# So I finally watched Firefly/Serenity **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678 "2006-09-22T05:55:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/41 "2006-09-23T07:13:51Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] So the correct order of watching is: 14 episodes of Firefly, then the movie Serenity. [/QUOTE] Making things more confusing, the first episode of Firefly is titled Serenity. So you watch Serenity, then the rest of the episodes, then you finish it up by watching Serenity. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/42 "2006-09-23T12:34:58Z")
Yeah, if you’ve already seen the movie and liked it, go ahead and see the series. I just wouldn’t **intentionally** do it that way if you have the option not to. Heads up for other dense people like me - the actor who plays Jayne, Adam Baldwin, is **not** one of the “Baldwin Brothers.” You might have seen him in other SF like _Independence Day_, _Predator 2_, or _X-Files_, or perhaps his probably best-known role as “Animal Mother” in _Full Metal Jacket_. I slapped my forehead when I realized who he was. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/43 "2006-09-23T15:24:06Z")
You can also see him in the final series of Angel. He cleaned up rather nicely as a suit at Wolfram & Hart. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/44 "2006-09-23T15:43:28Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Serenity was way better than I expected (not a huge fan of Firefly). It was particularly fascinating watching it, as I did, right after Alien Resurrection, written by a much younger Joss Whedon. To see his themes at two different levels of maturity and polish. [/QUOTE] I don’t know if the two can be fairly compared. Whedon wrote, directed, and produced Serenity. He wrote _part_ or A:R (he had absolutely nothing to do with the ending, for example). The difference in creative control probably obscures any difference in Whedon’s style or writing quality between the two works. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/45 "2006-09-23T15:49:40Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] Heads up for other dense people like me - the actor who plays Jayne, Adam Baldwin, is **not** one of the “Baldwin Brothers.” You might have seen him in other SF like _Independence Day_, _Predator 2_, or _X-Files_, or perhaps his probably best-known role as “Animal Mother” in _Full Metal Jacket_. I slapped my forehead when I realized who he was. [/QUOTE] Also as the army coat-wearing bodyguard in _My Bodyguard._ ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/46 "2006-09-23T16:30:11Z")
[QUOTE=Turek] Also as the army coat-wearing bodyguard in _My Bodyguard._ [/QUOTE] I met him during the filming of The Bodyguard; his first film. I was like 14. He was way cute. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/47 "2006-09-23T16:37:28Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] I met him during the filming of The Bodyguard; his first film. I was like 14. He was way cute. [/QUOTE] _ **My** Bodyguard_. _The Bodyguard_ was that Whitney Houston glurge that infested our airwaves with IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Will Always Love YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUooooooooooUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" And he was 17 or 18, unless it spent a \*lot \*of time in post-production. He was born in 1962, and My Bodyguard came out in 1980. But yeah, [way cute.](http://www.afan.dk/firefly/ffpic/ab_bg_037.jpg) (Awww, it’s a widdle biddy Jayney-poo!) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/48 "2006-09-23T16:50:26Z")
[QUOTE=Menocchio] I don’t know if the two can be fairly compared. Whedon wrote, directed, and produced Serenity. He wrote _part_ or A:R (he had absolutely nothing to do with the ending, for example). The difference in creative control probably obscures any difference in Whedon’s style or writing quality between the two works. [/QUOTE] So . . . the parallels in the themes are strictly coincidence? You seem to be suggesting that because he didn’t have 100% creative control, that he therefore had zero input. Watching both back to back, as I did–trust me, there’s LOTS to compare. Lot of interesting parallels. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/49 "2006-09-23T16:51:38Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] _ **My** Bodyguard_. _The Bodyguard_ was that Whitney Houston glurge that infested our airwaves with IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Will Always Love YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUooooooooooUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" [/QUOTE] Oh doy. I’m very embarrassed. (Although, I’d like to point out that the song is a great song; it was Whitney’s delivery that was glurgy.) ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/50 "2006-09-23T19:21:34Z")
One of my favorite random things to see Adam Baldwin in was Stargate SG1, where he played the commander of SG13, who gave an absolutley hillarious monologue about the hardships of fatherhood. “Don’t get me wrong, I love my family! But why do you think I got a job that lets me travel hundreds of lightyears away from them?!” ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/51 "2006-09-23T19:47:01Z")
I saw Serenity when Tivo recorded it as a suggestion. Never heard of it before. I really liked it. Good bad guy, rational plot, witty dialouge and didn’t go overboard on special effects. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/52 "2006-09-24T03:05:10Z")
