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S E R E N I T Y

Thanks for the link! I was hoping there would be a trailer soon!

I borrowed Firefly on DVD and it's really a fun show. Doesn't take time to get into. How can Joss Whedon make living on such a miserable piece-of-junk spaceship, eating out of cans, under constant threat of death, seem so appealing?

Plus the ship is unarmed--pretty clever for an action show inspired partly by westerns! There's just a lot that's original about the Firefly world. A weird mix that they make work.

I never liked the sound of it and never gave it a chance. Same with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I could not have cared less about the concept behind either show. I was wrong on both counts.

sorryiwasdreami said:
From the trailer, it looks pretty good. Usually I like more subdued space movies; science-oriented ones like Stargate and Contact.
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Don't worry--it's intelligent I'm sure. As is pretty much anything from Joss Whedon if he's left alone to create without interference, which it sounds like he was this time.

DEFINITELY grab the DVDs of Firefly from the library or Amazon and check them out. Even "good" sci-fi on the movies and TV tends to be pretty bad in my opinion, if you compare it to other kinds of movies. But Firefly--and the new Battelstar Galactica--really stand out.

The original series was killed by Fox interference: they ran the episodes out of order and it made no sense that way! The DVD set restores them to their intended form.

The movie will stand alone and make sense to people who didn't watch the TV show, but it's a sequel to the show too, and there's 9 interesting characters with interesting stories on that ship, so don't miss out :)
 
Lacero said:
Acting seems really uninspired. And no big name actor to draw in the crowds. Looks like a dud to the general movie-going audience.
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Wasn't the same thing said about a little movie from a galaxy far far away?
 
Want to view the full-screen version without needing iTunes? Here you go :) 40.4 MB:

http://movies.apple.com/movies/universal/serenity/serenity_ifs2.mov

(I may try to use QT Pro to extract the video from the annoying Flash banners at top and bottom. The non-fullscreen versions don't have that stuff.)

Anyway, it looks great! It all looks much like the TV show (which is good). I'm glad they didn't change the ship. And the whole cast is there. (Except the villain is played be someone new--that's OK.) I didn't see the Shepherd in the trailer, but he's on the official site.

FYI The trailer definitely has spoilers for the TV series, so watch the DVDs before seeing the trailer if you want the full gradual revelation of certain surprises :)

I believe this is the first movie to use Foundation's "realistic camera" style of CG effects. I really like that look, and I'm sure it will catch on--jitter, focus "problems" and all. You don't even notice it, it's just natural--unlike so many 3D shots in movies.

Firefly was the first show to use that style, and Battlestar Galactica (also Foundation's work--and a great series) does now too. Trivia: in the BG miniseries, you can see Serenity fly past in one scene--an homage to Firefly :)

It seems like the movie DOES have sound in the vacuum of space (unlike the TV show) but that may be just the trailer. Not that I really mind the sound--but it was cool of the TV show to break the mold and do it realistically.
 
nagromme said:
Plus the ship is unarmed--pretty clever for an action show inspired partly by westerns! There's just a lot that's original about the Firefly world. A weird mix that they make work.
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Well it looks like Serenity ends up getting armed if you watch the trailer closely. But I don't think it is throughout the movie.

Strange that Book isn't shown much in the trailer. I remember that he and Wash were the last two to sign on but they both did, just seems kind of odd that you don't see him in the trailer, of course I haven't gone through frame by frame...yet.

This might mean we have to hire our first babysitter in September...
 
I don't know what "6 rebels" means but all 9 are in the movie

Kaylee's in the trailer--still with the hammock in the engine room. Book is not--but he IS in the cast list and in photos on the official site. Really, you don't see much of anyone in the trailer except Malcolm, River, and (I assume) Jubal. But a trailer is only a glimpse.

And I know what you mean about the weapons--there are some scenes where Serenity definitely has some added gear around the nose. In other scenes it's not there. Who knows?

