Does Joss Whedon pull it off?

[timbit]

Ok, I know that Abby and others at AW HQ are Firefly fans.
I have also said mean things about it in the past on a "geek" thread (still maintain that is a great concept but a flawed delivery).

Well, Serenity premiered here tonight (dunno about Aussie dates) and so I checked it out...
Guess what? It works! Fun, funny, kick-ass, great writing, no horses, lots of back story and River!

Check it out if you are of a geeky bent, and I can't wait to hear Abbys thoughts!

Timbit

[Darth Dave]

I have to admit I didn’t like the series that much either, but since I am a big sci-fi fan I gave the movie a chance and it is pretty good much better than the series and one of the better movies I have seen recently, it’s great to see a movie that isn’t a crappy remake of a old one or something that hasn’t been lowered to PG so all the little kiddies can see it. Although I think one of the reasons I didn’t like Firefly we because I blame it as one of the reasons Dark Angle was cancelled.

Dave

[susie]

Hey Timbit!

You'll be pleased to hear that Abby took nearly the whole team to see Serenity on Thursday night. It was great, we all thoroughly enjoyed it!

s

[jospeh]

I went last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The short-lived TV series left a lot of questions unanswered and Joss really let us off the hook by rounding the plot off with the movie.

And with all the hype in the series around how badass the Reevers were - I wasn't disappointed. Those folks were seriously twisted individuals.

[matchless]

The short-lived TV series left a lot of questions unanswered ...

No one plans for a TV series to be short lived. I'm sure if the series had been left on the air most of those questions would have been answered in future episodes. With a few exceptions, perhaps, so that those lingering mysteries could become future movies.

Ironic, isn't it, that if the series had stayed on the air, we would not now have "Serenity", the movie? Thanks FOX Network programming gurus your loss is our gain

[timbit]

The charactors were definitely tweaked as well. Mal was more intense, to the point that the crew seemed scared of him half the time. River was great (what is it with Whedon and kick-ass teenage girls...). The brief backstory at the very beginning about the exodus from earth filled in details about what they were actually doing out there.
Lots of pretty subtle (and some not so) commentary about politics and the entertainment industry as well. Whedon was clearly pretty devastated when the show was cancelled, but it was a concept better suited to the bigscreen (or HBO) than network TV anyway.

Timbit

PS glad Abby took you all out to see it! I wonder how many unsuspecting AW.com fans were in the audience?!

[josephine_s]

I loved it. I am a huge Firefly fan and thought the movie worked well both as a kind of long episode and as a film seperate from the show. I took several friends who had never seen the show and they loved it as well, and didn't feel that they were missing out on too many important plot elements to enjoy the film (and of course afterwards they all vowed to watch the show!)

I thought it was funny, touching, and just well done all around. I'm gonna see it again very very soon.

[bondtsou]

I personally thought the movie was outstanding - everything a sci fi film should be. And this is coming from someone who only watched 2 or 3 of the episodes when it origionally aired and never got around to them on DVD.

But my best endorsement is my wife's who loved it too, even though this is not her "kind" of movie.