***Firefly Series Airs Again on SciFi***

[serak_the_preparer]

That's just half an hour from now.<br /><br />The trophy symbol is for an episode which stands out as excellent in an already excellent series.<br /><br />From SCIFI.COM | Firefly:<br /><br /><b>FRIDAY, SEPT. 23</b><br /><br /><font color="yellow">"Ariel"</font><br /><br /><i>The crew raids a hospital for medical supplies while Simon diagnoses River's worsening condition.</i><br /><br />EVERY FRIDAY AT 7/6C<br /><br />As I did on the thread in the Science Fiction forum, let me add a little to the SciFi Channel's write-up of the episode, which is one of the best produced for the show. If you missed some or all of the others aired on SciFi, this episode might be the one you want to try and catch. Some more on 'Ariel:'<br /><br /><i>In this installment of the Firefly series, Dr. Simon Tam, fugitive from justice, hopes to enter a top-flight hospital and get access to the diagnostic equipment he needs in order to learn more about what the Alliance government did when it experimented on River's mind and brain. To secure the help of Serenity's crew, Simon has proposed a bold undercover operation which should leave the crew in possession of some of the hospital's drug supply, with which the place is well-stocked - stuff worth a fortune on the black market.</i><br /><br />Cramic wrote: <i>I CANNOT WAIT!!!!</i><br /><br />The waiting is almost over. One week from today the movie based on the series will be opening in the theaters.<br /><br />Maybe you've seen some ads by now. Though it's only one person's opinion, to me the trailers being shown in theaters and available on-line are much superior to the television spots. If I had to choose, I would have it the other way around since the bigger audience is the one watching the TV ads. Make the ads great, let the trailer be so-so. But I'm no studio exec, what do I know?<br /><br />The movie is great. Maybe that will be enough. Of course, the series was also great, barely go

 

[serak_the_preparer]

<b>Firefly Marathon</b> began just 20 minutes ago on the SciFi Channel! Pilot is being rerun right now!<br /><br /><i>My head is going to asplode</i><br /><br />Apologies in advance for my relentless posting about the Firefly series and the movie Serenity based on the series. This being the final week before the movie lights up theater screens across the US, I will be posting a bit more heavily about my favorite TV show - now a movie. Some people's heads may want to asplode. : )<br /><br />First off, plenty of information and links are available on the two threads covering this over on the Science Fiction forum. As mentioned previously on this thread, they are:<br /><br />Serenity movie<br /><br />New Firefly movie "Serenity" trailer!<br /><br />Again, also given earlier in this thread, the best quick overview of the series might well be Strickland's The Templeton Gate - Television - Joss Whedon's Firefly.<br /><br /><b>Bridge from series to movie:</b><br /><br />Out on the frontier worlds, as opposed to the Core Planets, old reliable technology is easier to come by than the 26th century technology wielded by the Alliance. On these worlds struggling to build futures for themselves, rifles and six-shooters are not uncommon, oridinary folk ride horses, and hunting, fishing and farming are standard means for eking out a living. If someone wanted to keep a low profile with respect to the technocratic and totalitarian Alliance, this would be the right place. Given the victory of the Alliance in the interplanetary civil war just six years earlier, there are more than a few people eager to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the Core Planets.<br /><br />Malcolm Reynolds, however, has not

 

[serak_the_preparer]

