MALSDOXY

Well, I just returned from the BDM and I must say all of our Firefly elements were intact...I do so hope we get our series back, that would be so shiny

SOUNDHACK

Well I just came back from a 10:25PM showing in Arlington VA. The pretty big stadium theater was less than half full, I hope that is because it was pretty late! What follows are my reactions to the movie, so don't read further if you haven't seen it. As this is a blog, I'm not trying to convince anyone my opinions are right, so please no flames either. I just want to put down my thoughts on my blog so [i]I[/i] can remember them later. First off, I think this movie was great. I am going to write things that may sound like nitpicking criticism, but in general I liked the movie a lot. Not as much as the series themselves, but this movie was certainly better than any other movie out this year that I've seen. This brings up one of the main thoughts I've had, the difference between the small screen and big screen. Some professional reviewers have mentioned this, but the BDM sometimes feels like it has the sensibilities of a tv show. While I don't think this is necessarily true, there are a few points. It is obvious that a tv series, even an abbreviated season like Firefly's, has more opportunity for character development than a single movie. You don't go to see a movie (at least not anymore) to see character development. A good example to me is the Star Trek (TOS only, I hate TNG) series/movies. I derive pleasure watching Star Trek movies not to see further development of the characters I know and love, but to see them live and breathe and behave the way I expect them to do. I go back to watch the tv episodes to see the subtle and not so subtle tiny bits and pieces of scenes and dialogue that develop characters and their interaction with each other. Sometimes I even find something new or a different interpretation, even now after having watched each episode literally hundreds of times. Back to Firefly/Serenity. Having less than a full season means that I haven't gotten to know the characters as well as Star Trek ones. That means any new avenue such as this movie is to me an opportunity to see more character development. I don't know them well enough to just be content seeing them "live and breathe" (and die too). And as I've said above the movie is not the best way to get character development. Also, 2 hrs is not enough time to develop all of the characters. I am sure Joss made a conscious decision to focus on a few characters (Mal and River) at the expense of others to tell at least part of their story well, both for us and for people who havent seen Firefly. But to me, I really miss the development of the other characters (they seemed to be playing roles as opposed to living their lives) and to tell the truth I don't think there was that much development with Mal or River anyway. We may come to understand why River is the way she is, but that isnt development, thats more like a living history we just read/saw. For in essence, what made Firefly so special was not the ship (pretty and special as it is), Mal himself (dashing and heroic that he is), or any single character (although Inara IS hot :biggrin: ) What made me fall in love with Firefly was the way the characters interacted with each other, and how the interaction itself developed each character. Maybe why my favorite episode is Out of Gas, becase I think that episode more than any other was about how each character felt about the other, and the ship. In that sense, I would rate that one hour episode better than the movie. I have more to write about that, but this is already getting too long. I will have to break this up into multiple entries over days I guess. The other major point I thought was how the sensibilities of Joss and a tv-show based story affected my reaction to the plot. Call me heartless, but I didnt see that big a deal with what happened on Miranda. I never saw the inhabitants, I didn't see their lives or their hopes/dreams, in short I [i]didn't care[/i] what hapenned to them. Now that sounds pretty cruel I know, but thats the way it is for me. I am sure that if this plot was in the tv series, we would slowly get introduced t

SOUNDHACK

Well I just came back from a 10:25PM showing in Arlington VA. The pretty big stadium theater was less than half full, I hope that is because it was pretty late! What follows are my reactions to the movie, so don't read further if you haven't seen it. As this is a blog, I'm not trying to convince anyone my opinions are right, so please no flames either. I just want to put down my thoughts on my blog so [i]I[/i] can remember them later. First off, I think this movie was great. I am going to write things that may sound like nitpicking criticism, but in general I liked the movie a lot. Not as much as the series themselves, but this movie was certainly better than any other movie out this year that I've seen. This brings up one of the main thoughts I've had, the difference between the small screen and big screen. Some professional reviewers have mentioned this, but the BDM sometimes feels like it has the sensibilities of a tv show. While I don't think this is necessarily true, there are a few points. It is obvious that a tv series, even an abbreviated season like Firefly's, has more opportunity for character development than a single movie. You don't go to see a movie (at least not anymore) to see character development. A good example to me is the Star Trek (TOS only, I hate TNG) series/movies. I derive pleasure watching Star Trek movies not to see further development of the characters I know and love, but to see them live and breathe and behave the way I expect them to do. I go back to watch the tv episodes to see the subtle and not so subtle tiny bits and pieces of scenes and dialogue that develop characters and their interaction with each other. Sometimes I even find something new or a different interpretation, even now after having watched each episode literally hundreds of times. Back to Firefly/Serenity. Having less than a full season means that I haven't gotten to know the characters as well as Star Trek ones. That means any new avenue such as this movie is to me an opportunity to see more character development. I don't know them well enough to just be content seeing them "live and breathe" (and die too). And as I've said above the movie is not the best way to get character development. Also, 2 hrs is not enough time to develop all of the characters. I am sure Joss made a conscious decision to focus on a few characters (Mal and River) at the expense of others to tell at least part of their story well, both for us and for people who havent seen Firefly. But to me, I really miss the development of the other characters (they seemed to be playing roles as opposed to living their lives) and to tell the truth I don't think there was that much development with Mal or River anyway. We may come to understand why River is the way she is, but that isnt development, thats more like a living history we just read/saw. For in essence, what made Firefly so special was not the ship (pretty and special as it is), Mal himself (dashing and heroic that he is), or any single character (although Inara IS hot :biggrin: ) What made me fall in love with Firefly was the way the characters interacted with each other, and how the interaction itself developed each character. Maybe why my favorite episode is Out of Gas, becase I think that episode more than any other was about how each character felt about the other, and the ship. In that sense, I would rate that one hour episode better than the movie. I have more to write about that, but this is already getting too long. I will have to break this up into multiple entries over days I guess. The other major point I thought was how the sensibilities of Joss and a tv-show based story affected my reaction to the plot. Call me heartless, but I didnt see that big a deal with what happened on Miranda. I never saw the inhabitants, I didn't see their lives or their hopes/dreams, in short I [i]didn't care[/i] what hapenned to them. Now that sounds pretty cruel I know, but thats the way it is for me. I am sure that if this plot was in the tv series, we would slowly get introduced t

N0SKILLZ

Well first I gotta say thanks to Joss and the cast for being part of the best movie I've ever seen and to all the browncoats before me that got the DVDs made and showed enough interest to have Universal pick up the movie rights. Now about the movie, one word, AWESOME. It made me fall in love with the crew all over again, even if Mal was a little meaner, and Kaylee wasn't as happy, it was still our same old crew. Lets say from the little I let myself know about the movie before hand, i knew someone that we loved would die, but I didn't know who. So i told myself , in the words of our late great Hoban "Wash" Washburn, "I'm a large, semi-muscular man, I can take it." And I almost couldn't. When it started with Book, i got all teary eye'd and thought "Hey that wasn't so bad" and then Wash got the short-end of the stick, and i could barly contain my sorrow. I'm off to my 3rd showing (second today) in the 2 days the movie has been playing and i'm sure i'll still get choked up at their deaths. I'm still waiting for my "totally legal copy" to make it to my computer so i can start writing quotes and checking out the things people pointed out on other boards. But be assured, I plan on making @ least 3 more trips to see it after tonite and buying the DVD when it comes out. So don't flame me for the above meantioned "legal copy"

CRIMULUS

I have to admit, I was extremely cautious when approaching this movie, because, after watching the trailers, so many things stood out to me as different that there was no way the movie could be any good. All the characters looked different, spoke differently. But, everyone seemed so enthusiastic about it, and the messages on this message board all insisted that if we wanted a sequel, we would have to pay good money and get this movie broadcast out to the whole world so that Joss and his compadres could rake in the big dough -- get the "signal out" so to speak. Well one line from the series sums up this movie perfectly. "He's being toyed with." It's the most obvious, unnecessary line in any episode (Shindig) that informs the most minimalized idiot who couldn't get figure it out. To me it only gains ground as a sentence when Inara blasts forth her second ironical masterpiece with "Why would I want to leave Serenity." Anyway, nearly every line in "Serenity" is exactly the same kind of sentence. Nothing actually ever happens to show you that something was going on, they just let the crew tell you all about it.

