Firefly and Serenity
Awhile back I gave my opinion about a sacred pillar of the geek community, China Mieville's Perdido Street Station. I'm definitely in the minority when it comes to the book - I thought it sucked. So, what about another favorite of Nerdlandia - the Firefly franchise?
Months (years?) ago, when Firefly was on the air, I decided to check it out. Besides the fact it was sci-fi, it was written by Joss Whedon who we were all familiar with from Buffy and Angel. I ended up watching a few bits and pieces here and there but overall I was unimpressed. Like many, my overall impression was "Meh. It's like a western in space." I had a similiar reaction years ago when I saw the first Warcraft; my thought was "Meh. It's like Dune II, but fantasy."
Time went by, the show got cancelled, and forthwith from the geek community came many lamentations. I didn't really care much, since it wasn't a show that interested me. But as time went on, all I heard was praise for the show and exultations when the Firefly DVDs came out. I figured that maybe I misjudged the show and decided that some day I should check out the DVDs.
Fast forward a few months and a friend in one of our gaming groups organized an outing so we could all see Serenity, the Firefly movie. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic, but the buzz among people on-line (including a number of folks whose opinions I value) was that it was a great movie. My enthusiasm grew a bit, if only because I figured it should be somewhat entertaining.
So we saw Serenity. I liked it, but not overly so. I realized that I got a greater emotional charge out of Revenge of the Sith.
(For the people that just freaked, stay with me here...)
The more I thought about Serenity, however, the more I realized just what a good movie it was. It wasn't "epic" in the same way that, say, Sith or Return of the King were, but it was a very good movie. The thing that got me the most was that in thinking about it afterwards, I realized I could find fault with very little in the film. I had some minor quibbles, but overall the characters, story, and everything else were very solid. Now, had I been a fan of the series I'd have probably expected that. But I wasn't, so there you go. Now, granted, Sith was more emotionally exciting for me but that was primarily due to it being the prequel to a movie series that I was completely nuts over from ages 5-12 or so. Side-by-side, Serenity is definitely the better film (that's not a very high compliment, though, when you compare the dialog Whedon can write to what Lucas gives us; Serenity was at its best when the main characters were talking - any Star Wars movie is generally best when no characters are talking). I've seen both twice, but while I'm wondering whether to get Sith on DVD, I know we'll be getting Serenity when it comes out.
After seeing the movie we borrowed the Firefly DVDs from one of our friends. I realized after the first episode or two that I'd missed out; the geek masses were correct - Firefly was a great show and its demise was far too early. My wife and I are still watching the DVDs (we're only on the third disc at this point), but it's good, good stuff.
By the way, when I actually played Warcraft for the first time, my impression was: "Wow! It's like Dune II, but fantasy!"
Months (years?) ago, when Firefly was on the air, I decided to check it out. Besides the fact it was sci-fi, it was written by Joss Whedon who we were all familiar with from Buffy and Angel. I ended up watching a few bits and pieces here and there but overall I was unimpressed. Like many, my overall impression was "Meh. It's like a western in space." I had a similiar reaction years ago when I saw the first Warcraft; my thought was "Meh. It's like Dune II, but fantasy."
Time went by, the show got cancelled, and forthwith from the geek community came many lamentations. I didn't really care much, since it wasn't a show that interested me. But as time went on, all I heard was praise for the show and exultations when the Firefly DVDs came out. I figured that maybe I misjudged the show and decided that some day I should check out the DVDs.
Fast forward a few months and a friend in one of our gaming groups organized an outing so we could all see Serenity, the Firefly movie. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic, but the buzz among people on-line (including a number of folks whose opinions I value) was that it was a great movie. My enthusiasm grew a bit, if only because I figured it should be somewhat entertaining.
So we saw Serenity. I liked it, but not overly so. I realized that I got a greater emotional charge out of Revenge of the Sith.
(For the people that just freaked, stay with me here...)
The more I thought about Serenity, however, the more I realized just what a good movie it was. It wasn't "epic" in the same way that, say, Sith or Return of the King were, but it was a very good movie. The thing that got me the most was that in thinking about it afterwards, I realized I could find fault with very little in the film. I had some minor quibbles, but overall the characters, story, and everything else were very solid. Now, had I been a fan of the series I'd have probably expected that. But I wasn't, so there you go. Now, granted, Sith was more emotionally exciting for me but that was primarily due to it being the prequel to a movie series that I was completely nuts over from ages 5-12 or so. Side-by-side, Serenity is definitely the better film (that's not a very high compliment, though, when you compare the dialog Whedon can write to what Lucas gives us; Serenity was at its best when the main characters were talking - any Star Wars movie is generally best when no characters are talking). I've seen both twice, but while I'm wondering whether to get Sith on DVD, I know we'll be getting Serenity when it comes out.
After seeing the movie we borrowed the Firefly DVDs from one of our friends. I realized after the first episode or two that I'd missed out; the geek masses were correct - Firefly was a great show and its demise was far too early. My wife and I are still watching the DVDs (we're only on the third disc at this point), but it's good, good stuff.
By the way, when I actually played Warcraft for the first time, my impression was: "Wow! It's like Dune II, but fantasy!"
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home