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Originally posted by nakedandarticulate:
anybody else? :)

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Originally posted by nakedandarticulate:
First off i'm kidding,

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Originally posted by LadyShelley:

What is so amazing about this whole silly thing is Amazon no sooner posted the picture and every FF board was immeditely "I hate it." Why? Talk about knee-jerk.

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Originally posted by Kazzahdrane:
That would be because the instant first impression is "I hate it". Nothing wrong with stating your opinion.

And come on, even if you like it you have to agree that the Serenity logo on a black background would be better than this cover, and that wouldn't even have any of the actors on it.

I *really* hope we get a SE of the DVD at a later date that is a nice arty cover, maybe like I said just black with the logo in the centre.

But yeah, petitions are stupid for this. Better to all decide to say "the cover is pretty bad but the movie is EXCELLENT" to non-fans! :D

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Originally posted by NoSadSeven:
The only petitions I sign are government required petitions for "third" party ballot access. Yet, I just signed gossi/whoisriver's petition.

One of the things I most appreciate about Serenity is its integrity. The movie is called "Serenity", for god's sake! That is a horrible title for a sci-fi action drama from a marketing perspective. But, knowing the film and the series, it is what this film needed to be titled. Joss had the artistic integrity to name the film from the story, from the characters, from the heart. That is one of the things that is characteristic of this series, and why I love it so much.

Now look at the DVD cover. I'm not complaining about the production value. I'm not complaining about the design. I'm not even complaining about the quotes (or lack thereof). These things aren't very important to me, and though I'm not thrilled with them, they are truly not worth my energy.

What I am complaining about is the DVD cover's complete lack of integrity. Can anyone point out anything on that cover that accurately reflects the movie? Anything? River...do I even need to say it? Serenity...shooting lasers? Mal and Zoe...with oddly embellished weapons? The horde... the horde? Reavers, soldiers, dancing llamas - whatever the hell they are, they ain't Serenity. They're not a misrepresentation, they are a manufactured lie. (There is the title...they did keep that, but I bet they fought over it!)

I understand artistic license. I understand the need to embellish some details and alter others in order to present an overall impression. But here, the overall impression they are trying to give is yet another manufactured lie.

I am not even complaining that a disingenuous DVD cover is morally wrong. I am complaining that a disingenuous DVD cover on a genuine movie like this one is economically wrong. There is the issue that many of those that find the cover appealing will not find the actual movie appealing, whether because it's just not their kind of thing, or because it will not meet their [DVD cover-based] expectations, and subsequently create a negative word of mouth. But what concerns me most is that the marketing designers, in their desperation, have thrown all of these obvious marketing cliches - the sex, the big guns, the space lasers - together on one box in the hope that something sticks. Consumers can smell desperation - it stinks - but they may not be able to tell whether it's coming from the DVD itself or just the cover.

By most accounts, Serenity is a damn fine movie. I just wish Universal would show deserved confidence in their product. Let the movie represent itself - not puppet theater. Confidence shines through.

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Originally posted by Kazzahdrane:But yeah, petitions are stupid for this. Better to all decide to say "the cover is pretty bad but the movie is EXCELLENT" to non-fans! :D

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Embers wrote:
I never look at the covers,
I would flip it over on the back and think
"oh yeah, I remember the ads for this, it looked good"
or
"two thumbs up and I like Sci-fi...I'll try it"
or
"wasn't this mentioned online? I think my friends were mad at me for missing this when it came out"

do you REALLY decide about a DVD because of the cover picture? Because I never have.

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Ladyshelley asked:
More importantly, what would you do instead?

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Originally posted by nakedandarticulate:
So if I had never heard of Serenity,this is what I would think the film was about by just judging it from the cover.


So I guess that woman in the corner is like an evil Queen or somethin,and there is some space battles with lasers comin from every ship,the people on the bottom must be protecting the group of people,possibly just leaving a football game gone horribly wrong--wait,is that a llama??????? Oh,okay,so those people must be in some sort of religion that worships these magical llamas and the Queen must want it,she probably says something like"Get me that llama!" A very special llama called Serenity......this film looks stoopid.

"It's about how much freedom you can take away from somebody before they either fold or fight," Whedon says. "It's about the right to be wrong and the nature of human beings, that they need the freedom to be wrong. That they cannot be made to be better or perfect."--Joss Whedon on Serenity

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Originally posted by hogwaffle:
i would go "ohhhh that girls is kickassidly hot, and i bet they fight alot and blow crap up, and ohhh joss whedon! i bet its funny! Must own right now, i know i have a spleen to sell around her somewhere"

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Originally posted by andygott:
If you don't agree that:

1) Serenity doesn't have a laser cannon, let alone two of them,

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2) River looks like Not River

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3) There's a crowd of (Reavers? Settlers? Towns folk? Llama ranchers? Angry fans?) on the cover that clearly have nothing to do with the movie

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4) Did we mention the llama?

