Watch the First 9 Minutes of Serenity

An anonymous reader writes "As reported on FireflyFans.net, Universal is attempting further promotion of the sci-fi action film Serenity by making the first 9 minutes of the movie available online. The clip contains the opening backstory that sets an Alliance assassin on the trail of the ship's crew; it's an effective hook. On Yahoo movies, Serenity is ranked as the number 1 film currently in theaters and is hanging in a top-ten spot in the highest rated movies of all time. Slashdot has previously covered Orson Scott Card's review, the film's opening, an interview with Joss Whedon, and much more. It's all out of love..."

Comments

The Firefly TV episodes matter more

[Nonesuch]

I saw Serenity the week it had come out, and if SciFi hadn't just a few weeks back shown the first two episodes of the series again, I don't think I would have understood what happened in the movie.

The movie depends quite a bit on the overall backstory from the one season of the television show. If you haven't seen the show, it doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense.

Luckily "Firefly - The Complete Series" is available on DVD.

Re:The Firefly TV episodes matter more

[Supurcell]

I, and the people I was with, thought Serenity stood well on its own. Going in, I didn't know who the characters were, but on the way out I felt very attached to them. I never felt lost. I assume there were probably some jokes that I didn't get, because I didn't watch Firefly, but the movie was exciting and funny enough on its own.

What the Heck

[dduardo]

"Unfortunately, the Operating System you are currently using is unsupported."

Re:Site doesn't like Linux/Mozilla

[The Fanta Menace]

Here's the direct link to the video file, although I still don't know of a Linux player that can handle it:

http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/viv/39 29_Serenity_720.viv

Just finished watching

[colonslashslash]

Serenity at the local cinema with several friends, one, like me, was a fan of the short-lived Firefly series, and the other 3 had never seen it before. Everyone enjoyed the movie, and although obviously it's something that is going to appeal more to fans of the series (mostly because these people are more attached to the characters), it does work as a stand alone movie very well. The brilliantly delivered dry humour, drama and all out action sequences are more than enough to satisfy almost everyone in the audience.

The only shame I feel about this movie is that it is a gem released during such a mundane (IMHO) year for theatrical releases, so although it stands out from the 2005 crowd, that in itself unfortunately isn't saying much at all. Still, I'd recommend it very highly to those who havn't seen it yet. And if you are even a more moderate fan of the series, then what the hell are you waiting for? Gogogo.

One thing that did dissapoint me was the lack of the theme tune, unless I missed it, but I didn't hear even a snippet during the whole movie :-(

Re:Site doesn't like Linux/Mozilla

[Dlugar]

Here's the direct link to the video file, although I still don't know of a Linux player that can handle it

I've done some digging around and unfortunately it looks like:

1) The .viv file is some sort of propriety format
2) There's a Java archive (jar) on the page that is automatically selected for Windows or OS X that has a file extension of .jpeg[1]
3) Inside the Java archive is a Java applet, PlayerApplet.class, that apparently does nothing but act as a proxy for another file inside the class, a DLL file in the Windows version, probably something similar in the Linux version

Looks like we're out of luck.

Dlugar

[1] There are actually four files which you can find here:
http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/pl ayer/vivid_ocx.jpeg
http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/pl ayer/vivid_jni_ms.jpeg
http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/pl ayer/vivid_jni_osx.jpeg
http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/pl ayer/vivid_jni_sun.jpeg

They're each JAR files (which are basically just zip files) so the more enterprising can download them and figure out exactly what they do.

Re:The beginning is good

[Catbeller]

Whedon simply didn't get the difference between a solar system, a group of stars with solar systems, and a galaxy. He may have been straightened out later.

I was butting my head on this for a while: after all, if the new solar system was colonized by Earth, then - bloody hell! - they had interstellar drives. For hundreds of millons of passengers.

But the series never shows anyone making star hops. They're all fusion rockets, and they only travel a few million miles, spending weeks or days en route. Probably deuterium/tritium fueled.

What happened to the mighty starships? What happened to the Terran supertransports? And didn't anyone read "The High Frontier" on Earth? Why go to another star and terraform planets when you can stay around our solar system and build land areas in habitats with congomerate land area millions of times that of Earth's surface?

The confusion rattled me after I figured out that Serenity wasn't a starship. If the author can't figure out the difference between a solar system, a group of stars WITH solar systems, and a galaxy of Earths, he ain't writing science fiction -- he's using the form instead. Sci-Fi instead of SF. With the caveat that his universe doesn't make any sense.

However, I ignore all that and love the movie. I just wish they taught astronomy in writing classes.

Now available in QT, WMV & RealPlayer

[Cheshyre]

IFilm now has the first nine minutes available in three other formats: streaming Windows Media, QuickTime and Real Player

Are those more accessible to your OS?