Over four years since Serenity came out, has time changed your opinion of it at all? by chrisisall

Quote:
Originally posted by EvilDinosaur:
I'm probably not as crazy about it as I originally was.

Yer makin' me cry here.
Loss & redemption- what's a more important or powerful theme than that?

Name two movies that make you laugh or cry more than when Mal says "What was that?" at the end.

-or is it just me?

The laughing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009 5:34 PM

BORIS

I too prefer the series. I can only watch the Movie once a year without wanting to fast forward bits. I can watch the series anytime, any episode, and I still love it. I do love how the movie draws newbies into the fold though. A number of my friends begged to borrow the series after seeing Serenity and now they are die hard devotees of Firelfy.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009 5:42 PM

KIRKULES

I like Serenity more than ever. I did'nt like it the first time I saw it, but after watching the extras, and seeing it for a second time, it will be one of my favorites for all time. Once I understood that a lot had occurred between the series and the movie, it all became clear to me.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009 5:57 PM

FREMDFIRMA

My opinion of the series has only improved, given the declining quality of the drivel on TV to compare it to - one reason I took up other media in hopes of something worth watching.

The movie, not so much, but like the rest of us, I'll take what I can get.

The comics, errm.. uhh.. I'll say nuttin.

I was thinkin about it, yanno much as I loved Firefly, one series hook would be coming around to a hundred years later on some OTHER down on his luck schlep finding Serenity in a junkyard and go from there, with occasional shout-backs to the original crew, like the question of who the hell felt the need to decorate the kitchen, etc.

Joss could even tie the stories of what mighta happened to the original cast in with the existing tale if he uses a subtle hand with that.

Speakin of other media, the personal interactions aspect that made Firefly what it is, I just recently saw an Anime that comes pretty close to that kinda thing.
Last Exile.
http://www.funimation.com/lastexile/

I think y'all might like it.

-F

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009 6:59 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

I still love it, but I still wish...

Select to view spoiler:

...they hadn't killed Wash and Book. :( And I wish...

... someone would hurry up and greenlight a sequel!

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009 10:56 PM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
I still love it, but I still wish...

Select to view spoiler:

...they hadn't killed Wash and Book. :( And I wish...

... someone would hurry up and greenlight a sequel!

Preee-quel - problem solved!

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 1:21 AM

WINDIE

Always liked the film but prefer the seris.

Although I will take what I can get.

Still holding and still waiting, I really do want more and unusually in a very selfish way.

Just seeing the Halloween episode of Castle made me want more.

Even my dad likes it and he hates Sci-Fi.

Not sure if everyone got the message but I want MORE!!!!!

Why have they taken the sky from ME

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 2:07 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

It's getting close to the point where I've seen Serenity almost as many times as I have the series. I still prefer the series but Serenity has not diminished with repeated viewings. I not only am a science fiction fan I am also a movie fan in general, and I consider myself a pretty good judge of film art. Joss did an incredible job on his first feature, and the only thing I would have changed in the BDM is the lighting in certain scenes. But the Blu-Ray helps out on those dark scenes quite a bit, so I can live with it.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 2:34 AM

CALHOUN

Like it more than ever especially now that i'm watching blu-ray 1080p on a 50" plasma with Onkyo receiver outputting DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (why wasn't it 7.1??)

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 3:16 AM

JONGSSTRAW

The BDM is a very different experience than the Series' episodes. It's dark and somewhat depressing. But there's enough of Firefly in it to make it work for me. I watch Serenity probably 4-5 times a year. I love the opening sequence leading up to the first appearance of Serenity roaring over the planet. It's still one of my all-time favorite movies.

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 4:19 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

I'm in the 'liked the series better' crowd. To me, the movie tried to tell too grand a story. I'd have preferred something more personal, rather than chases all across the 'verse, evil conspiracies, and endless space, gun, and martial arts battles.

And when you have an Operative down, finish him!

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 5:40 AM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

I, too, still prefer the series.
But the last time I looked at the BDM, I came away with a changed impression of The Operative. He's not just a mindless bad guy, some sort of evil personified.He chooses to do monstrous things, but he is in service of a goal, however that goal may be unworthy. And he is aware that what he's doing is evil, but he sees it as service to a higher good. And he realizes when his further efforts will no longer prevent his failure, and so stops, preventing further damage. It may be too late for changing his mind to do much good, but he does. It may be that a sensible person would have given up way before. And I find a little bit of sympathy for him. " Not , you know, a whole lot..."

