Serenity

In the year 2002, Fox gave writer/director Joss Whedon the green light to move ahead with his new baby, a sci-fi series set in a distant future that had a western edge to it. Very much in the style echoing John Carpenter’s stories of Snake Plissken, but way more futuristic since Plissken’s stories took place only several years from now. This show would take place over 500 years into the future, and like the Star Trek franchise, it would take us as far away from Earth as possible.

While the show – "Firefly" – was not the ratings smash that Fox had hoped for since the creator of the show gave us "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," it did quickly earn a legion of fans that gave the show its automatic cult status. I was never a big watcher of the show, but I was aware of it and made a point to watch a couple episodes years later when they began airing on the Sci-Fi Network. What I saw really amused and entertained me; everything was handled in such a matter-of-fact and sarcastic tone that one would think Han Solo was given a series of his own. (It was also a bittersweet reminder of what the Star Wars prequels were missing; they needed someone who took on the voice of an outsider.)

Anyway, the show was unfortunately cancelled, which broke Whedon’s heart. But the fanbase was still going strong and they made themselves known by turning the DVD release of the complete series into a strong seller for Fox. However, instead of Fox following the success that they had with "Family Guy" when that was released on DVD, Universal Pictures stepped in and gave Whedon the opportunity to close the book on the "Firefly" series and – if it would be successful enough – possibly kickstart a new film franchise with the characters on the big screen.

In 2005, this attempt to take this group of smugglers from the television sets to the movie theaters took flight in Joss Whedon’s cult sci-fi film…

Now, while I was familiar with the show and enjoyed the episodes I’ve seen, I cannot in any way claim to be an expert on it. And I know how close fans can hold certain shows to their hearts, so I will not attempt to anger or upset them by getting any details wrong. As soon as I told the Movies Zone writers I was covering Serenity, several veteran writers jumped onboard offering any help I needed. Since I wanted to make this SA 101 column as good as possible, I accepted their offers and they sent me their thoughts on the overall show and the various characters we’ll be meeting.

Jeremy Thomas: I have a deep, dark confession to make…I was not an original Browncoat. When Firefly first aired on Fox during its famously sabotaged run, I quite vividly remember reading a preview for it and thinking "Wow, that’s interesting, and Joss is behind it? Huh, I’ll have to check it out." And then…I never did. Largely, it was because Fox aired it on the doomed spot for television shows of Friday night, and I had other things to do then. I remember catching one episode, "Our Mrs. Reynolds," and being thoroughly intrigued yet confused by it. Then my Fridays became busy again and it passed me by.

It wasn’t until the show was released on DVD that I watched it, and became transfixed. Firefly was a show that took Star Trek’s original concept, that of a western in space, and made it reality. Featuring Whedon’s signature elements—witty dialogue, deep characterizations of realistic and flawed individuals, strong women roles and a powerful mix of humor and drama, the show has an undeniably bizarre concept and yet an ability to hook you in with likable characters.

After years of sterile, neat and orderly science fiction as seen on Star Trek, sci-fi television had become stale, and Firefly kicked that concept right in the teeth with its gritty, dirty western feel. This was no proper French captain or clean-cut crew; the melding of American old west with Eastern sensibilities in a dirty yet beautiful ship was unlike anything we’d seen in a long time.

As an outsider, I feel I was the perfect person to sit down and watch Serenity, mainly because I had such small knowledge about the ins-and-outs of the characters and the backstory. So since Whedon needed to open up his universe and let the un-assimilated in, he had to walk a very fine line and introduce his main characters, his backstory and the Firefly-class ship called the Serenity without being too redundant for his fans. (Believe me, I know when the filmmaker tries too hard to cater to non-fans, having seen various sequels or television adaptations in theaters.)

Thankfully, Whedon is talented enough to know how to walk that fine line and so he gives non-fans a very brief but useful chunk of exposition right at the beginning in the form of a class of children being lectured by their teacher. We get the quick run-down of what the Alliance is, how it came to be, and we even get a less-than-flattering opinion of it to show that all is not well between humanity and the Alliance.

After that, we get a quick burst of action as Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Mayer) rescues his sister River (Summer Glau) from a group of scientists who were busy studying her psychic abilities. And with Alliance members in hot pursuit, Simon and River find sanctuary onboard the Serenity. From there, we get the title of the film and a glorious shot of the Serenity, which suddenly begins undergoing some technical malfunctions.

As the ship starts to shake, we go inside the cockpit and meet Hoban "Wash" Washburne (Alan Tudyk), the pilot of the ship, and Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion).

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