horroru

Hey, I just read your post that you're willing to give the show a shot -- that's pretty open minded, good for you.
IMHO, there isn't one character that stands out for me -- it's unique in that it's got 9 main characters, and all of them are distinct and interesting. I personally relate to the captain, Mal, the most, as he just handles problems directly, dead on, without the hours of deliberation you see from any captain in the Star Trek universe. The writing on the show gets better as the season goes on.
And hey, if you don't like it fine, but I agree with Jack -- just give us some examples of why it didn't work for you if you want to discuss it.

And I'm a comic book "maniac" as well, although not a big fan of Star Wars comics. Big Batman fan though, mostly a DC Universe guy.

mikeporter

I saw Serenity for the second time earlier this evening. It was even better than the first time around.
to Joss

MAKE NO MISTAKE: Budgeted at a mere $40 million, Serenity will almost certainly break even after box office/home-video sales, which means Universal can afford to use the film to beta-test a new way of selling movies.

Fox released the 14 episodes on DVD and something surprising happened: The expensive boxed set sold somewhere north of 200,000 copies. On the strength of the DVD sales, Universal green-lit a small-budget movie.

Firefly Daily Amazon Sales Rank

mdc3000

Just got home from seeing the BDM and I have to say, it rocked. It rocked hard. Joss really outdid himself. I can not wait to see it again and am certainly going to be spreading the word to everyone I know... Sean Maher was at the screening, pretty cool stuff. I am still in shock from the flick...but it was INCREDIBLE.... must see again...now!

MATT

Patman

I got a chance to see Serenity for a 2nd time as well. to das for the extra tix. Thank you!

From what I saw, we got the actual film version this time around, complete with the cigarette burns at the reel changes in preview showing #3 tonight. I saw Preview #2, and I'd have to say that came from a PC and fed to the secondary projector in the theater, not the main film projector. The film version looked good in most spots, though a little soft here and there. I noticed a few bits of effects clean-up as well in this film print over the last showing. The only thing that wasn't used a lot was the musical soundtrack for the film to add a little in tone.

All in all, another satisfying viewing experience.

Terrell

I've never seen this show, aside from a few minutes here and there. Would a Star Wars fan like this movie, or is this one of those movies where you would need to have seen the entire show?

Trigger

Saw it tonight... thought it was pretty good. I've been toying with the idea of buying the show blind on dvd - now I'll probably do just that. The main guy did some Patton Oswalt inspired stand-up before and after they showed the movie... he seems like a cool guy. My friend who brought us has seen it 3 times and got someone to sign this poster every time. Neat-o. They keep filming these screenings - interviews and shit - and some of this crap will go on the eventual DVD.

The movie kinda reminded me of Ice Pirates meets Cowboy Bebop.

animalmystic

Just got back from the screening, and shit its 1:31am, so I am going to keep this short as best I can.

Some things I say are probably going to get me flamed, but I don't give a shit, I have been open about the show (loved the short lived series) and the movie and I have supported Firefly/Serenity from the beginning.

The movie as it was is flawed. While I really liked it there were some things that I didn't care for that really took away from the magic of the movie.

I am not sure what tone of emotions Joss was shooting for with this movie, maybe thats what he was shooting for was no tone at all(or all across the board tone). It was too up and down for me in terms of emotions in 5 seconds we are laughing, in the next 5 seconds we are crying, or pissed. Too much, too often, too soon and too across the board. I just wasn't feeling the emotions of the characters, if they weren't all across the board every 5 seconds, I think I would have liked this part of the movie better.

The action, I thought the action sequences were weak and unimaginative. The ONLY sequences that were done well were Rivers. The part

Character developement was also weak. While I am not faulting Joss or the script for this, because there were A LOT of characters to develope, i think they could have done a better job. Instead of wasting time on one of the MOST BORING villians in cinematic history, they should have focused on the areas that needed more attention. I mean this guy really sucked, they should have used a better bad guy like

Spoilers on the action [spoiler]the things that happened to some of these characters physically was boarderline stupid, I mean come on a ship shoots a cable through Jayne's leg, through his calf none the less and is being tugged on in different directions by a huge ship and a hovercraft? WTF? I mean come on either his leg would have been tore off or that thing would have ripped right out, stupid. Then he gets back to the ship, takes it out like nothing happened throws on a bandage and walks around fine, I don't think so. Then at the end when Mal is stabbed with the sword, right through the stomach, after getting his ass wasted already, just takes it out? I don't think so. Then at the end when Mal broke his back or whatever, then the guy came back and was walking later on, WTF? That crack sounded pretty serious like he was paralized or something, didn't get it, did't like it[/spoier]

IMO I hate to say but if you are not already a fan of the series, I don't think most people are going to like/understand this movie. I am sure there will be people out there from word of mouth, that haven't seen the show, that will see this and there interest will be sparked, but when they showed this trailer when i saw a full house of people playing Batman, most were wondering WTF is this? I was the only one hooting and hollering. This movie will definitely not appeal to a wide range of people.

I know I am sounding too critical, but this movie looked really low budget Sci-fi channel movie of the week bad in spots. I agree some scenes looked good, but some were ultra cheesy. And I know before you all go off on me that "this isn't Star Wars," and "they had to watch the budget" some parts just didn't look good. Maybe it was a rough cut of the movie and hasn't been "polished" yet, that may change.

Ya know, Maybe I am just pissed at them

I am definitely going to see this again, maybe my tone will change, I don't want to leave it at this, I want to see it again and absorb it again maybe anoter advance screening and I will definitely see this opening weekend. I will also be telling all my friends, workmates and family to see this movie, because I like Joss, his vision and I am still a fan of the series and I want to see it continue strong, i will always support this franchise and I hope we see more of Firefly/Serenity.

