Feature Friday: Serenity
It all started almost 9 years ago.
I had just recently met the Elfin Princess, and she got me hooked on a little known TV show on the then-struggling WB Network, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It wasn't long before Buffy took the world by storm, quickly becoming a world-wide phenomenon, due largely to the style and vision of one man, Joss Whedon.
Buffy ran for 7 years and launched a successful spin-off, Angel, which itself ran for 5 years.
Then, in the fall of 2002, Joss and his crack team of writers, including the lovely Jane, set to redefining the realm of science fiction. During his 2 week hiatus from Buffy & Angel, Whedon read The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, a great book about the Battle of Gettysburg. It got Joss to thinking about the Civil War, and how we, several generations apart, view it today. He wanted to do a show about the underdogs, the losers of a devastating war, and how they made their peace with it.
From that was born Firefly, a show that incorporated every genre, from comedy and drama to action and horror. Firefly had it all. It followed the crew of the cargo ship, Firefly-class 'Serenity,' as they make their way "just a little farther from the hand of the Alliance."
Serenity's captain, Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds, is a veteran of the losing side of a great civil war for independence. The winners, the Corporate Alliance, a conglomerate of what remains of the future United States and China, have very little regard for the opposing side, the 'Independents.' Or, as they are more commonly known, the Browncoats.
Unfortunately, the 'verse at large was not ready for a show that couldn't be pinned down into one particular marketing area. That, coupled with a Friday night timeslot, help bring about it's untimely demise. Only 14 episodes were ever made.
Now, the story should end here. TV show has a shot, viewing numbers are embarrassingly low, network decides to pull the plug. It's over. Move along.
Not so fast.
You'd be forgetting about the real world Browncoats. The rabid fanbase that just would not let the show die. The people who did all that they could to keep the show on the air. Who built numerous websites and wrote hundreds of thousands of letters and petitions. Who ran various vender tables in countless conventions to show the world their love of a virtually unknown television show.
And you'd be forgetting about the man Whedon himself. Whose passion and drive reached almost mythological proportions. A man who called in every favor owed him. Who was just as in love with the show as the actors and the fans combined.
And then, the impossible happened. 2005 saw the release of the motion picture, Serenity. The entire cast returned. Almost the entire crew. All working for nothing, just so this movie could be made.
And what a movie it was.
Title: Serenity
Year: 2005
Director: Joss Whedon
Staring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Krumholtz, Sarah Paulson
"The crew of Serenity will take any job, even if that job isn't exactly legal. Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Fillion) and his crew take small smuggling and robbery jobs to keep their ship afloat, and to stay under the radar of The Alliance. But when a doctor, Simon Tam (Maher) and his unstable, telepathic sister, River (Glau) join the crew, they get in much more trouble than they bargained for. A mysterious Alliance agent, known only as the Operative (Ejiofor), is after River, because she stumbled onto a secret no one was supposed to know... and The Alliance will do anything to get her back."
I've often called Serenity the "series finale that Firefly never got." It ties up several of the threads that the series never got to resolve. And we get to see our favorite characters go out with a flourish and take a bow.
You don't need to have seen the series to understand the movie, most of what you need to know is explained. But if you're a fan of the show, the movie is filled with subtle hints and gags that make the film that much more enjoyable.
I've had the pleasure of converting quite a few of my peeps over to the Browncoats. And while I don't think I'm as obnoxious and brow-beating as some of the more vocal fans, I do hope that more people will come to see and enjoy the movie as much as I have.
I would suggest that you do watch the series first, if only to heighten your overall enjoyment. Have a great weekend.
And the impossible just keeps coming. Tonight, June 23rd, the Studio Movie Grill in Addison is hosting a midnight screening of Serenity for Joss' favorite charity, Equality Now. (I have a couple of tickets available, if anyone's interested.)
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Mr. Whedon.
