TALES BY JOSS WHEDON

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 6:53:47 AM

Ok, so its no big surprise that Joss has been involved in a great many projects over the years, but there are some that I've yet to sample.

Today, I watched Titan A.E. for the very first time.
For those that don't know, it's an animated movie that was made in 2000 and was co-written by Joss Whedon and Ben Edlund.

The story tells of life after the destruction of Earth, where a young man reluctantly agrees to help a fellow human and his crew in tracking down a lost spaceship, which holds the key to humanity's survival.
Honestly, if it hadn't been for the presence of different alien races, Titan AE could easily be a part of the extended Firefly verse.

Titan was one of those films that, although it sounded interesting, I never actually got around to watching, even after learning of Joss Whedon's connection to it. In fact, it was only a chance-spotting of it in the tv schedule that urged me to finally check it out.
I didn't know what to expect. Just because Joss' name was on it, didn't mean that it would be any good. I've seen both Alien Resurrection and the original Buffy movie. Writing can easily get lost along the way.

I've got to say though, that I was pleasantly surprised.
This may be animated but it's no Disney film. There's no songs and dancing, not much in the way of comedy. This is a fairly straight and serious science fiction film that I imagine many younger children would find a little on the boring side.
That's not to say that its dull. Far from it, this has a sense of adventure reminiscent of the Star Wars films and a fair few twists that I'll readily admit I didn't see coming.
The characters were well-drawn and the story wasn't half bad too. In fact, halfway through I realised I had no idea where it was heading. And that's rare to find a film that you can't plot from beginning to end within the first five minutes.

The animation, I'll admit, took some getting used to. It's an odd blend of old-school animation mixed with CGI. At times the Drej ships looked like an element from an old Amiga game and seemed completely out of place. But when the visuals work, they are truly stunning, particularly during the flight through the clouds with the Wake Angels and in a couple of space sequences towards the end (no spoilers)

Upon viewing the movie a second time, I will probably be forced to pick it apart piece by piece, but until then I must say I was completely satisfied with it.

I think that any Browncoat that hasn't yet seen it should definitely track it down. Don't be put off by the fact that it's animated, or that much of the CGI is dated. Or even simply that it's just not Firefly.
Give it a go, you just might like it.