posted
Everyone I've talked to has been fairly open with hearing about it. No one's dismissed it outright, at least, although perhaps they're just being polite.
I tried to get a review into the college newspaper, but the editor said they had had four people ask to do Serenity. She said she'd heard of people getting together to see the movie ( ) and she thought this was "hardcore". I think it has a bit of a geeky or obsessive reputation (gee, I wonder why?)
I told her there are a lot of people who want to see the movie succeed because it's so amazing. I'm hoping she bites or at least tells people about it. She certainly knows about it now!
Most of my friends have expressed some interest. I'm really reaching out here though, fitting it into every conversation with someone who I think might be interested. If you know people who have siblings or other-halves who might like to see it suggest they recommend the film to the better target- or even that they take their other half.
I really want this film to succeed because it deserves to.
EDIT: I'm also steering clear of the "space western" description. I call it a very funny, very smart, super intense sci-fi action adventure.
It makes it sound more mainstreamly obscure.
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Argh. What a wet dishrag. If the person who gets their review in is negative I'll... squish them.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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"So many characters populate the movie that it’s hard to truly have a sense for their personalities or why they’re important to the story."
That's a fair criticism. Book, Inara, Wash, and Zoe were pretty much one-dimensional characters. But what do you expect out of a two hour movie?
"It takes a true devotee to get past the ridiculous dialogue and hammy acting to see what great what fun a space-opera can be."
This part is dead wrong. Whedon's dialogue is always interesting, frequently funny, and on some occasions, even poetic. The acting is a bit hammy at times, but it fits well into the the tone of the movie.
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I saw the Serenity trailer before Batman Begins too Jim-me (both times).
I also saw short trailers on TV during episodes 1 and 2 of the 2nd season of Lost. That made me happy.
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Olivet: neo-dragon, I read your post and it made me sad. Between your experiences and my own, I think a lot of the people in our lives are just ... idiots, wanting some pre-digested pablum or pre-packaged "deep" entertainment.
But my friends are usually pretty receptive to sci-fi. Hell, all of my close friends are geeks on some level. I don't know why they have such weird misconceptions about Serenity... I'll definitely be seeing it again in theatres, and I'll do my best to drag people with me. I know they'll like it if they give it a chance.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:At the end of this weekend, I wish the Browncoats would take a moment from their finger pointing and take a long hard look at themselves and ask if their in-your-face evangelizing didn’t hurt this film more than it helped. I believe there is a huge awareness of this movie, and I believe there are many people who are predisposed to seeing scifi films who stayed home this weekend. The question has to be, “Why?” I think that more and more the actions of small, hardcore fanbases – like Trekkies and the increasingly marginalized Star Wars fruitcakes – are becoming distasteful to the more mainstream genre audience.
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On the official forum, Joss replied to that (contains no spoilers for the film; a minor one for the TV series):
quote:So I was flouncing (that's lurking but fancier) about WHEDONESQUE (for which I have forgotten my password yet again) and I couldn't help but see the little CHUD.com hate-bomb that Devin wrote. I don't mind that he doesn't love the film, but things like "It failed in a big way" and "It's over" are about as charming -- and journalistic -- as "I was right." I am being totally realistic when I say the weekend grosses did not meet expectations -- but those expectations were based on models that don't apply to this situation because, seriously, nothing does. The industry is not calling this a failure, just a slightly soft version of a normal opening in a generally weak weekend.
Now I did meet Devin, and he's not a dumb guy. But he seems to have a real animus against you Browncoats, and that's the thing I wanted to comment on, 'cause that doesn't sit well with me. He actually blames you guys for making sci-fi fans stay away from the movie. Says you should be ashamed for having adopted a name, that you will start finger-pointing and bickering now that you've 'caused' the 'failure' of your film. He blames other things as well -- the title, the ads -- but that's fine. If one --ONE -- of you guys reads that column and takes it to heart I'll not sleep. You guys did an amazing thing this weekend -- and the exit polls showed how much you guys were out there, and how much business you dragged in with you. Not to mention everything you did for the months - sorry, YEARS -- before it opened. I'm crazy proud of you. Yes, there is an exclusionary element to some fandom that is inevitable, but this group has fought that as well or better as any, and maybe I'm a nerd, but being compared to a Trekker (or even a TrekkIE) doesn't offend me a bit.
We all know this remains an uphill battle. We all know that next weekend is crucial -- and a lot of it will rest on us. A lot will rest on the studio reaching people we can't. And factors we can't see coming. But I don't especially appreciate people calling Time of Death while I'm still operating. I don't like smug defeatism. And nobody disses the 'coats without me wading in. That's all.
The question remains: Did Early die out there in space, or did some passing ship show up at the last second? There's no answer yet, but I sure as hell know how I'd write it.
