Serenity
I went to see Serenity this weekend. Mr. Bsag was away, but I just couldn’t wait, having heard great things about it. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m keen to see it again with him, because I think I would get even more out of it second time around.
I should say at the start that I’ve never seen the series Firefly on which the film was based. I’d queued up some of the DVDs on LOVEFilm, but they haven’t yet come to the top of my list. I’m sure that I would have experienced another level of depth if I was already familiar with the Firefly universe and characters, but I still found it an amazing film. In fact, I’m now keener than ever to get into Firefly. I am however, a big fan of Farscape; another highly original and unusual Sci-Fi series that—-like Firefly—-had a passionate cult following, but was dropped by the network after they treated it badly, and was then granted a brief, feature-length reprieve, partly because of its vocal fan base. So I have some inkling of what it must be like for a Firefly fan, who has a built up an understanding of the characters and their backstory, to watch Serenity.
The plot concerns a bunch of mis-fits aboard a ship called Serenity, trying to pull off heists to pay for repairs to their clanky old ship, and sheltering a girl called River. River’s brother, the ship’s doctor Simon, rescued her from an Alliance facility where she was being subjected to horrific brain experiments which made her psychic and a bit—-well—-mad1, and now they are all being hunted by an Alliance assassin known as The Operative. Oh, and they all speak rather like characters from a Western, with chunks of Chinese thrown in for good measure. If that sounds cringe-worthy, it really isn’t.
The film has really gripping action sequences, sparky, dry humour and moments of almost unbearable emotional poignancy which ambush you out of nowhere. The characters are all believable and three-dimensional, and I even found myself worrying a bit about what would happen to the ‘bad guy’ at the end of the film. Joss Whedon has an impressive ability to inject surprising things into the middle of scenes without slackening the pace or killing the tension. Most blockbuster films have action sequences, comedy scenes and emotional scenes, but they’re separate and you can see a different kind of scene looming up from miles away. Serenity isn’t like that. As an example, there’s a brilliant chase scene where our heroes are being pursued by the psychotic Reavers. Jayne—-a gun-obsessed meat-head with a heart—-is being dragged on to the Reavers’ ship, but is hanging on with his fingertips to Serenity’s transport ‘mule’. Since being caught alive by the Reavers is a fate worse than death, Jayne tells Mal, “You shoot me if they take me”. Mal immediately aims his gun at Jayne, who yells “Well, don’t shoot me first!”. It’s a brilliantly funny moment in context, but it doesn’t interfere with the pace of the chase at all.
Serenity is also quite a thought-provoking film. None of the characters are really good or bad. Even the heroes do morally-questionable (if pragmatic) things. It also raises important questions about how far governments should go in trying to make people ‘better’. One review I saw suggested that Firefly and Serenity (I would also add Farscape) were unusual among Sci-Fi shows in assuming that human nature wouldn’t change in the future. Star Trek was set in a universe where everyone was shiny and happy and interested in doing good, and money didn’t exist2, which—-much as we’d like to believe in the possibility—-we all know is never going to happen. Mr. Bsag is also of the opinion that the military hierarchy of Star Trek puts it in a dramatic straightjacket, whereas the anarchy of shows like Farscape makes for much more interesting interactions between people. I think that’s also true of Serenity. Even though they do have ranks on board the ship, and they all address Mal as ‘Captain’, there’s a lot of back-talking and friendly insubordination. You get the feeling that they follow the Captain because they think he more or less has their best interests at heart (and because they love him), not because of his rank.
In fact, Farscape went even further with the anarchy because the crew was made up (at various times) of a lost astronaut, five escaped convicts, one ex-communicated soldier, a spoilt and petulant gap-year girl, a completely barking guy with half a face who could take people’s pain at the point of death, a three-eyed old witch, and a bio-mechanoid who was fleeing enslavement. There was no Captain, and even Moya (the living ship) had her own mind. Going anywhere involved a lot of debate and argument between Moya and the crew, mediated and translated by the symbiotically-joined Pilot. I’m rambling slightly, but my point is that human nature will probably never change, and writing a drama set in any period without acknowledging the messy, complicated, contradictory nature of human motivation and relationships is not going to work.
Serenity is a remarkable film which somehow manages to succeed on a lot of different levels. It’s a blockbuster action film that engages your brain, a Sci-Fi film without aliens, and a tragi-comedy. If you don’t enjoy it, then you must be very hard to please indeed, because there really is something for everyone.
1 In a moment of almost epic understatement, Captain Mal describes her as “a bit moody”. â
2 I always wondered exactly how that worked. Communism doesn’t seem to work, so exactly how do you divide up resources? I’d love to believe that it might be true one day, but I can’t see how it would work.â
1
Well, if you love the film the series should fill the gaps for you. Also its not Chinese exactly, its more simplified chinese with slang thrown in for good mesure.
