Public Servant Lifestyle

The future is worth fighting for in the big screen spin-off from TV's cancelled deep space ‘Western’ Firefly, from the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Joss Whedon.

Serenity and Firefly

Six rebels on the run. One has a secret...

Oscar and Emmy-nominated Joss Whedon – creator of the worldwide television phenomena’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel – makes his feature film directorial debut with the futuristic action-adventure Serenity, based on his cult television series Firefly. Set five-hundred years in the future, the film centres around Captain Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds, a hardened veteran who fought in a recent galactic civil war.

In this world we find Mal – played by Nathan Fillion - a soldier on the losing side of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and captaining the transport-for-hire Firefly-class ship, Serenity. He leads a small crew who are the closest thing he has left to family: his second-in-command Zoë (Gina Torres); Zoë’s pilot husband Wash (Alan Tudyk); the mercenary Jayne (Adam Baldwin) and ship's mechanic Kaylee (Jewel Staite) who together provide Mal the opinionated, insubordinate and ultimately loyal mates he needs to survive in the outlands.

He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family – squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

Pictured (right): The crew of the good ship Serenity set sail for distant stars in this feature length directorial debut for Joss Whedon.

The Alliance

When Mal agrees to transport a young doctor, Simon Tam, and his unstable, telepathic sister, River; he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from ‘The Alliance’ – the militaristic coalition dominating the galaxy – who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl and the secrets she harbours. The crew who once skimmed the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed suddenly find themselves caught between two formidable enemies. First, they have to contend with an establishment known as the Universal Alliance (those on the winning side of the war). The Alliance is a seemingly unstoppable military force very ,much in the same mould as George Lucas’ evil galactic Empire. The Alliance seek to impose order – whether that order is wanted or unwanted by their subjects.

Secondly, they’re up against the horrific, cannibalistic Reavers - savages who roam the edges of space and who seemingly seek wanton chaos and destruction for it’s own end. With these perils coming at them from every angle, Mal and his crew are about to discover that the greatest danger of all may be hidden aboard the Serenity itself.

Further complicating matters for Mal are the beautiful courtesan Inara (Morena Baccarin), a woman who alternately inspires and infuriates him; Shepherd Book (Ron Glass), a preacher who challenges Mal to the fullest; and two mysterious passengers: the young doctor Simon (Sean Maher) and his unstable, telepathic sister River (Summer Glau). Her talents long-used by the Alliance, she possesses dangerous secrets buried so deeply, even she doesn’t know what they are.

Joss Whedon’s ability to create a self-contained universe stocked with compelling characters, unexpected humour and imaginative stories has resulted in a myriad of projects during his career. In addition to creating and executive producing the television series Buffy’ and Angel - as well as writing and directing multiple episodes of each - he has brought his trademark wit and compassion as a screen writer on films including Speed, Alien: Resurrection and Toy Story, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He also wrote a comic book series for Dark Horse based on the concept of a Vampire Slayer of the future – Fray – based on a character who picks up the ongoing ‘Slayer birthright in a dystopian future Earth populated by alien threats as well as the creatures of the night.

Wanton Destruction

Whedon originally conceived of the television series Firefly after reading Michael Shaara’s much-noted American Civil War novel, The Killer Angels. The appeal of post-war survivors scraping by on the outskirts of society - in a science-fiction context - struck a chord with Whedon. “I was taken with the idea of a civil war and rebuilding from the point of view of people who had lost the war,” he says. “There were people after the war who internalized it so terribly that it completely destroyed them.”

Starting by dreaming up the different characters, Whedon then wove a humanistic tale set in a frontier world of planets instead of plains. “I wanted to tell a story about people who were living in space, but not living in grandeur,” he describes.

“We’ve used up the Earth, so we’ve moved on to a new solar system,” he continues. “Where once we had new countries to explore, now we have planets. There’s no alien life of any kind that we have discovered. It’s still just us. It’s a vision of the world more or less as it is today. The idea of the show was that in the future, nothing has changed,” Whedon notes. “We’ve got more technology. We’ve got more people. But we’ve got the exact same problems: personally, politically and ethically.”

“Everyone had gelled together into a big family,” remembers Serenity Executive Producer Christopher Buchanan. “We were very fortunate in that way. But when the show was cancelled, it was a real gut shot to everyone involved.”

The original TV series ran for just fifteen episodes - the first twelve of which originally aired in the US from September to December 2002. Time will tell if the feature version triggers a change in fortunes for the show that spawned it...The series garnered acclaim from critics and a burgeoning fan-base, but Firefly nonetheless lasted only 11 episodes before leaving the air, a casualty of its frequently pre-empted time slot and the show’s own hard-to-pigeon hole tone and content.

Post Apocalypse

But Whedon chose to see it merely as a postponement rather than an end. He vowed to his Firefly cast and crew that he wouldn’t rest until he found a new home for the project. “I actually wrote Christmas letters to all nine of them letting them know where I was in my progress, and they kept me informed if they were going to do something,” Whedon says. “I just believed so strongly in these characters, and particularly in these actors, that I refused to believe that the show had been cancelled. I went into a severe state of denial.”

