Firefly

[Jesi]

I'm totally down for going down there for a Serenity showing. However, sadly, it won't be opening night, and it'll have to be on a night where I can crash on someone's couch (I'll offer to make breakfast the next morning!) Dj's not big on traveling long distances in the car but I'll see if I can work on him

[The NZA]

Yeah...im no good on weekends either, between work & class. i gots mondays and early fridays off, after that...late night on tues-thurs, that's it.

But we gots a futon that turns into a bed, and youre both more than welcome to it & whatever food we can muster for the stay. Itd be awesome.

 

Last 3 episodes tonight...almost sad to see em go. Were off to a good start so far, tho: "Who ordered the dead guy?"

[The NZA]

ok, so now im sad its over.

 

Last disc was fun, but it kinda felt theyd come full-swing, had a lot more to tell, you know? Goddammit, Fox...and Jax hasnt answered my questions yet.

 

Overall strong across the board, i stand by "Ariel" as the best episode, though. Whedon can do no wrong, and the 30th cant come quick enough...off to see that trailer, ill appreciate it more now.

[Silent Bob]

Agree with ya on all that. The scene between Mal and Jayne at the end of Ariel is one of my favorite moments in the series. Really great stuff. It does really leave you hanging, though, so it's kinda sad to watch all the way through. With the series cancelled early and all, they didn't get to do a true season finale that brought any sense of closure (Objects in Space was good, but not that good). The movie is gonna have a big job to complete, since it'll have to tie up all the unanswered questions from the series, but also leave enough left over to allow for sequels (or a new series). On top of that, it'll also have to be understandable by all the people who didn't see the show. It'll be interesting to see how Whedon and crew try to pull it off.

[bishopcruz]

Well, Glad ya enjoyed it Nick. Told ya it rocked. That scene in Ariel waws one of the most badass scenes of all goddamn time. You do NOT fuck with Mal. Ever.

I also liked most of the Series, Our Mrs. Reynolds and Jaynestown being the funniest, Ariel and War Stories being just mazing overall, and hell Heart of Gold for being a western.

 

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I reall was not exdpecting Inara to say she was leaving in that ep. I really have to wonder where the movie is going to take the relationship with her and Mal, tho, she has a lot of screentime in the trailers.

 

Still, you have to love a series where even the weaker episodes are still DAMN good. So, on that topic what was everyone's favorite episode?

 

Mine would probably be Out of Gas, just an amazing ep, love funky orders in storytelling, and finding out how Mal met everyone was great.

[Reverend Jax]

Actually Nick, my favorite scene wasn't the Jayne/Mal scene at the end of Ariel, it was the Mal/Wash torture scene in War Stories.Throughout the whole series, but especially that episode, there was this tension, and the intensity of the kidnapping,a dn then the torture jsut allowed Mal and Wash to drop the acts and get their feeling out, and just seeing it happening during the torture is heartwrenching and hilarious. Wash with this sense of "I'm going to die anyways, fuck it, I'm telling Mal just what I think of him!" Just was just an incredibly concieved scene, but Nathan Fillon and Alan Turyk took it to a whole new level with their performances.

 

As for the success of the movie yeilding more Firefly: Joss Whedon says he has it on good authorty from within Universial that if the movie breaks the $80 million mark world wide, they'll greenlight a sequel. That's not undoable. He says if it's a hit beyond exceptations and makes way more, he'll negociate for a trilogy deal from the get go. He has left it unclear as to whether his trilogy would allow for more Firefly after that point in the story (obviously if Mal dies in Serenity 3, no Firefly show after that). But, I think that doesn't mean you couldn't have more stories that take place before. You could make more stories that take place after Firefly's Pilot (so Book, Simon and River could still be around) but before the movies. I don't know. If he ends the story in Serenity 3, Firefly would be difficult to make into an ongoing story. I'm just hoping thsi movie coming out in 6 days does well.

[The NZA]

Me too, except for the Mal dying part...you horrible cock.

 

Ima try to get LL to watch the series this coming week before the movie drops....was thinking of an early friday evening showing, but i dont think she can make that one either.

SB, RA - any chance you guys might meet up? When's best for you? Im gone pretty much all weekend, friday & mondays are good.

[Reverend Jax]

I'm trying to make it back friday evening, but it's all reliant on my class schedule. It's my last day and I need my certification. It's supposed to wrap up early and I could be back in Miami for a 7pm screening maybe.

[archangel]

So then what time should we get the tickets for? And exactly how many of us are attending?

 

And which theatre? I figure the new one on 88th and 122nd.

Edited September 25, 2005 by archangel

[Reverend Jax]

We did Sin City there. Nice theater. I can't make any promises about making it in time no matter what time you pick.

[Jesi]

I'd love to do it this weekend except 1) I have a special-needs kitty I'm babysitting and 2) we're probably gonna have a funeral to attend, which was obviously unexpected. So we won't make it for the premiere but maybe a re-viewing is in order next week? We'll keep ya posted.

