Author: Doyce

I’m not going to say much about the movie. Here are a few thoughts:
1. Joss Whedon is one of best storytellers currently living.
2. You will not know what to expect. Afterwards, you may (as I did) see why such and such happened, or why it had to, or what it accomplished, but going in… no. You won’t. You won’t know what to expect, and you won’t know how anything is going to work out.
3. My concerns (from the preview) of River’s fight scenes being clunky are unfounded — she moves with the grace of the dancer she is. Amazing.
4. It’s one of the better stories I’ve seen told on film, period. It’s one of the best sci-fi movies I’ve seen in … I don’t remember the last one I liked that much. I need for someone who hasn’t seen it to watch it and tell me if it’s confusing or if relationships are unclear, but I don’t think they are.
5. Joss had a recorded message to the Browncoats at the beginning of the show that was awesome. Just awesome.
Finally: I’ve always preferred Joss’ original explanation of the ‘verse: “one system, many planets, colonized by generation ships, don’t talk to me about science” approach — it’s the way the original voice-overs for the show read, and it’s what I liked about it. The movie sticks with that, cuz F*x isn’t in there fucking with things.
Anyone who has a problem with the tech of it or the odds of a system like that existing can explain how it’s any more unbelievable than the fairytale of Faster Than Light travel. (Something the human mind *wants* to believe simply because the vastness of space means we will probably always be alone, otherwise.)
Firefly’s always been about the people. The tech is irrelevant. There are worlds. These folk live on em. These other folk fly between them. Sometimes it takes awhile. “Dead in the Water” means “no power” not “stationary”. The end.
Absolutely. Amazing.
Update: Dave’s thoughts here.

Screening of almost finished Serenity in Austrailia.
It’s a 4.5 star review by a guy who says his high expectations were far exceeded. No spoilers.

Yea, verily, Joss spoke again…

Well.
It gets better.
As thus: The movie is very nearly finished. You’ve seen many pretty images in the trailer. But I’ve still got work to do and you’ve still got months before you can see it.
Unless.
And, no, I’m not talking Australia (but Hi, Australia! anyway), I’m talking here in the more-or-less-United States, a one time multi-city Browncoat sneak event. Thursday, May 5th at 10:00 pm, the movie (Serenity! Pay attention! Jeez.) will be playing at exactly 10 theaters in 10 cities across the country. You (or possibly someone much like you) (or possibly a robot EXACTLY like you, but with better manners and sonic arm-lasers, sent to take your place) will be able to buy a ticket to see Serenity months in advance. Not just the bitty trailer with not enough Kaylee and Book, but the whole film, in its extremely almost completed state.
You probably have some questions. How is this possible? What cities exactly will it be in? What are these changes my body is going through? All valid. It’s possible because some clown put a bunch of Universal execs in a theater full of Browncoats and dude, they came out SWEATING, they never seen energy like that. They loved it, and even though they were already wicked supportive of the movie (see: earlier posts re: we’re making the movie) they simply weren’t ready for you guys. When I whinged on about pushing the date and everyone here was posting about “what do we do till September”, they agreed to let me sneak it out.
Maybe they thought it was a fluke. Maybe they wanna see if people really do care about the flick. Or maybe they’re just treating us with respect and kindness, though that last option confuses and terrifies me as much as these changes my body is going through (I’m “perspiring” and becoming “interested in girls”, which believe me is very unsettling when you’re 40.) Does it matter? The plan works for me, and it can work for a select bunch of y’all. Here’s what I know:
The cities to be hit are:
Seattle
Austin
Sacramento
Boston
Altanta
Chicago
San Francisco
Las Vegas
Denver
The Portland of Oregon
If you’re in or near one of those, you might wanna stop by. There’s supposed to be a “Can’t Stop the Signal” page on this website (I don’t know where it is — hey, I remembered my damn password, doesn’t that buy me any cred?) There should be more info there soon about how to get in, bringing peeps into the fold, I think there’s even competetions and stuff. (All I know is I have exactly 20 Brownie points. I answered ONE triv Q and got it wrong. Forget cred. I have no cred.) Now a couple of us might just creep into one of those major metropolitan multiplexes to see if anyone does show up, so remember: swearing in Chinese ONLY.
All right. This will please the fans and satisfy the employers of Joss Whedon, so I must stop as my arm-lasers are getting tired. I politely thank you for your attention.
Should be fun.
-j.

In other news…

Continue reading “SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!, Pt. TWO”

Joss, on Browncoats.com:

I’m talkin’ movie news, peeps, so no more drumroll: Trailer. Serenity. Tuesday.
Yeah, kids, the haps is hap’nin’, and it runs thus: EXCLUSIVELY on Apple movie trailers (and linked through this site as well of course) will be a small, medium, large or FULLSCREEN trailer for Serenity the major motion movie. Yeah, THE trailer. And the following Friday said trailer hits theaters. Which theaters? Until I get confirmation you’ll have to guess, but I’m betting you can.
Now, here’s a word of warning: this trailer ain’t shy. If you’re looking to live totally spoiler-free, know that there’s plenty of key dialogue and images running through this bad boy. It’s pretty tasty, though, and it doesn’t give everything away. But close scrutiny will definitely learn you much of what’s to come. (Anakin TOTALLY goes evil.) It’s a nice piece to while away the time till September, and hopefully should intrigue th’ peeps that don’t have coats of brown.
The only thing more exciting than y’all finally seeing this was showing it to Nathan. Like a schoolboy giggled he.

Update:
The official Serenity movie trailer is now up at the Apple site, and you can also download the thing direct to your harddrive via the links here.

Firefly Cast Painting by Jason Palmer.
Joss is supposed to have a copy of this hanging in his office. :)

PlanefullofheroineOMGCharlieissoSCREWED!

Joss Whedon has signed to write and direct Wonder Woman.

“Wonder Woman is the most iconic female heroine of our time, but in a way, no one has met her yet,” Whedon said. “What I love most about icons is finding out what’s behind them, exploring the price of their power. When Joel and I began discussing the character, I realized there is a woman behind the legend who is very fascinating, very uncompromising and in her own way almost vulnerable. She’s someone who doesn’t belong in this world, and since everyone I know feels that way about themselves, the character clicked for me.”

It’s a good decade to be a geek.

I have to admit, I’ve been a little lukewarm about the way things have been going on Alias in the new season, and I don’t like the lead-in music alteration as much.
But last night’s episode was great. Just GREAT spy stuff. Seriously. Great.
You could take someone who’s never seen the show… or someone who’s seen every episode, or someone half-way through the second season (*coffsortium*), and it would perfectly understandable and wouldn’t spoil anything. At all. It’s awesome.
I’ve been saying awesome alot lately. I don’t know why.
Sidenote: It has got to SUCK to be Michael Vartan right now.
I mean… SUUUuuuuuuuuuuccK.