Two Versions of Serenity (the ship) solved! by JavidRho

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Two Versions of Serenity (the ship) solved!

POSTED BY: JAVIDRHO
UPDATED: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 04:19
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Thursday, August 5, 2004 2:32 AM

I posted two versions of Serenity (the ship) yesterday in the Blue Sun Room.
link: http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=1665

One is the boxy version we have seen all over the web (and on the DVD cover) while the other streamlined version seems to be the one actually used one the show.

So, last night I rewatched the first three episodes and came up with this conclusion: The bulky well-known model was used in the Train Job, but after that, they switched over to the newer streamlined model. The episode "Serenity" actually used both models - but you can see that the newer model was only used in the updated scenes - those added later to spiff up the episode.

So, they changed ships on us - and none of us were aware until now? What kind of geeks are we anyway, to have missed this until now? We have "wasted" the past year debating the one-solar-system-versus-many question, and missed this little inconsistency.

I can only conclude, fellow browncoats, that none of us are the true sci-fi geeks we thought we were. The Trekers would laugh us out of the geek bars and make us remove the unneeded tape from our fake thick glasses.

Of course, this means that I am still a geek for discovering this, so I have to keep my taped glasses - damn!

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 2:43 AM

RELFEXIVE

No one spotted it? Cool!

That means we can be geeky without being Geeks... a slightly different state of being. And a better one, if you ask me.

Mal: "We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so... very... pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 3:04 AM

MIKECHANCE

You do realise that when someone calls you a geek and you say "No I ain't! I didn't know they switched ships on us!" That your gonna be a geek?

:P

That ain't no shepard...

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 8:11 AM

JAVIDRHO

You have to wonder if any of the self-professed geeks on either the old official firefly board or new official Serenity board are aware of this yet?
They certainly can't claim to "not care" about this sudden swapping of ships, since they (and we) have written volumes on every other possible discrepancies in the Firefly universe during the past year. They just missed it - that's all.

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 8:49 AM

SHINY

We were just waiting to see how long it would take you to figure it out. ;p

Jayne, your mouth is talkin. Might want to look into that.

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 9:39 AM

JAVIDRHO

Quote:
Originally posted by Shiny:
We were just waiting to see how long it would take you to figure it out. ;p

I appreciate that, Shiny!

Actually, I didn't so much figure it out - it just sort of dawned on me that something was not right. I'm embarrassed that it took me this long, considering how many times I've watched each of the episodes (so many times, in fact, that even my 13 month old daughter starts dancing when she hears the theme song).

I am also scientist, writer, and a 3D CGI model builder, so is is even more embarrassing that it took me this long to see that there were two ships used during the series. Maybe I'm not the Sci-fi uber-geek I used to be - age will do that, you know. How terribly sad for me...

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 9:49 AM

TIGER

Quote:
Originally posted by JavidRho:
The bulky well-known model was used in the Train Job, but after that, they switched over to the newer streamlined model. The episode "Serenity" actually used both models

Ya, know, I could hardly believe you at first, since I've seen the eps so many times. I went back and watched Serenity and The Train Job again, and of course, you're right.

I did notice that the new/sleeker version is used for most of Serenity. The boxier version only shows up in the flight from the reavers on Whitefall, and after.

It looks like both versions were used almost equally in The Train Job

I took a couple interesting screencaps while re-examining these eps.

Has anyone ever noticed the markings on Serenity's bow before? I sure didn't. I don't think you can see them unless you go frame by frame.

It may be a little hard to see in this sized-down version, but it looks to me like Wash is piloting while sitting on the console rather than behind it.

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 10:02 AM

SHINY

Quote:
Originally posted by Tiger:

Has anyone ever noticed the markings on Serenity's bow before? I sure didn't. I don't think you can see them unless you go frame by frame.

You mean the Serenity logo painted on the side of the bow, like the one in my avatar?

Jayne, your mouth is talkin. Might want to look into that.

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 10:06 AM

JAVIDRHO

Tiger,
The following link has some impressive hirez scans of the newer Serenity - taken from all sides. You can read the writing pretty easily on them.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/feature.asp?f=49

Leaving for the rest of the day - as Captain Picard would say, "The board is yours."

Ah, still a geek after all...

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 3:25 PM

GUNRUNNER

I think someone spoted this long ago. The creator of the Firefly transport for 'Orbiter' mentioned in the readme file that there were 5 diffrent versons.

From the read me...

Quote:
Jon Marcure: After reviewing a great many screen-captures I discovered at least 4 different versions not counting the full size set which pushed it to 5 different versions. In some cases the "Serenity", the name of the Firefly in the show, varied from slightly different from shot to shot to being completely different.

