Firefly / Serenity ? the Big Movie who watched it ?

Fence

Hugh Hefner wrote:

Yes, they changed the storyline from the show a little. In the show, other people smuggle her out for him. At least that's what he says.

Ah yes, but we can fan **** around that simply by saying that

Simon knew what a danger River was and so lied to Mal so he'd take the pair in.

Hugh Hefner

Can and will.


There's a short interview with Alan Tudyk (Wash) in the new Event Guide. So if you're in Virgin or wherever you might as well pick yourself up a free copy.

spooydermot

sutty wrote:

Spooy, what where the turn outs like in the cinema?

well i went to Santry Onmi (which I don't goto that often)cinema because UGC was sold out. In my experience theres never a lot of people in Santry cinema during the week (but maybe thats just when I'm there) but I'd say the cinema was about 70% full, but that said this was a thursday night, and the real opening is friday.

So far it seems to be getting good reviews and selling tickets so I'd say over all it'll do well.

Sarky

Blimey.

That was stunning, utterly stunning.

It's all been said before, really. Very true to the series, the acting was spot on. Bit of everything in there, especially big surprises.

I won't believe anyone who said they weren't surprised to learn the origin of the Reavers. And OMG, poor Wash...I nearly cried.

Went to the Eye in Galway. Even Hector's inane wittering couldn't spoil it for me. A friend of mine saw it in the Omniplex. Both screens were at least 70% full, which was nice to see.

If you watched the series and liked it, you'll love Serenity. If you didn't, you'll probably come out wanting to buy the DVDs. People who didn't get it or outright hated it seem to be in the minority.

Damn good film. I'll go watch it again soon.

Karl Hungus

Sarky wrote:

I won't believe anyone who said they weren't surprised to learn the origin of the Reavers.

On another message board I was involved in a discussion about Reavers, and we theorised that they were some kind of shock troops developed by the Alliance to instill fear and destroy moral, but after the war they were left drifting without a purpose. So in all honesty, it was no suprise.

sutty wrote:

As there are no "cyborgs" or anything of the sort in it.

Mr. Universe's cyberwife would be something of the sort, wouldn't it?

sutty

Karl Hungus wrote:

Mr. Universe's cyberwife would be something of the sort, wouldn't it?

Nope,

she was a robot, cyborgs are part living and part machine

Crucifix

I went to it today, and thought it was damn good. I've never seen anything from the series, but everything was nice and straight forward so I was never really lost. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the series at some point now.

spooydermot

Crucifix wrote:

I went to it today, and thought it was damn good. I've never seen anything from the series, but everything was nice and straight forward so I was never really lost. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the series at some point now.

keep and eye on play.com and sentit.com I got it quite cheap there a while ago, but it seems to be back to normal price of €43, they might have it on offer again. In fact i think HMV had it on sale a while ago for about €30 euro, it might still be that price.

Crash

returned to it this evening - i think everyone who's read the serenity board knows how i feel about it

unfortunately i went to see it in Dundrum, which was "teh ghey" - note to self, do not return to dundrum.

tetsujin1979

I saw it last night, after having seen a few episodes of the series.
First off, I was impressed with the series. Not with the sci-fi of it, but with the scripts, the characters and the way they interacted with each other. Very dysfunctional but still willing to work with each other for the common good.
As for the film I found the first 20 minutes or so to be very slow, but I accept that it had to be in order to make it acceptable to people who have not seen the show and need to get introduced to the characters on the boat.
Following that I thought that it was excellent. The plot, the development of the characters, the SFX, all will be displayed in future classes of "how to make a good space opera", while Episode I will be the primary text in the "how to please the least amount of people and make the most amount of money" class.
There are definite similarities with the fighters in the original Star Wars trilogy and the Serenity's appearance, very much battle scarred and gives a definite feel of flying by the seat of your pants - compare and contrast with the X-Wings and the Millenium Falcon (the MF is still the king BTW).
I don't want to reveal any part of the plot, suffice it to say that a doctor and his doctored sister have bought passage on a pirate ship of sorts and someone wants the girl back for various reasons, all the while the threat of the mythical Reavers lurks in the background. Needless to say the heroic/moralistic/stupid (delete according to you preference) captain refuses to give up the girl and hilarity ensues. No, wait, it doesn't. Violence ensues, that's it.
The only problem I had with the film was the intensely stylised speech of the crew, sort of the way a red neck hillbilly harvard english grad with a penchant for sarcasm and pop-culture reference would talk. It did remind me a lot of the last few series of Buffy and Angel. And in a weird way, The OC. It does go a long way to show us what our small screens have been missing since the demise of the latter 2.

Short review: Go and see it. Your end of year cinema review will be all the better for it.

Hobbes

You can watch the first ten minutes of the movie for free, basically the backplot.

http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/index.html

TetsuoHashimoto

Here are a few fansite clips from the original show

http://easylink.playstream.com/fireflyonline/oogtra.wvx
http://www.fangirl.nu/gogocactusman.rm
http://www.strangefinger.com/riverhill.mpg

I wonder if the movie is good, some critics say its well done
here's what is said at the board
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=310688

Full_Circle

Huh, already posted on a similar thread on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy board, but I guess it works here too:

Went to see Serenity on Friday night and really enjoyed it.

