Serenity Trailer Finally Released 437
ShinyHat writes "Browncoats Rejoice! The trailer for Joss Whedon's Serenity, based on his unjustly cancelled Firefly television series, was released on the QuickTime Movie Trailers page. Thanks to its new September 30th release date it won't be completely overshadowed by Star Wars. Talk is, if the movie does well enough, Universal will pick it up for a second and third installment." (As promised.)
My Girlfriend... (Score:5, Funny)
Note to self: she's a keeper
Re:My Girlfriend... (Score:2)
Re:My Girlfriend... (Score:2, Insightful)
DVD quality XVID version (Score:5, Informative)
Re:DVD quality XVID version (Score:2)
Re:xvid help? (Score:5, Informative)
Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
re (Score:2)
I recently rented the whole series via netflix and enjoyed it even more the 2nd time around...
Looks good. I'll definately buy a ticket.
Re:re:re all the way home (Score:2)
Re:re:re all the way home (Score:2)
Re:re (Score:2)
It helps to watch it in order.
Direct Link (Score:5, Informative)
Holy Crap (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm so jacked up to see this, I'll probably skip "Revenge of the Sith" entirely and see "Serenity" one extra time with the eight bucks I save!
Re:Holy Crap (Score:5, Funny)
But then, an episode of Clutch Cargo would also have that effect.
Re:Holy Crap (Score:2)
!! & !
SB
Re:Holy Crap (Score:3, Interesting)
I noticed that. The sets and backgrounds in Serenity have striking contrasts and colors that make then visually interesting, yet they also seem believable in a way that few science fiction movies manage. Too often, things stand out as being different in order to look "futurey". Star Wars is full of this, especially the latest episodes.
Re:Holy Crap (Score:2)
The only real difference here is that you know, without a doubt that the SW:ROTS trailer has a pretty good chance of being ten times cooler than the entire film (it's probably a huge lie) while the Serenity trailer cou
Re:Holy Crap (Score:3, Interesting)
Question: Is this trailer like a LOT more interesting if you watched the show?
I ask because I never caught it, and I'm not seeing the big whoop-de-fuck that everybody else is. As the trailer stands, it actually looks like mediochre sci-fi, to me.
I'm not posting this to troll. I'm just trying to understand what it is I'm missing that's preventing me from getti
Re:Holy Crap (Score:3)
BOUNTY HUNTER: I am unarmed.
MAL: Good. *shoots*
ME: Awesome!
The scene in - I think - The Train Job where they spaced the guy who was threatening to track them down and kill them was one of my favorites, and this reminded me of that. I love it when the characters do the obvious, most expedient thing instead of doing whatever will create the most contrived drama.
Sound Effects? (Score:3, Insightful)
It was the first space scene sans engine noises, that first completely hooked me on Firefly. I couldn't believe someone writing sci-fi actually obeyed the laws of physics in this sense. And the soundlessness of it, filled instead with that guitar drawl, really lent a feeling of surrealness,
Re:Holy Crap (Score:5, Interesting)
Trust me, Joss has already gone there. He's out of philosophical points to make. He made them in his morality plays about good and evil called Buffy and Angel. Take a position on free will, on good and evil, on the nature of reality, on the ends justifying the means, on vengence vs. justice, on love, on death...and you will find something supportive of that position in Buffy or Angel, and something unsupportive of it.
Anf Firefly not particularly 'good' sci-fi, if by good sci-fi you mean 'hard'. Sure, his ships don't make sounds in space, but on the other hand, no explaination is given of where all these new worlds came from, and how far apart they are, or if ships go FTL, or even what their fuel is. There's no 'This is how the universe works', because none of the characters actually care about that, anymore than we care about how cars work. (Well, Kaylee, the mechanic, cares, but it's not like she'd have a reason to try to explain it.)
Firefly tries, and succeeds amazingly, at being good drama. With letter-perfect characterizations and amazing plots, and what was shaping up to be an interesting storyline before it was summarily canceled..
Firefly is perfect sci-fi, if you think sci-fi is 'drama set in a universe where differences in science affect the characters and how they act'. It's pretty crappy if your idea of sci-fi is Star Trek Technical Manuals. It's pretty crappy if you go too far the other way and your idea of good sci-fi is the ramifications of your entire life being a lie, aka, The Matrix. (If you want that from Whedon, the Buffy episodes are 'The Real Me' and 'Normal Again' and the entire Connor arc on Angel. And 'Superstar' on Buffy, but that's more a joke than a serious look at it.)
