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

Rotten Tomatoes

[andy4322]

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/serenity/

Currently 83% fresh!

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:Rotten Tomatoes

[Anthony Boyd]

Serenity looks like it should be called "The Adventures of Han Solo." Is this not just a Han Solo-like character in a Millennium Falcon-like ship doing what Han Solo did (smuggling), and avoiding the organized oppressive bad guys with bigger ships?

Hmm. Well, first, I'd pay good money to see a trilogy of movies about the early adventures of Han Solo, so although your comment sounds dismissive, to me it sounds quite enticing.

Having said that, if you mixed Han Solo up with some precogs from Minority Report, and added a bit of Johnny Mnemonic, you'd have a more accurate summary. But even that's not quite right. It needs a bit more to put it in a box. Maybe some Gattaca -- the idea of a perfect society, outsiders living free but in sometimes less than ideal conditions, hmm. Add in some of that "space western" from early, early Star Trek, and maybe that's it.

I don't know, I feel like I'm not putting it in a box very cleanly. Someone else could do it better, I'm sure. What I do know is that it's selling the movie short to just say "Han Solo."

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..

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

[Holi]

Unfortunately Fox owns the first broadcast rights to the show. So Joss would have to rename/rework the show so as not to infringe on Firefly.

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).

For the uninitiated

[stefanlasiewski]

For the uninitiated, Serenity is based on the short-lived Fox television show Firefly

If you're that uninitiated, you'll need to know this-- Slashdot is a "Web Site" where we talk about geeky things.

Surely, if anyone on Slashdot hasn't heard of Serenity, it would cause a quantum singularity and we would all get sucked into a blackhole.

Not to get all Treky or anything.

Firefly

[LiquidCoooled]

I heard all along that it was another sci-fi show that was from the creator of Buffy.
I left it alone because "another hit show from the writer of XYZ" is usually a steaming pile of bumpoo. This kind of hype is like a one hit wonder from the music charts trying to get his 2nd song sold.

I don't care who wrote it, I wanna know how good it is.

I'm currently half way through the dvd episodes and I'm hooked.
Why the hell didn't anyone tell me it was this good on its own merits?

Hope the movie is as good.

ps, even after my rant, how exactly do you hype a series about a rag tag group of cowboys flying around in a spaceship getting into scrapes? I've never been able to describe it to my friends properly.

Re:Firefly

[jason ward]

Now I went into this more excited about this movie than any other movie I've ever been to. My expectations were to be given the stars on a platter. While the movie didn't quite live up to that, it was still a damn good movie. It defiantly ranks as one of my favorites.

The back story for several key mysteries in the series were explored and laid open, which was nice I guess. I have to say that the best thing for Firefly was to be canceled when it did. That's what drove the Fans, and myself, into a frenzy. The mystery of it all. So many unanswered questions to make me want to know more. It made me watch it again and again hoping I'd read between the lines a little deeper to understand the way of it all. The mystery made me love the show more any anything.

There were parts in the movie that really moved me. Parts where the audience cheered and others where the silence was so deadening it broke your heart twice over. I don't know if people not having seen the show will have the same response, but I think they will. The movie does a good job making you feel for the characters.

But that's enough of that. See the movie. It's worth it.

This year in the movies

[ZachPruckowski]

It seems to me that this year has been a re-defining year in the movies. I think that in 5 years, we'll be able to point to this year as the year things changed.

The reason I say this is that what this summer proved is that movies now need more than pretty scenery and special effects to turn a profit in the box office. "Batman" had a deep story, and "War of the Worlds" was a remake of a classic. "Wedding Crashers" was hilarious. The movies that stunk, like "Stealth" and "The Island", didn't have anything more than special effects and good looking girls.

But "Cry_Wolf", a movie without any special effects, made it's money back 5-fold. It is possible that the same sort of thing will happen with Serenity. So if it does well, that may get us not only sequels, but movies with more plot and story and atmosphere, which would be great for us, as more sophisticated movie watchers.

Re:What does a noob need to know

[AdamTheBastard]

From what I have been told by my friends that went to the midnight screening (here in AUS) with me you need to know absolutly nothing.

Joss did such a good job introducing everyone that I don't think it would help for someone to try and cram that much back story into a /. post. I've seen it twice now (a preview screening and a midnight session) and I can tell you it is so amazing it wont matter how much or little you know about the 'verse.

I know I'm bias but I can't recommend this movie enough. The raw emotion that comes from the ship, the characters and the story is overpowering. The throwaway lines that make up Joss' work fit are always in the right places.

Trust me as much as you trust any slashdotter, but you will enjoy this movie.