Good to see more and more people are starting to enjoy this under-rated show!
by Nik_Doof @ 10/10/2005 8:11 pm • Permalink •
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You make an interesting point which makes me realise why I like Farscape from the first 10 mintues of the first show. The characters were believable shades of grey. Although shows like Star Trek are watchable, they are very much like stories from EE Smith. You never get a sense the characters might lose some part of themselves to make it to the next day.----- Nicholas Lee: Exactly. In Star Trek, whenever characters do something questionable it was always a case of 'aliens/sparkly fog/telepathic tar pit made me do it'. It's never just because they are human (or Klingon, or whatever). I mean, even Zhaan (Delvian priest and healer and outwardly the nicest person on board) had murdered someone in a rage at some point in her past. On the other hand, Rygel (who always reminded me of one of those dodgy soldiers on a battle field who would be sizing up your boots as you lay dying) occasionally showed glimpses of selflessness and kindness. So yes, shades of grey.
by bsag @ 10/10/2005 8:11 pm • Permalink •
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The first 9 minutes of Serenity streamed using an interesting new method Vividas
by ThoughtBadger @ 10/10/2005 10:10 pm • Permalink •
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I'm delighted that the film is as successful as it is for people who haven't already seen the show. For those who are already fans of the material, it's all that and more: the highs are higher, the jokes are funnier, the lows are more wrenching. Keep us posted on your thoughts about the DVDs.
The show originally started up here in the States just as Farscape fans got the news that the axe was falling. I'm embarassed to admit that I refused to watch the new show out of some dorky sort of petulance, and when Firefly got cancelled as well, I took a certain bitter comfort in that. A coworker finally forced the DVDs into my hands this spring, and much cursing of myself for a total idiot ensued. I was a fan pretty much from minute 5.
by Andrew Willett @ 10/10/2005 10:11 pm • Permalink •
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Never saw or even heard of the series but am going to get the DVDs now having thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I imagine that my lack of knowledge, series-wise, was due to geographical location at the time, or it might have been beer!
by Adrian Rinehart-Balfe @ 11/10/2005 1:11 am • Permalink •
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I love this movie. And you are right. Once you see the show and then watch the movie, some of the relationship nuances become much more apparent and important.
I hope you get to see it soon!
by themarina @ 11/10/2005 4:11 am • Permalink •
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The whole point of Star Trek is to show not what communism can do (flaky american perception that socialism is bad just because totalitaienism dosn't work) but what happens when the right social system is changed so that no one is allowed real freedom, people are pointed in the direction which benifits everyone or their locked away or killed. not many people don't want to do bad things so the whole thing looks smilie shiny on the front.
But considering we only ever get to see the captins, hardly ever the low grogs of the trek universe it's a bit like pretending the middle ages was all princes on steeds and kings with speters and the love of the people.
by Martin Owens @ 11/10/2005 8:11 am • Permalink •
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I was heart-broken when the series was cancelled. It was quite unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and I'm a Star Trek / Babylon 5 type sci-fi enthusiast (only just now getting into Farscape). Glad to know that the movie plays well for those not familiar with the series. Shiny .I loved it! "Serenity" brings some resolution to the series, while still being open-ended. You'll love the series, although knowing who the reavers are might be a bit of a spoiler. Hmm. Not.
by Jeannine @ 11/10/2005 11:11 am • Permalink •
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Sunday, after seeing Serenity for the second time, my friends and I mused how the Star Trek crew would do against the Reavers. They couldn't exactly open a hailing frequency and start diplomatic negotiations.
The series is excellent, more of the same action, humor, and characterization thrown into one blender. I wouldn't worry about renting it, just go buy it. You'll want to see it again.
Unfortunately, the movie is only doing OK at the box office, so it may disappear soon. I really hope it does well enough to get a sequel.
I've been wondering if it's difficult for Non-Yanks to understand the crew? I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, so people 'round here kind of talk that way. A friend of mine was watching the series with his Irish wife, and had to pause it for a moment to translate one particular scene. I would think that most Europeans had seen enough US exports where most of it isn't a problem.
by bitweever @ 11/10/2005 3:11 pm • Permalink •
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i'm glad to hear you liked it even though you hadn't seen firefly!
it's a real shame you didn't wait till you had though...
here was my take on it: http://go-blog-go.blogspot.com/20051001go-blog-goarchive.html#112872557027008686
by Saltation @ 12/10/2005 12:11 pm • Permalink •
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All: I do slightly regret not being able to see the series first, but I wasn't sure how long it was going to be on at the cinema, and I really wanted to see it on the big screen, rather than on DVD.
Nice review, Saltation!
bitweever: I didn't have a problem with understanding their speech (except the Mandarin-Cantonese-Slang-hybrid bits of course). As you say, we've had a lot of experience in listening to American accents of all kinds in Europe. Plus, if you can understand a broad Geordie or Norfolk accent, you can pretty much handle anything else.
