QuoteI love “Firefly†â€" so much so every time I’d see it I’d squeeze its cheeks, bring it in closer and share saliva with it. It’s a show that had the danglers to say “screw you! We’re not going anywhere!†despite the fact the network yanked it after 12 episodes. And then, just when it looked like it was done, it remerged as a full-length mother-hoppin’ movie â€" and by golly if it didn’t bring a lump to George Lucas’s throat.
When Alan Tudyk told me on the phone this morning that a sequel to “Serenity†â€" that’s the name of the “Firefly†movie for those who’ve been up at Guantanamo Bay for the past couple of years â€" could be happening I just about dropped the phone (I didn’t though, because the last time I did that it landed in the loo. Fried itself. And as a consequence, I lost all my numbers.) Tudyk says the newly-released “Serenity : Special Edition“ DVD has been selling so hot, that there’s talk in doing another movie.
“They had to put [the new DVD] out because they’ve been selling out of the other one and so Universal’s like ‘So, let’s do another one’. And now… there’s now a chance there’s going to be another movieâ€.
Tudyk agrees that even if it was a direct-to-DVD movie, it’d still be worthwhile. Especially since the whole DVD sequel is a big trend.
“It really isâ€, says Tudyk. “Everybody in the Firefly crew â€" and that includes the ones who died in the movie â€" are excited about the prospect of doing anotherâ€.
Nathan Fillion, says Tudyk, is especially keen. “We were out a couple of weeks ago together at a party and there was a bunch of people there, and he was like ‘Oh, look we’re Browncoatsâ€.
Great to hear Fillion’s still as crazy as ever about wearing the Tightpants again.
Tudyk says he heard from creator Joss Whedon a few weeks back â€" but mainly about Tudyk’s role in the new Western “3:10 to Yumaâ€. “He sent me an email when it first came out because at first he thought I was a different character â€" by the trailerâ€, he laughs. “He was like ‘My god! You’re playing such a bad-ass!’ That was Ben Foster, who is such a bad-ass in that movie, and is just brilliant, just brilliant, and we both have a similar look â€" we both have polish genes â€" and anyway, Joss writes back ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise you were the sympathetic funny character â€" how would cast you as that?’. Joss, that would be you!â€.
The actor, who appears in the new Frank Oz film “Death at a Funeralâ€, is absolutely blown-away by the life “Firefly†has had. He’s even headed downunder next week to appear at a science fiction convention. It amazes him even more that he got to do a feature film version of his 12-episode series. “That’s wild; you don’t see that happen until years later when it becomes a campy spoof of the thing. But even then, shows like Dukes of Hazzard and Starsky and Hutch were huge hits [from the beginning, and they didn’t do movies straight away] this was something that was a hit only with a group of people and it just grew.â€
Likely to happen before a “Serenity†sequel though is an “I, Robot†sequel. Tudyk visited the set of Will Smith’s latest movie “I am Legend†to talk about the movie recently, and says he’d be super excited to play Sonny the robot again.
Yep, but what about Wash? Now that there’s the shizzle.
http://www.moviehole.net/news/20071004_serenity_2_a_new_hope.html
please please please please please please please please
I just read this as well... I'm keeping my fingers, toes and anything else I can cross....
I'd be happy with a direct to DVD. I just want/need more of that universe.
I'm with you Kenny. Love to see more "Serenity." Anyway we can get it!
I loved Firefly for the most part but was really dissatisfied with Serenity. However, I would not mind giving Serenity another shot if Joss would give it a go.
Kevin
Quote from: Ktrek on October 04, 2007, 01:35:12 PM
I loved Firefly for the most part but was really dissatisfied with Serenity.
Kevin
Hey Kevin.. what made you dissatisfied with Serenity?
I haven't seen Serenity...so please don't tell Kenny here. I just bought the Firefly DVD Box Set and my husband and I are working our way through them. I LOVE THIS SHOW. Incidentally, so does my NON-geek husband.
I WOULD love to see this universe continue to expand.