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5) Mal has never used the weapon he's holding

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6) Though there are a couple hundred people on the cover, there's no sign of the rest of the crew that has such a significant role to play throughout the movie

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Originally posted by nakedandarticulate:
http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?r=0&s=1&c=8055&n=1&burl=

has large pic of cover,look in the crowd scene you will see 1(maybe 2?) llamas.

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Originally posted by Kazzahdrane:

And come on, even if you like it you have to agree that the Serenity logo on a black background would be better than this cover, and that wouldn't even have any of the actors on it.

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Originally posted by LadyShelley:

Regarding the link to other art: Yes, some of those are really good, but that doesn't mean by definition the art we got is bad.

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Originally posted by chrisisall:
Damn. I really liked the theatrical poster, I wished they'd used that.
No matter, I'll make my own, I did it for I Robot, I'm doing it for Dark Angel; I'll do it again for Serenity...

I would take from the cover as it is (if I didn't know anything about Firefly) that the evil girl on the top left (left...hmm, is that a political message??) is starting an interplanetary war, and the two at the bottom (Zoe, Mal) are the only ones can stop her, and she has hoards of demons at her beck and call (middle group). All this with the title 'serenity' (this cover is FAR from serene) would raise my interest for a cheesy fantasy/sci-fi actioner a la Krull (anybody remember THAT one?), and I'd come away shocked after renting it at the elegance of the tale, and with a need to OWN it.

So, the crappy cover is intended to get people to rent, with an option to buy, not just purchase straight-off. They're gonna have it both ways.

Quite clever, if I may say.

Chrisisall, cover interpreter

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On the question of llamas: Those are heads and shoulders folks, not llamas.

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Originally posted by nakedandarticulate:

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Originally posted by chrisisall:
Damn. I really liked the theatrical poster, I wished they'd used that.
No matter, I'll make my own, I did it for I Robot, I'm doing it for Dark Angel; I'll do it again for Serenity...

I would take from the cover as it is (if I didn't know anything about Firefly) that the evil girl on the top left (left...hmm, is that a political message??) is starting an interplanetary war, and the two at the bottom (Zoe, Mal) are the only ones can stop her, and she has hoards of demons at her beck and call (middle group). All this with the title 'serenity' (this cover is FAR from serene) would raise my interest for a cheesy fantasy/sci-fi actioner a la Krull (anybody remember THAT one?), and I'd come away shocked after renting it at the elegance of the tale, and with a need to OWN it.

So, the crappy cover is intended to get people to rent, with an option to buy, not just purchase straight-off. They're gonna have it both ways.

Quite clever, if I may say.

Chrisisall, cover interpreter

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FINALLY! Someone gets the point of this cheesy post--to just make up a stupid story based on the artwork.oh yes I remember KRULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Oh,okay,so those people must be in some sort of religion that worships these magical llamas and the Queen must want it,she probably says something like"Get me that llama!" A very special llama called Serenity

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Originally posted by LadyShelley:

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Originally posted by andygott:

2) River looks like Not River

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But she does look like the River from the movie. Again I think this one is more a complaint on how the character is portrayed overall, than with the cover...

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written by andygott
5) Mal has never used the weapon he's holding

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Originally posted by SuicidalDuckling:

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i've seen the movie, so i know that women in the future only have brown eyes. Since the River on the DVD cover has greenish-bluish eyes, she must be a River-looking love bot. The Riverbot carries her llamas from planet to planet protecting them from the llama hunters. The Alliance used llamas during the War for Unification and that's why Mal and Zoe are hunting them now. Lastly, since i've seen the movie and know none of this happens, this Riverbot plot was obviously cut from the final version of the film, but is included in the deleted scenes because "You can't stop the llamas."

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My interpretation is spoiler protected in case others that haven't seen the movie are expecting llamas.

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Originally posted by embers:


and it is wonderful to know that 500 years in the future we will no longer be plagued by annoying little blondes, they will only exist as lovebots

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Originally posted by chrisisall:

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Originally posted by embers:


and it is wonderful to know that 500 years in the future we will no longer be plagued by annoying little blondes, they will only exist as lovebots

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Is that a 'Buffy' comment?

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I'm not sure what it is we're looking at in the top corner, it would be nice to have a larger image to make that clear.

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But she does look like the River from the movie. Again I think this one is more a complaint on how the character is portrayed overall, than with the cover. By the way, that is part of the international poster that everyone seems to like ...

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When you hold the DVD in your hands, I will bet that that crowd is supposed to represent all of the dead people on Miranda.

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None of them used the weapons they are using in the film.

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How often , really is an entire cast on the cover of a film? Be honest now ... exactly, it's very rare.

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