Don't believe the trailer. Three kinds of people are going to watch this movie: Those who've seen the shows, those who watch action movies, and those who watch every sci-fi movie. The first need no ads (Considering the amount of work it was to be a Firefly fan in the first place, they probably build a damn theater if one wasn't handy.) and the third you could show just a drawing of a space ship and say 'Come watch ship fly in space' as the ad copy. The trailer is aimed at the second group, who will get excited by the ad.
If you want to know if it will be worth it, download 'Serenity', the first episode, and watch it. Might want to start the second downloading while the first is coming in.
Re:Holy Crap (Score:4, Insightful)
I do see your point, but I think you might be confusing intelligent with didactic. There are any number of deep concepts underlying the series.
And the Angels sung... (Score:3, Funny)
ohhh finally, Serenity has come, Serenity has come. Ohhhhhh finally, Serenity has come, and a kingdom come!
Fullscreen Version (Score:5, Informative)
Firefly low ratings (Score:2)
But a botched delivery by the powers that be of a new series, leading to low ratings is not unjust. It is just a screwup it would seem.
When the new McFish Griddle Whopper flops because of poor marketing, is that also unjust to the McFish Griddle Whopper researcher? Seems like a stretch.
Just my 2 cents.
semantics (Score:2)
I do think it was "unjust" to treat Joss Whedon's work the way they did after he proved himself capable of producing a 7 season show (that there was a magazine devoted to) and a 5 season spinoff.
Re:Firefly low ratings (Score:2)
But a botched delivery by the powers that be of a new series, leading to low ratings is not unjust. It is just a screwup it would seem.
How about airing it, say, 3 times in a row at the time advertised, would that have been "just"?
Because I think airing it at ungodly hours such as "12:07am" and "12:14am" or "not at all" when they ad
uuuuuu...huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:uuuuuu...huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:uuuuuu...huh? (Score:2)
Re:uuuuuu...huh? (Score:4, Interesting)
Once they're in the cinema watching the movie, THEN you have the time to introduce them to a world where space is silent and six-shooters go hand in hand with spaceships. Trying to do that in a trailer is risky. This is more of a USA thing, trailers elsewhere are a bit less action-focused. (The "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon DVD has the US trailer in addition to the normal trailer, watch them one after the other and you might think they're different movies
Re:uuuuuu...huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
They probably had to make some concessions to the studio in order to bring Firefly to the big screen. I doubt that the suits would have been eager to try something as experimental as taking out sound from space battles. And let's face it, most peop
Re:uuuuuu...huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
How often do you pay attention to sounds in trailers and cross-reference them with the actual movie afterwards?
I've never done that before, but I remember that the Inspector Gadget trailers had scenes that weren't actually in the movie itself.
Man, that was a bad movie!
I doubt that the suits would have been eager to try something as experimental as taking out sound from space battles.
Experimental?
Been done in Firefly, been done in SW:epII! AND in 2001: A Space Odyssy (yes, I count a waldo bashing a guy in a suit as a space battle, shaddap
And as someone else has pointed out, most of the "space" battles in the trailer appear to be in high atmo.
Plus, another poster said something wishfull about a combat system that includes sounds:
I'd like to point out that if you listen to AM radio while watching a distant thunderstorm, you'll hear the lightning's electromagnetic interference through your speakers at the same time as you see the flash. Space battles would make a "sound" if there is something to take the huge EM noise and transform it into air vibration, like, say, a metal box that could resonnate... I dunno, like, a spaceship... possibly one with a comm system...
: )
Re:uuuuuu...huh? (Score:4, Informative)
Because it's what people expect (Score:2)
Have you never seen a movie trailer?
Other questions you might have asked: Why are things not happening in the same chronological sequence as they will in the movie? Why is it so short? Why is there catchy music tht won't end up in the movie?
Because: It's an advertisement, not the movie itself.
You think that silent shots of spacecrafts make Joe Sixpack want to shell out good money for movie tickets? They don't.
Re:uuuuuu...huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hearing a ship pass you would be valuable, for example.
What I'd love to see would be a sci-fi movie that implemented that, and had it cut out due to battle damage. All of a sudden, silence.
I need a paper bag (Score:2)
Good thing I have the series on DVD to hold me until the movie. I didn't see Shepard Book in the preview. I hope we learn more of his back story.
Re:I need a paper bag (Score:5, Informative)
Rumor is, that Book has only a very small role in the movie. Not all of the orginal cast could be gathered together; frankly, we're lucky we got as many as we did.
Although there was some doubt precisely which character wasn't back for much, there was little doubt that one of the actors couldn't be signed--Joss was just vague about which one. But the preview (and other speculation) sure makes it look like it's Book.
Better him that Inara, I guess
Re:Kaylee (Score:3, Informative)
That's This Land where the dinosaurs live.