Out of respect for Jen I will not go into plot specifics but I will say that I was hoping that Serenity would have been more of a feature film, like the TOS films, and catapulted the characters out of TV. Unfortunately the film was more like a big budget two hour TV movie shown in a theater than it was a real Hollywood blockbuster feature film. I do appreciate the continuation of the story and some of the character development in the film but I really think this was more of a direct to DVD type of film than it was a theatrical worthy effort. I would however, love to see Joss do more Serenity in a direct to DVD format and continue the story but I think it's unlikely.
Kevin
I'll agree with Kevin's take and raise it a "I don't agree with plot direction choices" and leave it at that. Characters went places that felt out of place.
I hate to say this but I hope that if we do see a Serenity 2 or a prequel or a resurgance of the show, that they keep Mr. Whedon on a tight leash, plot wise. The man writes amazing dialogue but I don't care for some of his overall choices.
Of course, I REALLY hate Marti Noxton's plot choices too.. so I guess maybe Joss isn't that bad.
Mr. O
Everyone (as always here) is entitled to their view, but I enjoyed the movie - a lot. I felt it was a good follow up to the series and took the characters (intentionally) to places and things that hadn't been explored before.
Also, Firefly (like Buffy and Angel) are basically Joss. They are his babies. While you may not always like what he does with them, I wouldn't expect him to give up control of the "Verse anytime soon.
Ya make a good point. Firefly is his and if there's a movie he will surely have a strong hand in it's writing.
But looking for a moment at the Pilot of Buffy tVS, he wanted to make a special opening credit squence specifically to put in a character who died in the pilot. He wanted people watching the first show to think "Wow, no one in this show is safe; anyone could die, even people in the opening credits!" That's a writing paradigm that I don't jive with and makes me nervous about his work as a general rule.
I love just about anything he writes or directs, but... I like to feel attached to my characters and not be always thinking "is this the episode that is this character's last?"
*shrug*
But then again even Joss knew better then to make Buffy get a dead end job at a fast food resturant. :)
Mr. O
That's what I love about Joss's writing. It's very real.. he deals with space battles, vampires and demons and we are to expect that know one ever dies.... Joss is my Master!!!!
Quote from: StarTrekFanatic5 on October 05, 2007, 02:45:10 PM
That's what I love about Joss's writing. It's very real.. he deals with space battles, vampires and demons and we are to expect that know one ever dies.... Joss is my Master!!!!
Ummm...I'm sorry Kenny but I have a hard time believing that SPACE BATTLES, VAMPIRES and DEMONS are anywhere near being real. I like Joss Whedon's imagination but that is where I leave it...IN THE IMAGINATION! It is nowhere near reality in the least!
Kevin
Wow.. guess I'll just keep my mouth shut and stay in my little "fantasy" world.
I think it's rather obvious that vampires and space battles are fantasy, you don't have to point that out.
You know...dust in the wind and all that stuff—that's what Kenny's getting at. He enjoys the fact that it's a surprise when a beloved character is written off the show. And just because vampires are a figment of our imaginations, doesn't mean the show can't parallel reality, especially when a character dies unexpectedly. I believe that's all he was saying. It doesn't mean I agree with it, but that's his two cents—I don't have to spend it anywhere if I don't want to.
But the problem I have with Msr. Whedon is that I feel reluctant to care about his characters. If I become invested in a character that dies suddenly one day, and doesn't have the dramatic decency of a "Good Death" then I'm left wondering why I should watch.
I get enough of that kind of stuff in the real world, thankyouverymuch. I like my fantasies, be they "realistic" or not, to have a certain "dramatic immunity" so that I can get invested in characters and see them grow (or at least have "Good deaths") and not be shocked with sudden (if realistic) developments.
Mr. O
As I said before...it's not my favorite thing either, but that doesn't mean that aspect of his work can't be enjoyed by someone else or that there's anything wrong with Whedon's brand of writing. For example Mr. O, I know that you watch and enjoy Battlestar Galactica. That show is packed full of negative parallels to everyday life and has lost several characters. Did they all have good deaths? I think that's debatable. Do I think every episode is well written? No. I was rather fond of several of those now deceased characters, and I don't always need the realistic parallels...but I still appreciate the writing and the show as a whole. And I can, at the same time, understand and respect why others might disagree with me. To each his/her own.