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Yeah, between the interviews and the posts, I really like him. It took a very long time for me to see anything of his, since I resisted Buffy and Angel for years. But I'm impressed.
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Thanks for posting that Shmuel. Not that we Browncoats need any defending, but it is still shiny that he made the gesture.
Art, although Buffy is Whedon's signature character, SMG is by no means the best actress in the Whedonverse. I really don't care for her either, that's why I watched Angel first and only started watching Buffy just to catch up on the background stuff.
The great thing about Whedon's work is that it doesn't really rely on any one character to "pull it off." He has said in interviews that when he is casting a part, he is looking more for a connection than acting ability.
This results in ensemble casts with tremendous chemistry and sense of family. And nowhere is that more evident than on Serenity/Firefly.
Don't let a single actress turn you off. Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I never watched Buffy because the original Kristy Swanson movie was my favourite movie when it came out (I was little), and I thought the new series took the characters and world and ideas and ruined them entirely. I always felt bad for the original movie folks whose film was never a big hit and who had to watch this bastardized spinoff of their work do so well. Of course, then I found out it was the same person behind both.
Still, Buffy never did it for me either in the few episodes I saw. (I mean, other than the musical one of course, because that was awesome.) I watched the first scene of the Firefly pilot with Wash, however, and I was hooked. So you may still like it, Art, despite Buffy.
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Had to come in here and ruin my shining fandom record, didn't you?
Okay, so I fell asleep the first time. That's why I said "the first scene" instead of "the first episode". But wasn't that when I'd just arrived after 36 or so solid hours of red-eye flights and delays and travelling to get home from the High Arctic where I'd been working hard outside every day in total wilderness for 3 weeks? That's what I thought. Totally valid excuse for exhaustion. I did like the dinosaur scene I caught at least, which made me ask to borrow it as soon as I could. I would never have fallen asleep on a normal basis. (And just you hush about all those other examples you have up your sleeve, BtL. They weren't Firefly!)
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I find Buffy pretty much intolerable. Angel I can stand in small doses. I don't think there's any rule that says Firefly fans have to like all or even most of Joss' work.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Buffy made me laugh, fairly consistently. I more or less hung with it. The angsty Buffy/Angel storyline wore my nerves a bit.
Angel... I slogged through the first 8 or 9 episodes out of a sense of duty, then I gave up. Partly because the WB comes in badly with rabbit ears, and the show was so dark I couldn't see much through the snow. And partly because I just didn't give a rat's nether regions about any of the other characters after Doyle... went away.
But I DID really like Firefly.
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How freaking awesome is it that my favorite author on the planet thinks that my current favorite movie on the planet, made by my favorite genius geek on the planet, is the best sci-fi movie ever made? No words can describe how awesome that is.
Posts: 1 | Registered: Oct 2005
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*whew* I feel much better now because I tried, I gave it a good effort, I starting from the pilot and marched forth, and I could not find anything attractive about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I did adore Firefly.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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The only reason I liked Buffy is because I started on the 5th season. My friend tried showing me the first season and I thought it was awful, but then on a whim we checked out the fifth season and I was hooked!
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote: How freaking awesome is it that my favorite author on the planet thinks that my current favorite movie on the planet, made by my favorite genius geek on the planet, is the best sci-fi movie ever made? No words can describe how awesome that is.
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*****Spoilers for those just watching the Buffy show now*****
I can't stand Buffy or Angel, though I did see one episode of Buffy that ripped my heart out. (I've seen about 4 episodes total, I tried to give it a chance) I was flipping channels and just happened to stop upon the episode where Buffy's mom died. Oh, man was that powerful. Still don't like the show. ?
Posts: 870 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I checked out Buffy for two reasons: I saw a few repeats on FX and got hooked, and I like SMG. Whats worse I guess, is that while there are those who tried to get me to enjoy firefly, I cant. I find it dull and fails where I think Buffy and Angel succeed.
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When we went to see it yesterday the theater was sold out and we had to go to a later showing. That's promising, right?
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I saw the Friday 1:20 showing and it was a small theatre about half full, but that's not bad for a middle of the day showing.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Diane and I just bought our tickets for a 4 pm showing. I noticed when I did a search for theaters there aren't all that many playing "Serenity" here in the Chicago area.
Fortunately for us, one of the ones that "Serenity" is at is near home.
I 'spect I'll be opening the spoiler thread(s?) tonight. Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I'll be honest, the whole cult thing it a big turnoff. I'm a huge Sci fi fan bt the idea of becoming a "Browncoat" is a negative in my eyes. I have no doubt that the film will be huge in DVD. Maybe the next movie should just be a straight to DVD feature. Look how well the Family Guy movie did this week, coming in at number two in DVD sales.
quote:Serenity doesn't fair so well in its second weekend as it falls a very hard 59.9% from last Friday. It's doubtful the weekend decline will go under 50%, so figure around $4.5 million for the Joss Whedon film.
quote: I'll be honest, the whole cult thing it a big turnoff. I'm a huge Sci fi fan bt the idea of becoming a "Browncoat" is a negative in my eyes.
