After FOX canceled Firefy, a lot of things were still unexplained, and the fans wanted more. So, when Universal acquired movie rights from FOX, Joss started working on the script. Major problem was the history of the show, and the need to find the way to introduce the story to new viewers, without long introduction that will bore series viewers. And with several delays with filming, movie is released to theaters in 2005.

And it had some success on the box office, but it didn’t returned on the initial investment until the DVD/BluRay release. And the box office failure means that the sequel is highly unlikely. On the other hand, movie got many awards and was very well received by fans.

Story and Cast

Serenity story is set short after the ending of the series, and starts with River hearing the subliminal message in the advertisement, that triggered a hidden memory. The memory was about the planet on the outer rim of the system called Miranda, that was kept as a secret by the Alliance. With help from Mr. Universe (tech geek) they are set on the road to discover what the Miranda is all about.

Cast has remained the same, but some of the characters were not as prominent as in the series, like the Sheppard who will be seen only in couple of scenes and is no longer the part of the Serenity crew.

Production

Due to change of the format, from TV to big screen, many changes were required. Visual effects are much better, and even include an epic space battle towards the end of the movie. Music is different from the series also, and is composed by David Newman.

Conclusion

Serenity is a great movie, in many ways better than the series. The story will tie many of the loose ends of the series, and still leave much more to be desired. There are rumors about new TV series, but all that is unconfirmed.

Without the doubt, Firefly is one of the best science fiction shows ever created. Even that was not enough to prevent shows premature cancellation by the FOX television. Creator of Buffy and Angel, Joss Whedon is behind the Firefly, and for me, this is his finest work yet. Firefly is much different from usual genre shows we have seen because it doesn’t have aliens, nor some fancy hyper mega warp drives, a human only sci fi.

Series is set in 26-th century, humanty now lives in new solar system with many inhabitable planets and moons, and it follows adventures of a crew of the ship called Serenity, Firefly class. Part of the series concept is revival of the old west in space, replacing stage coach with space ships.

Characters

It’s quite unusual, but I really like all of the characters on the Serenity crew. Casting is spot on. Adam Baldwin has proven once again that he is an excellent actor, and he is my favorite Baldwin. I would also like to point out excellent performance of Summer Glau, playing secretive and somewhat disturbed River Tam. FOX TV had a great deal of influence on shaping the characters, but that maybe proven to be a good thing (usually it’s really not).

Firefly Cast

Writing

Main plot and some of the episodes were also under the influence of FOX, and the pilot episode has gone through many, many changes. But, the writing, main plot and all episodes are well written, and I can’t really point out any problems or week spots.

In the center of the series is a story of River Tam and her brother, chased by the Alliance authorities. This storyline will continue until the end of the series and into the Serenity movie.

Music & Sound

One of the best qualities of the show is excellent music, starting with the main theme to overall great blend of old western sound, and asian influences. Music is composed by Greg Edmonson, and title song ‘Ballad of Serenity’ performs Sonny Rhodes. Also, this is the only science fiction show (that I know of) that has no sound for the space scenes, because vacuum of space can’t conduct sound.

Production and visuals

Special effects are really great, from the design of the Serenity,  and other space ships to over populated planets. Firefly concept is excellently done, and resembles firefly insect. FOX has originally aired only 11 episodes, skipping even the pilot episode. DVD and BluRay sets contain all 14 episodes.

Conclusion

Show has received a number of important awards and has a huge fans following. This is really a must see for any science fiction fan. Movie Serenity is the continuation of the series used to complete the main plot ark.