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Title: Serenity
Media: HD DVD
Genre: Sci-Fi Action
Stars: Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Gina Torres, and Chiwetel Ejiofor
Writer: Joss Whedon
Director: Joss Whedon
Feature length: 1 hour and 59 minutes
Extras: Feature Length Audio Commentary With Writer And Director Joss Whedon, Deleted Scenes With Optional Audio Commentary By Writer And Director Joss Whedon, Outtakes, Joss Whedon’s Theatrical Screening Introduction, Re-Lighting The Firefly Featurette, Future History – The Story Of Earth That Was Featurette, What’s In A Firefly Featurette
Languages: English, French, and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound
Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging: Elite Red HD Case
Chapter Stops: 20
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2005/HD 2006
DVD Release: 2005
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
Most of the time when a sci-fi TV show is cancelled, the series may not be revisited for decades, as has been the case with “Star Trek” and “Battlestar Galactica.” Sometimes when more than two decades have passed the return of a sci-fi show ends up being a reinvention with little to no continuity with the original. Then there are the rare cases where a popular cult series might inspire a few TV movies like “Alien Nation” or at the very least a miniseries that wraps up most of the loose ends and leaves room for the possibility of another adventure while at the same time gives the viewer a sense of closure as was the case with the SCI FI Channel miniseries “Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars.” Even rarer is a major studio feature film that gets made within years of a show that never even saw a complete television season of twenty or more episodes air on American television. The Fox television network canceled “Firefly” in 2002 without even having all 13 produced episodes air on the channel. Producer, Writer, and Director Joss Whedon struggled to find a new home for the show and with the popularity of Fox’s “Firefly: The Complete Series” on DVD box set as well as rabid fan support and Joss Whedon’s own determination, he got to resurrect “Firefly” on the big screen this past summer with “Serenity.”
“Serenity” quickly recaps the world set up by the series for new viewers and to refresh seasoned fans alike. The last two great superpowers on Earth, the United States and China through political and corporate cooperation have merged to form the Alliance and send humanity to the stars where through terraforming and colonization, a new solar system is now inhabited by many humans and the overpopulated and depleted Earth was left behind and nearly forgotten. As far as is generally known, there are no extraterrestrial life forms in the known galaxy except for what humans have brought and created on their own. In the five hundred years since the great solar system exodus, there was a civil war between the outer world colonists and the increasingly totalitarian Alliance. The Alliance won the war, but it cannot steadily enforce the outer rim planets as it does the core worlds, which leaves room for colonists on the edge to seek out a living with some petty heists as well as other jobs that fall out of the approved list of Alliance occupations.
Eight months ago, Mal (Nathan Fillion) the Captain of the Firefly class ship Serenity took aboard a Doctor and his young sister River (Summer Glau) and provided them with a traveling sanctuary from pursuing Alliance forces in return for the Doctor’s medical expertise and his sister’s rare clairvoyant gifts. Unfortunately things have gradually become more difficult with the Alliance hot on their heels and cannibalistic “Reavers” invading the outer rim worlds for food. Now the Alliance has sent out an Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to apprehend River at all costs because within her fractured subconscious lies a dark secret that could threaten the stability of the Alliance’s ruling political party should the galactic public ever find out.
“Serenity” is a labor of love for Joss Whedon and his devoted cast and crew as well as the fans of the “Firefly” television series. Much as he has displayed with his most popular television creations “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel,” Whedon has a gift for telling a compelling dramatic story with rich characters and placing smart humor to enhance the dramatic moments. You do not have to be a fan of “Firefly” or even have seen a single episode to enjoy “Serenity” though it certainly does not hurt to be familiar with the show. The special effects are quite good and the action is terrific. A showdown between capital ships in space is perhaps one of the most exciting and elaborate space battle sequences of the year. It is comparable in many ways to the opening space battle sequence in “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith” though the budget for this sci-fi extravaganza was probably far less than the concluding feature film chapter in the “Star Wars Saga.”