-Jos
"The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" ~Henry Ward Beecher
I had just recently met the Elfin Princess, and she got me hooked on a little known TV show on the then-struggling WB Network, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It wasn't long before Buffy took the world by storm, quickly becoming a world-wide phenomenon, due largely to the style and vision of one man, Joss Whedon.
Buffy ran for 7 years and launched a successful spin-off, Angel, which itself ran for 5 years.
Then, in the fall of 2002, Joss and his crack team of writers, including the lovely Jane, set to redefining the realm of science fiction. During his 2 week hiatus from Buffy & Angel, Whedon read The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, a great book about the Battle of Gettysburg. It got Joss to thinking about the Civil War, and how we, several generations apart, view it today. He wanted to do a show about the underdogs, the losers of a devastating war, and how they made their peace with it.
From that was born Firefly, a show that incorporated every genre, from comedy and drama to action and horror. Firefly had it all. It followed the crew of the cargo ship, Firefly-class 'Serenity,' as they make their way "just a little farther from the hand of the Alliance."
Serenity's captain, Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds, is a veteran of the losing side of a great civil war for independence. The winners, the Corporate Alliance, a conglomerate of what remains of the future United States and China, have very little regard for the opposing side, the 'Independents.' Or, as they are more commonly known, the Browncoats.
Unfortunately, the 'verse at large was not ready for a show that couldn't be pinned down into one particular marketing area. That, coupled with a Friday night timeslot, help bring about it's untimely demise. Only 14 episodes were ever made.
Now, the story should end here. TV show has a shot, viewing numbers are embarrassingly low, network decides to pull the plug. It's over. Move along.
Not so fast.
You'd be forgetting about the real world Browncoats. The rabid fanbase that just would not let the show die. The people who did all that they could to keep the show on the air. Who built numerous websites and wrote hundreds of thousands of letters and petitions. Who ran various vender tables in countless conventions to show the world their love of a virtually unknown television show.
And you'd be forgetting about the man Whedon himself. Whose passion and drive reached almost mythological proportions. A man who called in every favor owed him. Who was just as in love with the show as the actors and the fans combined.
And then, the impossible happened. 2005 saw the release of the motion picture, Serenity. The entire cast returned. Almost the entire crew. All working for nothing, just so this movie could be made.
And what a movie it was.
Title: Serenity
Year: 2005
Director: Joss Whedon
Staring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Krumholtz, Sarah Paulson
"The crew of Serenity will take any job, even if that job isn't exactly legal. Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Fillion) and his crew take small smuggling and robbery jobs to keep their ship afloat, and to stay under the radar of The Alliance. But when a doctor, Simon Tam (Maher) and his unstable, telepathic sister, River (Glau) join the crew, they get in much more trouble than they bargained for. A mysterious Alliance agent, known only as the Operative (Ejiofor), is after River, because she stumbled onto a secret no one was supposed to know... and The Alliance will do anything to get her back."
I've often called Serenity the "series finale that Firefly never got." It ties up several of the threads that the series never got to resolve. And we get to see our favorite characters go out with a flourish and take a bow.
You don't need to have seen the series to understand the movie, most of what you need to know is explained. But if you're a fan of the show, the movie is filled with subtle hints and gags that make the film that much more enjoyable.
I've had the pleasure of converting quite a few of my peeps over to the Browncoats. And while I don't think I'm as obnoxious and brow-beating as some of the more vocal fans, I do hope that more people will come to see and enjoy the movie as much as I have.
I would suggest that you do watch the series first, if only to heighten your overall enjoyment. Have a great weekend.
And the impossible just keeps coming. Tonight, June 23rd, the Studio Movie Grill in Addison is hosting a midnight screening of Serenity for Joss' favorite charity, Equality Now. (I have a couple of tickets available, if anyone's interested.)
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Mr. Whedon.
-Jos
"The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" ~Henry Ward Beecher
posted by Josh at
9:39 AM
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