Joss Whedon's Firefly series pulled off a neat trick; it managed to combine the futurism — both optimistic and dystopic — of science fiction with the gunslingin', barroom brawlin' good times of an old western. (You haven't lived 'till you've seen a cowboy get thrown through a window, only to leave the window re-activating itself the next second.) And Whedon built it all on a strong foundation of intriguingly human characters, from the lovably gruff Jayne to the mysteriously battle-capable preacher, Book.
The DVD compilation will set you back around thirty bucks, but you can see the movie version, counter-intuitively titled Serenity, for much less. The movie picks up where the series left off, but goes out of its way to draw in anyone unfamiliar with the preceding chapters. The feature film gravitates more toward the sci-fi side than the series did, while maintaining enough of Firefly's quirky flavor to raise it above a typical space action film.
Recommended.
Krystyn says
I agree, for the most part. Maybe it's because I'm a girl, but I felt like I had such a strong emotional attachment to the characters that the movie meant so much more to me than it would someone unfamiliar with the series. Especially some of the big events at the end (which I won't mention as not to spoil it for anyone.)
I would recommend you catch the show on Sci Fi or DVD before you see the film, if you can.
John says
No disagreement there, Krystyn. For someone who knows and loves the characters, the movie reverberates with emotional significance; for someone who has never seen the series, I suspect it merely comes off as "pretty good sci-fi." It's hard for me to say, though; I can't easily step outside that box.
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