Firefly/Serenity - Which did you like more?

[Cameraman Jenn]

Stupid stupid stupid Fox. Firefly was awesome.

[bloodguard bob]

Well I expect that they'll be kickin' themselves in the ass if it comes out.
Gee, I hope the set is still around, any Browncoats on The Watch?
I've gotten all excited about it now...
Gonna have to watch it through again this weekend.

[ItisWritten]

Just watched Serenity (with cast commentary) for nth time.

I know it didn't do well at the box office, but the quality of the movie had very little to do with that. Mistakes in marketing and the switch from spring to fall release were the cause.

Hmm. I wonder if a month is long enough between Firefly marathons?

[dANdeLION]

I watched Chuck for the first time monday, and was happy to see Adam Baldwin has a role in it. Of course, I'd prefer to see him as Jayne, but I'll take what I can get.

[kevinswatch]

I downloaded the series and the movie to my iPod to help with all of my travels this summer. Damn, what a fine, fine, television series.

-jay

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

The film was okay...more the standard scifi geek stuff with some decent scenes. But the show, aah...loved it.

[Orlion]

The film brought the series to a decent conclusion, but the actual series...Argh! (*WARNING: CRITIQUE OF WHEDON TO FOLLOW*) Fox, how come you have to ruin the one time Joss Whedon actually made something good?! And not just good, excellent![/b]

[CovenantJr]

Serenity was an enjoyable film, but the need for brevity messed up a lot of things. The character relationships were changed (notice how Simon goes from a disliked but respected member of Mal's crew in Firefly to an unwelcome freeloader in Serenity); some of the most interesting plot strands were abandoned (Book's past with the Alliance, for instance); and River's implied superhumanness was changed from vague and subtle to blundgeoningly explicit (from "I can kill you with my brain" and photographic memory to being Buffy Mark 2).

There were some excellent scenes in Serenity though. The one that really sticks in my memory is

Spoiler

leading the Reaver ships to the Alliance fleet. The emergence from the dust (or whatever it was; I forget) - Serenity alone at first, then seconds later pursued by an armada of Reaver ships - was spectacular.

[Endymion9]

I picked Firefly. Maybe I'm just so Summer Glau infatuated. I've loved everythign she is in, even the small parts in The 4400. And I loved her character in Firefly. The ultimate weapon mystique. In Serenity it seemed she became just another karate fighter. Good but not some ultimate weapon. She could be overwhelmed with numbers etc. The mystique was gone.

[matrixman]

I had posted my thoughts about Firefly and Serenity on Glurpworld, but neglected this thread. I watched the series and the movie on DVD only last year. (I watched Firefly first.)

Firefly

Disc One made a good early impression on me, but it was really the episodes on Disc Two that made me fall in love with the show. Disc Three cemented that love. By the end of Disc Four, I was about as ardent a fan of Firefly as anyone else, and ready to sic Reavers on the TV execs responsible for cancelling the show.

Firefly is so good in so many ways. It's not a one-trick show. At the top of the list must be the memorable characters, brought to life by the engaging actors who played them; each is a distinct person with his/her individual quirks and background. But they all click together as a compelling ensemble. You want to know more about them, the more you watch them. You care about what happens to them.

Then there's the very smart and funny dialogue. (And cursing in Chinese was a neat touch.) The writing on this show is just incredibly good - too good for TV, as they say. In lesser hands, the show could easily have been just a series of cliches from both the Western and Sci Fi genres. Actually, the show isn't afraid of those cliches - they just come out smelling nice and new after Joss Whedon's processed them in the Fresh-O-Matic of his mind.

The setting: I didn't have trouble accepting this melding of sci fi and westerns. Years ago, when I still disdained westerns, I might not have appreciated a show like this. I like to think I've moved on from that prejudiced position. There's really no reason why you can't mix horses and hyperspace, six-shooters and spacesuits. (Star Wars was a Western of sorts, I was just ignorant of it at the time, or I kept denying it.) So, that Old West feel to Firefly is something I genuinely enjoy.

The scenario of being hundreds of years in the future where a monolithic Alliance governs the galaxy is very cool as well. I liked Whedon's comment that the Alliance represented the "Star Trek" look of the future - all polished and perfect. Whereas the "backwater" worlds beyond the Alliance are the sort of places the Enterprise would overlook. (Which is somewhat unfair to Trek, since the Enterprise's mission is to explore new worlds...but I digress.)

The ship: Serenity is a lovable hunk o' junk, like the Millenium Falcon, but much more livable. It's a wonderful design. I also liked Whedon's rationale for choosing the word "firefly" to describe that class of vessel: seemingly insignificant or fragile on one hand, yet self-sufficient and capable of (surprising) power. And that is courtesy of Kaylee's wizardry in the engine room. Kaylee and Serenity are one, in a sense. I got that right away. Which naturally leads to...

Serenity

In the series, the ship lived up to its moniker as a place of calm and contemplation. The warm, earthy tones made it feel like home. But in the movie, the ship is anything but serene. This no doubt upset many fans of the show; I can see how the movie ship seems soulless in comparison to the TV ship. I too prefer Serenity as depicted on TV.

