SWG Tales

Reviewed by Joshua Tyler: 2005-09-29

Joss Whedon understands something George Lucas never will. It's not the Jedi that got us interested in Star Wars, its Han Solo. He's used that knowledge to craft Serenity, a rip-roaring and sometimes moving space adventure that picks up almost where the crew of the Millennium Falcon left off, except this time without any of those pesky, holier-than-thou Jedi around. Lightsabers or no, we're all better off.

Great movie, great series, and they even have (some poorly pronounced) Chinese in it. HUN HAO!

Yup I could not agree more, of course I watched Firefly when it was on Fox and bought the dvd's when they went on sale. That being said I don't think you have to have seen the show to enjoy the movie, Whedon did a good job of weaving the exposition into the movies first 20-30 minutes or so.

Malcolm Reynolds is one of my favourite characters ever I think, heavily influenced by Han Solo of course but still with his own identity. Whedon's writing strengths are his characters and his dialogue, both of those are why he became a genre/cult hero.


Zzzzzz

Never heard of it...

Is that that kid that played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: TNG?

Sai'nu wrote:Never heard of it...

Is that that kid that played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: TNG?

That was Whil Wheaton

he was such a heart throb when i was younger too... will i mean.

personally i had a thing for riker... i even started playing jazz in high school because of him

I really liked Serenity. I think it was a great movie. I am surprised the series never did well. I just wish they could all get together and try again, I think it might do better now that the movie has been out.

I have yet to see the movie (waiting on that lazy bastard Jabe to go) but I was a big fan of the series. Joss Whedon is a terrific writer and director so I'm sure the movie will be great.

Don't think for a second the quality of the series had anything to do with it getting cancelled. Remember it was on Fox who are notorious for cancelling great shows. Brisco County Jr anyone? Action? Family Guy? They even love dangling the ax over Arrested Development. Fox is one of the worst managed broastcast networks hands down.

The first 9 minutes of Serenety that I saw I loved, and I'm dying to see the film, but I'm not really a fan of all the tangential Lucas bashing that goes on along with it. Yes, I bash on Lucas a lot, for things he deserves to be bashed on, but the "Joss Whedon is my master now" shirts annoy me to no end, because without Lucas, you wouldn't even have that phrase to use.

Regardless of how good Serenety will be (I'm sure I will enjoy it immensely if those first 9 minutes are any kind of example), I highly doubt that one film and 6 TV show episodes will ever outweigh my love of the original 3 SW films.

X'an Shin wrote:The first 9 minutes of Serenety that I saw I loved, and I'm dying to see the film, but I'm not really a fan of all the tangential Lucas bashing that goes on along with it. Yes, I bash on Lucas a lot, for things he deserves to be bashed on, but the "Joss Whedon is my master now" shirts annoy me to no end, because without Lucas, you wouldn't even have that phrase to use.

Regardless of how good Serenety will be (I'm sure I will enjoy it immensely if those first 9 minutes are any kind of example), I highly doubt that one film and 6 TV show episodes will ever outweigh my love of the original 3 SW films.

What would be quite appropriate is for Lucas to be caught sporting an
"Akira Kurosawa is my daddy!!!" sweatshirt.


Zzzzzz

Zyre Mercutio wrote:What would be quite appropriate is for Lucas to be caught sporting an
"Akira Kurosawa is my daddy!!!" sweatshirt.

More like "It's Greek to Me." He borrowed 10 times more from mythologies than he did from Kurosawa. I have nothing against directors being influenced by films that preceeded them, but I have to say that the whole "I am your Master now" line probably wasn't ever found in any Kurosawa movies ;P

Seret Sajet wrote:I have yet to see the movie (waiting on that lazy bastard Jabe to go) but I was a big fan of the series. Joss Whedon is a terrific writer and director so I'm sure the movie will be great.

Don't think for a second the quality of the series had anything to do with it getting cancelled. Remember it was on Fox who are notorious for cancelling great shows. Brisco County Jr anyone? Action? Family Guy? They even love dangling the ax over Arrested Development. Fox is one of the worst managed broastcast networks hands down.

budget... and poor marketing.

The whole reason behind the cancellation of Farscape (granted not Fox) was due to the cost of production vs. their slight decline in viewers. I never watched the show when it was running, but after catching a marathon I checked to see if it was on DVD and realized the show was no longer running... I was all like "CURSES!"

scifi is a hard market, regardless of how good the shows are. Heck, Star Trek finally failed at their formulated rebirths. "lets get at least one chic, and design another cool looking ship."

**NO SPOILERS**

I've finally seen this on DVD this morning. I've seen only one episode of Firefly and now the movie Serenity and can now say that I am a fan. I'll be buying the TV eps on DVD asap. There's more that I'd like to see with these characters.

Bottom line is this is good story about the trials and tribulations of space mercenaries. They aren't good guys in bad guy clothing forced to do bad things either. They are thieves. On purpose. In a space ship. They shoot sheriffs, deputies, and hold up bank treasuries. Mounties in the county got a big bounty after these.

Put it back on the air.

Aside from BSG this is one of my favorite peices of SciFi in a long time. Unfortunately, like many things I like, mainstream America didn't feel the same way.

Jabe

Jabe Adaks wrote:Aside from BSG this is one of my favorite peices of SciFi in a long time. Unfortunately, like many things I like, mainstream America didn't feel the same way.

Jabe

Yet a show about a bunch of middle age rich women is one of the hottest shows going..thats messed up...

Cryil wrote:

Jabe Adaks wrote:Aside from BSG this is one of my favorite peices of SciFi in a long time. Unfortunately, like many things I like, mainstream America didn't feel the same way.

Jabe

Yet a show about a bunch of middle age rich women is one of the hottest shows going..thats messed up...

/QFT

Jabe