Here's something I found online that Ken Levine mentioned about killing off characters, which speaks to your points and also to Kenny's
When a main character dies fans of the show are now sad, usually for a day, maybe two if they don't have lives themselves. We're now so used to series regulars being whacked, people voted off islands, fired, or told they can no longer sing "On Broadway" on national television that the impact is lessened. The downside of this practice is you begin to protect yourself by not investing too much emotion in the characters going in for fear that they'll be taken away. (although I don't think that was a problem for Paris Bennett or Amarosa.)
None of the current deaths will ever have the wallop that MASH killing off Henry Blake did. The entire country was stunned, and in many cases, outraged. But it also made a point. This was a show about war and in war people die, even the people you care about. For my money that one episode (written by Jim Frizzell & Everett Greenbaum, produced by Larry Gelbart & Gene Reynolds) turned MASH into a classic. It was groundbreaking, shocking, and people forget -- very funny for the first 27 minutes.
(Ken Levine is an Emmy winning writer/director/producer/major league baseball announcer. In a career that has spanned over 30 years Ken has worked on MASH, CHEERS, FRASIER, THE SIMPSONS, WINGS, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, BECKER, DHARMA & GREG, and has co-created his own series including ALMOST PERFECT starring Nancy Travis. He and his partner wrote the feature VOLUNTEERS. Ken has also been the radio/TV play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres.)
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2006/06/its-now-okay-to-kill-actors.html
I still remember MASH killing Henry.....I could not tell you anything about the rest of the episode....but Col Blake was killed. MASH is still one of my favorite shows on TV
From a recent interview with Joss Whedon. So maybe this will help put this to rest for now!
QuoteActor Alan Tudyk mentioned the possibility of another "Firefly" movie in a recent interview. Is that wishful thinking? Is something happening? If so, can you talk about it?
I can talk about it because it's wishful thinking. I always said, they made the special edition DVD because they cannot keep the DVD on the shelves. That's what they told me, and they really went to the mattresses to make something special because they knew I wasn't going to do a "director's cut" because the "director's cut" played in theaters. So they really pumped up the extras and I really appreciated that. And they also (slides into a Peter Lorre-ish voice) made it look pretty, finally. But I think what happened was that I said, "Well, if there's hope for a sequel, it's people buying the DVD," and that translated into something more literal. But, no. Right now, nobody has any plans to do any kind of sequel. If they do, I hope they'll include me, because if I find out Brett Ratner is directing it, I'm going to be so mad. That's not a dig on Brett. I want to do more, but nobody's talking about doing more right now.
The original interview is here:
http://movies.msn.com/new-on-dvd/feature-article/default.aspx?news=281562 (http://movies.msn.com/new-on-dvd/feature-article/default.aspx?news=281562)
Kevin
For me, I hate that main character are often protected by the invisible shield of the writer. When Chewbacca died, there was this line by Han that basically said that before the death he and his extended family seem to have lived through things protected from death by an unseen force and when Chewie died he knew that anyone could die.
For me, I can't enjoy a story of life and death if I know that there is no way for the main characters to die. It cheapens the deaths of those around them and it cheapens the story by allowing the protagonist to survive something that no one else should have, but when a protagonist dies for some random (not saving the universe) reason, it's a better story.
I was shocked when Fred was killed in Angel.
I don't even want to go with all of the deaths on Lost, Prison Break, Alias, and other shows I love.
I was floored when Kate was killed in NCIS.
When Jackson died in SG-1 I couldn't believe it.
The loss of Marcus on babylon 5 still sucks to this day.
When Tara died in Buffy, I thought there had to be a mistake.
The death of Ripley in Aliens 3 wasn't a good day.
Not only do deaths work well, some times they are the only things that we remember. When a core character dies, it reminds the viewers that everyone is not safe and that makes the action that much more compeling to watch.
Everyone doesn't need to save the universe when they die if they let the viewer and the reader see that people can die, the story becomes richer.
After the death in Serenity, each scene afterwards had me worried that someone else would fall. It had my heart racing and me rooting for my guys to survive more than if that death never happened.
If you think about it, how invested do you get into the danger for the crew when a red shirt dies? now compare that to worrying about the crew after a key player dies. Characters are characters, but as a wise man once said "The play is the thing.".
A character should never hamper the growth of the story. The characters should be a part of the story, but not the exception.
That was very well said.. X... that's why I love Joss's work.