Back in December 2002, fans of the Joss Whedon created television series FIREFLY were heartbroken to find out that Fox had cancelled one of their favorite shows. From the start, at no fault of the creators, cast or crew, FIREFLY was doomed to an ill future. Thanks to the FOX TV network, episodes, including the 1st/pilot episode were shown out of order. FOX continuously put the show's creators under heavy pressure to make the show a success. Fans were no longer going to be able to follow the lives of the 9 crew members aboard the space transport vessel, Serenity. In December 2003, a year after its death and to the rejoicing of fans everywhere, Fox gave the world FIREFLY on DVD. Two years later, after successful DVD sales, Universal presented us with something fans been wanting for 3 years: another chapter of adventure, drama and comedy from Joss Whedon's FIREFLY television series. This time in the form of a feature film, called SERENITY.
Usually it's not a good thing when a movie is spawned from a television series. This is an exception to the rule. Written and directed by the man who created the series, Joss Whedon continues the story of the crew of Serenity, taking place not long after the final episode of the series. Normally this would require movie-goers to see and be already familiar with the series, alienating possible viewers. In this case it isn't so. Even though the series was mostly character driven, the plot of SERENITY is so well written, the character driven parts of the movie are bonus for fans, making the movie very accessible to those unaccustomed FIREFLY universe. Like the series, the movie continues to put the characters of SERENITY thru torments of painful issues and/or troubled pasts.
While the movie opens with a flashback of how Simon (played by Sean Maher) rescued River (played by Summer Glau), it's mainly about the origin of Reavers, the cannibal scavengers of the universe. Upon discovering this origin, Capt. Malcom Reynolds (played by Nathan Fillon) and his crew ( Zoe [played by Gina Torres], Jayne [played by Adam Baldwin], Wash [played by Alan Tudyk] and Kaylee [played by Jewel Staite]) must broadcast this origin to thru-out the universe. All this, while being pursued by an operative determined to re-capture River, who's the key in the discovery of the origin of the Reavers.
With only a handful of good or at least entertaining movies of the Summer movie season, SERENITY closes out the season beautifully. As a big fan of the series and the DVD box set, this was a film I knew I wanted to see. So much so I avoided all marketing and hype. Sadly, the movie business is just that a business in selling a product. Even though critics loved it, SERENITY's opening weekend only came out to $10 million, making it unlikely that fans will get a sequel to this great film. While it may not be the source of the problem, 35 early previews of the unfinished were shown to the public. While it's understandable and normal to preview a film to an audience, 35 might've been a bit much. In addition, while also televising the FIREFLY series on Sci-Fi, they showed bits and pieces of the film once a week during a commercial break. A wonderful movie's box-office success undermined by Universal's over-done marketing campaign.
Those unfamiliar the show will enjoy the movie in all aspects. Those already familiar with the writing style of projects he cares about (BUFFY, ANGEL, etc.), you'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll most likely pay for another viewing right after (we almost did). I can't recommend this movie enough and I hope Joss Whedon gets many other praises for the wonderful work he did on this movie.