Now, I'm a fan of a lot of things sci-fi, and I had never heard about either the show or the movie during their runs on their respective screens, but seeing that both are out on Blu-ray has piqued my interest! Thus, I had a few questions to ask.
I don't like to generalize, but if you could describe Serenity, what would it be like? In vague terms, i.e., "It's a little bit of _______ (other movie name) with some _________ and a little ________." Don't ruin too much for me,
Should I watch the TV series first before the movie itself? Is it necessary? Thanks, chaps, this is looking like a great blind buy to add to my collection, all the moreso after reading the sparkling technical reviews.
EDIT: And lo and behold, owa bumps up the Serenity thread as I write this. Time to go read it.
I watched Serenity first, had never seen the series at all, I loved the movie and didn't realize it was a continuation of the Firefly series at first. I tried to watch the series once on TV, and didn't really enjoy the series. A bit later I ended up with it on DVD and sat down watching it in order and loved the series as much as the movie.
Even though you've made up your mind, I felt like chiming in here.
I should start out by saying I probably watch too much TV, and over the years have developed quite a large list of shows that I absolutely loved. They've ranged from Crime Drama's like the original "Law and Order", to politically themed shows like "The West Wing", to tense thrillers like "24" and the first couple seasons of "Alias", to sci-fi themed shows like the "X-Files" to "Lost", right through to the pure Sci-Fi the likes of "Battlestar Galactica" (particularly the new series), and of course "Star Trek" in all of it's various incarnations. Some of current favourites include the weirdly hilarious and action packed "Chuck", "Heroes", "Supernatural", and "Eli Stone". I have pretty varied tastes in television, and having said that...
Firefly is my absolute favourite television series of ALL TIME!
Should you watch this series? Absolutely! Yes!
Is it necessary in order to enjoy "Serenity"? Not really, but I highly recommend it.
Some previous posters have alluded to the western-themed science fiction nature of the show, and how some of the dialogue is "spiced" up with Mandarin Chinese. But, this show is more of a character driven series to me than anything else. It is set in the future, in space, on other planets, but the western theme re-inforces the feelings of settling down in new territory, and carving out a new life from sometimes, untamed and wild lands, much like a western would. The fact that everyone in the 'verse can speak fluent chinese is also a bit of insight into how the American and Chinese cultures have merged over time, due to them being the last 2 superpowers. The dialogue is quirky, but feels completely natural coming out of the characters' mouths, and the chinese is placed strategically so that it often would be used in place of some more colourful expletives. It actually enhances, the lines rather than detracts from it.
As I said before, however, this show is completely character driven. A lot of the dialogue and situations stem from the relationships that each character ultimately has with one another. Some characters like Mal, for instance, react and act completely different with each of the other characters in the cast. While he commands the trio of Zoe, Wash, and Jayne, it's obvious he has the most respect for Zoe, and is possibly slightly intimidated by her. Mal's relationship with Wash is the most like Employer/Employee, and he treats Jayne with a patronizing indifference sometimes. While he is also Kaylee's boss, his relationship is less employer/employee, and more father/daughter (not quite... but that's the closest approximation of his relationship with her I can think up). Then there's how he interacts with the passengers aboard Serenity (Book, Simon, and River), and his tenant (Innara) which I won't get into here.
I feel it's the relationships that these characters had with one another that really propelled this show, and my love for it. Some of this can get lost in the movie, if that is your starting point, although you get hints of these relationships, it is a much more satisfying experience in my opinion if you watch the series first. Especially, with regards to River Tam (Summer Glau), who is one of the 3 most important characters in the series/movie along with Malcolm Reynolds, and the ship Serenity herself (the series is named Firefly, the type of ship, and the movie is named for her, after all). As much as you get to see of how disturbed/dangerous River is in the movie, you don't really get to see some of the most heartbreaking scenes with that character, if you haven't seen the television series (or what a phenomenal acting job Summer does, given this was her first major acting role).
I'd classify it as a sci-fi western and don't think you have to watch the TV series first but knowing the characters and what they've been through would help you appreciate the movie more. I started out with the TV shows (not from the beginning though) and didn't actually like it at first since some things just seemed really weird. Like it being a sci-fi western for one and they'll also speak Chinese at times (short phrases, mostly when they're upset ). Not knowing what was up with that, kind of turned me off at first. Now, I love it though.
Anyway, IMO, it's not necessary to have watched the TV series to like/enjoy the movie. It pretty self-contained. You just don't get as much of the backstory and background on the characters. If you get both of them, start with the series though.
Should I watch the TV series first before the movie itself? Is it necessary?
Serenity is basically the conclusion to all the story threads started by Firefly.
Its also all a bit corny, In a good way. Watching the series first gets this style across more gently. Watching Serenity first would be jarring in terms of narrative and style.
I know some people have seen the movie first and are ok about it, but to me I would have been turned off and would have had the impresssion that the movie was like a rushed and corny Star Trek episode.
See it how its supposed to be the - the Firefly series and then Serenity, the movie that completes the series.