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 9:01 AM

It's certainly not even close to my favorite film, but it's pretty good.

I think Aliens, and Blade Runner are better films.

Firefly was uncanny. The series was just mesmerizing. Serenity...not so much.

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 9:07 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Calhoun:
Like it more than ever especially now that i'm watching blu-ray 1080p on a 50" plasma with Onkyo receiver outputting DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (why wasn't it 7.1??)

Niiiice!

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 10:58 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

Quote:
Originally posted by Geezer:
To me, the movie tried to tell too grand a story. I'd have preferred something more personal...

I agree with the more personal, so I did something about that. The ending of Serenity came down to a choice between River being shot in the back by soldiers or the Operative granting her clemency. I feel that was a weakness in the movie. I though the screenplay needed to be far more intense, with Mal grabbing for life rather than the Alliance, alone, deciding who lives.

So I rewrote the scene years ago: http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=12835 The movie still ends exactly the same but Mal decides who survives, not the Alliance. All I did was add fireworks and crash a Reaver ship inside the hanger. Those Reavers are damn stubborn!

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 12:00 PM

KAREL

Flying on duct tape and a damaged registry.

In hindsight, Serenity feels like one big info dump. It had to be. Joss had to do too much in the movie. Info dump or not, I can barely remember seeing Serenity for the first time. I came out of the theater in a daze and my knees like Jell-O. I didn't really settle down and take it all in until I saw it the third time (of seven viewings right after it was released).

I wish now more than ever that Joss had the opportunity (and time) to tell his story in full. Make that "show his story", rather than "tell his story". I can only imagine what it would have been like had "River the Reaver Slayer" (*snort*) gotten her marbles back at the end of season, say, five?

MalsWay and I make it a point to watch the series and Serenity at least once before going to Dragon*Con every year. "Yep! Still heartbroken!"

"Whatever is wrong with you is so right for me." -- Marillion.

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Thursday, December 24, 2009 2:59 PM

GUITARANTIHERO

I put the film above the series, but that may be due to the fact that it's what made me a browncoat. I'd never seen the series prior to stumbling across the movie (which I expected to suck) on dvd. Now I've seen it all, more than a few times and place them both among my all time favorites. But the series was itself was a little inconsistent (which is somewhat to be expected in a young fledgling show.) Some episodes are fantastic, but there were a few missteps. On the whole, what we saw was merely scratching the surface of what was to come. It was definitely trending upwards. For a film to somehow compress all of those infinite possibilities into two hours, is too much to ask. But what it did do, was very powerfully wrap things up. If there is to be no more firefly, that was a great way to cap it off.

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Monday, December 28, 2009 1:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:
I think Aliens, and Blade Runner are better films.

I won't argue that because they are. I was speaking entirely subjectively here.
Like Frank Langella said in Cutthroat Island, "Love- who can explain it."

The laughing Chrisisall

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Monday, December 28, 2009 1:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:
The ending of Serenity came down to a choice between River being shot in the back by soldiers or the Operative granting her clemency. I feel that was a weakness in the movie.

I feel it was a strength. It was a moment when our BDH's, for all their good intentions & skills, were completely vulnerable. No super-hero crap, just people, depending on fate. A toss of a coin. Or a whim by a changed man.
It was beautiful.
IMO.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Monday, December 28, 2009 1:45 PM

KWICKO

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by two:
The ending of Serenity came down to a choice between River being shot in the back by soldiers or the Operative granting her clemency. I feel that was a weakness in the movie.
I feel it was a strength. It was a moment when our BDH's, for all their good intentions & skills, were completely vulnerable. No super-hero crap, just people, depending on fate. A toss of a coin. Or a whim by a changed man.
It was beautiful.
IMO.

The laughing Chrisisall

Yup. I found it beautiful and profound. To me, The Operative is now on a new path, a path which I feel is likely to find him behaving more like Shepherd Book than an operative. He's seen his perfect world realized, he's seen what it is he's been fighting for, and it's broken him. He now has to find a reason to live, something worth doing.

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

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Monday, December 28, 2009 2:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
The Operative is now on a new path, a path which I feel is likely to find him behaving more like Shepherd Book

Zactly. Like Batty letting Deckard live, and like Vader saving his son, the ability for one to change their ways from self-serving ideology to altruistic exploration is truly profound, and meaningful to those of us who think WE have it all figgered out.
I kinda like a movie to humble me... it's the Buddhist in me, I conjure.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Monday, December 28, 2009 2:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
I, too, still prefer the series.

