Serenity Disappoints, Will Firefly Continue?
By stephanie - Monday, May 29th, 2006
Firefly fans will be ticked off at what I’m about to say, but so be it. I finally got around to watching Serenity, the movie based on the ill-fated Firefly TV series dumped before its time by Fox. And I have to say, Serenity just doesn’t make the cut as a standalone feature.
This is a shame, because if it had found a voice as its own entity – without the need for an entire TV series worth of backstory – Serenity might not have bombed at the box office.
Now, you may be wondering…if I’m so into sci-fi, how come I never watched Firefly in the first place? Honestly, it was the initial advertising. When they went on about two of the main female characters being a “prostitute” and a “girl in a box,” I was pretty much turned off to the idea. So I missed the first season, and when it was canceled, I didn’t feel the need to rush out and get wrapped up in another doomed show when my beloved Farscape needed help.
Thus, some four years later, I am finally getting around to seeing what all the Firefly fuss was about. And…after watching Serenity, I can say, eh. Eh, as in, if it was on, I might watch it, but I’m not enamoured.
But let me back up for a second and discuss the movie itself. Serenity starts off with a brief history of the world of the future, and then an escape sequence with a young psychic protege (River) being rescued by her brother. After that, the first hour degenerates into a mush of quick dialogue and confusion that would really only make sense to someone who was already familiar with the characters.
(Unfortunately, when I watched the deleted scenes afterwards, there were a few small scenes that would have helped immensely if they’d been left in.)
I have to honestly say I was considering giving up on the film about 20 minutes into it. The characters seemed bland, and the plot wasn’t coalescing into anything discernable, except for a very polite black man with an accent who made for a very annoying bad guy.
An hour into it, Serenity finally found its footing and got interesting. Among the issues explored are the ideal of a perfect society. Without getting into a spoiler (on the off-chance you haven’t seen this yet), I found the central conspiracy to be an interesting commentary on our overuse of psychiatric drugs today.
Several moments in the film stood out – River kicking ass singlehandedly in two scenes, and a hilarious one-liner about something to live for given by a character facing certain death. Otherwise, I wasn’t blown away by the dialogue, effects, or character banter.
I felt, if anything, I was watching an episode of a TV show that was trying to pack in so much action that it missed out on the slower scenes that make for the strong viewer connection and identification with the characters.
I did warm up to Serenity in the end, but more because I could see this world’s potential as being a good basis for a show, not because it was a fantastic movie in and of itself.
As a brand new introduction to Firefly, Serenity is sadly a poor one for any but the most die-hard sci-fi fans. I’m piqued enough to check out the series, but I doubt the average person would be. I’ve read some fan reviews around, and they seem to think Serenity is the second coming of science fiction, topping Star Wars and many other science fiction classics. Sorry – I’d have to honestly say, even Lucas’s worst, The Phantom Menace, was much better.
All that said, I do wish that there was some future for Serenity, as I always think more sci-fi is a good idea. If DVD sales can finally bring some profit to this venture (Serenity was in the red after bombing at the box office), who knows what form this franchise may reappear in?
While Serenity lacks the creativity and wow factor of the likes of Farscape, it has a certain gritty grounded feel that appeals to people who don’t like their sci-fi too weird. As such, it should have a home. I have to say I don’t understand why the Sci Fi Channel didn’t pair it up with Battlestar Galactica, since the audiences would seem to be similar.
Dedicated fans are still working hard at resurrecting Firefly. June 23, 2006 has been designated “Serenity Day,” and fans are being asked to go and purchase the Serenity DVD that day.
I also found an interesting website researching the idea of producing Firefly on demand. While I think that science fiction serials may eventually need to go that route to survive, I am not sure if the time has come yet for this to – ahem – fly. But I’d love to see something like this happen. A successful model could save all our shows.
May 30th, 2006 at 4:53 am
I also hadn’t watched Firefly but enjoyed Serenity. While it may not have been a classic, the one liners did help and the 6 minute long out-takes where pretty much everyone drops the f-bomb was great!
August 5th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
What are you talking about? Serenity killed at the box office and was number one in the box office for about a month. I had never heard of Firefly and I loved the movie Serenity when I saw it In Theaters, I think this is more of your personal opinion than what the majority of most people believe, this movie and the series scored very, very high at imdb.com and almost everywhere else. This movie is awesome and so is the series and even those who never heard of Firefly will become easily captivated in this movie and will most likely want to see firefly afterwards. I think this review is redundant and just all around idiotic, before posting a review, do your homework and actually find out how much it sold at the box office, I think you just posted this review to get people to watch Farscape, some advice, don’t dis a show you don’t even know the first thing about and make up false statistics on it just to improve the fandom of another show that is seriously bad and has an actual reason for failing.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:12 am
[...] It’s a sticky thing to review Firefly after the fact; some fans can be a bit rabid about it and one took me to task for writing a negative review of the film Serenity and saying that it bombed in the box office. (It did bomb at the box office; see this thread on Whedonesque for a complete nitpicking of the issue and the etymology of “box office bomb.”) [...]
March 14th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Are you SERIOUS?!?!!? Your tastes are clearly outlined when you admit to watching Farscape. What was it? Not enough latex and body-paint for you? Too much human acting and not enough ridiculous aliens? I know! It is because the characters in Firefly show have real life problems, like finding a job, trouble with the law, and such, instead of ALWAYS saving the universe.
July 12th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Huh. I’d never seen Firefly, nor Serenity when it was in the theatres, but when Serenity came on cable, I saw a preview one night and decided to watch it. I really didn’t need any backstory at all other than what was provided in the first 20 minutes of the film. Your mileage obviously varied.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:59 am
I saw Serenity before ever having seen Firefly. I thought the same thing – mediocre – because none of the characters had been fleshed out enough for me in just seeing the movie. I didn’t really understand the gravity of any of the situations faced. Many months later I finally got around to watching the show, and then watched Serenity again after watching the season. I liked it all sooo much better. I am a huge fan of the short lived series now and am heartbroken it won’t continue. Having seen the show in its entirety, the movie is much more grandiose and has so much more of an impact. I don’t think it works as a stand alone without knowing the back story, but it is incredible when you do.
December 1st, 2008 at 10:11 am
Big wall of text for one persons opinion… who are you again?
Personally i think the show is great and it should continue…
March 6th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
WoW, u really giving the firefly a pass just cause you dint like serenity??(being a sci-fi fan n all).. anyway, the series a must watch.. definately.. i think it did not get enough audience cause of the scifi theme itself.. who wants another one of those right. But this one’s actually pretty good including the characters, amazing humour, and ofcourse the effects aint bad either. Every episode leaves you thinkin just how amazin it was.. music’s pretty good too. Have to say one of the best i’ve wtched.. shame it got cancelled tho.
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