Serenity

[charliebrown]

Serenity Falls to # 14

Ee-GADS. Even "The Gospel" is doing better than that, and it's not like that film had a head start on television, or a $40 million budget (it looks like it was shot on a $40,000 budget!), or a wide screen release. Man, "Serenity" is practically a case study of Everything Not to Do. It's downright fascinating. If there's ever a Hollywood Wank, this should be the first topic.

On TVGuide online JW mentioned that if the show came back on it would be a prequel to Serenity. Which makes sense since he killed important characters. I'm not holding my breath.

You would think that by now, Joss should see that he's destroyed his little toy so much that not enough people would care enough to make the project profitable. You would THINK so, anyway. He must be drinking from the same Flavor-Aid cup as Halle Berry.

[Maddiemoo]

Why do I get the feeling that charliebrown and spiderwyman must be related?

To me, sales don't really matter. It'd be nice if it did really well, but the important thing is that the fans enjoyed it, and we got a couple of new browncoats along the way.

[spiderwyman]

charliebrown said:

Serenity Falls to # 14

Ee-GADS. Even "The Gospel" is doing better than that, and it's not like that film had a head start on television, or a $40 million budget (it looks like it was shot on a $40,000 budget!), or a wide screen release. Man, "Serenity" is practically a case study of Everything Not to Do. It's downright fascinating. If there's ever a Hollywood Wank, this should be the first topic.

On TVGuide online JW mentioned that if the show came back on it would be a prequel to Serenity. Which makes sense since he killed important characters. I'm not holding my breath.

You would think that by now, Joss should see that he's destroyed his little toy so much that not enough people would care enough to make the project profitable. You would THINK so, anyway. He must be drinking from the same Flavor-Aid cup as Halle Berry.

I agree in everything you say.
(By the way, how's cousin Barry doing? )

Thank God that the film's failure at the box office and on DVD (combined with the property's original failure on TV) will spare us from more of Whedon's self-indulgent " 'verse wit" and his overcooked Space Operatics.

[spiderwyman]

Oops, I guess the rumour about a Tom Cruise film was just that.
According to IMDB, Summer Glau (River) is doing next a TV film called Mammoth.
About some Mammoth come back to life.
I bet this will air on the Sci Fi channel.

[peachesandcream]

Just popping into this scary little thread to say that the recap of the movie is up on TWOP.

Oh, and I love this movie!

ETA: Just read the recap. It's nothing to write home about. Jacob gets waaaaaayyyyyyyy too preachy and philosophical about it. I don't want a fucking treatise. That's not why I go to TWOP. I want snark! And funny ha has. It really annoyed me.

[Maddiemoo]

It annoyed me too! I'm glad he liked the movie but he really just recaps every single detail then spews out nonsensical stuff about the meaning of the movie/life/whatever for a few paragraphs. Also, why on earth did he recap the movie for those who hadn't seen the show? If someone is reading a Serenity recap on TWoP, yeah, I'm betting they've seen the show.

But at the very least, it's inspired me to watch the movie again, so it can't be all bad, heh.

[Laira]

You'd think that the Alliance would have tested the Pax chemical on a few test subjects before blasting an entire planet with it.

[slanderous]

I finally saw the movie yesterday (my brother loves and owns it on DVD) and I couldn't handle it at all. I swear, I tried to give it a shot! But the opening sequence with the "this is the captain speaking..." airline attendant joke put me off at the very start (too easy, and too anarchronistic). The bantering dialogue --and oh lord, that "twixt my nethers" clunker (which made me feel sooo bad for that actress)-- made me tune out until all the River fighting bits, which were for me the best parts of the movie. Summer Glau is pretty compelling in movement, and she has such lovely hair for spinning around. And Jayne, for whom I have some affection since my brother does, I felt got shafted a bit in terms of character.

I came here after reading the recap at TWOP --which I read because I had tuned out whole plotlines and so had no idea what that space battle was about-- and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who found it overbearing and irritating. And it's good to know that there are fans of the film (unlike myself) who didn't buy it either!

The Jungian and Shakespearean analyses drove me crazy, as did the extravagantly decorative prose. And it reminded me of the worst of the fanwanking and alternate 'verse-building from BtVS -- fanwanking Season Seven to make it meaningful (e.g., all the efforts to read greater meaning into that damn convenient axe) but also all the efforts to "fix" Season Six and Seaven with these overwrought epic tales of Spike and Buffy's true love, et cetera.

And yeah, it's sort of a plot hole for me that the Alliance never tested their Pax drugs beforehand.

[laconicchick]

Ugh, I agree about the recap. Waaaaay to serious and analytical and not nearly enough snark, and I'm only on page 2. Does he quote practically every line of dialogue throughout the movie? Because that's gonna get irritating. No wonder it's 35 freaking pages long.

I love the movie despite plot holes, but this recap is trying my patience.

In terms of the philosophical framework of the show, it's important to note a few things that will help us make sense of the unholy mess that is this movie

No, it's really not.

I know why it's bugging me: it's like Joss's ridiculous commentary of "Objects in Space." He takes himself way to seriously about that episode.

Aside from the Pax plot hole, I also wondered how on earth the Alliance managed to get footage that detailed of Simon and River's escape. I don't buy the recap's argument that the Alliance has enough cameras; I think it's another plot hole.

"You're not taking her," says Simon, and somewhere in this beat of the scene there's a cut because of the set constraints -- the camera has to get all the way around Simon to follow them down through the ship, and can't. But you wouldn't notice, so it doesn't count -- the point of the tracking shot is not affected, and the continuity of the ship exploration is not interrupted. The movie's named after her; it's important we get to know her and the people inside as efficiently and engagingly as possible.

Oh my GOD, it's like reading an academic essay! Ugh, what a terrible recapper. But I swear I am done complaining about it now, because this is the Serenity thread after all.

[Laira]

Here's an interesting review of Serenity:

www.oneguysopinion.com/Review.php?ID=1715

Money quote:

Joss Whedon’s rowdy space western represents a odd quirk in movie franchises: a feature follow-up to a flop television series. Perhaps that was inevitable after Hollywood had trashed its way through so many of the old TV shows that were hits, but it’s still a woeful prospect. It’s horrifying to imagine the thousands of justifiably deceased programs the studios might now unearth for similar treatment. To use a rather unpleasant analogy, it seems rather like trying to feed on carrion that even the vultures have shunned.

Heh.

Anyway, I agree with his basic point. The movie looked and felt as if it were a made for TV production, not a theatrical release.