[The NZA]

Well, shit, if friday's not good for LL, Jax, RA & SB, then id rather just wait till whenver's better for everyone next week. Along with Bishop, this is pretty much the group i expect to be hyped about seein this, so id rather wait for some time when we can pull it off as a group.

 

ps sorry bout the funeral, unless you two are actually assassins and its your work, in which case, good job.

[Jesi]

The Deej and I are gonna try to hit up AMC Pleasure Island up at Disney on Friday night since we're gonna be up there anyway, because I sincerely can't wait much longer for Serenity. But, I definitely want to go see it with a big group of fellow Browncoats. I'm generally available on weekends, as is DJ. So ya'll work out your schedules and lemme know, and I'll make the trip. *nod*

[The NZA]

Just got done with the comic - not sure what Jax was fussin bout; its not the show, but id love to see more of this if i cant get that. Also, set things up for the movie, i think - got some great people doing the cover art, too.

 

RA - you see these things? I can send em to you if not....there's even an ad for action figures, thought you or SB might dig that.

[Silent Bob]

Lol see 'em? We found a couple issues in the comic store a week or two ago and she went online that night and ordered all 9 of the covers. ...still haven't gotten them, though. :( Maybe tomorrow...

[Reverend Jax]

Nick, how'd you like Heart of Gold?

 

Jayne: I don't know these poeple, and don't care much to know um.

Mal: They're whores.

Jayne: I'm in.

[La Lindsay]

OK, I'm definitely on this bandwagon after watching the full pilot...I watched the pilot on Sci-Fi about a month ago but I think they cut out a lot of good stuff. I think I'm about one Joss Whedon-created TV series away from stalking the man.

[Jesi]

Just got done with the comic - not sure what Jax was fussin bout; its not the show, but id love to see more of this if i cant get that.  Also, set things up for the movie, i think - got some great people doing the cover art, too.

 

RA - you see these things?  I can send em to you if not....there's even an ad for action figures, thought you or SB might dig that.

 

DJ's not lyin'... You thought my "graphic fanatacism" was bad before? Let's take count:

 

1) I bought a Blue-Sun tee shirt (gotta wash it ... again ... and once the other issues of the comic come in the mail I'll take some photos)

2) I started two fanfics (that I have not and probably will never finish and no you can't read them because they're humiliatingly bad)

3) I went nuts and bought all 3 variants of all 3 issues of the comic

4) I have the theme song on my iPod and in my iTunes list on regular rotation

5) I have a "SERENITY" countdown widget on the computer

6) I use common phrases from the show (ex. "Hey Jess, how you doin today?" "Shiny, you?")

7) *looks around* oh yeah, the Firefly theme for Hondos. Can't forget that.

 

...Yeah, I'm an unabashedly obsessed dork.

 

Sadly I don't think I'll be getting the action figures. the Mal figure is "eh" and the Jayne figure just looks retarded - Doesn't look anything like Adam Baldwin and the expressions are just stupid.

Edited September 28, 2005 by Rubys Angel

[The NZA]

Jax - classic western stuff, loved it.

 

RA - Yeah, the figures arent sharp, i kinda wanted a Mal one, but its barely him....

 

wait, Hondo's Firefly theme? i wanna hear bout this...

 

 

Interview

 

Serenity Now?

Joss Whedon's canceled TV series ''Firefly'' is back from the dead -- The writer/director/cult-media prophet's aborted TV series has emerged from the cancellation cocoon as a full-blown movie by Jeff Jensen

 

There are several thousand reasons why the film Serenity is coming to a theater near you on Sept. 30, and on this balmy San Diego evening in July, a couple hundred of them have just broken out into song. Some sport T-shirts that read JOSS WHEDON IS MY MASTER NOW. (Pop idolatry like this can happen when you make cult magnets like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel for a living.) But most are Browncoats, a division within the Whedon Nation devoted to Firefly, the producer's short-lived 2002 TV series about a rinky-dink spaceship and its thick-as-thieves crew. Tonight, these true believers have gathered in this multiplex for a sneak peek at the miracle they have helped make possible: the reincarnation of Firefly as Serenity, a $45 million film written and directed by Whedon and starring the show's original cast. So when they rip into Firefly's guitar-and-fiddle theme song (''Take my love, take my land...''), they do so with glee. And when the Master himself materializes from behind the curtain, they greet him like a golden god. Whedon soaks it in with a shy smile. Then, a trademark zinger: ''A little enthusiasm might have been nice.''

 

He's joking, obviously. But if Browncoats everywhere would like to take him seriously, Universal sure wouldn't mind — much of its marketing strategy hinges on it. Since April, the studio has sneak-previewed the film a whopping 66 times for Firefly loyalists as part of a plan to mobilize Whedon's well-organized, Internet-chatty fans. Universal could use the extra muscle: There's a lot of heavy lifting involved, trying to explain a sci-fi Western in which cowboys giddyap on space freighters, fire Winchesters, and curse so damned much. In Chinese. (In case you're wondering why Fox canceled the series after 11 low-rated episodes, now you know.)

