confusing beginning in 'Serenity'?

POSTED BY: Jerry111
UPDATED: Thursday, January 6, 2005 15:44
VIEWED: 14324
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FIGHTON4GOD

Saturday, July 10, 2004 2:17 AM

I actually had to have my cousin explain it to me afterwards. It makes much more sense if you watch the deleted scene where Zoe explains it to Simon. She showed that scene to me, and I got it then.

Keep Flyin'!

Pazuzu

JUMPY

Saturday, July 10, 2004 3:14 PM

Yeh I was definitely somewhat startled. I think it kinda put me on a bad footing, I only really began to throughly enjoy Firefly after the second episode. When I went back to the first one I enjoyed it though.

Anywayz yeh it was a little confusing at the start.

__________________________
There's no show I'd rather see, than the one with Serenity.
You can't take the sky from me...

PURPLEBELLY

Sunday, July 11, 2004 6:40 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jerry111:
... how it started out with a bang. It kind of made me think that I started out in the middle of the episode.

If you're referring to the Battle of Serenity start to Serenity I think you'll find that pitching right into the middle of some action was a response to a Network Note; there are references to the Network's reservations about the pilot on the DVD extras. The unaired pilot started with the salvage job after a voice-over about the war. Whedon has said that he is happy with the rewrite, tho. Personally, I like the final version, although cutting a scene with Gina Torres is not something I could normally condone

JUSTANOTHERMUDDER

Monday, July 12, 2004 3:54 PM

I liked the beginning with the battle scene. It goes a long way to explain the relationship between Zoe and Mal too, as well as why he is the way he is.
When introducing the show to new viewers, don't try to explain it; just tell them to have faith in the story teller and that all will make sense eventually. You can't explain an entire story in the first few minutes... what would be the point of the rest of the episodes then? ;) This is a show for savoring! :)

MER

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 8:56 PM

Truthfully, I felt bored while watching "Train Job". I couldn't understand certain things, but I trusted in Joss that everything isn't what they may seem and I'd end up liking it.
Plus I think I started to get interested just before "Jaynestown" or around "Ariel." with that, I conclude, "Out of Gas" (didn't see the ending) to be the one thing that got me to get the DVD ASAP.

ELVIS

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 10:27 PM

Didn't seem at all confusing to me. You learn quite a bit about Mal in that short scene.

MANWITHPEZ

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 11:14 PM

I'm not sure that the beginning of Serenity was the product of a network note. They (Fox) got the finished product (is my understanding) and didn't like it, so they had Joss come up with the Train Job and aired that as the pilot. And, if I'm not mistaken, in an interview where Nathan Fillion was asked to give word association and was given the phrase "Network Notes", he said "Suprisingly Few". Which is not to say that he would necessarily know if they did get them, bt he wasn't aware of a whole lot. Interviews and panel discussion with the angelic Jewel Staite seem to bear this up. Fox didn't know what they had, and didn't understand it. The point is, I think that the Battle of Serenity Valley at the beginning of Serenity was pure Joss Whedon, and was probably meant to be a little confusing.

Then again, what do I know...I was forced to come to Korea for a year.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

CLEANER

Thursday, July 15, 2004 1:08 AM

I started watching FF b4 it went to air with the unaired pilot. It didn't start with the battle scene but instead the first scene them was pulling salvage off the derilect ship.

It was a far more tasteful start but when the aired pilot was played later the battle scene gave new depth to Mal's character. In particular that he was a religeous person that had lost his faith after the battle of Serenity.

Was this Fox's doing??????

Its all good.

JK

Thursday, July 15, 2004 1:44 AM

Well, I didn't know about any voice-over. I do know that there was a different beginning to 'Serenity' (anyone with the DVDs knows that, it's right there in the deleted scenes after all). The Battle of Serenity beginning was indeed a Network Note. They wanted more action. I believe Joss mentions that in the commentary for 'Serenity'.

And I think it's an excellent beginning. I wasn't confused once; it's very well laid out. Without being explicit, it's clearly said that the Alliance are the bad guys to us, and we want to kick their arse. But we lost. In just a few minutes, you get to see how Mal was stripped down to a shell of a man, as opposed to someone telling you about it later. Which is never as effective.

I'm of the opinion that 'Serenity' was the best episode of the series, the best episode. So don't diss ;)

I've just realised that when the film comes out, we're going to need a way to differentiate between episode and film. Any preemptive thoughts?

JK

RICKKER

Thursday, July 15, 2004 3:56 AM

pilot episode and movie. Just a guess. I thought the action from the battle of serenity and the changes Mal goes through were easy enough to follow. I would have liked both the deleted scenes to have been in the pilot. Especially Zoe's little chat with Simon after he looks up Serenity on his nifty encyclopedia

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