Perhaps surprisingly, my review of the movie has not been written yet. If it were, it might be titled 'Han Solo Meets Dark Angel.' It's not as easy to sum up what <i>Serenity</i> is about as Whedon's excellent introductory scene makes it appear.<br /><br />In the future, a large system of dozens of colonized worlds fights a civil war in which an authoritarian Alliance claims victory. That same Alliance, in a secret military project reminiscent of the one which became the premise of the TV series <i>Dark Angel</i>, creates a psychic and superintelligent assassin who - always being three steps ahead of any opponents - cannot be defeated. An unfortunate side-effect of the work done on River Tam to turn her into the ultimate assassin has left her mentally damaged and unable to function as a normal human being. As a fugitive from the long reach of the Alliance - she is #1 on its list of 'Most Wanted' - she has taken up residence on a smuggler's spaceship captained by Malcolm Reynolds, an ex-officer on the losing side of the civil war. The Alliance has finally located what it regards as stolen property, and will stop at nothing to get River Tam back.<br /><br />River = Dark Angel (half-sane version)<br />Malcolm Reynolds = Han Solo (dark and vengeful version)<br /><br />Though I haven't written my review, many other reviews are now out. You can cut out a lot of the footwork and catch several here at Uplink:<br /><br />Overdue comic book update & movie reviews<br /><br />An excerpt from Review: <i>Serenity</i> (Blogcritics.org):<br /><br /><i>Serenity achieves something that I wasn't sure was possible: it should end up appealing to fans of the show Firefly as much as it does to people who didn't even know that it was derived from</i>

 

[serak_the_preparer]

It's out today, and I'm out the door to run around a bit before checking out the finished version of the movie. Just this, then, before I go:<br /><br />'Serenity' earns director Whedon spot on sci-fi's Mount Rushmore by Peter Hartlaub (San Francisco Chronicle)<br /><br />September 30, 2005<br /><br /><i>"Serenity" was clearly written by someone who grew up worshiping at the altar of Han Solo and the space marines in "Aliens," but this genre picture is still a thrillingly original science fiction creation. The writing is as good as in the best "Star Trek" episodes, while offering a thoughtfully bleak vision of the future that brings to mind "Blade Runner." After his decade of solid work as a television and movie writer specializing in sci-fi and fantasy, this could be the accomplishment that puts Whedon's face alongside those of James Cameron, Ridley Scott and Sam Raimi on the geek Mount Rushmore....</i> (more)

 

[rambunctious]

<i>Perhaps surprisingly, my review of the movie has not been written yet. If it were, it might be titled 'Han Solo Meets Dark Angel.'</i> <br /><br />From a couple of the early reviews I've read (they're linked on rottentomatoes): <br /><br />"Joss Whedon understands what George Lucas never figured out: That it wasn't the Jedi who made <i>Star Wars</i> compelling...It was Han Solo." <br /><br />My favorite comment: <br /><br />"Mal Reynolds is Han Solo for a new era...Except that Mal would always, <i>always</i> have shot Greedo first." <br /><br />As for myself, I had intended to see <i>Serenity</i> tonight, but fate intervened...A couple of days ago I won tickets to the Foo Fighters/Weezer show tonight at Pepsi Center. I'm meeting friends for the Michigan State-Michigan game tomorrow, so <i>Serenity</i> will probably be a Sunday matinee. Meantime, I'm looking forward to seeing early feedback here.

 

[serak_the_preparer]

<i>From a couple of the early reviews I've read (they're linked on rottentomatoes): <br /><br />"Joss Whedon understands what George Lucas never figured out: That it wasn't the Jedi who made Star Wars compelling...It was Han Solo." <br /><br />My favorite comment: <br /><br />"Mal Reynolds is Han Solo for a new era...Except that Mal would always, always have shot Greedo first."</i><br /><br />Those are both great comments - fully agree with them. Or, as it occurs in the movie:<br /><br /><b>The Operative:</b> <i>I want to resolve this like civilized men. </i>(sits)<i> I'm unarmed -</i><br /><br /><b>Malcolm Reynolds:</b> <i>Good</i> (shoots The Operative at close range)<br /><br />About bloody time a hero played it like that. Why must our heroes always be noble to the point of stupidity? This is why I like the character Malcolm Reynolds, libertarianism and all. He once ran into a woman defending her business against 'the authorities' on her world. He was asked to help out as a favor to one of his crew and accepted, but, when he saw he was facing overwhelming opposition, said he couldn't help. Instead, he offered to help the woman move her people and anything they cared about off the planet. She declined. '<i>Thank-you, kindly, but no. I didn't carve out this business to walk away. If I'm to lose what I fought so hard for, then I aim to go down shootin'.</i>' (Reasonably close paraphrase of Nandi's line.) Mal looks her over and nods: '<i>Lady, you're my kind of stupid.</i>'<br /><br />He's <i>not</i> stupid. He's somewhat embittered, extremely practical, none too easy with sharing his feelings or letting anybody 'in' to the parts of his life which matter most to him, believes in fighting for a cause - even a lost one - but, no, the man ain't stupid.<br /><br />'<i>I'm unarmed -</i>'<br /><br />'<i>Good.</i>'<br /><br />Excellent sci-fi adventure stuff. Just saw the finished version and am blown away. Will post my review when I have the chance to sit down and write it. Whi

