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Thursday, September 29, 2005

Serenity now. Part II.

So I'd like to write up my comments on Serenity, and I'm going to try to be as non-spoiler-y as possible. But still, don't read any of this if you want to go into the film like driven snow being, uh, driven into the theater.

I'll start with the comment I just posted on Megan's blog:

My only problems with the movie (and here I'm getting into gentle spoiler territory) were the lovestory bits--I felt like I was adding in so much Zoe/Wash and Kaylee/Simon backstory from what I knew on the show. It made the climactic scenes that much more devastating, but I wonder if it would just be inexplicable to people who weren't already familiar with the material.

I liked how the Inara/Mal lovestory was kept kind of subtly unexplained, THAT worked perfectly. Although, did you think that Inara didn't really look that good? I decided after the film that she might just be one of those actresses who is really meant to work on TV.

Overall, it was a tremendous balancing act to keep it all running and I thought Joss did a spectacular job. I think Serenity is much more the heir-apparent to the original Star Wars legacy than any other science fiction film I've seen since.


The sequence at the beginning where the camera explores the ship as Mal moves around did an *excellent* job of introducing characters and making Serenity feel like a physical space. And while the River/Simon story got a bit of a reboot, I felt like it still had a similar emotional resonance and didn't contradict much of importance to the series (physical actions were different, yes, but they put the cast in the same *emotional* place, which is the most important aspect of continuity if you ask me).

Overall, Serenity lifts all the familiar pieces from Firefly and deftly reorganizes them on the board. There's no question that a person who hadn't seen the show could leap right into the film and understand and love it, while those of us who love the show will find new treats and twists & turns. I just hope it finds an audience, since mindshare out there seems pretty low.

To any of my friends out there who loved Buffy, imagine if Buffy had been cancelled after she killed the Master in season one. Imagine all the extraordinary storylines we never would have gotten to see! Then go see Serenity this weekend please. KTHXBYE.

Posted at 11:17 AM

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