Have you seen the film? Look. Serenity is, hands-down, one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. Orson Scott Card and I agree on this. Just about the only other things we've ever agreed on were nationalized health care and the fact that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell deserved the Hugo.
Neither of us are Browncoats. We're both highly discerning and reflexively critical people. And we both liked this film.
If you haven't seen it, see it. And then complain about all the weird Browncoats.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I've just spent the last 8 hours with a bunch of high school students. I'm totally exhausted.
But, I'm going to drag my butt out to see this movie tonight (for the 4th time in less than a week!) because a) I'm one of the fans that turns wowbagger off, b) being such a fan makes me want the movie to succeed. I want it BADLY. and c) the movie is damn good. I'll never get sick of it.
So, to echo Tom, go see it. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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People outside the crazed fan community are in general turned off by cult followings. Trekkies have a bad rep, as do rabid Star Wars fans, and now apparently Browncoats. And I'm all three.
Personally I don't understand why a huge fan base is a turn off. You'd think if 4 million people were that excited about something, that maybe, just MAYBE, there might be something to it. Something that popular should be a reason to look into something, not to ignore it. It was a great film, though I still think everyone who sees it needs to see the show before going to see the movie. They'll see a much better movie if they do.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Personally I don't understand why a huge fan base is a turn off.
Well, yeah, of course you wouldn't.
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quote: You'd think if 4 million people were that excited about something, that maybe, just MAYBE, there might be something to it.
The thing is, at least four million people were really, really excited about the Dukes of Hazzard. *shudder* I don't like living in this reality, but I think we need to face it.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote: The thing is, at least four million people were really, really excited about the Dukes of Hazzard. *shudder* I don't like living in this reality, but I think we need to face it.
Haha, yeah, that's a good point. But the Browncoats weren't just on the sidelines saying "oh neat." They were the ones who got the movie MADE. I don't see any hardcore Hazzard fans out there pestering movie execs to get the movie or a sequel made.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Only that being a Trekkie, a Browncoat, and a rabid Star Wars fan might make you less able to understand why someone might be horrified by large, rabid fan bases. Or, looked at from the other direction, people who are horrified by large, rabid fan bases are unlikely to be Trekkies, Browncoats, or rabid Star Wars fans. Mainly, it was a joke. *grin*
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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It must only be a sci-fi phenomenon though. I'm also a rabid Tolkien fan, but the giant underground Tolkien fandom never turned off or scared away anyone from those movies, which is made obvious by the giant box office earnings.
I think Narnia will turn out much the same way.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Narnia is in addition to being a geek movie a "Christian" and a "kids" movie. Unless it blows chunks, it should do very well.
"Serenity" is a geek movie that a) requires some basic intelligence from its audience and b) has a name that doesn't suggest that it's about cowboys in space.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Well, for one thing, apparently not everyone was able pick up on the fact that Zoe and Wash were married, or that Simon and Kaylee liked each other a lot.
Now, that said, it's also the case that anyone with basic intelligence also probably stopped to wonder why someone able to transfer full-motion video over a comm wouldn't also be able to broadcast data, but we'll overlook that one. *grin*
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I remember that day, Tom. I wasn't impressed with the pilot then, although the series has grown on me since I started watching it on the sci fi channel. Loved the movie too.
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I am sad to say that I was not able to contribute to the Gate for the movie, it was not out in Europe while I was on leave, and even worse I will be seeking a Bootleg copy at the Haji shop as soon as I get back, thus undermining the whole thing.
I am sorry but I cannot wait to watch it, maybe I can send one of you the price of a ticket and you can go see it again for me? I will make it two because I would surely see it twice!
Shows Serenity at #7. It pulled in $2.3 million yesterday to make $16.6 million total.
Not bad I suppose. If we could hit $20 million by the end of today or even Thursday, that would be pretty good.
In other good news, the Serenity soundtrack is #1 on Amazon's soundtrack sellers and #16 in general. The Firefly DVDs have been holding steady in the top 5 sellers for over a week now.
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BC, I'll be seeing it enough for 20 people, don't worry! I have tickets for time #5 waiting for me when I fly back from Alabama today. (I'm at the airport now) Posts: 870 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I actually know a handful of people who intend to see it soon but are working through the DVD set first. I keep trying to tell them to see it NOW, but they're confident that the movie will keep. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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) and she thought this was "hardcore". I think it has a bit of a geeky or obsessive reputation (gee, I wonder why?)
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It took a very long time for me to see anything of his, since I resisted Buffy and Angel for years. But I'm impressed.
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