 

[rambunctious]

FYI, both dailies here (the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News) gave <i>Serenity</i> positive reviews, as did hugely influential critic Roger Ebert.<br /><br />We seem to be in a time when films either open huge or die quickly. With great reviews and word-of-mouth, <i>Serenity</i> could have staying power at the box office. Let's hope...It will be the public at large, not the avid <i>Firefly</i> fans, who will determine whether this film succeeds or fails commercially, and whether the franchise will continue.

 

[serak_the_preparer]

RAM,<br /><br />Good point. The reviews are in, and they're positive. Yes, it will be up to the public at large. The movie did well last night - bringing in around $4 million. A good start, at least.<br /><br />My review, for better or worse - actually more of an analysis - has finally been written and is over on the Science Fiction forum: Serenity: Han Solo Meets Dark Angel Meets Josey Wales.

 

[votefornimitz]

Just got back from seeing it, great movie, but of course, funny guy died.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <span style="color:#993366">In the event of a full scale nuclear war or NEO impact event, there are two categories of underground shelters available to the public, distinguished by depth underground: bunkers and graves...</span> </div>

 

[serak_the_preparer]

Nimitz,<br /><br />You'll want to be extra careful dropping details like that, which in some circles might be dubbed 'spoilerific.' At least for a week or so. Give people time and opportunity to see it for themselves. Luckily, this is a Whedon project we're talking about - pretty much every guy in it is a funny guy, and more than a couple funny guys die.<br /><br />It is a fantastic western. You've got a hero - Malcolm Reynolds, played by Nathan Fillion - who was on the losing side of a civil war a few short years ago, who knows the war's over and lost, who has walked away from the battlefield without surrendering. You've got him and others helping each other through the war's aftermath, creating a makeshift family out of wrecked lives left in the war's wake - some who, like our hero, have lost friends and family of their own one way or another. But, when you tell yourself a war's over, then make a family and a home somewhere, only to have those on the other side come to hunt that family down, can the war really be over? Not for you or anyone, not if you're even half a hero.<br /><br />Hard to go wrong with a story like that, which is why I can't resist invoking comparisons to <i>The Outlaw Josey Wales</i>. And Whedon knows how to tell a good story. With one short, riveting, adrenaline-charged scene, followed by a tracking shot through Malcolm Reynolds' spaceship <i>Serenity</i>, the exposition is beautifully and effortlessly put behind us. We understand there are a half dozen or so characters on a smuggler's ship, defying the authority of the central government of the Alliance, that one of them is a fugitive from that Alliance and very much sought-after. And we're racing off with our heroes on some extra-legal business, the action and the momentum unbroken and never missing a beat. As Adam Baldwin's mercenary Jayne sums it up: 'Let's be bad guys.'<br /><br />If <i>Serenity</i>'s crew might occasionally be bad guys, then Chiwetel Ejiofor's Operative, hunting t

 

[serak_the_preparer]

