"Serenity and Firefly" Topic

Is Serenity the same story as the Firefly series compressed into a 2 hour film?

Doug

No. Serenity is same characters, same universe, a bit of the same storyline but a completely self-contained story arc seperate from the TV shows.

Doug,

Make sure to watch all the Firefly episodes first, before going on to Serenity. Serenity has too many spoilers if watched first.

Here are the first 5 episodes of Firefly:

hulu.com/firefly

CC

Not realy, it's the continuation of the series(and mabye the end)
The story takes place like half a year after the series is over.
I don't see the point of watching the movie unless you've seen the series, or nothing will make sense. As you don't get an explanation about the characters, they jusre are who they are. they will seem very shallow unless you get the 10 hours of tv before the movie.

I rather agree w/McKinstry.

I had the Firefly Series and dumped it…because there was no ending (though I did enjoy it), but Serenity…that's a different matter altogether and a terrific stand alone effort.

Thanks – I've got Firefly but haven't finished it yet and just picked up Serenity cheap. Reading the cover on it, it looked like it may be just a potted version of Firefly. Thanks for the clarifications.

I'll hold back on Serenity for now.

Be advised that some fans (such as myself) were not happy with certain turns of events in Serenity. It's a good film and wraps up some of the lingering open questions from the series, but events are drastic for a few beloved characters (for no real dramatic reason that I could fathom), and a couple of mysteries from the series are either dropped or ignored. Let's put it this way: I'd watch Firefly: The Series over and over again. Once was enough for Serenity.

Funny how Parzival and I completely flip-flopped on the ultimate worth of the two…

There's also a 3-part comic book series that fills in some of the gaps between the series and the film. It's not bad, and you can probably find it online.

Possible spoiler!!!!

@Parzival, at least one "dramatic event" was planed to be in the second season of Firefly if it had had one. The reason for it was to give the fans the idea that even main characters where vulnerable.

Hi

The movie was an attempt to compress the major thread of the never shot second season.

Rocky

You could watch "Serenity" as a stand alone movie, but you will enjoy it more if you watch the "Firefly" series first.

"Firefly" is one of the greatest shows I have ever watched. I still can't believe it was cancelled after 12 shows.

About the dramatic event and the second season [trying to avoid spoilers]: Yeah, I knew all that. But the way the events happened in the movie seemed arbitrary and sudden, which I think might have been less the case over the course of a season. I think truncating everything into a two-hour movie hurt the dramatic flow. Not that it's a bad film; I think Whedon just tried to work too much in. The reasoning that jdginaz mentions may apply to a series, but it doesn't apply to a one-shot movie. I think Whedon should have rethought that bit.

I'm a leaf on the wind…

*sniffle*

My understanding is that "Serenity" was the main story arc sections of what should have been the second season – Whedon's attempt to bring the story to a close for fans. Obviously, a second season would have been better, but I really liked "Serenity", and I appreciated the effort to bring closure to the series.

One of the "dropped" bits from the series was the "hands of blue" guys; the comics javelin mentions explains their absence from the movie (and also why the Preacher is no longer on the Serenity).

"Those Left Behind" from Dark Horse basically covers events between the series and the movie. Awesome read. I picked up the trade paperback a while ago, love it.

"Better Days" is another series, but I have no idea what that covers. I've been unable to locate the 1st issue, but I think the trade paperback is available.

I would recommend TLB to any FF/Serenity fan as a must-read.
I'll let ya know about BD.

I liked both. I saw Serenity first and it did not spoil my enjoyment of the series.

Better Days is what it sounds like: A prequel involving the passengers and crew of Serenity set before the events of the movie.

It was pretty enjoyable, as was the first comic book, Those Left Behind.

Will pick up ASAP!

Serenity is the wrap-up of Firefly. The TV show was dead, so he told the rest of the story in an accelerated, condensed fashion.I tend to think that the "certain events" should have been even more drastic, like they were in the pre-screening.
-Kle.

liked it, watch the series first, ignore all other comments by anyone on this matter.

Played a bit of the RPG… it was relatively fun too.

I've been disappointed that Joss Whedon didn't continue with the planned three movies.

I concur, watch the series entirely first. I think Serentiy is the best sci-fi film ever made. And the drastic fate of some characters is just Joss Whedon playing at tragedy, which he does rather well, imho….

I've been disappointed that Joss Whedon didn't continue with the planned three movies.

And if Serenity had pulled in more at the box office, the studio would have giving the go ahead for another film. Sadly, despite the best efforts of the brown coats, it didn't hit the required threshold.

DVD sales have been solid, from what I've been hearing. I only discovered the show meself earlier this year and was wowed, to say the least.

One of the key lessons here is NEVER work for Fox. I'm surprised that Paramount hasn't picked it up, considering that it's just their sort of thing, and the name shouldn't be an issue; they could just change the name to "Serenity" since they have the right to it. It's not as if the fans won't know, and it'd make no difference to anyone coming in late.