Over four years since Serenity came out, has time changed your opinion of it at all?
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 16:05
VIEWED: 7703
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Quote:
Originally posted by two:
There must be about a fifth of the US population that would go see a movie if it was a perfect sci-fi movie.
The laughing Chrisisall
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Quote:I think it's a genetic thing.
Originally posted by OPPYH:
But it does happen. People do hate Serenity.
Who would have thought?
Like being 'lergic to peanuts or something.
The laughing Chrisisall
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
KHAAAANNN!!!!!
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Quote:LOL, I was actually commenting on the idea that fully one-fifth of our population would see a perfect SF film...
Originally posted by OPPYH:
KHAAAANNN!!!!!
The laughing Chrisisall
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Quote:When I wrote "fifth" I was thinking of an unnecessary, superfluous person -- a fifth wheel. People who watch science fiction are not serious people. They are superfluous. They are dwarfs. They are my people.
Originally posted by chrisisall:Quote:
Originally posted by two:
There must be about a fifth of the US population that would go see a movie if it was a perfect sci-fi movie.
The laughing Chrisisall
Getting slightly real for a moment, it really was about 60 million unique individuals ( children, their long-suffering parents, Asperger's, and engineers ) who purchased $431 million worth of Phantom Menace tickets. Hence, 1/5 or "fifth" of the USA is the maximum audience for science fiction movies like Serenity. Children and their long-suffering parents weren't going to Serenity because there was no Jar-Jar Binks. Maybe if Kaylee had some bunnies, puppies or kittens, more people would have come to the theater?
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Sorry, idiots rule.
The laughing Chrisisall
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Two, I disagree with your assessment of why Serenity was not more successful. It is not because the ending was not powerful enough but because not enough people saw the ending that Joss filmed. Period.
That can be attributed to two different factors. Universal left it up to the Browncoats to promote the movie, plus quite a few of us saw preview screenings and enough didn't like at least one major plot point and made a big stink about it. I am convinced many Firefly fans refused to see it in the theaters because of those reports.
Anyone else normally an SF fan but not familiar with the series wouldn't be attracted to a film titled Serenity, which does not conjure up the notion of science fiction in most people's minds.
And yet...
wo men ren ran zai fei xing.
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Quote:I can imagine the meeting between Joss Whedon and Mary Parent, Vice-Chairman of Universal Pictures. It goes something like this: "Sorry, Joss, we can't use Serenity as a title for your movie because Serenity® disposable absorbent underwear has enormous brand recognition in North America. Have you seen the ads with gray haired ladies doing Tai-Chi exercises?"
Originally posted by ecgordon:
Anyone else normally an SF fan but not familiar with the series wouldn't be attracted to a film titled Serenity, which does not conjure up the notion of science fiction in most people's minds.
Joss had a vague recollection having seen those. Mary Parent continued, "An action movie with the name of an adult diaper will turn away a large segment of our target audience - everyone not wetting themselves. On the bright side, we will totally capture the 65 years and older female demographic!"
******
I have an alternative title for Serenity. Call it "Killer Angels." Why that title? Firefly was developed after Joss Whedon read The Killer Angels according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killer_Angels . Renaming Serenity to Killer Angels would have appealed to those who never heard of Firefly and want a violent movie.
I purchased the novel Killer Angels BECAUSE OF THE TITLE. I knew nothing about prizes it won. I saw no trailers for it and no TV commercials. If the novel had a different title (the title given the movie version was "Gettysburg") I would never have looked at the first page. Joss had two perfect reasons to recycle that novel's title on his movie - it is the original inspiration for Firefly; and River, Zoe, Inara, and Kaylee are the killer angels.
There is another Killer Angels, a 1989 Hong Kong movie with three female cops fighting a gang. The trailer is at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1569980697/ It has Moon Lee as a weak version of River Tam. Joss Whedon could have claimed, "Summer Glau's kung fu is stronger than Moon Lee's, therefore my movie is better!"
The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by two:
"Sorry, Joss, we can't use Serenity as a title for your movie because Serenity® disposable absorbent underwear has enormous brand recognition in North America.
I sense the presence of John Lee here...
The laughing Chrisisall
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Has time changed your opinion of Serenity at all? My answer is that the title was a weakness. I didn't notice in 2005 -- I certainly notice now. The sequel to Serenity should not, Not, NOT be named Serenity 2 or Serenity II. If it is, we will be colonizing other stars systems before we see a Serenity 3.
"Serenity" Listed as One of the Most Unfortunate Movies Titles Ever
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=2&t=31560
Article has discussion of alternative titles for Serenity.
Serenity 2 should be called something like "Kamikaze River" or "River's Revenge," something that connotes violence. Or my favorite: "Killer Angels." Ironic titles, like "Serenity," don't work. Does anybody remember "Surrogates"? Not ironic but a Terrible Title for an action thriller. There will be no Surrogates 2. www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=surrogates.htm
As for "Avatar," that's a great title for a travelogue to another world.
The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two
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