I watched the first episode of Firefly (although it might have been the one that was chronologically first but not broadcasted first), and I’m 45 minutes into the movie, and I don’t know what the big attraction is around here. What a normal show. What sparkling wit? What inventive characters? BtVS and Angel were much more offbeat and quotable. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/53 "2006-09-24T05:12:59Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] But Firefly is superior to Buffy because Joss had a decade to hone his writing skills in between the two series’ pilots. [/QUOTE] And had ACTORS WITH EXPERIENCE in Firefly, not just cute kids who never really got the hang of it. I mean, Geller still couldn’t act her way out of a brown paper bag and the rest of her posse is pathetic, though Boreanez has developed range and depth. BUT Buffy and Firefly are completely different series aimed at completely different audiences. I recall how pissed the Buffistas were when Firefly didn’t turn out to be Buffy Goes to Outer Space. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/54 "2006-09-24T05:26:45Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] And had ACTORS WITH EXPERIENCE in Firefly, not just cute kids who never really got the hang of it. I mean, Geller still couldn’t act her way out of a brown paper bag and the rest of her posse is pathetic, though Boreanez has developed range and depth. BUT Buffy and Firefly are completely different series aimed at completely different audiences. I recall how pissed the Buffistas were when Firefly didn’t turn out to be Buffy Goes to Outer Space. [/QUOTE] Sure it was. It was just that Firefly’s Buffy was divided equally between Mal & River. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/55 "2006-09-24T13:42:50Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] And had ACTORS WITH EXPERIENCE in Firefly, not just cute kids who never really got the hang of it. I mean, Geller still couldn’t act her way out of a brown paper bag and the rest of her posse is pathetic, though Boreanez has developed range and depth. BUT Buffy and Firefly are completely different series aimed at completely different audiences. I recall how pissed the Buffistas were when Firefly didn’t turn out to be Buffy Goes to Outer Space. [/QUOTE] Well, to give Joss some credit, he wasn’t trying to just do the same thing twice; he had no intention of making “Buffy in Space.” I get that each of his three shows represent three different ideas. I just personally think the Buffy was not only a bigger, better idea, it was also better executed. And though I totally agree that Geller will never win an Oscar, I must point out the obvious fact Boreanaz is the worst actor of his or any generation. He sucked whatever life there was to be sucked out of Angel. I have no doubt that he was cast as a vampire as a prank by Joss; a conceptual pun on vast talent for sucking, and sucking hard, and sucking long. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Viking\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@The\_Viking\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Viking_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/56 "2006-09-24T14:03:51Z")
I tend to think of it this way: In “Buffy,” Joss was able to explore as much camp as he wanted. I mean, really, the film was a satire. His actors were young (for the most part- let’s not discount the astounding Anthony Stewart Head), his budget was relatively low, and nobody ever expected that it would take off like it did. As for acting, I’d like to give Gellar a break and direct you to the fourth season episode “Who Are You.” Watch how she and Dushku play off of each other: it is, frankly, incredible. Ahem. “Angel” was, in my opinion, distillation. Conceptual pun aside, Joss got to refine his work, polish certain aspects and discard others. “Firefly” is, in my view and in the view of other Jossslaves of my acquaintance, his magnum opus. The dialogue is much punchier while retaining that trademark Whedon one-two, the characters are idiosyncratic enough that they are human while, at the same time, refraining from becoming caricatures, and the storylines are great. So much love for the Joss. A small note regarding “Buffy in Space:” I’m sure this is common knowledge now, but meh. There was an idea Joss has described wanting to use in a later season of “Firefly.” Spike was to be sitting at a bar at a saloon the characters entered, staring into his drink, and was to have the line, “I’m tellin’ you, nothing ever changes.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/57 "2006-09-24T14:30:55Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] And had ACTORS WITH EXPERIENCE in Firefly, not **just cute kids who never really got the hang of it**. I mean, Geller still couldn’t act her way out of a brown paper bag and the rest of her posse is pathetic, though Boreanez has developed range and depth. [/QUOTE] I must have been drunk when I replied to you before, because I missed your implicit slander of Alyson Hannigan. ::pulls glove off hand, slaps **dropzone** in the kisser:: SWORDS AT DAWN, Sir! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/58 "2006-09-24T14:50:17Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] I must have been drunk when I replied to you before, because I missed your implicit slander of Alyson Hannigan. ::pulls glove off hand, slaps **dropzone** in the kisser:: SWORDS AT DAWN, Sir! [/QUOTE] [Captain Reynolds] Sw-what? [/Captian Reynolds] ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/59 "2006-09-24T15:17:25Z")
I also DVR’d the Firefly marathon on Sci-Fi. While I was watching it, I was trying to figure out why it failed. I eventually decided on the opening credits. That theme song is terrible. I could watch the teaser, think I might like the show, and be talked out of it by the credits. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678/60 "2006-09-24T15:30:16Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] though Boreanez has developed range and depth. [/QUOTE] Seriously? I mean, I’m perfectly willing to give him the “Most Improved” award, since given his extremely limited gifts, he must have worked very hard indeed to achieve the level of near-adequacy he exhibited in later seasons of Angel. (And really, I \*like \* the guy, but come on!) I don’t think that SMG is a horrible actor (albeit certainly not a great one). Unfortunately, by seasons 6 and 7, it was apparent that she was either dismayed by the direction her character took, extremely bored, or both. Her repertoire of emotional conveyance was reduced to sad hand wringing, angry arm crossing, and anime eyes. It made for a nice drinking game, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-finally-watched-firefly-serenity/373678.md?page=4)