<i>FYI, both dailies here (the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News) gave Serenity positive reviews, as did hugely influential critic Roger Ebert.</i><br /><br />Great point, RAM, about the reviews. Right now, Serenity is holding at 81% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. And there are four pages of reviews.<br /><br />You mention Roger Ebert. Ebert enjoys science fiction, so perhaps his thumbs-up comes as no surprise. His colleague Richard Roeper, however, is in no way enamored of scifi adventure. Yet Roeper is also impressed by Joss Whedon's directorial debut, joining Ebert in awarding it a thumb pointing somewhere beyond Earth-orbit:<br /><br /><b>EBERT:</b> <i>Okay, our next movie is a science fiction thriller named <b>Serenity</b>, and it's based on a Fox TV-series named <b>Firefly</b> that was cancelled by the network, but was much beloved by its fans. <b>Serenity</b> was written and directed by Joss Whedon, who was the creative force behind <b>Firefly</b> and <b>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</b>. It takes place in a solar system of a dozen Earth-like planets which is ruled by the Alliance, which just wants everybody to be happy.<br /><br />Well, not everybody is happy. Especially not a psychic named River, who is being brain-washed by the Alliance. River and her brother Simon, played by Summer Glau and Sean Maher, soon team up with some freelance buccaneers on a ship run by a crew of hard-boiled outsiders.<br /><br />The climax is a battle where the screen is so crowded with spaceships that there's less danger from enemy fire than from a head-on collision. I couldn't even follow all this action, but, then, neither could they. <b>Serenity</b> has the joy and exuberance of an old-fashioned space opera. And I give it thumbs-up!</i><br /><br /><b>ROEPER:</b> <i>I give it thumbs-up, as well. Because of that, Roger. Exactly what you said! I</i>

 

[serak_the_preparer]

On the SciFi Channel <i>right now</i>.<br /><br />From SCIFI.COM | Firefly:<br /><br /><b>FRIDAY, OCT. 7</b><br /><br /><font color="yellow">"Trash"</font><br /><br /><i>Mal's former wife, con artist Saffron, returns with a scheme to steal a rare antique weapon, but Mal learns there is no honor among thieves and more about Saffron's past than he ever wanted to know.</i><br /><br />EVERY FRIDAY AT 7/6C<br /><br />Don't bother visiting the SciFi Channel site, as they have not updated their Firefly page for some reason. The guide nevertheless shows the next episode, <i>Trash</i>, airing at 7 pm tonight. You will learn Saffron's real name, gain some insight into her checkered past, and - best of all - enjoy plenty of screen-time featuring, well, Saffron. And that ain't a bad thing. My advice is to go watch it right now and ignore the rest of this post (or at least ignore it till a commercial break). : )<br /><br />If any of you out there are fans of the series, this is the weekend to catch the movie. Serenity pulled in $10.1 million last weekend, coming in second at the box-office. The money people at Universal were hoping for $14 million as a benchmark high enough to warrant a sequel. If, however, this second weekend for the movie generates enough revenue, then the sequel is on - if not, then no second movie. So this is it.<br /><br />I'm a moderate person by nature and am wary of extremes. But here it is anyway: Serenity is the best science fiction which will come out in theaters this year and perhaps for years to come.<br /><br />I stand by every word of that. Action, adventure, characters with real depth, a quest with real meaning, a last stand, redemption at a heavy cost, humor and fun. I don't know what else to say. I put the movie above <i>Bladerunner</i>, the <i>Star Trek</i> movies,

 

[rhodan]

andreash,<br /><br /><i>Firefly aired in Sweden last year but hasn't made it to Germany for some reason so I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't make it to the Netherlands.</i><br /><br />Well, it did make it to the Netherlands, but I managed to completely miss it somehow. <img src="/images/icons/shocked.gif" /> <br /><br />Luckily, I found out that a friend of mine, who has every Star Trek episode on DVD (I suspect him of hiding a Star Trek uniform somewhere, or Spock ears), also owns a DVD of Firefly. So I'll be watching those episodes before I'll go and see this movie. I will definitly go and see this movie. <br /><br /><i>It's a very imaginative and weird mix of Cowboys meets Space Scifi but it's made in a way that will make you both laugh and shake your head in disbelief. Partly because it is just crazy as concept but mostly because it is ultra-American in it's glorified space-faring, cool and renegade cowboys.</i><br /><br />I can't wait! <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" />

 

[rambunctious]

<i>Luckily, I found out that a friend of mine, who has every Star Trek episode on DVD...</i><br /><br />Please tell him to seek help. Soon.