As the series’ set was being dismantled, cast member Alan Tudyk salvaged a prop for Whedon from a pivotal episode. “The ship is dying and the only chance the crew has is to take off in other ships and try to find help, leaving Mal behind,” describes Tudyk. “In this episode, Wash installs this special button and says, ‘When your miracle gets here, pound this button one time and it’ll bring us all back.’ “I still have that button in my office,” Whedon says fondly.

Whedon’s faith in keeping Firefly alive was infectious. “Every time I’d be about to give up, one of the actors would just call and say, ‘we’re still waiting. We still believe,’” he remembers.

Serenity - the motion picture - was been written, directed and produced by Joss Whedon – in full auteur mode – co-produced by Barry Mendel; and executive produced by Christopher Buchanan, David Lester and Alisa Tager. The cast - reprising their roles from the original Firefly television series - include: Nathan Fillion (playing Mal), Gina Torres (as Zoe), Adam Baldwin (Jayne), Alan Tudyk (Wash), Jewel Staite (Kaylee), Morena Baccarin (Inara), Summer Glau (River), Sean Maher (Simon) and Ron Glass (Book). ‘The Operative’ - The Alliance’s own man - is played by Chiiwetel Ehofor.

Here's what some of the critics made of the film:

"As always, Whedon's sci-fi fantasies smartly parallel the serious issues we're grappling with here on Earth, while his protagonists remain mordantly funny in the face of utter disaster." - Elizabeth Weitzman (New York Daily News).

"Effectively a Western in space, Serenity is a thoroughly entertaining, smartly written, beautifully acted, rip-roaring action-adventure movie, that will appeal to both Firefly fans and newcomers alike." - Matthew Turner (ViewLondon).

"The cleverest, crankiest, wittiest, wildest, and most character-driven sci-fi adventure in 25 years; it's the best outer-space trip I've been on since the Empire struck back." - Scott Weinberg (eFilmCritic.com).

"Even if you aren't one of the 'Firefly' faithful, Serenity will give you some insight into why other people are." - Steven D. Greydanus (Decent Films Guide).

"This material cobbles together elements of Westerns, space epics, new-age mysticism and even zombie-horror films. And it's to the credit of screenwriter/director Joss Whedon that it all feels cohesive, coherent and believable." - Jeff Vice (Deseret News, Salt Lake City).

For anyone looking to catch up on those classic TV episodes (and they're worth it!), they're happily all available on one snazzy DVD pack. Those episodes are:

1. Serenity Part 1
2. Serenity Part 2
3. The Train Job
4. Bushwhacked
5. Our Mrs. Reynolds
6. Jaynestown
7. Out of Gas
8. Shindig
9. Safe
10. Ariel
11. War Stories
12. Objects in Space
13. Heart of Gold
14. Trash
15. The Message

Ticket Demand

Demand was so high for tickets for previews of the film from fans that the EIFF online booking system crashed due to the large numbers of people trying to log on. The screening was completely sold out in less than two hours. Due to the overwhelming numbers UIP and EIFF organisers were forced to agreed to a further two screenings to accommodate the demand.

So who’s likely to like this? Well, fans of the original TV series obviously (the film certainly promises a pleasing level of continuity, bound to impress long-term fans who’ll feel right at home in Whedon's space opera/wagon train to the stars setting). Fans of the man’s previous shows – expect the same sharp writing as ever (but also fewer pop culture references). The film will be a real treat for any Buffy fans and casual viewers alike who may not have caught Firefly but who may recall Nathan Fillions’ role as a villainous pseudo-clergyman in the final series of the Sarah Michelle Gellar starring TV vamp fest.

Here he’ll be playing very much against that type. If you like your action movies with science fiction leanings think of The Chronicles of Riddick and a dose of Pitch Black, mixed in with the smarter, darker end television series:Angel and planet hopping TV epics like Farscape and Babylon 5 – and you’re almost there. One of the most impressive elements of the film – and one it shares with the series that spawned it - is the decision to keep the hi-technology recognisably low-tech.

Realism?

This serves to ground the series much more heavily in realism – with no energy weapons, matter transporters, convenient force-fields or time travel providing neat elegant (and easy) solutions to the crews’ problems at every turn. This serves to make the script work harder to keep things interesting, dramatic and challenging. Fortunately for viewers of the film these are all things Joss Whedon is used to turning out in abundance.

Shane Danielsen, Artistic Director of the EIFF summed up the massive impact of the man Whedon’s creations on modern pop culture by comparing him to ‘The Great Bird of The Galaxy’ himself. He says: “Whedon is probably more influential in terms of television and SF and fantasy, than anyone since (Star Trek creator) Gene Rodenberry.” Quite the accolade, considering Roddenberry’s own massive legacy.

The special features on the DVD of Serenity look like this: