Is Serenity's portrayl of the characters true, or Did your Firefly go out?
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Friday, August 4, 2006 20:13
VIEWED: 6304
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My esteemed collegue HK mentioned that for him, Firefly 'Jumped the Shark' with Serenity.
We've heard this with Buffy- peeps say that Buffy ended for them after season 3, or 5...
I maintain the Joss is the creator (Not some measily Jackson Roy Kirk), and as such, his decisions as to where to take the characters is final...cannon if you will.
I feel Mal and co. were entirely spot on in their characterizations and actions in Serenity. The pace was different due to the medium change, but that was them all right, for me at least.
*Please insert your opinion here*
Chrisisall, the whiner
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I have to agree with you. I am, however, speaking from the point of view that I saw the movie before the series. There were, to me, some differences between the show and movie, but that has been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere. Suffice to say that in my mind, I put all the minor changes down to the creators/studio/what-have-you trying to get the Browncoat message out to a wider audience. Some things had to be changed, speeded up or slightly altered, in order to reach this audience. It still worked for me; I still enjoy watching Serenity. If pressed, however, I would take the series over the movie.
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I agree...some sacrifices had to be made to the movie gods to produce Serenity...I too would take the series...
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I think all of the characters acted "in character" throughout the movie.
Yes, some things (like pacing) were changed due to the different medium. Also because Joss was trying to squeeze in a lot of backstory for non-Firefly viewers, and trying to wrap up some loose ends for those of us familiar with the series.
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... but you put 'em together, you got a firefly. Thing'll run forever, they got a mechanic even half-awake.
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Y'know, I can't even see it as an either/or proposition.
Firefly/Serenity...it's ONE story to me, just like season seven of Buffy is part of one (longer) story as well, and sure, everything's different as time (and seasons) passes, but how should it be otherwise? Characters change, grow, and sometimes die....
Change is the essential nature of all existence Chrisisall
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No shark jumping. Things change because in real life things change. No person, situation is ever stagnant unless it's dead, Jim.
I have a friend who felt the same way after season 3 of Buffy. What she really didn't like was that the characters developed and changed as 3-D people rathr than remaining exactly the same throughout the entire series.
I'd much rather have people and situations fluid, otherwise it's comes off like bad 60's TV. With Joss's series, every action has a repercussion, good or bad. Some may take years for the other boot to drop, but drop they do.
I want characters I watch to actually learn from not only their own mistakes, but from other folks around them as well instead of making the same stupid decisions week after week. That makes me jump up on the couch and yell at them and later decide that I really don't need to waste my time on something that moronic.
Serenity had a lot of those things. Mal got darker and harder as the money got tighter and jobs scarcer. Plus that he was taken completely by surprise with Inara wanting to leave in the BDS, and was very hurt by it, he decided to protect himself and kinda shut down to the point where as Kaylee accurately points out, he actually is trying to drive them all off one-by-one in a skewed self-defense.
Kaylee isn't quite as happy and shiny either, probably feeing the effects of a.) Inara's and Shepherd Book's departures and b.) the tense atmosphere on the ship, especially between mal and Simon. She is also thinner, showing signs of the lack of money available on the boat.
Simon has become a bit more combative towards Mal, and openly so, probably on edge with the possibility of either being turned out, and Mr Top Three Percent knows the likelyhood of finding another hiding place without being either killed or turned over to the Alliance. Add to this Mal putting River on the front lines, so to speak, made for a very explosive time and very convincingly so.
So, no talk from me of the BDM falling short of the BDS.
******
RMMC
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I don't think there was any real difference between the characters' actions from the series to the movie, other than the fact we did not get to see the intervening storylines that Joss intended had the series continued.
wo men ren ran zai fei xing.
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I'm with the folks who say that Firefly/Serenity is all one thing. However, I will mention that before the movie I was a casual fan, but after I saw the BDM, I was a FANATIC!
The movie doesn't take anything away from the series and vice-versa.
Mal: Did you send word to Patience?
Wash: Ain't heard back yet. Didn't she shoot you one time?
Mal: Everybody's makin' a fuss.
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Jumping the Shark is usually when the series is well into a long run and you've run out of original ideas and it's getting monotonous and your ratings are s-l-i-p-p-i-n-g and you're getting threatened with cancellation if they don't come back up.
It usually relies on something very dramatic or a major change (often out of character for the series).
Hmm. Let's have an unexpected baby, or better still triplets!!
Or as with the original incident: The Fonz jumps over a shark.
Movies are a different medium and you can't expect your audience to be familiar, so there's a lot of exposition and character introduction to rehash quickly. THEN you get to tell your story. Which was a continuation of the series. Joss knew he *might* only have had one more shot to answer a few questions.
Don't plan for failure, but make sure you make the most out of the opportunity you have.
Characters change and react to their environment or they are dull, monotonous, and predictable.
After a while you wind up with the same script, different robbery.
Saw the BDM first. Love 'em both.
Two different works, discrete from each other. Same people, different day.
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Of course in Serenity the characters were amped up a bit. This is what happens when your forced to cram an entire season(apparently Serenity was scraped out of the outline for season 2) into a 2 hour movie.
There have been mixed reactions from my friends who loved Firefly. Most of them argue it's nowhere near as good as Firefly. I still love Serenity, and think it's the best sci-fi movie since ALIENS, but have to agree to a point. I did enjoy watching Firefly much more than Serenity. The characters really shined on the series, and were given the time they needed to develop.
Damn Fox, Damn them all to Hell.
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