Serenity Opens Today

joemite writes "As every Browncoat knows, Serenity, the motion picture based on the Firefly series opened today. For the uninitiated, Serenity is based on the short-lived Fox television show Firefly (created by Joss Whedon, [Buffy the Vampire Slayer]), which follows a group of outlaws in a unique space-western universe. While there are no aliens or temporal anomalies, the stage is set for our group of heros to out-wit and out-strategize the giant and evil Alliance. Go out and watch the movie this weekend and see why the Firefly series is an Amazon.com best seller." If you're on the fence, reviews available at SFGate, Wired, the Seattle Times, and IGN.

Comments

Great movie with free market touches

[dada21]

Saw it this morning. I never go to the theater, either. Props to Marcus Theaters in Gurnee. Great sound, great visual focus. Benefit of missing Navy pay day by a day.

Serenity has great Free Market plot lines, just as Firefly did. My "beloved" LRC has some good insight here andhere.

Even the theme song is freedom loving:
Take my love.
  Take my land.
  Take me where I cannot stand.
  I don't care, I'm still free.
  You can't take the sky from me.
Take me out
  to the black.
  Tell 'em I ain't comin' back.
  Burn the land and boil the sea.
  You can't take the sky from me.
Have no place
  I can be
  Since I found Serenity.

To bad Whedon's a socialist. Weird.

Maybe we can change that. I'm ready to pay Joss Whedon a nice annual subscription to have him bring Firefly back (web based video, high quality codec) to an online format. Fuck ox and Cable producers. Anyone know of a way to contact him about the idea?

FWIW the movie does feel TV-ish. I'd like to know what it was filmed on and edited on.

Re:Great movie with free market touches

[Anonymous Coward]

To bad Whedon's a socialist. Weird.

Too bad you don't know what that means.

Re:Great movie with free market touches

[Deslock]

"It is, in fact, the leftists who have so little faith in fellow human beings that they believe a strong forceful central government is needed to get everything done."

You're describing authoritarians, not leftists/liberals. Some leftist beliefs are authoritarian (nuclear power limitations/regulations, environmental regulations, restrictions on tobacco advertising and use in public places, etc) and some are libertarian (gays have right to marry, less restrictions on most drugs, etc).

Likewise, some rightist/conservative beliefs are libertarian (market should be free of all regulations, tobacco should not be restricted, etc) while many are authoritarian (sexual practices should be regulated, gay couples should not have the same rights as heterosexual couples, use of drugs other than nicotine/caffeine/alcohol should be illegal, etc).

Re:Rotten Tomatoes

[BrynM]

I think this one-liner sums up what Sci-Fi has been starving for:

"Like watching the original Star Wars for the first time, or better yet, watching The Empire Strikes Back... Mal is a guy who would shoot Greedo first."
-- Fred Topel, ABOUT.COM

The episode that won me over for the show was The Train Job. (small spoiler) This "bad" guy is blabbering about how he would hunt Mal down and make him pay. Since Mal had him tied up and in front of a large turbine, he just kicked the "bad" guy into it. Ended the whole "threat to hunt you down" thing right there. These are the cutthroat actions you always knew Han Solo and Kirk were capable of, but never saw them do.

Re:I like the clean look

[LOTHAR, of the Hill]

The pilot wasn't very good. Just watch some of the other episodes. There's only six or so. It wont take long. It's the humor and cast chemistry that makes the show work. There's no science in the show, its pure entertainment.

Part of the point of Firefly that you miss in the pilot is that the captain and crew are fleeing the sterile, oppressive environment of Star Trek. In Firefly, the Federation/Alliance are the bad guys. The crew of Firefly want to live as they please. The life is crude and dirty, but they live every minute.

I didn't like Star Trek because it was overly contrived, condescending morality, and very little cast chemistry. It only got worse with each spinoff.

Re:I like the clean look

[forkazoo]

Strictly speaking, you only watched the first episode. Fox hated the actual pilot, and was not at all interested in airing it. AFAIK, it was first broadcast recently when sci-fi picked it up.

As for the clean look, after so many years of star trek, I find it boring. The Alliance in the show look very clean and proper. It makes an interesting contrast.

Re:I like the clean look

[dr00g911]

I believe Whedon has referred to the Enterprise-D as a "Floating Sheraton in Space"

I think it made me spit coffee out of my nose when I read that, and I'm a die hard trekkie as well.

There's something to be said for how much more interesting drama you can get when all of the main characters don't share the same ideals, though. The only thing keeping them together is that they're misfits and have no place in a society who has some rules that they don't believe in.

Re:Rotten Tomatoes

[duffahtolla]

"When you grow up, come join us adults in the real world, where taking something that isn't yours is never right."

Hey you!! Don't copy that floppy!! -- The Software Publishers Association

You wouldn't steal a purse would you? Downloading pirated films is stealing!! - anti-piracy advert

"Ahh, your a land developer? Please.. Have a seat.." -- Your elected officials

"We have documented more than 10,000 instances of government taking property from one person to give it to another in just the last five years."

the plaintiffs argued that it was not constitutional for the government to take private property from one individual or corporation and give it to another, simply because the other might put the property to a use that would generate higher tax revenue.(They Lost)

eminent domain today has degenerated into a means for politically connected developers to steal peoples' homes

Remember kids, it's not called stealing unless you are poor..