A Consolidation of Reviews

[Hellboy0101]

To save time searching for reviews (if that's what you're looking for), here you go. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/serenity

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.

I saw it as a "noob"`

[acomj]

You need to know nothing. I never watched "firefly" and I got it. It takes a little bit to come together but it does.

Re:I like the clean look

[Salvo]

While Energy and Mineral Resources won't be as Scarce in a Futuristic Space Society, Communication and Community will be. Even in the Firefly 'Verse, which is set in a little "Planet Village", It still takes days, or even Months to travel between Colonies. FTL reduces that time period, but the three big FTL Mechanisms, (Warp Drive, Hyperspace and Wormholes) all violate most Laws of Physics.

Also, an Art Deco Space Ship would be impossible to keep clean. All that Polycarbonate (like in the Tantive IV of StarWars) scratches real easy (like my iPod), and Brushed Metal stains quickly when it get's some Body Oil on it. They'd need more Cleaning crew than Tech crew.

Re:Second Time, again

[AJWM]

"There's no indication in the series that she had been turned into the ultimate killing machine".

Huh ? What about that time when she killed several guards inside Niska's station with her eyes closed ?

Or when she tells Jayne "I can kill you with my mind" -- and neither he nor we know if she's kidding.

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:Group Gathereings: Vancouver BC

[wrecked]

Just saw it at the Paramount at 600 Burrard Street.

What is quite remarkable is that even though Serenity has been pre-screened what, 100 times? since May, you don't see cam torrents floating around. The restraint of the fan base from leaking spoilers and cams says a lot about their loyalty. Contrast that with say, the Hulk or Revenge of the Sith.

Here's hoping for the sequels.

Re:Informed users?

[Beolach]

Fox Networks screwed the show over pretty badly. The episodes have a pretty strong sequential order, and Fox aired them completely out of order: for example, the first episode that introduces the Captain & the ship was the last to be aired. The TV network just really mishandled the show, and then when (due to their mishandling) it didn't have a very high rating, they cancelled it before the season was even finished.

Anyway, even if you didn't catch any of the TV show, I'd still recommend seeing the movie: it doesn't require that you have seen any of the TV show to follow the plot, and is an excellent movie. If you like it, pick up the TV show's DVD box set.

Re:I like the clean look

[Mac Degger]

"Warp Drive, Hyperspace and Wormholes) all violate most Laws of Physics."

Actually, they don't. Wormholes however would take massive amounts of energy to hold open, and massive amounts of energy to enlarge from their planck lengths to a usable size.

Hyperspace is essentially travel through another set of dimensions than the 3 (+1 for time) we're used to. No violation of physics there, but we have no idea if there are more dimensions (although we do have good indicators). It's something we have very very little knowledge of; hyperspace is the farthest off of the three mentioned technologies, due to our massive lack of knowledge on the subject.

Warp drives are probably the least far off; they depend on warping space in front of you (compressing space-time) so that the journey through that space takes the same amount of time for the observer, but less for the rest of the universe...you travel the same distance, but because that 'distance' is smaller, when you get to your destination it turns out that you spent much less time traveling that distance. Or maybe you comprss space time to the rear, so that that space time ends up 'pushing' you forwards. Again, this is stuff we know little about (the actual geometry of space time, or rather how to influence it), mainly due to our lack of understanding of gravity (which somehow seems to tie in very much with rotation).

But anyway, neither of the technologies you mentioned violate known physics in any way. It's just that wormholes seem unpractical considering the energy requirements (although this might change when we get a better understanding of the structure of the universe), hyperspace is purely theoretical (idem ditto) and warp drive (ditto) which might be concievable when we detect our first gravitational wave.

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.

Alliance == giant != evil

[corporate zombie]

So the Alliance is giant but not evil.

http://homepage.mac.com/merussell/iblog/B835531044 /C1592678312/E20050916182427/index.html

Section II, first question.

M.E. Russel (Q): "Firefly" and "Serenity"'s political and cultural underpinnings are unusually well thought-out. You've obviously developed a whole system of planets, a Sino-American political system, a mix of languages. How long did the concept fester in your head before you started writing?

Joss Whedon (A): It festered for a while. It was probably two or three years after I came up with the idea that I made the TV show, a year-and-a-half doing that, and then a couple of years to write the movie. So it's had time to bake. And people are always like, "They're fighting an evil empire!" And I'm like, "Well, it's not really an evil empire." The trick was always to create something that was complex enough that you could bring some debate to it -- that it wasn't black-and-white. It wasn't, "If we hit this porthole in the Death Star, everything will be fine!" It was messier than that, and the messiest thing is that the government is basically benign. It's the most advanced culturally....

More of the same (not evil) later in the interview.

-CZ