ATTENTION: REVIEW CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS
you've been warned
Down go the lights. Up comes the static and grain of the projection. Joss Whedon's clean cut but tired head appears on the screen.
There are no commercials, no previews. Wayne Brady isn't whoring for Will Rogers. This is an unfinished, rough cut of the little show that couldn't.
This is Serenity.
In 2002, Fox ran a Friday night death-slot sci-fi show about a small group of traders aboard a shipping freighter. The show held promise, but Fox ran the episodes out of order, on a bad day of the week and at a horrible time. The final episode was the pilot. Three episodes never aired.
In Fox's infinite wisdom, they canceled Firefly because of poor ratings and cost. The story seemed to wander, never find focus and eventually it lost what few viewers it had.
That is, according to the network.
What happened after the show aired, then canceled, can be placed in the Pantheon next to Farscape and Spencer for Hire. The fans amassed. Their voices were heard. Late in 2003, rumors begin swirling the net and convention circuit that Firefly would have a feature film. In March of 2004 that rumor was proven true as Universal announced officially that it was producing Serenity.
Now, more than a year later, the little show that couldn't has become the little movie that will.
For fans of the show, this will be a return to greatness. The show itself had a high budget, but it never appeared that anything was overly rendered. The world Whedon created was a real, tangible, plausible universe. A universe where American and Chinese cultures have merged. A universe in which there are no sound effects in space. A universe where people die, even though you may like them.
This had every part of why the show itself was such overlooked splendor. The writing, the acting, the staging and directing, are far beyond any sci-fi or action or adventure movie since the beginning of the genre. The film doesn't beat you over the head with special effects or bore you with plot lines so contrived you need to read comic books or novels to understand what's happening. It also delivers the history of the universe in a quick, painless prologue. It's perfect for the non-fanatic and allows the movie to stand on it's own. It pretends you've never seen a single episode of the doomed show.
Article comments
1 - Voracious Reader
Hurray! My fiance and I can't wait. I wish we'd known of the screenings, because we would have skipped work to have see it. We're already getting the word out, and I'm going to post something about it on my blog later today.
Thanks for the review.
Is it too much to hope that if the movie does well, they'll bring back the show on Fox?
2 - Ben Rollman
Not likely. Besides, I think in order for it to be produced, Universal bought the rights away from Fox.
Unless Universal also does television, I think you can pretty much count more shows out.
Plus, there are parts in the movie that really preclude it from going much further than one installment.
You'll see.
3 - Nicolette Rivers
I'm looking forward to this one to the point that I'll probably leave the little town I'll be living in and go on a long drive to Duluth. Bring it on!!
4 - Joel Caris
Voracious Reader--I would be surprised if the show returned, but it is always a possibility. However, if the movie does well, then Universal will greenlight two sequels. The cast is already signed. But it all depends on how well it does at the box office come September.
The movie is absolutely fantastic, by the way. I saw the screening last night and I should be getting my own review up on Blogcritics before too long.
5 - HLGEM
The screenings are a wonderful thing. I went to the Norfolk one lsat night and the movie is indeed shiny. In one word, I would describe it as intense. But mercifully Joss does humor well or I think I might have perished from the tension. I wanted to watch it again immediately and I have never felt that way after a movie.
To tell a funny story. One of my coworkers said to me today, "Do you know that they are making a Firefly movie to be released in September."
I said, "I saw it last night." It;s fun to gloat.
6 - DarkJester
I saw the screening in Chicago Thursday evening, and I can honestly say the ONLY time I've enjoyed a movie in a theater more was seeing the original Star Wars in '77. The theater was packed with fans, and we laughed, applauded and gasped together as the story unfolded.
Is this the best movie ever? No. But this film is/will be head and shoulders above most of what gets released into theaters today. It's going to be hard, waiting until September to see it again in its' final form.
7 - Marco
Sci-Fi (owned by universal) is going to be airing the 15 episodes of Firefly on fridays at 7pm as a lead in to their Sci-Fi Fridays. (SG1, Atlantis and BSG)
8 - Eric Berlin
How the hell do I hop on the screenings train? I live just outside of LA -- someone hook a BCer up!
Very relieved/happy to read your take on the film, Ben. I've been slightly gloomy ever since reading a fairly downbeat review in Ain't It Cool News a month or so ago.
Man, there are so many reasons why I hope the movie's great and finds a large audience. Most of all, perhaps, is because the world needs storyteller's like Joss Whedon. Well, scratch that. There's only one Whedon.
He's one unique and talented cat.
9 - Ben Rollman
I actually heard about the early May screenings too late, and then this last one only because another fan happened to stumble onto Fandango at just the right time. I'd keep an eye on the Browncoats website if you don't already.
I have too heard some bad things about it. The big thing is that it's too fast and doesn't allow non-fans to catch up. I totally disagree, but I'm a fan, so I'm biased.
10 - Eric Berlin
The review I read said that the fun, easy chemistry between the characters was lost in the film, replaced by a cold distance. That, if true, would be one of the worst things that could happen.
11 - LegendaryMonkey
Plus, there are parts in the movie that really preclude it from going much further than one installment.
You'll see.
Sorry to bring up a dead thread, but a friend just got me into Firefly (I love it!) and I read that Whedon had a three film deal on this. Not just one.
So that makes me wonder if they'll go ahead with a 2nd and 3rd movie despite whatever it was that happened in this one that was referenced above?
12 - Cadellin
Uh, this may be a little late, but I had never even heard of Firefly before I went to see Serenity, 14th October 2005 (yes I can even remember the precise date I loved it so much. I could tell you the time of the screening too if you wanted. :) ), and I loved it. I got the plot of the movie. It worked for a total newbie to the 'Verse. I came out of the theatre with my mouth hanging open and I wanted to just go back in and see it again. That movie made me go out and get the box set of Firefly dvd's. Having watched it again after seeing Firefly, some more of the jokes do jump out at you and you understand the relationship between Mal and Inara more, but like I said before, it works for a total stranger to the 'Verse.