 

For Whedon, the support from fans has sustained him through Firefly's arduous slog from TV flop to potential franchise. ''It means more to me, in fact, than I care to admit,'' says Whedon, 41, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter (Toy Story) making his feature directing debut. But in many ways, his fractured heart is there for all to see in his movie. ''Nobody has felt more like Mal Reynolds than me,'' says Whedon, referring to Serenity's Han Solo-esque haunted hero, a battle-scarred ex-soldier (Nathan Fillion) who must fight like hell in order to save the life of a strange, damaged child. ''A lot of emotional issues have come up while making this film. And one of them,'' he says with a laugh, ''is that I don't deal with loss very well.''

 

Of course, hardship and heartbreak were always supposed to be part and parcel of Serenity's world. Whedon dreamed up Firefly six years ago after reading Michael Shaara's Civil War novel, The Killer Angels. He pictured a gritty drama about the rigors of frontier life — ''but on a spaceship, because I'm me,'' says Whedon, who saw Firefly as a scruffy Star Trek minus the noble causes and aliens. He fell hard for his new creation. TV viewers did not. For all of Firefly's rich ingredients — including a prostitute with class (Morena Baccarin) and a sad, spacey teen (Summer Glau) tweaked by evil scientists to be a killing machine — the show was too eclectic for a mass audience. A Friday-night time slot didn't help, nor did Fox's decree that Whedon lighten up his bleak concept with more Buffyesque quips and kicks. He agreed, though his gut told him that compromise wouldn't make Fireflyany more commercial. ''I chose to ignore it,'' says Whedon, ''because I was in love with the show. It was like crack.'' The actors were similarly quixotic. ''I had it in my heart we were doing something good, and because we were in the right, we would prevail,'' says Fillion. ''And I was crushed.''

 

Whedon was too, but he refused to accept it. He didn't believe he had to. After all, this was the guy who rescued Buffy, which was first a failed movie (based on his script) before it became a seminal TV show. After Firefly was snuffed in December 2002, Whedon spent nine months trying to reignite it. But cancellation had given the project a stink. Even UPN and Sci Fi Channel turned him down. ''I asked all the homeliest girls at the prom if they would dance, and they said no,'' he says. ''Then the beauty queen showed up.''

 

''I was a Whedon stalker,'' laughs Mary Parent, Universal's now-outgoing vice chairman of production, who dug Whedon's vision and no-surrender passion. She also recognized a potentially marketable Cinderella story. A modestly budgeted film, Parent believed, was a gamble worth taking, and in September 2003, Universal optioned the rights from Fox. ''I thought this band of underdogs could make for a cool movie,'' she says. ''But I did want to see a script first.''

 

So Whedon wrote. And wrote. And wrote. And wound up with an unfilmable, only-for-the-fans 190-page epic — ''basically the second season of Firefly,'' he says. He boiled the script down to a crackerjack chase flick charged with political subtext: Mal & Co. on the run from a government agent (Chiwetel Ejiofor) desperate to recover that lethal and loony teen, River. In February 2004, after the script was done (and Firefly emerged as a DVD smash), Universal cleared Serenity for launch. Browncoats cheered. The cast rejoiced. And Whedon...was pissed. The battle to save Firefly finally won, Whedon found himself ''burping up a huge amount of an undigested rage.'' Serenity, he realized, was not Firefly; a two-hour film just could not encompass all the stories he wanted to tell, and could have told on TV. ''When the fight was over,'' he says, ''I finally felt all the pain I never let myself feel.''

 

But after that, everyone lived happily ever after, right? Not yet. In early 2005, the studio decided to move Serenity from April to September to shield its little fish from the bigger ones — namely, Star Wars. Whedon was disappointed for his fans, and worried the shift would be seen as a sign his film wasn't very good. Fortunately, Universal had an idea for assuaging his insecurities that dovetailed nicely with its intention to utilize the Browncoats as buzz generators. On April 22, Serenity's original release date, the first wave of screenings was held, publicized solely through Firefly fansites. The next day, reviews hit the Web — and fortunately, they weren't bad.

 

Stumping for Serenity could bring fans the glorious spoil of even more Serenity. Universal execs say the film would need to gross north of $80 million globally to garner sequel consideration — not an impossible dream, given that Whedon also boasts a strong following abroad. (''Trilogy!'' cries Fillion.) Whedon is game, though he'd have to find time to juggle franchises: He's prepping a Wonder Woman movie for Warner Bros. ''This doesn't feel like the end to me,'' he says. ''But then, nothing with me ever ends.''

 

Serenity hasn't healed all of Whedon's Firefly wounds, but he does feel a sense of relief...and gratitude. ''I know I'm a lucky man,'' he says. ''But there's gotta be an easier way to make a movie.''

[Reverend Jax]

So I might be down in Miami a day early, in which case I can't find any theater playing it at midnight, but plenty in the afternoon.

[archangel]

When are you coming down? Maybe we can still pull this off

[Reverend Jax]

Thursdy night.

[archangel]

So what doyou guys think of Friday afternoon then?

[Reverend Jax]

Sounds like a plan, stan.

[archangel]

anyone else?