Been patiently awaiting its release for months, and that only made my expectations for the film abnormally high. Happy to report that I came out of the cinema feeling totally satisfied

I feel that even though Whedon managed to create a functional story with the two hours he was given (and one with particular relevence to the characters and overarching plot of the series), its still very necessary for people to have seen the Firefly series beforehand. Otherwise they wont appreciate all the nuances of the characters or fully understand the history of their relationships.

Sadly, the film suffers from the same problem that afflicted the Next Generation movies. Given the short running time, only particular characters (from an ensemble TV show) were focused on in any great detail. Not everyone will be happy with this, but if you treat this movie as an extra long episode of the show, there is nothing to complain about. And really, all I wanted from Serenity was a little more Firefly, and thats exactly what I got

The Whedon wit is still there, and the action has been amped up quite a bit (with just a touch of violence, for those folk partial to such behaviour!). The effects are (just like in the series) suitablely spectacular. And I was delighted to see that they have finally perfected the hovercraft, after its abysmal appearance in "Heart of Gold" :rolleyes:

Basq

Hadn't seen 'Firefly' before and as a complete non-Whedon head (in other words, absolutely hated Buffy and Angel). But after hearing so much about 'Serenity' on the way and being recommended the show by ixoy and many others in a thread i made a month or two back, I got the full series and watched it practically in one sitting. What an amazing show!

And now onto the film... went to the cinema to see it with my girlfriend who loved the series and 2 mates who hadn't seen or heard anything about 'Firefly' besides watching the 'Serenity' trailer (but one is a big 'Star Wars' fan so i kept quoting that infamous reviewer quote about tying George Lucas down to a chair and making him watch Serenity 5 times so he can see how a proper space movie is made... quote is something to that effect).

Anyways.. i absolutely loved it. Had one major probem with it which i'll get onto. What i did like:

Jayne / Mal's wisecracks were still on top form, some fantastic fight scenes between Mal / The Operative and River / everyone else (:D), how Zoe / Mal (Zoe especially) showed absolutely no emotion / sign of weakness at Wash's death in Mr. Universe's compound, the closing shot of another piece of the ship falling off with Mal saying "what was that?"... and so much more as i'd be here all day listing what i liked!

Two small comments:

did Reaver's remind anyone else of Orcs from LOTR? Also, didn't Mal do that ".. i want a pony etc." line (or something to that effect) when Innara was praying at some point in the series?

The one major problem i had about the film:

Simon and Kaylee hooking up - it just seemed like the only reason they got together in the film was it was something Whedon probably regretted not doing in the lifespan of the show. It just felt too planned for the film.. didn't like it!

What suprised me was my girlfriend was disappointed by it. She felt it didn't explain the River / Simon situation very well but i thought they did it quite well but my mates (who hadn't seen 'Firefly') were somewhat confused during bits of it. But i agree with most people.. you had to see the 'Firefly' series to really appreciate a lot of the film:

Mal's bumpy relationship with Inara, the conflict with Jayne regarding River and Simon, Wash / Shepard's death would not have been nearly as shocking if you weren't a 'Firefly' fan and sat through 14 episodes with these two guys, Simon and Kaylee's relationship

But the real question that plagued me after seeing the film: would you prefer another film (which is pretty much bound to happen) or would you prefer a revival of the TV series (will never happen)? My view: the film was great.. sequels typically aren't. Based on the film and the TV series, i have enough faith in Whedon's writing to make a decent sequel. But a bad episode and a bad movie are very different. My opinion: if i had the choice, i'd bring back the TV show. Be interested in hearing other views so i'll post up a poll in the 'Serenity' section.

Rating: 8.5 / 10

PS - any 'Lost' fans spot Michael's ex-wife as River's teacher in the film?

D

Saw this yesterday. Had no prior knowledge about film, never even heard of Firefly. I enjoyed it, thought it was good the whole way through apart from 3 bits in the film.

The "Americana/Patriotism" speech when they find out the "secret", and the brother and engineer love talk at the make shift barricades. These two points were counterbalanced by things going boom afterwards. Towards the end after River had beaten up all the Reavers and stood there with the sword and axe with the over-used stance, with the head tilted forward and looking up at the people through the hair was really corny! As before though, enjoyable movie, one question to the long term fans. Is the film set before or after the series?

Basq

D wrote:

..

Is the film set before or after the series?

..

After the series.. as Innara threatens to leave in the 2nd last episode of the series ('Hearts Of Gold' if i recall correctly). And as the film progresses.. we learn that she has left the ship.

Karl Hungus

D wrote:

Is the film set before or after the series?

After.

Hugh Hefner

basquille wrote:

After the series.. as Innara threatens to leave in the 2nd last episode of the series ('Hearts Of Gold' if i recall correctly). And as the film progresses.. we learn that she has left the ship.