However, one of the movie's strengths is Jack Green's cinematography. I loved his work on Unforgiven and I love it here in Serenity. He gives a scene that kind of stark light that imbues everything with extra dramatic weight. So while the warmth of the TV series may have been sacrificed for dark intensity, the movie still offers beauty - just a different and more severe kind.

Also, the movie's fast (reckless?) pace makes for an exciting experience. You'd hardly know that 2 hours had gone by.

Still, Firefly was by far the superior experience for me. And like everyone else here, I was (and continue to be) frustrated by all the unresolved story threads. And while it's nice that some of those loose ends were apparently dealt with in comic book form (online), it's just not the same.

[Cagliostro]

I had been hearing talk about the wonders of Firefly for some time, and so I decided I should started watching. I picked up the first disk on Netflix, and enjoyed it, and was looking forward to more. Then I noticed it for around $20 at Target for the whole series, and picked it up. MM summed it up best - by the end of the second disk, I was in love. And disk 4, I was obsessed. I picked up the movie, and found it to be very disappointing, not only because it was the end of the show, but because of the body count. A lot of things just felt a little off about it, and having gone through it a second time, I still can't put my finger on what feels off. I guess the pace, really, and not enough time for the moments that make the show.
Objects In Space really is my favorite episode of the series. Early is one of the creepiest villians I have ever seen: smart, capable, and clearly insane. Kaylee's scenes in that are by far the most uncomfortable, and the actress did a fantastic job in that.

[ItisWritten]

I think what was hardest for fans of Firefly was that it was TV, with a pace that would see major changes occur slowly over 20 episode seasons. I could deal with those changes in characters at that pace.

Serenity was about cold hard facts that fans of the show just weren't ready for. The movie took the dream of the show in a direction I wasn't comfortable with, and I really enjoyed the movie.

After Serenity, there was no bringing back the Firefly we really wanted.

[CovenantJr]

Objects In Space really is my favorite episode of the series. Early is one of the creepiest villians I have ever seen: smart, capable, and clearly insane. Kaylee's scenes in that are by far the most uncomfortable, and the actress did a fantastic job in that.

Yes, Early is insane in a very convincing way. He's mostly rational, lucid and intelligent - but the direction of his rational thought is slightly skewed. I loved it that he was always so calm, and that he secretly knew he was insane but didn't want to face it. Cleverly done.

[matrixman]

Serenity was about cold hard facts that fans of the show just weren't ready for.

After Serenity, there was no bringing back the Firefly we really wanted.

That is a doubly depressing thought. But what "cold hard facts" are you referring to?

I picked up the movie, and found it to be very disappointing, not only because it was the end of the show, but because of the body count. A lot of things just felt a little off about it, and having gone through it a second time, I still can't put my finger on what feels off. I guess the pace, really, and not enough time for the moments that make the show.

Serenity does seem forced compared to Firefly. The movie misses the laid-back quality of the series.

Objects In Space really is my favorite episode of the series. Early is one of the creepiest villians I have ever seen: smart, capable, and clearly insane. Kaylee's scenes in that are by far the most uncomfortable, and the actress did a fantastic job in that.

That such a great episode became the unintended "finale" makes the show's demise that much more sad, as things were on a roll. To not even be granted the dignity of a full season's worth of episodes adds insult to injury.

[ItisWritten]

Serenity was about cold hard facts that fans of the show just weren't ready for.

After Serenity, there was no bringing back the Firefly we really wanted.

That is a doubly depressing thought. But what "cold hard facts" are you referring to?

That actors move on and they age, and getting the whole cast back now, even if they all wanted to, would be extremely difficult. For one thing, almost all the actors involved are extremely active with other roles and projects. What happened with the Star Trek cast was very unique, and to some extent sad, since Shatner and Nimoy were the only ones who appeared to get regular work.

Another is that Whedon does tend to change (re: kill off) characters. Serenity accelerated the process beyond what I expected. Damn, I still want Book's story told, as it would have unfolded over several episodes, before killing him off.

That flash that River got from Book in Objects in Space needs a proper explanation.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

Why couldn't the scifi channel purchase the rights to the show and ask Whedon to do a lower budget version?

[Cail]

Because Fox had no intention of selling it to them.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

There just going to sit on the DVD sales, huh? A-holes.

[ItisWritten]

There just going to sit on the DVD sales, huh? A-holes.

I think Whedon did shop Firefly, but couldn't find any takers, including Sci-Fi. At that time, Sci-Fi couldn't afford to continue Farscape and was about to be sold (Universal?). Perhaps if the timing had been different, Sci-Fi could have been showing Firefly and Battlestar.

Actually, it speaks more about the mind set of the networks. They rarely take a second look at good-but-canceled shows. I can't think of one example in which one of the major networks picked up a show that another had aired and canceled. UPN did pick up Buffy from the WB, but those 2 have since merged, and Buffy had 5 seasons and a steady fan base behind it.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

Too bad...while I wouldn't call it great, Firefly had something.