My brother came home with the T.V. series (that his co-worker borrowed him to watch) on regular Dvd, and I threw it in to see what it was all about one afternoon......and I ended up watching the whole series in 2 afternoons. Really enjoyed it, so when the movie came out I went to see it. Yes....it's probably not necessary to see the series first, but it would help to understand the characters more like mentioned above!
Serenity is basically the conclusion to all the story threads started by Firefly.
Watching Serenity first would be jarring in terms of narrative and style.
I know some people have seen the movie first and are ok about it, but to me I would have been turned off and would have had the impresssion that the movie was like a rushed and corny Star Trek episode.
I have to seriously disagree. I had never heard of Firefly before seeing the trailer for Serenity in theaters. What I am saying is I wasn't aware about the series at all.
I was intrigued by the trailer and I first went to go see Serenity. All I can say is it blew my mind, in a good way. It quickly became one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies. It's genius. I went out after seeing the movie and purchased the series on DVD and I think I came to love it even more after that.
But that's just me. (OP, I recommend doing what you want, but don't be afraid to watch the movie first).
I have to seriously disagree. I had never heard of Firefly before seeing the trailer for Serenity in theaters. What I am saying is I wasn't aware about the series at all.
I was intrigued by the trailer and I first went to go see Serenity. All I can say is it blew my mind, in a good way. It quickly became one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies. It's genius. I went out after seeing the movie and purchased the series on DVD and I think I came to love it even more after that.
But that's just me. (OP, I recommend doing what you want, but don't be afraid to watch the movie first).
I have to seriously disagree. I had never heard of Firefly before seeing the trailer for Serenity in theaters. What I am saying is I wasn't aware about the series at all.
I was intrigued by the trailer and I first went to go see Serenity. All I can say is it blew my mind, in a good way. It quickly became one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies. It's genius. I went out after seeing the movie and purchased the series on DVD and I think I came to love it even more after that.
But that's just me. (OP, I recommend doing what you want, but don't be afraid to watch the movie first).
I had heard of Firefly before seeing the Serenity trailer, but more or less, my experience was the exact same as yours.
Following the airing of "The Train Job", they next aired Part 1 of the original pilot, followed by a week? two week? hiatus before airing the conclusion. Following that there were time slot changes, and more unintended breaks, which finally ended in the show's cancellation after only 11 episodes. Audiences were confused from the start by airing the first couple episodes out of order, and IF that disjointed affair weren't enough to deter would be fans, inconsistent scheduling made the show hard to find.
Serenity was show last, and was the only other episode besides the Train Job to air widescreen (Continuing wide was contingent on good ratings). The time slot never changed, but the World series stepped in and kept the show off the air for a month and sealed its doom. The same thing happened to Space Above and Beyond (Sunday 7PM is the death slot for anything not named 60 minutes because football always runs over)
"Smart" shows rarely last for many reasons, but the audience being stupid isn't usually one of them. Fox has some brilliant people in their television development division, and a bunch of others at network who seem to resent being saddled with these shows and do everything possible to kill them.
1- Bad timeslots and musical chairs. Keep putting expensive sci-fi shows on Friday night and they're going to keep failing. Keep moving the show around and it's going to fail
2- When your advertising people don't understand the show, fire them and get new advertising people. The trailers for the movie and the TV show were completely unrepresentative of the final product. Check out the trailer for Gattaca
3- Goofy titles: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a bloody mouthful and makes it sound like the other 95% of TV shows based on movies, a quick and stupid cashin. The show would probably be doing a lot better if it had lead into 24 last year, but now it's going to the death slot hoping pairing it with Dollhouse helps with either cancellation or a move to CW its likely future.
Too many episodes- Genre shows work best with 13 episodes a year, no matter how much I'd like more. "Monster of the week" episodes and fillers do not keep an audience engaged. X-Files died when they flushed the conspiracy down the toilet and people stopped caring.
Look at how "Lost" was sold. It was sold on the soap opera and the supernatural stuff hit second. Same goes with Heroes, and that's why both of those shows are still around, no matter how hard Heroes has tried to kill itself
The era of the DVR is very much the era for long form and engaging TV. The audience will step up if you ask them too, but too many are afraid to do so
Serenity is basically the conclusion to all the story threads started by Firefly.
I think I've asked about this before but it might have been a different forum. I've often wondered where Serenity fits in on the timeline but maybe that is the way to think about it (as the conclusion to all the story threads). Basically a summary for the whole show and encompassing the whole timeline.
The cancellation of this series illustrates what has been so chronically wrong with network television over the last couple of decades. Shows are not given a chance to develop their audience. The growing adoration audiences have for both "Firefly" and the series' big screen outing, "Serenity" must be heart-breaking for Joss Whedon since there were precious few episodes produced. I love 'em both.
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Firefly TV Show / Serenity film: Few Questions
). Not knowing what was up with that, kind of turned me off at first. Now, I love it though. 
Hybrid Mode