REGINAROADIE

I have Fridays off, so not only did I see it, I saw it FOUR TIMES on opening day. And I went dressed as Wash. I had my hair dyed to match Wash's hair color exactly, and I wore a Hawaiian shirt and had with me two plastic dinosaurs. I wasn't alone. At the third screening, I saw a guy with a Jayne tuke and some people recognized me as Wash. I ran into some Browncoats and at the fourth screening, sat with the first gal that I had converted. I took notes on all four screenings. There was about a 21 minute lag between the start time that was advertised and the actual beginning of the movie. There were only two commercials (a Nissan split screen commercial and a Fruitopia commercial with a music theme to it) and five trailers (DOMINO, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, STAY, JARHEAD and DOOM). On a side note, at the 4th screening, people were laughing really hard at the DOOM trailer. As for attendance, the 1st screening was actually livelier than I expected. There were about 20 people there, msotly comic geeks and other Browncoats. I actually helped this guy in a wheelchair up the ramp. He commented on how accurate my Wash outfit was. I entertained him with my dinos, and another guy actually applauded me. The 2nd time had 33 people there. It was more of a family crowd. 3rd time the house was definitly packed, and there were more Browncoats there as well. One woman actually told me about a personal contest going on with someone at livejournal, and that my four ticket stubs would help. And the fourth was probably the best. There was actually a roped off line of people waiting to see the movie. I would expect something like that for HARRY POTTER, STAR WARS, LORD OF THE RINGS, but not for this. And with the 3rd and 4th screenings, people were laughing and gasping at the right moments. But as for the movie itself, let me say this. With this movie, for my 2005 ten best list, its three down, seven to go. I loved this movie so much. After the first time, I was so incredibly giddy. And even after seeing it 4 times in a row, admittedly I am a bit tired, but I still loved every bit about it. I loved the great opening and the 4 1/2 minute long credits shot that establishes the ship and the crew. I loved how it managed to streamline a gigantic mythology, backstory and character dynamics in less than two hours. I loved how it maintained it's humor, it's action, it's edge and it's general themes. I love how they even managed to elaborate on a few things that many people have been wondering about for the last three years. It's so hard to choose a line or a specific moment or scene since so many stuck out. I like how we see that Simon's toughened up a bit, in that is Mal pushes him, he pushes back. I like how when Kaylee's saying her first tearful goodbye to them she has to throw in the comment about how bad the Capison 38 engines are. And I like how when they're ready for the standoff against the Reavers, he finally admits to liking her, and how it empowers her ("To Hell with this. I want to live!!"). I was really shocked to see Wash die. Book I kind of expected to see shuffle off, but Wash was a genuine surprise and horror. It was a bit unsettling to see Zoe internalize her guilt so much. I mean, her husband dies, but she still keeps on with her stoic ways. I know it was in the middle of a Reaver battle and trying to expose the info that's proof that the Alliance inadvertently created the Reavers, but you think we'd see her cry at the end, or at least a sob. But other than that, I was definitly ecstatic to see the film. It succeeded both as a love letter to the fans, and as a way to initiate the uninitiated into our fold. I'm eager as Hell to see what would happen next. Oh, and I'm not going back to revise my stories. I might reference Miranda now, but I'm not going to eliminate Wash and Book from my narratives. Maybe once I finish up YCGHA, if I get any ideas, I'll continue on with the official canon timeline of events. And did anyone thing that Oti bar commercial that tri

ANGELICANGEL

I never got a chance to see it yesterday! I was there, had the ticket and then I got sick. The movie place was nice enough to give me a refund instead of the usual pass they normally would give. I would see it this weekend but I am busy and I have a thing to do on monday so I plan to see it on Tuesday! Go ahead and post about it (Those who have allready seen it) I dont mind reading spoilers I allready know some because I read them when people saw the pre screenings. It will just give me more to look forward. I was so mad! I was allready to go. I never plan on eating at that restaurant I had dinner at again.