I was hoping to learn more about the Shepherd and Inara. On Firefly, they both clearly have secrets they are hiding, and I can't imagine what! I know you can only do so much in one movie though--essentially like a double episode--so maybe this will be mainly about Simon and River.

Hopefully the show will return (not to the networks, maybe to cable?)--or else more movies--and the other mysteries can be explored :)

And unless I don't know what black smoke means, the Reavers are back :)

It's hard to imagine how they could get the movie going with all the crew having already met. How would they introduce them all? Maybe there's some backtracking/retelling of stuff from the TV show. (Mal's comments to Simon and to Jubal almost make it sound like he hasn't known them long.)

In other ways, the movie looks like a direct continuation of the final episode of Firefly. But I don't want spoilers, I'll find out in the fall :)

(BTW, option-click if you want to save that fullscreen movie I posted. QT Pro can't seem to save it.)
 
nagromme said:
Kaylee's in the trailer--still with the hammock in the engine room. Book is not--but he IS in the cast list and in photos on the official site. Really, you don't see much of anyone in the trailer except Malcolm, River, and (I assume) Jubal.
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I don't believe that it is Jubal, of course I could be wrong. The credit according to IMDB is "The Operative" which makes me think he is more of an alliance agent than a bounty hunter.

Kaylee is in the trailer a couple times when everyone is standing around in the cockpit. I double checked that one after going slowly through the trailer checking for Book.
 
Thanks nagromme for posting a downloadable version of the trailer. Now I can use this to show my parents instead of waiting for a dial-up download at their house.
 
Loved the series, definitely going to see the movie.

So here is my question, how much money does this movie have to make so that the next two get made?

Is there any chance of the series being renewed if the movies do well?
 
aswitcher said:
I really hope this movie spins up a new series.
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I seem to recall that when Universal bought the rights from 20th Century Fox there was a condition that they could not turn it back into a TV series. They can make as many movies as they want, though.
 
Firefly was great; the only really decent SF show since Babylon 5. It sounded kind of silly to me at first, and in fact I didn't care for the first episode much...turns out that was just more Fox meddling. ("Your pilot was too intellectual, give us guns and stuff!") But the rest of the series was really good, out-of-order or not. Then, of course, it was cancelled, with several unaired episodes. I gave up on TV entirely after that. (That wasn't the only reason, but hey.)

--Eric
 
Eric5h5 said:
Firefly was great; the only really decent SF show since Babylon 5. It sounded kind of silly to me at first, and in fact I didn't care for the first episode much...turns out that was just more Fox meddling. ("Your pilot was too intellectual, give us guns and stuff!") But the rest of the series was really good, out-of-order or not. Then, of course, it was cancelled, with several unaired episodes. I gave up on TV entirely after that. (That wasn't the only reason, but hey.)

--Eric
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That is what kills me the most. Fox cancelled firefly (and meddled with its production) but they keep a whole lot of other really bad shows. I can't stand to watch tv anymore.
 
Eric5h5 said:
Firefly was great; the only really decent SF show since Babylon 5.
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I used to like Star Trek TNG, and I think I might have liked Deep Space 9 if I'd tried it. Other than that... nothing! But now, do check out Battlestar Galactica. It really is well-done. Real character development, like Firefly/Serenity.

Fox sure did kill it. Advertising it as a non-serious show, when in fact it was serious... and then not even airing some episodes at all (they're in the DVD set), and running things out of order so the ongoing storyline made NO sense and you didn't know the characters!

At least Buffy and Angel died cleaner deaths, even if equally a shame. Then again, it sounds like they may live on in mini-series form, just like Firely lives on in the cinema :)
 
Macophile said:
I seem to recall that when Universal bought the rights from 20th Century Fox there was a condition that they could not turn it back into a TV series. They can make as many movies as they want, though.
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Alan Tudyk (Wash) has been quoted as saying that there's a three movie deal with Universal, so there should be two more Serenity/Firefly movies after this one (assuming it does well, of course).
 
nagromme said:
I used to like Star Trek TNG, and I think I might have liked Deep Space 9 if I'd tried it.
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I tried it for at least two entire seasons. What finally killed it for me was a THREE-part time-travel episode that managed to do less in those three parts than City on the Edge of Forever did in one.

