SERENITY is based on a short-lived television series called Firefly. Fox canceled the show after only airing 11 of the 14 produced episodes. Fox executives that didn’t ”get” the show are mostly to blame. Figures. The show proved so tremendeously popular during its DVD afterlife that Fox ordered up the film based on fan support alone.
I’d never seen SERENITY in a real theater until last night and this was my third viewing in total. Accompanying me was my coworker Aaron. Also in attendance were several Browncoats. Browncoats are to Firefly as Trekkers are to Star Trek. I did a quick check of blogsearch.google.com and found a few other bloggers planning to attend the screening. The Browncoats would occasionally break into song by making attempts at singing ”The Ballad of Jayne.” This is a song from a Firefly episode called Jaynesville. I cringed. A lot. I prefer singing along karaoke style over the random a capella treatment.
Firefly creator Joss Whedon was also the creative mind behind the shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I never got into either but my good friend QueenBeth assures me they are both entertaining. I do realize that Western + Sci-Fi may seem like an unlikely mix — but it totally works. Did you know Star Trek was originally intended as a Wagon Train in the stars? What’s that? What’s Wagon Train? Uh, Wagon Train was a western in the 60’s. And no, I don’t remember the 60’s. I just know that part. So, what else? Whedon is currently working on a big screen adaptation of WONDER WOMAN. That’s gonna be good. I have the feeling he isn’t going to go campy like the Linda Carter Wonder Woman of the 1970s. I’ll survive, I guess.