Anyhoo, I think I'm going to order the DVDs.
by bsag @ 12/10/2005 4:11 pm • Permalink •
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http://www.fireflywiki.org/ is quite good; has scripts and piquant quotes, plus also translations of the chinese/pinyin bits
by Saltation @ 12/10/2005 9:11 pm • Permalink •
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Saltation: That's a great site.
Paul Mison: No, I haven't ready any of the Culture novels, but it sounds as if I should. I'd really like to believe that it is possible, even if only theoretically. I can see that essentially free energy/manufacturing capability would cover the financial side of it, but what about the psychological side? Somehow, you would have to stop people wanting to have more or better than their neighbours. Even if you can get anything you want for free from a replicator, I'd be willing to bet that some people would still want to have something unique or rare or special, and different kinds of hierarchies would develop. I hope I'm wrong.
by bsag @ 07/11/2005 6:11 pm • Permalink •
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Never read any Iain M Banks Culture novels, bsag? A society without money can work if there's enough productive capacity to produce everything that people want. Given the Star Trek universe has the technology to do that (cheap matter from replicators, cheap energy from matter/antimatter conversions (when did ST:TNG ever have trouble with dilithium crystals?)) that's axiomatic.
In his Few Notes on the Culture, Banks makes the Culture's post-scarcity infrastructure clear: massively intelligent AIs design dumb AIs that can make anything (material) anyone wants; energy from the stars; living material in matter-cheap habitats. The Culture would regard money as a sign of (civilisational) poverty; it's a crude, often rather unfair form of rationing.
Of course, human civilisation is nowhere near either of those possibilities at the moment, and I'm not sure we're smart enough to get there (as opposed to imagining there, if you will). Still, we'll see. The next fifty years will probably show, one way or the other. (Collapse after peak oil, or the first signs of the Singularity? Bet now!)
Sorry, this got quite long-winded. Hope it's vaguely coherent though.
by Paul Mison @ 07/11/2005 6:12 pm • Permalink •
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I'm glad you like Serenity and I hope you like Firefly when you have the chance to see it. The reason for the rank system on board the ship is because Mal Reynolds owns Serenity, he bought her. The other crew are paid for their roles on board or at least contribute something towards the ship. Moya was stolen by the crew and therefore no one can claim seniority or they would face insurrection and mutiny. Secondly, Serenity is based in the future with humans, Farscape is based in spatial distance and with aliens (albeit ones with very human characteristics). It's very difficult to truly compare the two. At this point I would just like to say that I am a follower of both series and while I may be a Browncoat at heart I still named my snakes Talyn and Moya.
by will_k_williams @ 11/03/2006 5:04 am • Permalink •
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I also love both Firely and Farscape. Obviously Farscape came along first and I was immeditalely caught by the depth and caos of the characters and they're lives. But I was also aware that the scripts were a bit lumpy at times and although very imaginative I think they could have spent a little more time honing the dialogue. When Firefly came along I felt a bit resentful as Farscape had already ended but being a stalwart Joss Whedon fan decided to give it a chance. From the first moment I was hooked by his trademark dialogue and smart and interesting characters including very strong female characters which is his forte. Ultimately Farscape was my first and I will forgive it its testy behaviour but Firefly was the 2nd and perfect little bundle. Sadly Serenity only just broke even so a sequel hangs in the balance especially as Joss is too busy with Wonder Woman (what has he got about women with special powers!) but sequels have been made on much weaker foundations so who knows.....
by Electra @ 22/04/2006 1:05 pm • Permalink •
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For those that don't know, the English/Chinese language and culture is because they were supposedly the last superpowers on Earth before they left earth. The western element is because the outer planets are basically frontier worlds, lacking the resources and technology of the core worlds. Firefly is almost exclusively on the frontier worlds while Serenity explored more of the advanced coreward worlds.
I loved Serenity almost as soon as the movie started, and snatched up Firefly at Best Buy when I stumbled on it while looking for something else. I watched the whole show in two nights (which isn't too hard unfortunately thanks to it's limited run) and loved every minute of it.
While I was in Iraq a few buddies wanted to watch Serenity because they'd heard it was a good movie and I forced them to watch a little Firefly first. After watching the first episode they were hooked and we watched almost the whole series that night (and finished in the morning before our patrol) following it up with Serenity.
It's amazing how addictive that show is, it grabs you fast and hard making you wait for Wash's next joke, Mal's next trick on Jayne or Simon, River's next creepy comment, or a million other little happenings that make you laugh, smile, or hold your breath in anticipation of what's going to happen.
Here's hoping for a sequel or some kind of return to the series (which would be hard considering Serenity kinda tried to be more of an ending to the series, but I'm still hopeful).
by Jonathan Thyfault @ 02/07/2007 7:56 am • Permalink •
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