Other than that... nothing! But now, do check out Battlestar Galactica.
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No TV, so I won't be checking it out. Probably would if I did though. I've heard other more or less positive things about it, but also some complaints that it often seems to not really be science fiction except for the conceit of being set in space. (And no, "science fiction" doesn't mean technobabble-of-the-week....)

--Eric
 
If you don't have a TV then you don't need sci-fi... you're living in the utopia of the future today :D I have one but thankfully don't turn it on that much.

I agree that BG is sometimes (certain episodes) a drama more than sci-fi--which I think is one of the things that makes it an ALL-around quality show rather than something fluffy and empty. But there's also some really interesting sci-fi stuff going on. What they've done with the Cylons sounded silly to me at first, but it's really pretty clever what they've done with them.

And a lot of the stuff IS sci-fi, but presented in such a matter-of-fact, realistic way that you aren't struck by it the way you would be in Star Trek. That's great in my book! Believable sci-fi rather than pure escapism. (Firefly shares some of that--although the tone is totally different.)

At the end of the day, they're both great storytelling, well-crafted on the screen. Few shows of ANY genre can truly say that. As you of all people already know ;)
 
nagromme said:
If you don't have a TV then you don't need sci-fi... you're living in the utopia of the future today :D
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Um...right, I'll just keep telling myself that. ;)

I agree that BG is sometimes (certain episodes) a drama more than sci-fi--which I think is one of the things that makes it an ALL-around quality show rather than something fluffy and empty.
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Hmm, well, Babylon 5 had its share of "pure drama" episodes, but it got away with it because of its serial nature. e.g., a novel doesn't need a new SF concept every chapter, but a short story anthology does need one for every story. Nothing whatsoever stands in the way of having actual, thoughtful SF concepts and real drama in the same episode...actually, the former makes the latter rather easier. But probably harder to sell to the suits. ("So, does this episode have lasers? Stuff blows up? Good, good, carry on....") But real SF doesn't mean techo-gizmos...throwing in some technobabble and fiddling about with reversing the tachyon particle emitters or whatever doesn't count as SF, with all due respect to latter-day Star Trek producers. ;) Firefly had quite a bit of interesting SF that wasn't lasers & stuff, a lot of social extrapolation and so on.

Anyway, like I said, I'd give BG a shot if I had TV.

--Eric
 
Yeah, I know what you mean. Both BG and Firefly had elements of self-contained episodes, and elements of ongoing storylines. Of the two, BG is more ongoing and less self-contained... but I wouldn't want to watch either one out of order.
 
H.264 really is impressive. The image clarity is astounding, even with the choppiness on my Mac mini. Just imagine that playing at 24-30 FPS. The year of HD is upon us, as Steve Jobs said.

<= now you know why I'm in a straitjacket. I must prevent myself from caving in and buying a PowerMac. :eek:
 
And I realize now that there's an even BIGGER version, 1080 format (129 MB) on that page for download: 1920x816!!

That screenshot is from the bigger version.

If you download the regular 1280 one, can you save it if you have QT Pro? Or does anyone know the direct link to it?

I'm on modem so I'm downloading the big 1920x816 one just because I'm sure it will download. But the 1280 one would have a better chance of playing remotely smoothly on my lowly G4.
 
I have a copy of Star Wars: Episode 2 in High Definition 1080i. The file is encoded in MPEG2 with a file size of a little over 12GB. I think with H.264 encoding, the file size would shrink down to between 4 and 6 GB in size, BUT with an encode that could be noticeable sharper and truer in color.

Yeah, once you go HD, you'll never want to watch anything in standard definition again. Hehe.
 
For any of you interested in the movie and want to see the back story it looks like the Sci-Fi channel has just picked up the original 15 episodes and plans to air them

link
 
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