My son was on a riot act this weekend so I shouted, “Serenity Now!” to my wife. Over the past month, I discovered the little-known TV program, “FireFly” in limited reruns on SciFi Channel. Why limited? Because it appears Fox did such a poor job of marketing the programming and meddling in the creative aspects that the show was cancelled after only a few episodes. (Note to self: Don’t ever watch SciFi ever on Fox- remember Space: Above and Beyond? The suits don’t get it). Now I’m sure there is plenty of blame to go around, starting with naming a program “FireFly”…
Anyway, I initially hated the “country/western” aspects of the show but gave it two episodes. I had never heard of this Joss Whedon creator/writer/director/executive producer guy- I’m not a “Buffy” or “Angel” fan. What I did find was an amazingly well scripted show with edge, humor, culture, and of course, tech.
Since the cancellation of the TV show and it’s resurgence on SciFi, last week, “Serenity”- a major motion picture was released based on the TV show. My impression – Whedon is the next George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry rolled into one. With Star Trek so whitewashed and formulaic it is going to have to be re-“envisioned”, and Star Wars suffering from bad acting and even worse scriptwriting, Whedon slips into an opening here. And with a 4.25 out of 5 star average critic’s rating, let’s hope the audience shows up for it. I had a kick in the pants time and will go see it again- in the theater. High praise for any movie.
And what did my wife say? She “really really enjoyed it”.
5 responses to “Thoughts on Serenity – The Movie”
Well I actually read your blog for great tips and information — and I really should have already thanked you for that. . . however you helped me in a personal way. I sent this link to MY wife — she was "on the fence" regarding Serenity — but NOW we’re gonna go see it! (OK, after we find a sitter.)
Bet ya didn’t think you’d impact someone’s personal life did ya? ha ha
I thought i was the only fan of Space: Above and Beyond. I was crushed when they cancelled it and when they killed Wang in the last episode.
You can’t expect anything but Gold from the writing team of Glen Morgan and James Wong who wrote some of the best episodes and created some of the best characters of the X-Files.
Yeah i’m a sci-fi geek.
When Firefly came out, I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. The whole "It’s 1870 — but in space!" thing turned me off. But the movie was really good. It’ll be interesting to see where they go from here though.
I was completely put off by the western theme, then two episodes in, really came to enjoy it. I agree. It will be interesting 🙂
Never saw an episode of Firefly when it was out. I mean really, Bonanza in Space? But the advertisements for Serenity made me curious to go see it. Absolutely excellent film! So much so the wife and I saw it again the next week and ordered the entire series on DVD. I end every episode saying "I love this show!" What a bunch on ninnies at Fox!