Peace I gotta crash bad, i gotta be up in 4 hours.

Wait till I get my fire suit on before the flames come too hard

Matthew Chmiel

The movie is set-up so that you could be a complete Firefly-virgin and still dig the film. I brought three friends with me tonight who have never seen the film. Two have seen the entire Firefly series, one has never stepped foot into the territory. All three ended up loving the film. Between my friend and I Chris, we brought 13 friends with us who have not seen Serenity yet. A good majority of them being Firefly-virgins and they all loved the film. [That's also a nice bitchslap to those who cried, bitched, moaned, threw a fit, and what not about people seeing the film more than one time on this message board, the Browncoats message board, the Firefly Fans message board, Live Journal, and any other internet source in which one can bitch and moan about movies.]

Vegas got a brand new "film" print of the film this evening, unlike the first two screenings. A good amount of the film was finally color corrected, but there were a few specific scenes that were still terribly grainy and still need touch ups (dealing with both color correction and visual effects). It was also to see that a nice majority of the special effects look completed. The film flowed a bit more smoother than the last two screenings and there were a few additions here and there to the film (most being the addition of new scenes which are mostly CGI). It was also nice to see the film LOOK like an actual film and not an AVID copy blown up to 35mm.

I don't know about anyone else, but this third time out made me enjoy the flick even more.

If Universal does decided to ultimately go with a fourth (or even fifth) screening, I am so fucking there.

Giantrobo

Sadly that's the feeling I kept getting everytime I saw the trailer in the theater.
I've never even heard of this movie or the tv series until I saw the trailer and it didn't make me want to see this movie.

This has me worried because isn't this the guy who's going to be directing the WONDER WOMAN movie? I hope he can do better....

Matthew Chmiel

Now time to flame animalmystic...

When it comes to character development:

BULLSHIT. Chiwetel Ejiofor played The Operative like the true badass he is. Jubal Early is a damn pansy ass bitch compared to The Operative.

On the action, I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but have you seen the television show? The entire cast should've been dead by the first half of the season with all the crap they have to put up with. The action makes complete and total sense meaning it works. If you don't believe so, I'd suggest watching the television show again and watch how many times Mal has been shot, stabbed, and tortured and is okay by the next episode.

Yes, the film is still not finished and there still needs to be polishes with the visual effects, the color correction, the editing, the score, and the sound effects. If you would've saw the first two screenings, the print we were presented with tonight was leaps and bounds better than the first two go arounds. LEAPS AND BOUNDS.

And according to the ending...

RogueScribner

Too tired to type. Drove from Orlando to Miami and back to Orlando just for the movie. Well worth it, but I'm beat!

I really dug Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau in this movie. The action was well shot and performed. The fights were quick and dirty, the chases fast and furious. The Reavers were just NASTY! I don't know how anyone came out of this movie alive.

I think Simon should have been a tad more prominent. I also didn't really think the Miranda plot was worthy of the film's focus (at least, without really seeing the fallout from it instead of just being told). The gathering at the end should have a little more of an emotional weight to it to make the earlier sacrifices mean something. And the end gag needs to go. It was funny, but you cannot end the movie like that. It undermines the five minutes that came before it.

Those are minor gripes. I still loved the hell out of this movie! I just hope things are little tighter and cleaner upon release. I have no clue how this will play to the uninitiated, but this Firefly fan loved it! A-

L8r

Jay G.

Wait, you haven't seen the film, or even the TV series, yet you're reading spoilers? Are you nuts?

mikeporter

I disagree. A good explanation of the how the Reavers were created was something fans wanted after watching Firefly. Other Serenity wants included:

What happened to River before Simon took her from the Alliance?

Shepherd Book's Alliance connection

seymouru

Not necessarily true. Never underestimate the power of a

Matthew Chmiel

Since this may be Joss' last outing via live action in the Firefly verse, I think the whole point of the film was to...

And as for Shepard Book's Alliance connection...

Matthew Chmiel

You know what...

clemente

Well, it looks like a few of you were able to get into the 3rd screening......bastards, all of you!

Matthew Chmiel

Hush. There will be a 4th screening in a few weeks.

Terrell

Thanks for the reply Matthew. I'll give it a shot!

Giantrobo

Spoilers don't bother me. Hell, I read and saw just about all of Star War Ep III here on dvdtalk and I still wanted to see it and I had a great time.

But I have no plans to see Serenity at all so it doesn't matter. The trailer didn't convince me.

Kal-El

What he said. Trailer didn't seem even remotely interesting, never saw the tv series so I thought maybe reading some spoilers might convince me to at least consider seeing it. But nope, I think I'll pass on this.

Barry Woodward

The Browncoats Rise Again from the Daily Standard:

Part 1 & Part 2

RogueScribner

You just proved my argument: something fans wanted? How is the casual viewer going to take it? The casual viewer is going to make this movie a hit, not the fans. We never saw why Miranda was such a big deal or how it affected things outside the Serenity crew. We're just told something real quick about it and that's supposed to make all the sacrifices they made seem worth it. Sorry, but it didn't resonate and much like the ending to Star Trek: Insurrection it's going to seem likemuch ado about nothing.

We got hints in the series and I don't think we learned anything new in the movie.



L8r

Matthew Chmiel

The casual viewer is not going to pick that up. Did they even mention Book being apart of the Alliance in the film?

DVD Talk's own Scott Weinberg made a great point to me this afternoon involving said scenario though ...

seymouru

Sounds like great material for a