 

[serak_the_preparer]

<i>So I'll be watching those episodes before I'll go and see this movie. I will definitly go and see this movie.</i><br /><br />You'll love the movie all the more. Even without seeing the series, the movie flies very well on its own. There's no denying you'll get more out of the character interaction, however, if you see some episodes first.<br /><br /><i>I can't wait! <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /></i><br /><br />I have seen it <i>four</i> times at the theater already. It's great and you'll love it.<br /><br />If you truly can't wait, here's a taste:<br /><br />Vividas Streaming - <i>Serenity</i> - 9 minutes

 

[igorsboss]

I haven't been able to watch Firefly at all, but I saw Serenity recently.<br /><br />I REALLY liked this movie! The characters, the plot, the action, the humor, but most of all, the originality. Excellent!

 

[serak_the_preparer]

IgorsBoss,<br /><br />Now that you've seen the movie, you may want to consider borrowing or buying the DVD collection of the series. There's a lot more of these characters and their 'verse for anyone who's enjoyed the movie.<br /><br />Speaking of the movie - which was #1 in the UK this last weekend - here's what the NY Times has to say:<br /><br />Scruffy Space Cowboys Fighting Their Failings by Manohla Dargis (New York Times)<br /><br />September 30, 2005<br /><br /><i>It probably isn't fair to Joss Whedon's "Serenity" to say that this unassuming science-fiction adventure is superior in almost every respect to George Lucas's aggressively more ambitious "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith." But who cares about fair when there is fun to be had? Scene for scene, "Serenity" is more engaging and certainly better written and acted than any of Mr. Lucas's recent screen entertainments. Mr. Whedon isn't aiming to conquer the pop-culture universe with a branded mythology; he just wants us to hitch a ride to a galaxy far, far away and have a good time. The journey is the message....</i><br /><br />A review echoed by others, among them:<br /><br />Review: <i>Serenity</i> by Scott Weinberg (eFilmCritic.com)<br /><br />09/29/05<br /><br /><i>A blisteringly entertaining and wonderfully unique concoction, Joss Whedon's SERENITY may have been born from a failed TV series, yet floats into multiplexes as one of the cleverest, crankiest, wittiest, wildest, and most character-driven sci-fi adventures in 25 years, and it's the best outer-space trip I've been on since the empire struck back....<br /><br />Yes, I just compared "Serenity" to the original "Star Wars." Now you're REALLY curious, aren't you?<</safety_wrapper></i>

 

[serak_the_preparer]

Hey, it's Friday again and in just three and a quarter short hours an episode of Firefly never aired before on US television will be shown on the SciFi Channel.<br /><br />From SCIFI.COM | Firefly:<br /><br /><b>FRIDAY, OCT. 14</b><br /><br /><font color="yellow">"The Message"</font><br /><br /><i>BROADCAST PREMIERE! Mal's and Zoë's debt to an old friend puts the crew in danger.</i><br /><br />EVERY FRIDAY AT 7/6C<br /><br />The theme is mainly the debt placed on those who live through wars. How do you maintain human decency in the face of the dehumanizing power of war? If you have a personal sense of honor, then somehow you do. Do such obligations end when the war ends? What do they mean during war, and when war is over and done?<br /><br />There's also something going in this episode having to do with what's important to you, no matter how ridiculous it may appear to others. There's nobody more macho in the series than the mercenary Jayne, but he did not fight in the civil war. Get himself killed over someone's politics? No chance. Then again, he insists on wearing that hat sent to him by his mother, no matter how it makes him look. Which is a running joke throughout the episode, but there's also a message there. We carry what's important to us around forever, no matter what it demands of us.

