Why Serenity II is not being made.

POSTED BY: TECHTREKKER
UPDATED: Saturday, March 23, 2013 12:08
VIEWED: 33626
PAGE 2 of 9

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 NEXT PAGE

STORYMARK

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 6:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:
Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
Syfy spends less on those movies than an individual episode of Firefly cost nearly a decade ago. Even a TV movie would require a bigger budget than that.
Summer Glau did Deadly Honeymoon, a TV movie with a $1,000,000 budget. It got 5.6 stars out of 10 - www.imdb.com/title/tt1526585/ It had half the budget of a typical SyFy movie but a superior script. So . . . if we can't have Serenity 1½ on SyFy with a script by Joss Whedon, then maybe we can have Serenity ¼ with a script by Zack Whedon for a www.myLifetime.com movie. Small can be beautiful.

.....*sigh*

Unless you want them to recast the crew and built the ship out of cardboard It. Will. Cost. More.

Period.

Having a great script doesn't make the other stuff cheaper. Comparisons to small films, with simple sets and a small cast are retarded - they're not the same, even if it featured Summer.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

ZEEK

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 7:08 PM

Well we've already dropped two major cast members. So, that should cut casting costs a bit. They could do a movie that is just all shot planet side with no scenes on the ship. It would be a little sad not to see it, but I'd be ok with it for one movie.

STORYMARK

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 8:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Zeek:
Well we've already dropped two major cast members. So, that should cut casting costs a bit. They could do a movie that is just all shot planet side with no scenes on the ship. It would be a little sad not to see it, but I'd be ok with it for one movie.

Sure, but that still leaves 7 main cast members. Say you pay them each 100 grand (probably a reasonable rate for some of them, well below what others are used to) 3/4 of a million right there. You still have to pay the license fee (as Syfy doesn't own the property), cover pre-productions (designs, storyboards, pay the writer, etc) pay the crew, insure the production, rent locations or sets, transport everyone, feed everyone, rent or buy costumes and props, then there's post production, music, FX and so forth.

Half the crew, sitting in their knickers in a sand wash talking for 90 minutes would cost a million. Just the way it is.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

TWO

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 8:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
.....*sigh*

Unless you want them to recast the crew and built the ship out of cardboard. It. Will. Cost. More. Period.

Having a great script doesn't make the other stuff cheaper. Comparisons to small films, with simple sets and a small cast are retarded - they're not the same, even if it featured Summer.

You're thinking too big. A Serenity movie could be done without building a Firefly set. Start with the zero budget R. Tam Sessions, where River murders a doctor at the Alliance institute. That could be the opening for the movie. Add a legless ex-soldier with prosthetic legs (call her Sarge, an otherwise unnamed original character) who covers up the murder. You didn't expect Dr. Mathias to do his own dirty work? Stealing directly from Avatar, Dr. Mathias is promising Sarge new legs for her cooperation with his evil plans. Every movie needs two villains.

Sarge will eventually: recapture River when she later escapes the institution on her own, teach River to fight, choose the safe words in Russian that make River sleep, and, finally, be the pilot who lifts Simon and River out of the secret Alliance facility. The plot is how River causes Sarge to sympathize with River's plight. Every movie needs a character arc. Sarge is that character.

Almost forgot, River does her mind reading act before members of Parliament. They are feeling weird after hearing what she says.

In the epilogue, Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Kaylee, Inara get their one minute long cameo appearance in the shipyard. It is Sarge who is flying the salvage ship that is carrying the damaged Serenity. The movie's entire computer graphics budget is spent on this scene and the one where Sarge pulls up her pant leg to show her cybernetic legs.

Most everything in this movie happens underground in the secret Alliance facility or at some low rent bars where Sarge meets Simon to plot the escape. Very simple and cheap sets. And that's how you think about an ultra low budget sequel to Serenity.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

STORYMARK

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 8:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by two:
Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
.....*sigh*

Unless you want them to recast the crew and built the ship out of cardboard. It. Will. Cost. More.

Period.

Having a great script doesn't make the other stuff cheaper. Comparisons to small films, with simple sets and a small cast are retarded - they're not the same, even if it featured Summer.
You're thinking too big. A Serenity movie could be done without building a Firefly set. Start with the zero budget R. Tam Sessions, where River murders a doctor at the Alliance institute. That could be the opening for the movie. Add a legless ex-soldier with prosthetic legs (call her Sarge, an otherwise unnamed original character) who covers up the murder. You didn't expect Dr. Mathias to do his own dirty work? Stealing directly from Avatar, Dr. Mathias is promising Sarge new legs for her cooperation with his evil plans. Every movie needs two villains.

Sarge will eventually: recapture River when she later escapes the institution on her own, teach River to fight, choose the safe words in Russian that make River sleep, and, finally, be the pilot who lifts Simon and River out of the secret Alliance facility. The plot is how River causes Sarge to sympathize with River's plight. Every movie needs a character arc. Sarge is that character.

In the epilogue, Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Kaylee, Inara get their one minute long cameo appearance in the shipyard. It is Sarge who is flying the salvage ship that is carrying the damaged Serenity. The movie's entire computer graphics budget is spent on this scene and the one where Sarge pulls up her pant leg to show her cybernetic legs.

Most everything in this movie happens underground in the secret Alliance facility or at some low rent bars where Sarge meets Simon to plot the escape. Very simple and cheap sets. And that's how you think about an ultra low budget sequel to Serenity.

Yeah, lets do a lame story on a nothing budget ensuring it'll look like crap. That'll go a long way to saving the verse.

Having a different ship still... you know.... requires a set.

I'd rather no more, than crappy more.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

TWO

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 8:14 PM

River could have a long scene with members of Parliament. She could become completely unhinged and scare them with her knowledge of their pettiness: marital infidelities, cheating on taxes, poisoning the neighbor's dog, something nasty for each one of them. That could be fun to watch if it is well acted. Everybody hates politicians.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

STORYMARK

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 8:26 PM

And would parlaiment be set in a bar, too? Played by cardboard cutouts?

Maybe Summer's stalkers would be content with a half-assed "movie" that consists of her in a dark room rambling on about the love lives of politicians, but it sounds like utter dreck to me.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

TWO

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 8:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
And would parlaiment be set in a bar, too? Played by cardboard cutouts?

Retired politicians like Schwarzenegger (a Terminator actor doing a favor for Terminator actress) could play the members of the Alliance Parliament. River punches them in the face. Every one of them leaves the conference room at Universal Studios with a bloody nose. Is that enough to satisfy your need for violence? If not, then maybe some gunshots. Bullets are popular in TV movies.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

JONGSSTRAW

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 9:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
And would parlaiment be set in a bar, too? Played by cardboard cutouts?

Maybe Summer's stalkers would be content with a half-assed "movie" that consists of her in a dark room rambling on about the love lives of politicians, but it sounds like utter dreck to me.

Start with this:

Add this:

And this:

Film it with stop-motion action using this:

Find and update an old used script:

There, I just made Serenity II for $ 112.49

Everybody wins....yeah!

ZEEK

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 9:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
I'd rather no more, than crappy more.

That's the difference I'd rather see something come out and just see what kind of response there is. I don't care if it's "a very merry Serenity Christmas" and it's just a silly christmas movie set in River's mind with the crew all playing parts in a hallmarkesque story. Just get some reason to get the cast back together and see if there is really a hidden pile of fans out there somewhere.

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 NEXT PAGE