Serenity didn't do too badly, but then Joss had to dumb that baby down for the multiplexes. by chrisisall

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Serenity didn't do too badly, but then Joss had to dumb that baby down for the multiplexes.

POSTED BY: CHRISISALL
UPDATED: Monday, April 7, 2008 00:13
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VIEWED: 1940
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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 3:18 AM

Originally posted by HKCavalier, and I want to know what y'all think about this statement.

Was Serenity dumbed down?

Sure, action was a main part of the story, but I think it very clearly painted Mal as losing it, on the edge. He didn't expect to live through the next week after the point where Book died, IMO. So yeah, he became a literal Big Damn Hero, but not because of the usual Hollywood bravado, but through desperation. It may have been compressed storytelling, but not 'dumbed down'- that's my take on it.

Thoughts?

Serenity's Champion Chrisisall

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 4:12 AM

SPACEANJL

Nah, 'Serenity' was dumbed down, simply to make sure that folks new to the 'Verse had a handle on what was happening. It had to hit you with the characters head on, without time to build them up subtly over time. (love the tracking shot...)

But compressed? certainly. It was the rest of series 1 and most of series 2 squeezed into a movie.

I would have loved to have seen that storyline played out in the time it deserved (but wouldn't we all? Damn you, F*X!) rather than painted in the rather crude strokes time constraints forced.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 4:18 AM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by SpaceAnJL:
It had to hit you with the characters head on, without time to build them up subtly over time.

But they WERE built up subtly over time- in the SERIES!

Confused Chrisisall

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 4:33 AM

MAL4PREZ

I don't think it was dumbed down as much as turned into a space ship action flick, which robbed it of the kind of quiet little character moments that make Firefly so brilliant.

I recall Joss saying at some point or another that the romance bits with Inara were cut so it could be marketed as an action movie. I interpreted that as Hollywood forcing everything be fit a genre, when Joss at his best defies such paltry definitions.

The movie still rocks, of course! Just not as much as Firefly.

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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 4:38 AM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:

I recall Joss saying at some point or another that the romance bits with Inara were cut so it could be marketed as an action movie.

I heard it was to serve 'momentum'...Joss wanted a movie's pace to the movie, but I wish we had an extended cut....GRRRR

Prays at the altar of Serenity Chrisisall

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 4:54 AM

SPACEANJL

Ooh, Director's Cut as Mini-series...

(And I know the characters were built up over the series - I meant for all those folk who didn't see the series first.)

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 5:05 AM

MAL4PREZ

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
I heard it was to serve 'momentum'...Joss wanted a movie's pace to the movie, but I wish we had an extended cut....GRRRR

But why did it *have* to have an action movie's momentum? Why couldn't the tension come more from the characters (as it did in Firefly) and less from chasing about in a hurry with gunfights and explosions etc etc etc?

(Before I get flamed - yes, I know Serenity did have character tension more than most space action flicks, and I do love the movie. Lots and lots! But it just isn't as brilliant as Firefly ismypointisall. It was a change.)

Extended cut? I'm all for that.

-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 5:14 AM

AGENTROUKA

Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:
Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
I heard it was to serve 'momentum'...Joss wanted a movie's pace to the movie, but I wish we had an extended cut....GRRRR
But why did it *have* to have an action movie's momentum? Why couldn't the tension come more from the characters (as it did in Firefly) and less from chasing about in a hurry with gunfights and explosions etc etc etc?

I'm with you on that. This is one of the reasons that the movie appeals less and less to me as time passes on. The action sequences are good, I love the fight between Mal and the Operative, I love River's bar fight (poetry in motion, absolutely!) but.... I'd exchange them for character-focused scenes like in "Objects in Space".

"Firefly" was about the characters, "Serenity" about the plot. *sigh* Can't be changed, but I know where my preferences are.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 5:27 AM

ZZETTA13

Serenity dumbed down a bit!!? Well maybe a tad. I know if it was someone’s first viewing of the verse I think they woulda never noticed. I didn’t, well not until I rented the series. The characters were so well developed in those short run 14 episodes that bringing all that would, IMHO have baked the end result into a 3-hour BDM. Not that I’m complaining but it may have lost some of the interest of si/fi fans. “ I did it for the money.” Universal would say in quoting Tracy.
Were a BDSequel to come about I think Joss could get the verse back on track. There are enough browncoats invested in Firefly now that the story could continue and I’d really like to know the deal with Book.