This wasn't started as a comparison thread; I don't understand the need to state preferences here. OF COURSE some peeps prefer the series to the movie, but I'm just talkin' MOVIES.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Monday, December 28, 2009 3:19 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by two:
The ending of Serenity came down to a choice between River being shot in the back by soldiers or the Operative granting her clemency. I feel that was a weakness in the movie.
I feel it was a strength. It was a moment when our BDH's, for all their good intentions & skills, were completely vulnerable. No super-hero crap, just people, depending on fate. A toss of a coin. Or a whim by a changed man. It was beautiful. IMO.

Yes, the Operative had his beautiful and profound moment when says, “Stand down. It's finished. We're finished.” But those words were not in the shooting script.

The Operative's beautiful words were added months after final photography. The words were added after preview audiences had seen the movie. At that point it is too late to do much to a film on a tight budget. You can verify the shooting script on p.155-156 of Serenity - The Official Visual Companion by Joss Whedon.

I'll actually come to a point but first I've got more detail: Joss Whedon said in the commentary to the DVD where the Operative says, “Stand down. It's finished. We're finished.” --
“That whole sequence did not exist. Originally it went off on somebody about to pull the trigger and you found out after the funeral what had happened. But audiences weren't really keying into that. So it was the advice of the, again, invaluable Mary Parent, the executive on the thing, to actually hear him say “Stand down,” and understand that they had won because people were confused. Some people thought the movie was over. Some people thought that there had been a big fight and she had killed everybody. But we didn't actually have footage of everybody reacting to him saying, “Stand down.” So her look back to Mal is, I think, either reversed or taken after the fact. And those men putting their guns down, they're actually putting their guns down because I said, “Cut.” And we slowed it down and they have a new process whereby they can smooth it out. And if you look carefully, by the way, in the left hand frame somebody is putting down, not a gun, but a camera. But luckily it blows through pretty fast.”

If Joss Whedon had more money, he could have done more to fix the scene. I expanded the scene as if Joss had all the money in the world at http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=12835

I want to imagine that Joss would approve. I kept the beginning and ending of his original scene but I made everybody, including Jayne and Inara, more committed to each other than ever before. Because the crew of Serenity could not have known that the Operative was going to save their lives.

I know what went wrong!!! Joss cut too much from the original script. To see what he cut, go to page 183 of the Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives. It is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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Monday, December 28, 2009 5:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:
Yes, the Operative had his beautiful and profound moment when says, “Stand down. It's finished. We're finished.” But those words were not in the shooting script.

It's the final product that counts.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:09 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
It's the final product that counts

That is a Major Problem. The final product didn't earn enough money to justify immediately starting work on Serenity 2. A screenwriter, Alex Epstein, wrote about Serenity's failure to attract a big enough audience. http://complicationsensue.blogspot.com/2006/07/second-guessing-continu
ed.html Epstein convinced me that neither bad marketing nor stupid audiences were to blame for Serenity's weak box-office receipts.

Since we haven't got our Serenity 2, there has to be another reason why Serenity didn't make enough money. I place all the blame on one scene -- where Alliance soldiers knock down a wall behind River -- the same scene that Joss had already reworked once, after preview audiences saw it and were profoundly confused. Read Joss's commentary to the DVD, 12 inches above here. Since it was the final action scene in Serenity, it needed to be as powerful a scene as the last action scene in Avatar. If you've seen that very predictable movie, you know it's the one where Jake and Neytiri are alone and he is dying and she is crying. In the last action scene in Serenity, it's the Operative who is crying, for crying out loud.

That scene should NOT have been mainly about the Operative developing a semi-working conscience after years of being an assassin. ("asshole" I won't call him because that's so crude.) The final action scene should have been Serenity's crew getting ready to fight one last time. Then they almost die. We are so relieved when they live! We shout in victory!

The final action scene in Serenity with the Operative saving Mal's life was as if Col. Quaritch in Avatar suddenly decided that he won't murder Jake. Who the hell wants to see Quaritch's spiritual awakening? He's the damn villain. We want him to suffer and die. Predictably, he did and that was good for Avatar's box-office receipts. Unfortunately, Joss focused on the Operative's change of heart, which took away from the emotions that could have been raised in the audience. The audience should have been on the edge of their seats, anxious for several more minutes, hoping that the Alliance would, somehow, be defeated -- that the heroes would, somehow, live.