Firefly is better than that ... (Score:3, Insightful)
In the meantime, I for one would gladly buy a movie ticket just to see the original double-length episode of Firefly in a theater
Re:Firefly is better than that ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Firefly is better than that ... (Score:2)
Just if you were wondering... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Just if you were wondering... (Score:3, Informative)
So, that wasn't really a surprise.
Re:Just if you were wondering... (Score:5, Informative)
Oh come on, that doesn't do it justice. River sees the three men (who are shooting in her direction), has the gun, but doesn't want to see them get shot. So she turns away and, not looking at them, takes the three of them out with three well-placed shots. Kaylee is there (she'd dropped the gun), and that's the event that makes Kaylee a little afraid of River in the subsequent shows.
Re:Just if you were wondering... (Score:2)
Re:Just if you were wondering... (Score:2)
Buffy techniques were: being superhumanly strong and fast.
What River does is superhumanly precise, using normal human muscles.
BTW, the girl playing River has a background in dance, the character River has a background in dance, and that choregraphy looks to me like the moves of a dancer hurting people, not a preternatural demon-like vampire slayer laying the smackdown.
Serenity Preview? (Score:5, Funny)
I'll be in my bunk...
WHERE THE HELL IS BOOK?! (Score:5, Funny)
God.....
Damnit!
I want to know what the hell is up with BOOK! Who the hell is he?!
Son of a BITCH!
I mean... River is cute and all... you'd think they'd at least continue on with Book's character and give us fans some insight into his past.
I mean... please. The character "River" is so cliché. Book is a real enigma.
Fuck.
Re:WHERE THE HELL IS BOOK?! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:WHERE THE HELL IS BOOK?! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:WHERE THE HELL IS BOOK?! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:WHERE THE HELL IS BOOK?! (Score:2)
Browncoats == brownshirts? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Browncoats == brownshirts? (Score:2)
Re:Browncoats == brownshirts? (Score:2)
Re:Browncoats == brownshirts? (Score:2)
Re:Browncoats == greycoats (Score:4, Informative)
The frontier is much like the American West after the Civil War. The Alliance is powerful but remote authority. Some of the main characters were rebels and wore brown (thus brown coats) much like some western characters (ie, the Outlaw Josey Wales) were former confederates.
Obligatory quote (Score:5, Funny)
we all like firefly (Score:2, Insightful)
We loved the surprises and twists of the series and the trailer had some hints of it. We loved the gritty nature and the "western" feel. Can't afford fancy kick ass laser guns? Use regular 19th century handguns. Works for me. Do I use a scientific magnifying glass to look for blunders? No. I just
Screw Star Wars Episode 3 (Score:4, Interesting)
With a big rubber dick. I'll wait until it comes out on DVD and I can rent it.
THIS, however, is something I want to see on opening night.
Direct Files (Score:5, Informative)
small
http://movies.apple.com/movies/universal/serenity
4.83 MB
Medium
http://movies.apple.com/movies/universal/serenity
8.5 MB
Large
http://movies.apple.com/movies/universal/serenity
21 MB
Full screen:
http://movies.apple.com/movies/universal/serenity
41MB
Sound in Space?! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sound in Space?! (Score:3, Interesting)
Details people, details! (Score:3, Interesting)
the color scheme is very "cool" (color temprature... more blue), verses(sic) the much warmer scheme used in the series (more like the pallet from a western)
The outer planets have a warm colour tone.
The alliance planet have a cool, bluish hue: Rewatch "Ariel".
Same applies to the trailer, pay attention when a Reaver ship is chasing Mal and Jayne, and a Reaver shoots a circular saw at Mal, the colour tones are those of the outer
Looks really, really cool... but... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's been running through my head ever since Joss said the trailer was coming...
Sigh...
(Still looks cool as heck though)
Re:Looks really, really cool... but... (Score:2)
You are not the target audience. A bunch of stuff that makes sense to someone like you is a bunch of random crap that confuses the hell out of someone who only knows "it's some sci-fi flick".
Re:Looks really, really cool... but... (Score:3)
-prator
Re:Looks really, really cool... but... (Score:5, Funny)
Interesting.... (Score:2)
Re:Interesting.... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's really a good series, but I know some that didn't like it. Personally I wasn't a big fan of it when it was first on TV, but I downloaded the first ep and got hooked. Bought the DVD boxed set the very next day.
Re:Interesting.... (Score:2)
Re:Interesting.... (Score:2)
The series is really worth watching, and I would recommend it even if the stories overlapped. I say that as a person who never saw an episode on TV, but watched it first through NetFlix, and then bought the DVDs.
And I wonder if in the r
I promised myself... (Score:2)
Re:I promised myself... (Score:2)
Excellent! Maybe I'll go see it twice and buy the DVD then. Fox can kiss my ass. :)
Why is there sound in space? (Score:2)
Firefly was far too good to remain on the air, sadly.
