confusing beginning in 'Serenity'?
POSTED BY: Jerry111
UPDATED: Thursday, January 6, 2005 15:44
VIEWED: 14324
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One thing that's bothered me (and that I've always been kinda embarrassed to ask) is: what are those ships at the end of the Battle of Serenity scene? Are those Alliance ships moving in? Or Independent ships moving out?
Incidentally, I feel the two deleted scenes on the DVD might have made better inclusions than the scene that eventually started the episode. It sets the tone more aptly than an all-out war scene - because Firefly wasn't a war show.
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"Shouldn't you be off bringing religiosity to the fuzzy-wuzzies or some such?"
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Quote:
Originally posted by Outsider:
Incidentally, I feel the two deleted scenes on the DVD might have made better inclusions than the scene that eventually started the episode. It sets the tone more aptly than an all-out war scene - because Firefly wasn't a war show.
Was Alliance ships landing.
I think Firefly was a war show, it was just about the aftermath, which is always longer than the duration (to paraphrase JMS a little) - I have to say I think this was one of the studio notes that may have been a good one. Start with action, define the characters through action and then fill in the rest.
Not all studio notes are bad - let's remember that they restarted Angel back in season one after Joss and Co delivered something different than the pitched show, and those notes seem to haev done some good.
"I threw up on your bed"
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because Firefly wasn't a war show.
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maybe not a war show per say but I'd say its the aftermath of a war--there still seems to be some hard feelings about which side you fought for etc
suppose it become sci fi because they are on a space ship and visit different worlds--a western because there are horses and they wear holsters
Also, I can kill you with my brain.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Forrestwolf:
Actually, as I've been introducing people to Firefly the past couple of weeks, I've noticed that the opening scene (the "Fox" one, with the battle) is pretty darned confusing for people in general. I guess it's meant to be, but one alternative Joss could have done would be a flashback to the battle later in the episode. I think many writers prefer chronological order, because flashbacks can get rather stale, but in this case, I wonder if the history and the jump to the show was just too much to grasp.
Anyone else? I just tried Train Job instead as a first ep for a new viewer, and it didn't seem any less confusing :)
Can I ask why it was confusing?
I started off with my first episode as Serenity and I wasn't confused in the slightest... I don't mean this to sound condescending or anything, but just out of plain curiosity, what particularly was confusing?
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Good question, really. I was referring to someone ELSE who I convinced to watch it - not me :) For some reason, when the show went from battle to oh-so-cool (blows me away everytime) silence in space, they just didn't buy the transition. Sigh.
The key here, of course, is that when "general audiences" (whoever that is) watch the MOVIE, they'll GET IT. I'm sure Joss has made that the case. Trust in the Joss.
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I blame Fox for my COMPLETE disinterest in the show. I watched "Out of Gas" and the very last episode (still one of my least favorites) when they were aired and was very confused and hardly interested. This is a show that really needs to be seen in order. The characters build so thoroughly from episode to episode that to show them out of order is sabotage, as far as I'm concerned. I basically got the DVD's by accident: my hubby bought them for me for Christmas because I'm a huge fan of Joss. Little did I know until I started at the BEGINNING what an utterly amazing show it was. I think "Serenity" was perfect. When I start a show, I give it at least a FULL episode, usually two or three before I decide whether or not to watch it. It takes time for people to find their characters, for writers to get their groove and for the characters to develop enough to be truly interesting. At least, that's the way it is for most shows. Firefly, when seen IN ORDER, captured me almost immediately... certainly by the end of the first episode. Fox would have done a lot better if they had chosen to trust Joss rather than assuming that their viewers have the intelligence of rocks and need to be lead by the hand. If nothing else, Joss' reputation would have (and did, actually) drawn viewers and encouraged people to give the show a chance. Instead, they killed it from the beginning for everyone who wasn't a very patient fan, by showing the episodes completely out of order.
Shealynn
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Taken in the context of the show's broadcast date, i.e., at the tail end of the series, no, I don't find the broadcast opening particularly confusing. It's certainly less depressing than the original opening (on the DVD deleted scenes), and for those of us who were already familiar with Mal's attitude towards religion, it was certainly eye opening.
"Hermanos! The Devil has built a robot! Andale!" -- Numero Cinco
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I agree that Firefly is all about war… but a different take than normal maybe, dealing with the aftermath… The first couple episodes really hurt to watch – you had to adjust to a whole new story, plus there was so much noise and confusion… also, occasionally I find the casts accents hard to adjust to. They speak very fast and you don’t want to miss any dialogue.
Although, having said that, I have just been re-watching Buffy (season 4) and Angel (season1) and I had forgotten just how scary they are – while I was watching Firefly I kept thinking it was much darker, but I’ve changed my mind again.
I watched all of Firefly on DVD by the way – just wondering, how many ads per episode in the US? Used to drive me crazy watching Buffy on North American TV, and it really made me appreciate the BBC (no commercials during programmes).
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I didnt find the begining in Serenity that confusing. I really liked it, we got bits and peices from it.
1- We where in a middle of a battle
2-There was a leader ( Mal) rallying troops, improv on the spot ( taking the LT code) and shooting down the plane that was killing them.
3-He belived in the war, in their ablity to win.
4- He belived in god, kissing the cross
5-He was expecting aerial support ( Angels) and when he heard the sound he thought it was them.
6- He found out that there was no air support and he was ordered to LAY DOWN ARMS.
7- The look on his face was crushing when him and his where bombed by the other side aerial support
8- Two mentions of Alliance ( they said they would walk through) so we know who they where fighting and when we see them hiding from them we know that they run things.
9- After Jayne says we win and Mal walks away the bitterness just steams off him. So we see the hopefull, brave leader is gone. We get to see him not broken but changed.
10- He has a major problem with god. His realtionship with Book and how he tried to embarras him with Inara and refused to join in prayer.
Then again this means nothing. Differnet people see things differently, depending. I once went to a movie with my girl and got lost at the end. Still lost, no matter how MANY times she tried to explain it to me.
Perecption I guess varies.
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I sold Firefly with Serenity without a problem, in fact by the time Inara was piloting her shuttle, they turned to me and asked how the hell this show got cancelled.
The first few minutes of Serenity are a textbook introduction to the characters - action piece to suck you in that also tells you a heck of a lot about Mal, then a great little heist moment "cry baby cry" then the music kicks in as the Firefly burns away.
You couldn't write a better pilot; so clearly Fox had to bury it...
"I threw up on your bed"
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