I know Joss could have done better than me, but my best effort to keep the audience on the edge of their seats is http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=12835 The Operative still gets his tearful moment and saves Mal's life, it's just that the Operative is not the main focus. The crew is the center. They have several tasks to complete before the soldiers arrive to kill them. The crew isn't lollygagging around, stoically waiting to be shot dead, like the actual movie Joss made, where River turned her head ever-so-slowly, Mal's nostrils flared, and Jayne raised his hands in surrender.

P.S. -- When Serenity 2 is filmed, I want the Operative to be in it because famous Chiwetel Ejiofor can sell tickets, which Universal needs to justify making Serenity 3 & 4. I want him to be a complicated mix of evil and good. I don't want him to be Shepherd Book, reincarnated, because an old preacher-man doesn't attract a movie audience.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:23 AM

RIVERLOVE

A friend at work loaned me Serenity one day to watch, and I had never heard of Firefly. I thought Serenity was pretty good, and definitely different than other sci-fi movies. Curiosity led me to buying the Firefly series. Once I went through that, the BDM made a lot more sense to me. My opinion of it has not changed in four years. I find it quite enjoyable every time I watch it.

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 5:13 AM

GWEK

In 2005, I really liked the movie, although I didn't love it as much as the series. As a movie, SERENITY is very s good. As a TV series, FIREFLY is gorram AMAZING.

(Although I will admit that 2006 made it very hard for me to pick the coolest sci fi moment of the year. It was a toss-up between Anakin and Kenobi drawing lightsabers on one another--a confrontation decades in the making--and the moment our beloved Serenity glided across the big screen.)

Four years later, my opinion is largely the same, but I have a little more respect for FIREFLY and a little less respect for SERENITY. I recently re-did all of Firefly canon (the series, the movie, and the two comic mini-series), and while the movie is still definitely very good, every time I see it, I am reminded of how the depth of it pales compared to the series.

FIREFLY, on the other hand, has only gotten better with time. In 2005, it had to contend with LOST in it's prime and THE SHIELD (two of the only shows that come close to matching the caliber of FIREFLY in my estimation). Now, LOST is a convoluted mess, and THE SHIELD is a bit of a memory. When we see DOLLHOUSE, even as it has gotten beter this season, we see how truly brilliant FIREFLY was.

So, four years later, I love FIREFLY all the more, and in doing so, love SERENITY a little less. :(

www.stillflying.net: "Here's how it might have been..."

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 5:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=12835

Well written! Very interesting. But y'know, I kinda like that they were so close to gone, had spent everything they had. Makes 'em more human that way IMO.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 6:06 AM

CORTEXOVERRIDE

I also prefer the series to the BDM, but still holding out for a sequel.

>>Cortex Override....
>Broad Wave Initiated...
>>SEND ALL<<<

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 6:07 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:
A screenwriter, Alex Epstein, wrote about Serenity's failure to attract a big enough audience. http://complicationsensue.blogspot.com/2006/07/second-guessing-continu
ed.html Epstein convinced me that neither bad marketing nor stupid audiences were to blame for Serenity's weak box-office receipts.

Balderdash. The main reason it didn't find a giant audience was the comfort factor. Peeps could not easily just slide into the move like a warm pair of pajamas. Even my best friend couldn't *get* the series, being entrenched in his developed fandom of Trek & Wars. It didn't instantly make sense to him, so he nixed it. To this day he says it's the out-of-place western vibe that turns him off- truth is, he won't lower shields long enough to allow himself to enjoy it.

Firefly & Serenity are not by-the-numbers-make-you-happy-happy pieces. The characters are not black & white. It's not a perfect future. And there is no fall of "the Empire."

Hey- I like Trek too, but that's not the only pattern to follow.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 6:18 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by two:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=12835
Well written! Very interesting. But y'know, I kinda like that they were so close to gone, had spent everything they had. Makes 'em more human that way IMO.
The laughing Chrisisall

A great ending to a poor movie can make the entire movie seem okay, maybe more than okay. A great ending to an pretty-good movie makes the movie seem stupendous, colossal, the biggest thing since Titanic or Avatar! And stupendous movies have big box-office receipts, which is what was needed to get Serenity 2 immediately into production back in 2005. Even if our Big Damn Heroes were exhausted when River returned from slaying Reavers, I think the Heroes had enough juice left in them to last 5 more minutes and give Serenity, the movie, a really great ending. They would have been doing it for us, their greatest fans. That's powerful motivation to keep going.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 6:24 AM

My older brother is like me. We both enjoy sci-fi a great deal.

