Joss Whedon’s science fiction
Western FIREFLY didn’t quite complete the course to a happy ending. In theaters, SERENITY attracted a core FIREFLY audi- ence but was only a middling hit and hasn’t founded a big-screen franchise (which, as of writing, seems unlikely). Unexpectedly strong DVD sales of the FIREFLY box set helped convince Univer- sal to greenlight SERENITY and perhaps also explain the arrival of a “COLLECTOR’S EDITION” within a year of the regular DVD release, in that the studio are rea- sonably sure fans will buy it again. Cynicism about the increasing tendency to rely on double-dip customers aside, this two-disc edition is a nice package, and adds enough additional material on top of the decent array of ex- tras on the original disc to add sufficient value.
Though the scrambling of Wild West and final frontier evokes Hammer’s MOON ZERO TWO or OUTLAND, the premise of a shipful of chancers, idealists, rebels and refugees who take on an apparently utopian (but actu- ally oppressive) galaxy-spanning civilization is surprisingly close to BBC-TV’s miserablist space
opera BLAKES 7. Whedon scram- bles familiar elements into a post- modern collage of MAVERICK and BABYLON 5, developing a future in which mankind has moved out into the galaxy but there are no aliens and every world is a ver- sion of Earth circa 1870, albeit with bigger guns and hover-cars. In an analogy to the post-Civil War West, the ruling “Alliance” govern a string of terraformed worlds, having crushed an up- rising by “the Independents.” Psychic prodigy River Tam (MAMMOTH’s Summer Glau) has been rescued by her doctor brother Simon (Sean Maher) from an Alliance facility. Now, a ruthless Operative (CHILDREN OF MEN’s Chiwetel Ejiofor) is detailed to retrieve River, who might have had access to the Alliance’s most shameful secret. As seen on FIREFLY, River and Simon are traveling on the crew of Firefly-class ship Serenity, which is commanded by ex-In- dependent soldier Mal Reynolds (SLITHER’s Nathan Fillion) and ekes a living through smuggling and petty crime. Also on the crew are pilot Wash (I, ROBOT’s Alan Tudyk), first mate Zoë (THE MA- TRIX RELOADED’s Gina Torres),
mercenary Jayne (Adam Baldwin) and mechanic Kaylee (Jewel Staite), and stashed about the universe on planets the plot will visit are former Serenity passen- gers Inara (Morena Baccarin), a space geisha, and Shepherd Book (DEEP SPACE’s Ron Glass), an ex-soldier turned preacher.
Much of the charm comes from a deployment of Western motifs in an sci-fi context, which is not always unproblematic: re- writing the Civil War so the los- ers retain the moral high ground for refusing to be dictated to but aren’t inconvenienced by a need to defend the indefensible insti- tution of slavery is one fudge, and rethinking Indians as a horde of cannibal rapists out of THE HILLS HAVE EYES (“Reavers”) is another. This evokes childish, “fun” Westerns in which ques- tions of history were set aside (many fine films, STAGECOACH included, take this approach) but writer-director-creator Whedon (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) has it both ways, drawing serious parallels with incipient totalitar- ian practices of current govern- ments as the Alliance. Bland and creepily “reasonable,” it invades
Chiwetel Ejiofor contemplates a hologram of Summer Glau in Joss Whedon’s SERENITY. (Don’t you miss the days when studios would insist actors change their names to Robert Taylor or Mary Astor?)
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