# I'm finally warming up to the Serenity movie.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936 "2006-02-24T16:54:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/21 "2006-02-26T23:18:21Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Though Mal really is the main character in the movie, too. The story is about him finding something he can believe in, since his faith in God is gone. Well yes, I meant the movie too. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/22 "2006-02-26T23:27:11Z")
Incidentally I think the movie would have done better had they played down River and played up Mal in the promotional material. If I hadn’t idly borrowed and watched the series I probably wouldn’t have seen the movie because based on the trailer alone, it looked very much like Buffy in space. Joss Whedon has said that his next movie is once again going to be about a teenaged supergirl. I think he’s shooting himself in the foot. He’s very good at making original seeming characters and writing great dialogue but his insistance on constantly revisiting this one theme is hurting his potential and limiting his box office clout. I think, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/23 "2006-02-27T02:13:06Z")
Firstly, what box office clout? He’s primarily known as a television writer and both the movies he’s associated with flopped. Huge. According to IMDb, they made a combined 42M USD. That’s not even that good for a single movie. And secondly, besides \*Buffy \*and _Serenity_, what other of his movies have superhuman teenaged girls? _Toy Story_ and _Titan A.E._ have male protagonists; _Goners_, his next movie, is pretty much a mystery at this point; and while Ellen Ripley and Diana Prince are both powerful women, neither’s teenaged. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/24 "2006-02-27T03:18:25Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > Joss Whedon has said that his next movie is once again going to be about a teenaged supergirl. [Wonder Woman](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=359477&highlight=woman)? ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/25 "2006-02-27T04:13:58Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Firstly, what box office clout? He’s primarily known as a television writer and both the movies he’s associated with flopped. Huge. According to IMDb, they made a combined 42M USD. That’s not even that good for a single movie. > > And secondly, besides \*Buffy \*and _Serenity_, what other of his movies have superhuman teenaged girls? _Toy Story_ and _Titan A.E._ have male protagonists; _Goners_, his next movie, is pretty much a mystery at this point; and while Ellen Ripley and Diana Prince are both powerful women, neither’s teenaged. I was talking in potential box office clout, not saying he’s got loads at the moment but he’s certainly got something considering he’s helming movies. The next movie I was talking about is Goners, and from everything I’ve heard (which admittedly isn’t much but is straight from the horses’ mouth) it’s got a very similiar story to Buffy – superpowered teen girl confronting the supernatural. As for Titan AE and Toy Story, he wasn’t involved with the story, just the script. He also wasn’t involved with the original stories behind Alien or Wonder Woman either, so to bring those four movies up as counter examples is a bit silly. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/26 "2006-02-27T04:23:34Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > The next movie I was talking about is Goners, and from everything I’ve heard (which admittedly isn’t much but is straight from the horses’ mouth) it’s got a very similiar story to Buffy – superpowered teen girl confronting the supernatural. Technically, _Wonder Woman_ is his next movie. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/27 "2006-02-27T04:41:31Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Technically, _Wonder Woman_ is his next movie. Fine, the next movie he’s making where he’s created the characters. Happy? Look, I’m not putting words in his mouth, in just about every interview with him he admits that it’s a favourite theme of his and he enjoys revisiting it. I just think he’s limiting himself with it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/28 "2006-02-27T05:03:27Z")
> [@Othersider](#): > > I think I would find it amusing to encounter people who worship Joss Whedon, since I’m pretty sure he’s an atheist. Regardless, I think there’s little disputing how good a writer he is. Gosh, I’ll disoute it. “Serenity” was not an very well written movie. Yes, a lot of the dialogue is very good. _But screenwriting is not primarily about dialogue_, it’s about writing the events of the movie as a series of scenes that come together to make a fine movie. As a story, “Serenity” was a strictly by-the-book, formulaic film that most any Hollywood hack could have pumped out. There was far, far, too much of River Tam - yes, Whedon does go back to the “karate girl” well too often - and too little of everyone else. The scene where Book died was painfully awful and cliched. The story was pretty by the numbers. There’s really nothing all that impressive about it. It was still better than the recent Star Wars movies, though… ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/29 "2006-02-27T05:23:56Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > As for Titan AE and Toy Story, he wasn’t involved with the story, just the script. He also wasn’t involved with the original stories behind Alien or Wonder Woman either, so to bring those four movies up as counter examples is a bit silly. Not particularly. If you had said he was good at _creating_ original characters and ideas you would have a point but what you posted was “He’s very good at making original seeming characters and writing great dialogue” which was a bit vague and could have been a criticism of his overall work, which is how I took it. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/30 "2006-02-27T05:32:04Z")
I’m sorry, did I confuse you by using “making” instead of “creating”? The words aren’t that far apart in meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/31 "2006-02-27T05:49:20Z")
Far enough that there can be cause for misunderstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/32 "2006-02-27T05:55:37Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > I’m sorry, did I confuse you by using “making” instead of “creating”? The words aren’t that far apart in meaning. I must admit that you had me confused, which is part of the reason that I thought you might have been referring to _Wonder Woman_ (making a character created someone else seem original) and not _Goners_. Never mind that I don’t recall having heard of the latter until **Aesiron** mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936/33 "2006-02-28T07:11:14Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Gosh, I’ll dispute it. “Serenity” was not an very well written movie. Well, you showed _me_. 😃 :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-finally-warming-up-to-the-serenity-movie/345936.md?page=1)