Z

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:17 AM

SMOKEFATHER

I think it was dumb downed and I think it was a good thing. I had not seen the series and the movie was my entry into the series. This probably happens to alot more now that HBO plays it like every week.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:20 AM

CHRISISALL

See, I think if Serenity was a three part story on the Firefly set, like the last three episodes, no one would be saying that it was much different- that it just finished the story in a blast, and no one would even consider that it was a little light on character- they'd just say it was a cool ending to the series. The main reason for any negative comments IMO is that it's judged as a separate entity, and I don't see it as such, for me, it's just the finale, and everything in the series led up to it. It's one BIG story to me...

The non-compartmentalizing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:21 AM

STORYMARK

I don't think it was dumbed-down. It was different, surely, but different mediums have different requirments. It retreaded some character stuff, but that's nessesary for a new audience. A 2-hour episode of the series, put into theatres, with nothing to help new audiences catch up, would have been a failrue.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:44 AM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
A 2-hour episode of the series, put into theatres, with nothing to help new audiences catch up, would have been a failrue.

Kinda like showing the series out of order, hmmmmm....?

Chrisisall

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:49 AM

JONGSSTRAW

I also don't think it was dumbed-down at all. My first viewing ( never having seen Firefly at that point ) I really didn't have any idea of who these people were, or what was going on. I watched it and loved it...not because it was an extension of the series; I loved it becuase it represented something I hadn;t seen in sci-fi films in about 25 years....that being great characters and great story. Subsequent viewings after watching the series have made Serenity only better for me. So many little subtleties in the BDM that whisked right over my head originally now make sense, and are like little gems of brilliance. I never get tired of the movie...I've seen it at least 20 times in the last 2 years...and I continue to enjoy it as much today as ever. Compared to the series it is darker and deadlier, and the "issues" in play are more dramatic and significant than anything in the series. When you watch Serenity, and then you watch something like Star Wars 1-3, you really see how Joss's focus on characters and dialogue greatly trumps gratuitous, even predicably boring special effects.

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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 6:54 AM

CHRISISALL

Jongstraw, speaking word of wisdom.

Let it be Chrisisall

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Thursday, April 3, 2008 3:29 PM

MISSTRESSAHARA

Yes it was.

Yes-it-was.

Never be a favoriteatall.

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DON'T FREAK OUT

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Thursday, April 3, 2008 3:53 PM

HUGHFF

I'm just reposting this so I don't have to type it out myself. Well said, Sir or Ma'am.

Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:
I don't think it was dumbed down as much as turned into a space ship action flick, which robbed it of the kind of quiet little character moments that make Firefly so brilliant.

I recall Joss saying at some point or another that the romance bits with Inara were cut so it could be marketed as an action movie. I interpreted that as Hollywood forcing everything be fit a genre, when Joss at his best defies such paltry definitions.

The movie still rocks, of course! Just not as much as Firefly.

Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:
Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
I heard it was to serve 'momentum'...Joss wanted a movie's pace to the movie, but I wish we had an extended cut....GRRRR

But why did it *have* to have an action movie's momentum? Why couldn't the tension come more from the characters (as it did in Firefly) and less from chasing about in a hurry with gunfights and explosions etc etc etc?

(Before I get flamed - yes, I know Serenity did have character tension more than most space action flicks, and I do love the movie. Lots and lots! But it just isn't as brilliant as Firefly ismypointisall. It was a change.)

Extended cut? I'm all for that.

www.cpfc.org - my life

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Monday, April 7, 2008 12:13 AM

AGATSU

It wasn't dumped down, it was a movie as opposed to a TV series. The same principle applies to ANY movie that is based on a TV series - more action, less character development and "inside" jokes.

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