[No Spoilers] On DVD Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005


I went to a preview of the new movie Serenity. For those Firefly fans, it really does hit the spot. For those unfamiliar, I included a cheat sheet I made. The movie is definitely interesting from a cinematography standpoint right from the Universal logo at the beginning. Plot is consistent, and the movie is fast paced (maybe too fast paced). Some nice freedom statements, which I may post a synopsis in a few weeks after it hits much of the world. It gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from me.

It is a grand romp! Some big surprises. Whedon is not afraid to do things not normally seen. There are some genuine belly laughs present. Good writing, acting, and character development weaved into a compelling story that has a genuine resolution.

Serenity, in a nutshell
For audiences that have not seen the TV series

Serenity, is a major motion picture focused on two character's lives: Malcolm Reynolds and River Tam. It is a continuation of a failed television series, Firefly, that was cancelled after 11 episodes, after a cancellation insuring Friday night schedule, in which FOX insisted on showing episodes out of order and interrupted by baseball games.

Remarkably, fans wouldn’t allow the signal to be stopped. Neither would Firefly’s creator, Joss Whedon, best known as the creator of the TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The impossibility of a cancelled TV series getting $40 million to make a movie alone should tweak your interest.

Fortunately, you do not need to have seen the TV series to follow the movie, but viewing the delightful and best selling DVD set, Firefly, does help breathe more life into understanding the characters. For fans of the show, Serenity is Director Whedon’s vision of where the TV show would have ended up at the end of season two. He definitely provides former viewers with answers to the mystery of River Tam, without requiring those who have not seen the show to previously learn anything about the characters. But if you are curious ....

What is important for a person to know going into the movie is that 500 years in the future, Earth is used up. A new solar system has been colonized by transforming the planets and moons into Earthlike environments. Such terraforming is a hard, long and arduous process. Those who move onto the planets first have first claim, but the hardest time of it, since the planet is still turning earthlike.

In many ways Serenity is a western shot in a science fiction motif. There are pioneers eking out a living on the outer worlds. The inner worlds were terraformed first, and have been around the longest. It is the inner worlds that are “civilized.” It is the inner worlds that formed the Alliance, who demand allegiance of all.

The outer planets resisted being incorporated into the Alliance, and fought a war to remain independent. They lost. Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), Mal for short, was a former sergeant in the army of the Independents, on the losing side of a civil war with the Alliance.

Six years later, ex-Sgt. Reynolds buys a Firefly class transport ship at a junk yard, and restores it. He names it Serenity, after his last major battle of the war at Serenity Valley, where virtually all of his soldiers were forsaken by his commanders, and slaughtered by the Alliance.

The Corporal who fought with him at his side, Zoë (Gina Torres) is now his First Officer. They have picked up a Ship’s Pilot, Wash (Alan Tudyk), who is now married to Zoë. And a Ship’s Mechanic, Kaylee (Jewel Straite). And a “public relations officer.” Well more of a mercenary actually, named Jayne (Adam Baldwin), who as Browncoats have posted, really puts the Me in Mercenary. [Browncoats was the nickname given Independent soldiers, and has become slang for rabid fans of Firefly and Serenity.]

They had a Registered Companion onboard, Inara (Morena Baccarin), who had rented one of Serenity’s two shuttles for her business, prostitution, which lends respectability to Mal’s operation. She now runs a training house on one of the outworlds.

Mal’s trade is operating a cargo transport, and guns for hire on the outer rim of the solar system. Whenever civilization begins to show up, he moves his ship a little further from the Alliance’s grasp.

Serenity’s crew are the bad guys. To supplement their honest labor they smuggle untaxed cargo, and pull off petty robberies, knocking over Alliance supported assets. And these are the good guys in the movie. This is one of the great, twisted plots that makes Serenity and Firefly so darned good. The characters have great three dimensional background, and a lot of flaws, quirks and quips. The actors are really committed to their roles, and it shows. [The cussing is in Chinese.]

Along the way they had picked up a passenger, Sheppard Book (Ron Glass), a preacher on a ship where the captain wasn’t overly fond of God, having lost his spirituality when the Battle for Serenity Valley was lost. Book now has a flock on an outworld moon.

And taking on a Ship’s Doctor, Simon Tam (Sean Maher) fleeing with his barely sane 17 year old sister, River Tam (Summer Glau), whom he rescued from years spent in an secret Alliance human experimentation laboratory. The two are being relentlessly hunted by the Alliance, who fear the secret of what they have created will be exposed, and are willing to go to any length to prevent that. Thus a extraordinary game of cat-and-mouse begins when the Alliance sends one of its most dangerous agents, known only as The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) after the ship.

As the wanted crew of Serenity seeks to evade the dangerous Alliance, they have to also steer clear of another menace existing in the outer worlds, the mysterious Reavers: Humans who have turned savage and live recklessly as nomadic pirates in ships upon the black of space; murdering and pillaging settlements and ships when the opportunity strikes.

Finding themselves hunted by vastly different enemies, the ship’s crew begin to discover that the greatest danger to them may be on board Serenity herself.

Outlaw Sci-Fi at its finest.

"It's about how much freedom you can take away from somebody before they either fold or fight. It's about the right to be wrong and the nature of human beings, that they need the freedom to be wrong. That they cannot be made to be better or perfect." — Joss Whedon on his new movie, Serenity.

Warning: Many links contain spoilers within. You can usually navigate without unknowingly encountering spoilers, but explore at your own risk:

Some things start to take on a life of their own. Shiny.

http://www.serenitymovie.com/

http://www.cantstopthesignal.co.uk/


The Arizona Browncoats: !!!! Holy crap, we're mighty!

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/AZ_Browncoats/

http://www.azbrowncoats.com/


In case you don't live in AZ:
http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/index.html?fuseaction=tools.cantstopthesignal

http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/index.html

http://www.fireflywiki.org/

http://www.bigdamnboard.com/websites/?PHPSESSID=1ea5dca6d69a2701144e3fbefa732924

http://signal.serenityfirefly.com/signal.php

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=60033036&trkid=181026

http://www.browncoats.com/

http://the11thhour.home.att.net/

http://signal.serenityfirefly.com/signal.php

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/serenity.html;_ylt=Ahzai_Aeu8supgr0OBZgA8VfVXcA