 

[serak_the_preparer]

<i>Firefly</i>'s latest episode is on the SciFi Channel as of this very moment.<br /><br />Going away now...

 

[serak_the_preparer]

<i>I REALLY liked this movie! The characters, the plot, the action, the humor, but most of all, the originality. Excellent!</i><br /><br />IgorsBoss (and anyone else checking in),<br /><br />Glad you liked it as much as you did, especially given your lack of exposure to the series. That says something very good about what Universal has accomplished. The movie is already destined for cult classic status, but maybe it can be more than that?<br /><br />Only two more episodes of the series are left to air on the SciFi Channel. And this is the movie's third weekend in the theaters. It may have one more week out there before it wraps itself in a chrysalis in preparation for its re-emergence in DVD form. This thread has nearly run its course.<br /><br />There may be another <i>Star Trek</i> movie, but no more <i>Star Trek</i>- based series. We are very likely done seeing new <i>Star Wars</i> movies, unless Lucas recants and decides to go for sequels to the original series. You never know, he might want his kids to have their own private islands one day.<br /><br />For all intents and purposes, however, our old reliable science fiction franchises are reaching the end of the line. If anyone wants to see something new to take up the slack, movies based on Joss Whedon's <i>Firefly</i> series might be the ticket.<br /><br />If Serenity does well enough, Universal has the option of pulling everyone back in for one more movie. Possibly two.<br /><br />So, any of you out there restless and wanting something fun to do this weekend, I recommend a visit to the theater and a viewing of this movie. It started out around 67% on RottenTomatoes' survey of movie reviews, but has since shot up to a very strong 81%. The critics are thrilled about this movie. (Meanwhile, 87% of the so-called 'Cream of the Crop' reviewers have good things to say about it, and 95% of the

 

[serak_the_preparer]

Links:<br /><br />FireflyWiki.org - Firefly.HomePage<br /><br />Worlds of <i>Serenity</i> by Wil McCarthy (Science Fiction Weekly)<br /><br />FireflyFans.Net

 

[serak_the_preparer]

[<b>Review appended</b>]<br /><br />For a lot of people out there, this is the last weekend to catch Serenity at the theater. It may hang on in some places for one more weekend.<br /><br />Go see it!<br /><br />Ig Nobel Prizes, Serenity, & Zombies!!! by Dan Alban (The Record)<br /><br />October 13, 2005<br /><br /><i>Serenity - Best SF Film in Years<br /><br />Not only is Serenity the best science fiction film since The Matrix, it is also one of the best films of the year, in any genre. A low-tech space western with no aliens or laser guns, Serenity is a follow-up to the prematurely cancelled TV series Firefly, but remains easily accessible to the casual viewer. Created by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the world of Serenity is a political realist's version of Star Wars in which the rebels lost and the governing authority isn't a cackling evil empire but an ostensibly benevolent democracy, the Alliance.<br /><br />The film focuses on the adventures of the scofflaw crew of Serenity, a small smuggling ship owned by Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), an unreconstructed rebel veteran of the failed war of independence. Serenity has picked up a dangerous passenger - unstable pubescent psychic prodigy River Tam (Summer Glau), who's on the run with her brother after he rescued her from a covert Alliance training facility. A ruthless Alliance agent, concerned that River may have learned about dark Alliance secrets with her psychic powers, is in hot pursuit. This doesn't sit well with hardheaded Mal, who doesn't cotton to Alliance authority one bit and eventually declares, "No more running. I aim to misbehave." Pairing roller-coaster thrills with an intelligent political plot about abuse of power, Serenity offers hilarious quips, chases, romance, gunfights, fistfights,</i>

 

[serak_the_preparer]

