So, due to a happy combination of circumstances, Liz and I were invited out to see a special (very) advance screening of Serenity, the movie based on the television series “Firefly”. A reader e-mailed me a few weeks ago, saying that he had bought advance tickets to this showing up in Roseville, and when all his tickets were divvied up to friends and whatnot, he had two remaining, and offered them to Liz and Myself. It was a tough decision to make (RIGHT.) but we reluctantly accepted. :D Thanks a million to Grayson and co. – an incredibly nice group of people, and they even all went in costume, to boot. Gray’s Captain Mal jacket was incredible. :)
Before you think I’m going to talk about the movie in any sort of detail, let me assure you that you can FORGET about that. I’ll tell you only what you need to know – 1) If you are a fan of Firefly already, you WILL love Serenity. It’s a masterpiece of writing, and an excellent, excellent movie. 2) If you have never before seen Firefly – prepare yourself. You’re going to meet some characters that have real personalities. You might not be used to this in movies. :D In any eventuality, I HIGHLY recommend that anyone who has a few bucks to spare head over to Amazon and order yourself a copy of the FireFly DVD set. I can GUARANTEE you, it’s one of the best shows television had to offer – by the end of the series, you’re going to be wondering why the hell Fox saw fit to cancel it.
Anyway – the thing that possibly was the coolest part of this whole sneak preview – Nathan Fillion himself showed up to talk before and after the film. (Nathan Fillion plays the “main” character, Captain Malcom Reynolds) He’s a funny guy, and incredibly nice – he answered a LOT of questions after the movie, and they even set up a table where he signed some “Serenity” prints, taking time to shake everyone’s hand and chat a little bit. It just sort of shocked most of us that he’d decide to show up to a theater in ROSEVILLE of all places. And let me tell you – it’s surreal to watch a movie where he’s on screen most of the time, kicking ass and taking names, and then once the credits roll, he walks out to talk. It’s odd. But – yeah. Wow.
There was also a brief intro by Joss Whedon, and hearing him talk about the movie and the TV series, you can tell how MUCH he cares about this universe he’s created. It’s his baby, and he wants nothing more than to share it with everyone. The man is an expert storyteller, and his dialogue is reason enough to see this movie. A lot of people are going to try and compare Serenity to Star Wars – and it’s just not a fair comparison. Star Wars has special effects that are without rival – Serenity, while it has AWESOME special effects, doesn’t really rely on them. They don’t NEED to. On the other hand, you could almost remove the dialogue from Episode III entirely and just watch it on mute, the dialogue is so wooden – but with a movie like Serenity, without those characters and Joss’ dialogue, there’s nothing left. It’s like comparing the Godfather to the Wizard of Oz – they’re both incredible, but they’re also vastly different types of movies.
In any case, come September, you’d do well to go see this film. What we saw was the rough cut – if the final cut is even BETTER than what we saw, you’re in for a hell of a ride.