In the comics you get to see her leave.

TetsuoHashimoto

you can view a 9 min preview of the film
http://video.vividas.com/CDN1/3929_Serenity/web/index.html

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2681478?htv=12&htv=12

I'm going to watch this

TetsuoHashimoto

I found some more big clips of the original Tv show
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/ugo/ugo/tv/firefly/firefly_06.wvx
http://moon-catchin.net/firefly/FFMV-bdw.avi
http://www.edgeofthehill.com/Firefly/Die_Another_Day.wmv
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/ugo/ugo/tv/firefly/firefly_01.wvx
looks pretty good

RuggieBear

loved it.....funny and moving and awesome

ixoy

Boxofficemojo are placing it at #9 in only its 2nd week out, suffering a massive 51% drop-off. I assume its because all the fans saw it the first week and it's not getting enough repeat business or convincing word-of-mouth. Its very poor total haul so far isn't a good sign for a sequel. Maybe it'll do better in the overseas market but only $1m overseas totall accounted for so far - not good either...

BlitzKrieg

dvd sales can still save it though? Might not get a sequel, but could encourage a new series?

Mr. Fancypants

Saw it today in Dundrum. Excellent film and would recommend it to anyone. However, the cinema in Dundrum is awful.
The computer system was down when we arrived so they had trouble with our prebooking (in fairness to the staff they were very helpful with this)
3 out of the 4 drinks machines i tried weren't working.
The cinema that Serenity was on was tiny.
The sound wasn't right at all. The vocals were coming from the front and from the side causing it to sound like sentences were being repeated a micro second after you have heard them. The music and sound effects just didnt sound right. Will have to check the dvd out for what it should be like.
There was a big green exit sign directly beside the screen causing a big green glow on good portion of the screen.
The projectionist kept turning on the light in his room!

I still enjoyed the film a lot but won't be heading back to Dundrum in a hurry anyhow.

Daelus

Just brought another friend to see 'Serenity' - a guy who goes out of his way to bash sci-fi - and he loved it.

mycroft

basquille wrote:

Jayne / Mal's wisecracks were still on top form, some fantastic fight scenes between Mal / The Operative and River / everyone else (:D), how Zoe / Mal (Zoe especially) showed absolutely no emotion / sign of weakness at Wash's death in Mr. Universe's compound, the

Two points I was so emotionally invested at the

jesus wept! is serenity going to survive this, the death of Wash, knocked me for six. I was just concerned about the 10th character, and how beat up it was, that when Wash died, I was just open jawed.

The second is they do deal with Wash's death, Kael's "hey where's Wash, and Zoe's grim faced determination, loading her shotgun, and later going nuts. She's a military chick, she's seen whole platoons of friends get slaughtered she dealt with it as she knew how. And that scene at the end between herself and Mal, talking about how the "ship" was holding up was classic Zoe, Mal and classic Weddon.

Two small comments:

did Reaver's remind anyone else of Orcs from LOTR? Also, didn't Mal do that ".. i want a pony etc." line (or something to that effect) when Innara was praying at some point in the series?

No sorry. He didn't.

The one major problem i had about the film:

Simon and Kaylee hooking up - it just seemed like the only reason they got together in the film was it was something Whedon probably regretted not doing in the lifespan of the show. It just felt too planned for the film.. didn't like it!

Well not really the will they won't they was a major issue in the story of the series, a lesser writer would have ditched those scenes, but to give two unrelated characters such intense dialogue really liven things up and made it stand out from the crowd, plus we'd have never have got the line

i've had naught twix my nethers, thats not been powered by batteries, for nigh on a year!

I enjoyed it immensely my girlfriend caught a preview a month ago. And has been biting her lip. Again I'd have prefered a series. I'd have prefered another tv series, overall. But in the words of tycho from penny arcade, "any firefly is better than no firefly"

Dermo

Sarky wrote:

I won't believe anyone who said they weren't surprised to learn the origin of the Reavers. And OMG, poor Wash...I nearly cried.

I don't cry, but goddamn, I loved Wash, he was my fav charactor, and I just had to shed a tear.

On the topic of the Reavers when we saw the HUGE gap around Miranda and being told it's full of Reavers, I kind of guessed that the Reavers had come from that planet and had something to do with the alliance, but didn't grasp it all

oh and this is my fav movie this year for definatly. Was well worth watching the whole of the series again and then off to the movie afterwards. Now I just need to do it all again

Earthhorse

Hugh Hefner wrote:

In the comics you get to see her leave.

I thought we only see Mal imagining her leave. Or maybe he is meant to be remembering her leave.

Have to read these again.

Hugh Hefner

Earthhorse wrote:

I thought we only see Mal imagining her leave. Or maybe he is meant to be remembering her leave.

Have to read these again.

The way I interpreted it was that we see her actually leaving and then jump in to the future seeing Mal saying what he really should have but didn't.

TetsuoHashimoto

is it easy to get your hands on the original Tv show ?