Serenity moves fast; Firefly crawls... by chrisisall

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Serenity moves fast; Firefly crawls...

POSTED BY: CHRISISALL
UPDATED: Sunday, July 22, 2007 16:59
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Sunday, July 22, 2007 12:52 PM

Who here likes the breakneck pace of Serenity over the take-ur-time pace of Firefly?
Or are they both good, just different?

Curious Chrisisall

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 1:00 PM

NBZ

The first time watching Serenity (before I had watched Firefly), I thought too much happened.

You see a town, it gets attacked.
You see a bar, it gets wrecked.
You see a shepherd, he gets killed.
You see a geek. He also gets killed.
You see a planet, already killed.
You see an armada, it gets decimated.

It felt like it lacked some gravitas. Like some "epics" which are nothing of the sort.

Ofcourse I still liked the film, but after seeing Firefly I changed my mind. The BDM was now brilliant. Suddenly I saw a lot more happening, and a lot more under standing of what is going on. Now it was an epic.

I still do prefer "Serenity" the pilot episode over it though.

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 1:08 PM

CHRISISALL

Good points all.

Chrisisall

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 1:11 PM

NBZ

On the other hand I know a number of people who found "Serenity" the pilot episode a little over-long and pedestrian.

That is surely madness.

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 1:19 PM

HUGHFF

Breakfast at Mcdonalds moves fast. Dinner in (insert name of a five star resteraunt here) crawls. I know which I prefer.

www.cpfc.org - my life
www.nbhs.school.nz - my work

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 1:21 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Who here likes the breakneck pace of Serenity over the take-ur-time pace of Firefly?
Or are they both good, just different?

I tend to prefer the pace of the series. Lots of time to sit back, think about the situation, and watch the scenery. Of course the movie had to feel rushed. Joss had to recap the essential bits of the series and tell another season's worth of stories in two hours so it's amazing that he managed that without being limited to all super fast music video style jump cuts and exposition head shots.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 1:21 PM

THESOMNAMBULIST

I found the pace of Firefly to be about perfect. It flowed cleverly as each characters arc took shape. The TV show didn't need rushing it held enough content to languish with its plot.

Serenity though needed the extra pace as the content was that much more severe. They were being hunted and they had to 'rabbit'. The pace was fantastic and thrilling. Perhaps worked better if you already knew the crew, but with a mere two hours it needed the speed.

Looking at things now if Firefly did ever return to the screens I wonder if it wouldn't benefit from speeding up a tad. Looking at the way TV has gone in the last five years, the pacing is very often intense. 24, Lost, Heroes.. They all tend to adhere to slick pacing...

www.cirqus.com

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 2:36 PM

HUGHFF

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
Looking at things now if Firefly did ever return to the screens I wonder if it wouldn't benefit from speeding up a tad. Looking at the way TV has gone in the last five years, the pacing is very often intense. 24, Lost, Heroes.. They all tend to adhere to slick pacing...

But none of them were trying to create a future society. Nor imho do any of them have much merit beyond entertainment.

www.cpfc.org - my life
www.nbhs.school.nz - my work

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 2:45 PM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Quote:
Originally posted by hughff:
Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
Looking at things now if Firefly did ever return to the screens I wonder if it wouldn't benefit from speeding up a tad. Looking at the way TV has gone in the last five years, the pacing is very often intense. 24, Lost, Heroes.. They all tend to adhere to slick pacing...

But none of them were trying to create a future society. Nor imho do any of them have much merit beyond entertainment.

www.cpfc.org - my life
www.nbhs.school.nz - my work

Yes I agree, they don't really. I haven't watched much 24, not really my kind of thing, but it clearly has people hooked, as does Lost and Heroes appears to have gained a lot of interest. But I would suggest being entertaining isn't always such a bad thing.

The shows are still on air.

www.cirqus.com

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 3:22 PM

CYBERSNARK

I like them both.

On the one hand, I love the slow pace of TV series, allowing them to build up backstory and fill a universe with tiny yet significant details. This is one of the reasons I consider television to be superior to movies.

OTOH, I love the intensity that can come from a movie's pacing, and Serenity handles it better than most, with scenes strung together in the narrative, rather than shoved into place with jump cuts. Not to mention all the other technical things that Serenity does right (and which so many movies get wrong).

Quote:
Originally posted by nbz:
On the other hand I know a number of people who found "Serenity" the pilot episode a little over-long and pedestrian.

Certain TV network executives spring to mind. . .

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Sunday, July 22, 2007 4:59 PM

REGINAROADIE

I agree on both cases.

With a tv show, you do get some luxury in that you can take your time in telling a story and establishing a world within the series. I always thought that FIREFLY was a victim of bad timing. That if the show debuted two years later, when LOST became a juggernaut and proved that 24 wasn't a fluke in that you can have a serialized show.

Mind you, if FIREFLY didn't debut when it did, then a lot of shows that are critical darlings and ratings smashed wouldn't be around. I consider FIREFLY to be sort of a trail run in a way.

But with the movie, since you only have two hours and change to tell your story, it does help if the pace is a steady tempo. SERENITY the movie never seemed rushed to me. It was as if you took the final three episodes of the first season and seamlessly edited them together.

If you want a rush job, I direct your attention to X-MEN: THE LAST STAND. The first two X-MEN movies were "let's introduce this world and the characters in a subtle, but efficient way and let the action sequences come naturally". The third on was "let's trash everything that Singer spent two movies setting up and get to the monster mashes as quick as possible". Even the dialogue was delivered so hurriedly that you can tell Ratner was telling the cast "we gotta hurry this up to get to the action sequence"

As per the shows mentioned, I do want to bring up LOST. The first season was riveting in that it introduced us to the characters and the basic concept of the series. Season two and part of season 3 basically grinded to a crawl as the show theoretically pondered the mysteries of the universe by navel gazing through it's ass. But in hte latter half or third of season 3, they removed themselves from said ass and really ratcheted everything up so that for once, I am actually excited for the new season of LOST and can't wait for it to start.

24 has always gone from 0 to 200 and never let go. And while admittedly the last season wasn't on par with the high standard they had set over the years (everyone thinks the show only became good in season 4, but season 1 is my personal favorite in that it's the most Hitchcockian), I still get excited with 24 news and when it does come on. And 24 is far more than just an action series. The producers once described it as "Greek tragedy with bullets'. And it is. The whole arch of Mal is him finding what he had lost in the war. With Jack, no matter how many times he saves the world, he can't save the ones that are close to him.

**************************************************
"And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? Each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame."

Loudon Wainwright III - "Strange Weirdos" off the "Knocked Up" soundtrack

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