The Firefly CCG Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/FFCCG
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http://s8.invisionfree.com/FFCCG/
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Thursday, August 5, 2004 7:56 PM

KHAZARA

Wow! Good catch! How could we not have seen this before?!

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 8:35 PM

DAEDALUS

Here's what I think the lowdown is. The logo changing, more likely than not, an animation error. However, in response to the ship changing, I think this was a very deliberate touch. Throughout the series, the crew goes through economic highs and lows - meaning that things could break, be replaced, or even altered. I think Serenity is very much a work in progress. Mal didn't have much money starting out, and in the same way that people renovate a 'fix-er-upper' house, changes slowly keep the ship in repair, and modify and better existing components.

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 9:50 PM

JUTIN

I agree. Just as Joss has fixed up the ship for the BDM, since six months have passed and they mave have sold the Lassiter.

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Thursday, August 5, 2004 10:05 PM

SIKKUKUT

I dunno, those looked like pretty major structural changes, at least to the neck and bow. I'd honestly rather think of it as an animation issue than an in-universe one, but that's just my preference...

____________________________
"You're mean. Firefly's making me reconsider my lifelong devotion to Star Trek." --My mother

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Friday, August 6, 2004 4:55 PM

LTNOWIS

Quote:
six months have passed and they mave have sold the Lassiter.

Or they went back for Early's ship sold it. Or they ripped out Early's shiny, smooth metal and cooler buttons and replaced the interior surfaces of Serenity. Hopefully they'll have some lines about the new interior, to placate people who haven't thought about it.

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Tuesday, April 12, 2005 11:59 AM

BIOTECH

Quote:
Originally posted by Daedalus:
Here's what I think the lowdown is. The logo changing, more likely than not, an animation error. However, in response to the ship changing, I think this was a very deliberate touch. Throughout the series, the crew goes through economic highs and lows - meaning that things could break, be replaced, or even altered. I think Serenity is very much a work in progress. Mal didn't have much money starting out, and in the same way that people renovate a 'fix-er-upper' house, changes slowly keep the ship in repair, and modify and better existing components.

Of course that would only work if it didnt swap back and forth in the same episode.

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Monday, April 18, 2005 8:28 PM

DEADMAN

Hey all. I've been lurking for some time but I figured I'd weigh in on this.

There are actually 3 and only 3 versions of the ship used in the series.

I cant believe no one has figured out till now WHY, but as an aspiring animator myself the reason is obvious: The "boxy" version as you so call it is actually a "low-res" or lower polygon/detail version of the ship. The thrusters for example are mounted on little plates that stick out of the side, rather than being actually cut into the hull itself which costs you more triangles. This version of the ship is the lowest res/fastest to render model probably mostly for long distance shots, yet it was imbued with enough detail that it could be used in closeup shots as needed.

The second version is an "intermediate" version of the ship. The diffrences on this version are a bit more subtle, the wings have some of the detail bumpmapped as opposed to modled, the neck is a diffrent mesh and the swept housing for the spinny thing in the center is diffrent. This version gets used a lot, and they actually tend to swap out parts on it, which is why you think there are 4 models. Sometimes it has an addational ring segment in the back where the tail connects to the ship. Sometimes the tail (the "firefly" area.) which changes radically is the higher or lower res version. But the rest of the model is more or less the same.

The final model is of course, Serenity as we know her. High res, and easily the most complex of the models. The highest res model is also the sleekest interestingly enough.

Anyway, the only real diffrence between the animated serenities and the "live" or set one is a few subtle diffrences in the cockpit windows and the fact that the area in front of the ship pulls back on either side of the cargo bay door, where as on the set version its straight across. So there you have it. 3 Models and the sets.

Personally I'm surprised that the models of the ship are all so diffrent. They would have been built by diffrent people to make the most efficent use of studio time, but I would have thought they'd all be based off the exact same template.

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Tuesday, April 19, 2005 4:14 AM

BYTETHEBULLET

I asked in the other thread but I thought I would ask here too...were can I get a wallpaper sized version of the other ships? Any of them. I have the boxy version as my current wallpaper right now.

Thanks,
ByteTheBullet (-:

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Tuesday, April 19, 2005 4:19 AM

DEADMAN

Your best bet is either to go with a wallpaper made out of screencaptures, or to go with one of the well done images produced by fans which are based on the high-res version. Treybor's model seems to be a particular favorite.

Either way, check the blue room. Alternately, if you have photoshop skills you can head over to stillflying.net and pick up some screen caps to turn into a desktop.

"Also? I can kill you with my brain."
-River

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