Space 1999, The Starlost(yup I like this show too) Star trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Planet of the Apes.
Just a handful of shows we enjoyed.

So when I showed him the pilot of Firefly(Serenity parts 1, and 2) I thought he'd be all over it.

Nothing. Not a comment, chuckle...or anything was said after it finished. I thought this strange considering it is such an awesome pilot. I was at least hoping for "That was pretty good". Instead there was much silence.

In a last ditch effort to get him interested in the verse, I showed him Serenity the film. He promptly hated it.

I don't know what it is, and in a million years I couldn't explain why anyone in to sci-fi would not be receptive to this the series, or the film. But it does happen. People do hate Serenity.

Who would have thought?

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 7:32 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:
My older brother is like me. We both enjoy sci-fi a great deal.

Space 1999, The Starlost(yup I like this show too) Star trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Planet of the Apes.
Just a handful of shows we enjoyed.

So when I showed him the pilot of Firefly(Serenity parts 1, and 2) I thought he'd be all over it.

Nothing. Not a comment, chuckle...or anything was said after it finished. I thought this strange considering it is such an awesome pilot. I was at least hoping for "That was pretty good". Instead there was much silence.

In a last ditch effort to get him interested in the verse, I showed him Serenity the film. He promptly hated it.

I don't know what it is, and in a million years I couldn't explain why anyone in to sci-fi would not be receptive to this the series, or the film. But it does happen. People do hate Serenity.

Who would have thought?

Serenity did not need to attract everybody and his brother. There must be about a fifth of the US population that would go see a movie if it was a perfect sci-fi movie. Call that 60 million potentially. Serenity just needed to attract 10,000,000 people. Or 5,000,000 who see it twice. Or a million people like me. ( “Myriam, let's go to see Serenity.” She's married, her husband was away, and she demanded I take her out to eat and she picks the restaurant; I pay. I'm okay with that but we must go to the movie first. I don't want her to bailout after eating. I'm not some kind of loser who goes to the movies by himself. I the kind that goes with married women.) I think the cheap matinee movie tickets were $5.50 back in 2005. Serenity could have brought in $55,000,000 within the USA. But it actually brought in only $25,500,000 inside the USA http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=serenity.htm That was a soul-crushing disappointment. That kept us from getting Serenity 2, immediately. But someday... maybe...

For comparison purposes, Star Wars:Episode I - the Phantom Menace brought in $431,088,301 inside the USA and more around the world. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars.htm
And to be concise, Phantom Menace was poo-poo painted shiny gold. But everybody who has ever gone to a sci-fi movie bought one ticket, no matter how bad Menace was. And it was very bad.
http://geekblips.dailyradar.com/video/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-rev
iew-part-1-of-7/
http://www.aworldonfire.com/?p=3082

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 8:43 AM

RIVERLOVE

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:
My older brother is like me. We both enjoy sci-fi a great deal.

Space 1999, The Starlost(yup I like this show too) Star trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Planet of the Apes.
Just a handful of shows we enjoyed.

So when I showed him the pilot of Firefly(Serenity parts 1, and 2) I thought he'd be all over it.

Nothing. Not a comment, chuckle...or anything was said after it finished. I thought this strange considering it is such an awesome pilot. I was at least hoping for "That was pretty good". Instead there was much silence.

In a last ditch effort to get him interested in the verse, I showed him Serenity the film. He promptly hated it.

I don't know what it is, and in a million years I couldn't explain why anyone in to sci-fi would not be receptive to this the series, or the film. But it does happen. People do hate Serenity.

Who would have thought?

Browncoats come in all sizes, ages, and colors. And anyone can be a Browncoat if they desire. But to get to that starting point they must have a few necessary things like:

Above-average intelligence
Sense of humor
Love of dialogue
Love of characters

Star Wars and other sci-fi offerings including recent remakes of classics no longer have any of that. They have hollow and shallow characters, cute and cuddly creatures, absurd aliens, techno-gizmos galore, big space explosions, and incoherently boring dialogue. They are predictably pedantic puke for potheads and pathetics. Firefly proves that none of that is necessary. There's very little recognizable sci-fi dressing on the basic salad of Firefly's story-telling. If some people out there don't get it, then that says more about them than maybe you wanted to know.

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 9:27 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:

And to be concise, Phantom Menace was poo-poo painted shiny gold. But everybody who has ever gone to a sci-fi movie bought one ticket, no matter how bad Menace was. And it was very bad.