As with any feature film based on a television show, the ensemble cast has approximately 118 minutes of screen time to share so some characters have more to do than others, but to Whedon’s credit each cast member has a moment to shine and define their role in the film. Chiwetel Ejiofor is outstanding as the villainous Operative. I am not familiar with this actor, but I sure hope we get to see him in more genre television and feature films because he’s fantastic. The only aspect that is somewhat disappointing is the look of the reavers. In the wake of the zombie film renaissance that has included George A. Romero, the man who created that horror subgenre, deliver arguably his best entry in “Living Dead” series this past summer with “Land Of The Dead,” crazed cannibals with stiff looking makeup just doesn’t provide the jolt that it should. The buildup Whedon created in the series was too great also so nothing we can see could ever match up to what our imaginations can conjure. In short, we should have never seen them and now that we have, if there is ever another film in the series, I hope we never see them again.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment presents “Serenity” as it’s first HD DVD release a 1080p high definition widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio that preserves the manner in which the film was exhibited theatrically as close as possible for home Video users. The image quality is quite jaw dropping and sharp with a mixture of earth tones and stark blues and grays to delineate the shifting mood of the film as needed. A well-mixed and atmospheric English Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Soundtrack and it far more dynamic than the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack found on the standard definition DVD counterpart released a few months ago. A French as well as a Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Soundtrack is also provided as listening options. The HD menus are fully interactive and can be activated while the film is still in progress. The western imagery has been toned down a bit for the feature film, which is good since personally I always felt “Firefly” overplayed that aspect to the show to a point where I wondered whether or not Whedon realized that you don’t need to have people dressing up in semi period looking clothes with livestock and all to get across the idea of a frontier in space. Both “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” succeeded in this area and in the case of the original “Star Wars” not once did I ever see anyone where a cowboy hat…
English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as French and Spanish Language Subtitles have been encoded onto the HD DVD disc as options too. Joss Whedon provides optional commentary for both the feature film and a set of nine deleted scenes (14:39) presented in a letterboxed format that can be viewed individually or as a whole by using a “Play All” menu feature. All of the extra value materials are ported over from the DVD release and are presented in 480i/p standard definition. Whedon’s comments are direct and infused with a little bit of humor as well as if to show that despite his passion for the material and his great success, he does not take himself too seriously, There is also a reel of outtakes (6:05) as well as the original video introduction Whedon gave to fans who attended advanced test screenings of the film (3:55). The remaining featurettes entitled “Future History: The Story Of Earth That Was” (4:33), “What’s In A Firefly” (6:33), and “Relighting The Firefly” (9:41) all appear to be parts produced as part of the larger EPK featurette that might have been cut down to include the material on the original DVD release and the “Serenity” sneak peek bonus DVD that came packaged within the Best Buy Exclusive “Battlestar Galactica: Season One” DVD set released in July of 2005 as well as the SCI FI Channel TV special that aired in September. It’s a shame the cast was not more involved in the DVD release of “Serenity” since the fans are likely to be the first ones who will buy this disc and I’m sure they would have enjoyed hearing a group commentary in addition to Whedon’s personal commentary track.
I still think the cover art for the HD DVD itself is both confusing and ugly and had hoped Universal would have come up with better cover art for the HD DVD debut. It looks like a horror film because of the way Summer Glau is made to look so emaciated and disturbed looking on the cover. While I recognize her from both “Firefly” and other genre shows like “The 4400,” a person not familiar with the show or film may not know what to make of it and thus I think something a little more straight forward that gets the idea across that this is a sci-fi action picture should be developed for the HD DVD release My continuing gripes about the cover art aside, “Serenity” is one of the best sci-fi genre films I’ve seen this year and I highly recommend fans and newcomers alike to check it out now that it is available on HD DVD with the best picture and sound quality one is likely to ever see on home video courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2006 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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