"his unique vision of the future" (Score:5, Insightful)
I have to take issue with this statement though - this vision of the future is hardly unique. In fact, it's a fairly standard issue vision of the future as proposed by Poul Anderson (Trader Team, The long night, Mirkheim etc), Marc Miller (Traveller et al), Bell & Braben (Elite) George Lucas (Star Wars), Harry Harrison (Rat series):-
Take sea going activities and extrapolate into space. Merchant ships, pirates, busy ports, adventure on the high, er.. volumes of near vacuum... and so on.
That said, it happens to be a vision I like - a working, slightly dirty and worn around the edges future filled with real looking objects - a vision that could be said to have been pioneered by Lucas, at least on screen.
I hope the soundtrack on that trailer isn't indicative though - cheap music will really feck this movie up. Using current pop output to score a film like this will date it in months.
Re:"his unique vision of the future" (Score:3, Informative)
I believe by "unique" they were referring to the blend of Sci-Fi and Western that Whedon went with... unfortunately, that isn't unique either.
Re:"his unique vision of the future" (Score:2)
i'm often the only one in the audience. good thing my office has a "flex time" policy.
all that aside, i think a lot of people missed what made the series an original - characters.
look at most any sci fi show on tv, and you'll see the same cardboard cutouts propped up by inane reliance on technology and the same four plots to
Re:"his unique vision of the future" (Score:2, Insightful)
Plus the times they are completely rational, but in a totally unexpected direction or manner.
Firefly's CG, special effects, and production were good, but you're right -- it was the character development that addicted us.
So many arresting personal quirks and offbeat futuretalk sayings.
We need Firefly restored to continue the story.
Re:"his unique vision of the future" (Score:2)
Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful to Marc Miller for creating Traveller, but he did get many of his ideas from the SF of the time; in particular, E. C. Tubb's "Earl Dumarest" series. (Including low, middle, and high passage, air rafts, and much else, although not specific characters or organizations (eg Cyclan)).
I wouldn't worry at all about the music on the trailer -- that is frequently radically different from anything in the movie (sometimes, the movie score isn't yet fin
To be perfectly honest (Score:2)
It is by far the best sci-fi tv show ever. Joss had really got the hang of comedy one minute and grittyness the next and it makes for great tv.
It's a travesty that something this good gets canned while other rubbish gets endless seasons (everytime I see Mutent-X on late night tv there is a deep desire to strangle a tv exec).
Re:To be perfectly honest (Score:2)
Before Battlestar Galactica I would agree, now it's too close to call. But yeah, Firefly should absolutely be back on TV. Fox finally found the sense to bring Family Guy back, hopefully they can do the same here.
Sounds in Space... (Score:3, Interesting)
hilarious ending (Score:2)
"Good!" [bang]
That was just for the fans, weren't it.
To the people worried about the Music... (Score:2, Insightful)
Kind of dissapointed to not have seen Book in the trailer, and only a few frames with Kayle (sp?), but you have to remember that 2 hours will not provide the same amount of room to develop 6-7 characters effectively. And Josh usually
Let me be the first to say (Score:2)
Not a fan, but this looks good! (Score:2)
Truth is, you know... It wasn't that good. I watched 4-5 episodes, and although the dialog was snappy, the characters felt flat, and the setting was give-and-take. The idea of a Western in space is good as a CONCEPT, if you transpose
Re:Not a fan, but this looks good! (Score:2, Insightful)
As for the characters, we were really being given a small glimpse into their nature. Had the series continued, Joss would have fleshed out their character quite readily. It's a much more realistic method for depic
Re:Not a fan, but this looks good! (Score:2)
What's not great is when said low-tech is ripped off of Westerns. That is destroying a cool analogy, and replacing it with a lame 'Western... in SPACE!' setting.
Watching Firefly, I always felt Josh Whedon understood perfectly the line between 'inspired by Western setting' and 'g
Re:linux?? (Score:2)
Re:linux?? (Score:2)
http://movies.apple.com/movies/universal/sereni
then just use mplayer to watch it.
And it doesn't crash your desktop? (Score:2)
Re:Cheesy? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Cheesy? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Cheesy? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, no she can't. She's insane and needs constant medical attention supervision so that she will not harm herself or others.
Her brother threw away all he had to save this damsel.
The fact that she's a psychic supersoldier in potentia doesn't make her any less vulnarable in the state she was in through the first episodes.
Re:Cheesy? (Score:2)
Re:unjust? (Score:3, Insightful)
or
or
Of course, bad mo
Re:unjust? (Score:2)
Re:Yes. (Score:2)