ZeroGeezus,<br /><br />I'm a fan of PKD and very happy any time his work receives any promotion, even <i>Total Recall</i>. (Okay, well maybe not <i>Total Recall</i> - let me mull that over awhile first.) But I found <i>Minority Report</i> lacking in certain areas, while very strong in others. Overall, I enjoyed it and responded especially well to the message about political power and the portrayal of future technologies.<br /><br />All a matter of taste, I guess. <i>Minority Report</i> made for a cool adventure. <i>The Matrix</i> set a whole new standard for science fiction adventure, I think. I found <i>Serenity</i> to be funnier, and much deeper than it appears to be on the surface. But I still have to hand it to <i>The Matrix</i> for its triumph in being something so new and groundbreaking, and so utterly cool.<br /><br />I'd say this is the movie's last weekend before it's pulled. Still playing in my area, but it's been dropped from a lot of theaters. Three weeks plus so far, and four weekends. The movie did okay, but didn't storm the theaters the way fans of the series might have hoped.<br /><br />Anyway, 'tis Friday and time for another new episode.<br /><br />And I do mean new - first time ever shown on US television:<br /><br />From SCIFI.COM | Firefly:<br /><br /><b>FRIDAY, OCT. 21</b><br /><br /><font color="yellow">"Heart of Gold"</font><br /><br /><i>BROADCAST PREMIERE! Mal defends a bordello from a cruel gunslinger, who fathered a child with one of the girls and now plans to kidnap the child.</i><br /><br />EVERY FRIDAY AT 7/6C<br /><br />SciFi Channel site has not been properly updated, has left up the title of last week's episode. The write-up, however, is accurate. Lots of ladies of the evening stroll across the screen, some good comedy, and a good old-fashioned shoot-out at the best little whorehouse in space. What more could anyone ask?

 

[serak_the_preparer]

This Friday will see the series finalé aired for the first time in the US. That same day will see the movie gone from the theaters, having departed the night before. I suppose there's a sort of poetry in that.<br /><br />Well, now you've had another taste of how I get when obsessed. (Seen at least once before, as when I spent the early days of the new incarnation of this site archiving old material.) Apologies to anyone who may have gotten a little tired of my seemingly endless rambling about a cancelled television show. Which is now finally about to end.<br /><br />The movie Serenity earned a 4-star rating on Google's survey of 62 reviews. And it's stabilized with an 81% rating on RottenTomatoes' Tomatometer (sampling 144 reviews, and actually flying higher at 87% among RottenTomatoes' Cream of the Crop critics, while 94% of the site's users have good things to say about the movie). But Universal's ad campaign for <i>Serenity</i> has been almost nonexistant, and misleading where it's appeared at all. The ads make it look like the movie is another flick about an ass-kicking animé-derived amazon. That character - River - merely provides the pretext, the impetus for the plot. The movie is actually about the embittered war-veteran turned mercenary, Capt. Malcolm Reynolds. River is just the problem he sets out almost against his will to solve. And the movie is awesome.<br /><br />The reviews hardly matter now, but there's still a little time left for anyone who may feel like visiting the theater sometime this week. So a few more reviews:<br /><br />Serenity - Review by Joshua Tyler (CinemaBlend)<br /><br />2005-09-29<br /><br />[W]<i>riter/director Joss Whedon isn’t slaved to </i>[

 

[serak_the_preparer]

Series ends...<br /><br />From SCIFI.COM | Firefly:<br /><br /><b>FRIDAY, NOV. 4</b><br /><br /><font color="yellow">"Objects in Space"</font><br /><br /><i>SERIES FINALE: A ruthless bounty hunter in pursuit of River seizes control of the Serenity and its crew.</i><br /><br />EVERY FRIDAY AT 7/6C<br /><br />...next week!<br /><br />Right now it looks like the SciFi Channel is all about its <i>13 Days of Halloween</i> programming. No <i>Firefly</i> tonight. Must wait till next Friday for the final episode.<br /><br />In other news, the movie is <i>still</i> hanging on at one theater in my area. The movie will make it - barely - into its fifth week. People who may be thinking of seeing it, but who haven't been able to get around to it yet, may have a week more to do so in some places.<br /><br />Check out the reviews in the post above this one if you haven't seen the movie yet. A worthwhile visit to the theater is in store for you if you decide to go give it a look.