opposed to the series, where she always felt absolutely essential). The only characters who felt right were Wash and Zoe, and they weren't carrying any plot or character arcs.

Another thing that threw everything off-kilter was the complete abandonment of the Old West motif. The series had a very earthy vibe. Dust hung in the air; the ship was bathed in warm hues of yellow, green and brown. In the film, everything was cold and metallic — all dire shades of blue, black, and gray.









Serenity felt less like a home, and more like a cell.

I was initially put off by the tonal contrast between the series and the film, but eventually came to understand that it was an intentional thing. Those of us who knew these characters were supposed to be uncomfortable with the current state of affairs. These days, I really appreciate the sort of apocalyptic vibe the film gives off. We get the sense that this may not be the most significant event the 'verse has ever seen, but for this particular group of folks, it's the fight of their lives. It works.