Because it had the name "Star Wars" and George Lucas linked to it, The Phantom Menace could have been a blank screen with the title pasted(in Star Wars font) on the big screen for 2 hours with musical score. It still would have made at least $100 million.

I'm not kidding.

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:06 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Still loving the film. Lack of a sequel? Not so much.

__________________________________________
Holding the line since December '02!

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

Color Officer / Battalion O.I.C.

http://76thbattalion.homestead.com/index.html

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Riverlove:
They are predictably pedantic puke for potheads and pathetics.

& punks.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:48 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:

Because it had the name "Star Wars" and George Lucas linked to it, The Phantom Menace could have been a blank screen with the title pasted(in Star Wars font) on the big screen for 2 hours with musical score. It still would have made at least $100 million.

I'm not kidding.

You're not wrong.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:54 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:
There must be about a fifth of the US population that would go see a movie if it was a perfect sci-fi movie.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:57 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:
But it does happen. People do hate Serenity.

Who would have thought?

I think it's a genetic thing.
Like being 'lergic to peanuts or something.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:

KHAAAANNN!!!!!

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:18 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:

KHAAAANNN!!!!!

LOL, I was actually commenting on the idea that fully one-fifth of our population would see a perfect SF film...

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:29 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by two:
There must be about a fifth of the US population that would go see a movie if it was a perfect sci-fi movie.

The laughing Chrisisall

When I wrote "fifth" I was thinking of an unnecessary, superfluous person -- a fifth wheel. People who watch science fiction are not serious people. They are superfluous. They are dwarfs. They are my people.

Getting slightly real for a moment, it really was about 60 million unique individuals ( children, their long-suffering parents, Asperger's, and engineers ) who purchased $431 million worth of Phantom Menace tickets. Hence, 1/5 or "fifth" of the USA is the maximum audience for science fiction movies like Serenity. Children and their long-suffering parents weren't going to Serenity because there was no Jar-Jar Binks. Maybe if Kaylee had some bunnies, puppies or kittens, more people would have come to the theater?

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 2:06 PM

Sorry, idiots rule.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 2:36 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Two, I disagree with your assessment of why Serenity was not more successful. It is not because the ending was not powerful enough but because not enough people saw the ending that Joss filmed. Period.

That can be attributed to two different factors. Universal left it up to the Browncoats to promote the movie, plus quite a few of us saw preview screenings and enough didn't like at least one major plot point and made a big stink about it. I am convinced many Firefly fans refused to see it in the theaters because of those reports.

Anyone else normally an SF fan but not familiar with the series wouldn't be attracted to a film titled Serenity, which does not conjure up the notion of science fiction in most people's minds.

And yet...

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 3:13 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
Anyone else normally an SF fan but not familiar with the series wouldn't be attracted to a film titled Serenity, which does not conjure up the notion of science fiction in most people's minds.

I can imagine the meeting between Joss Whedon and Mary Parent, Vice-Chairman of Universal Pictures. It goes something like this: "Sorry, Joss, we can't use Serenity as a title for your movie because Serenity® disposable absorbent underwear has enormous brand recognition in North America. Have you seen the ads with gray haired ladies doing Tai-Chi exercises?"

Joss had a vague recollection having seen those. Mary Parent continued, "An action movie with the name of an adult diaper will turn away a large segment of our target audience - everyone not wetting themselves. On the bright side, we will totally capture the 65 years and older female demographic!"

******

I have an alternative title for Serenity. Call it "Killer Angels." Why that title? Firefly was developed after Joss Whedon read The Killer Angels according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killer_Angels . Renaming Serenity to Killer Angels would have appealed to those who never heard of Firefly and want a violent movie.

I purchased the novel Killer Angels BECAUSE OF THE TITLE. I knew nothing about prizes it won. I saw no trailers for it and no TV commercials. If the novel had a different title (the title given the movie version was "Gettysburg") I would never have looked at the first page. Joss had two perfect reasons to recycle that novel's title on his movie - it is the original inspiration for Firefly; and River, Zoe, Inara, and Kaylee are the killer angels.

There is another Killer Angels, a 1989 Hong Kong movie with three female cops fighting a gang. The trailer is at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1569980697/ It has Moon Lee as a weak version of River Tam. Joss Whedon could have claimed, "Summer Glau's kung fu is stronger than Moon Lee's, therefore my movie is better!"

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:
"Sorry, Joss, we can't use Serenity as a title for your movie because Serenity® disposable absorbent underwear has enormous brand recognition in North America.

I sense the presence of John Lee here...

The laughing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, December 30, 2009 6:05 AM