Joss Whedon could definitely teach George Lucas a thing or two! There’s a space battle during Serenity that was considerably shorter than the one at the beginning of Episode 3 and also very obviously done on a budget. And yet it was far more exciting than anything that appeared in that movie. Now I might be biased, being the Whedonite that I am, but meh, so what.

Thanks to Dan’s advice, I watched the short lived and ill fated first series of Firefly and loved it. I was absolutely gutted that the show ended, especially when there was so much more to learn about the characters. I finally managed to go to the flicks to see Serenity, a movie spin-off from the show and hopefully the first of several. To a certain extent, it isn’t much more than a two hour long episode of the TV series albeit with a bigger budget, better production design and they’ve obviously upgraded their special effects computer too. There’s nothing wrong with this because, well, it’s Joss Whedon and there were many Whedon scripted episodes of Buffy, Angel and Firefly that were far better than most movies. In fact, it’s quite simple to say that, if you loved the series, you’ll pretty much love the film.

If you’ve never seen the series (and chances are quite high as it’s never been broadcast on terrestial TV) then you may well love it too. The story is strong and well acted and the direction is straightforward and solid. There were a couple of editing decisions that I found a little jarring and I felt that the use of trademark “shakycam” that featured so much in the TV series, while part of the Firefly feel, had no place in this film apart from a nod to it’s small screen origins. Fortunately there wasn’t too much of it. Aside from this, the only criticism I’ve got is that, while an ensemble cast works well in a long running TV series, there were too many characters in Firefly for a movie. While it was nice to see them all back, some don’t get much screen time and don’t really get a whole lot to do and quite frankly, the film wouldn’t have suffered without them being there. A prime example was Inara. Sure she’s easy on the eye and in the series is a perfect foil for Mal, Serenity’s captain. But in the movie she really has sweet F.A. to do. For this reason alone, it’s probably worth watching the series before you go and see the film because then you’ll understand much more about the unspoken dynamic that goes on between the characters. Still, even without this background, it’s transparently clear what the situation is and the exposition of any back history doesn’t need to be spelt out in 10 foot high letters.

I’ve got all this way and haven’t really told you what the movie is about. Dan put it very succinctly: Serenity is the Millenium Falcon and Mal Reynolds is Han Solo. It’s Joss Whedon doing a western in space and, along the way, wanting to give us the background to Han Solo without actually being able to use that name. Serenity is a cargo ship and Mal’s crew are a misfit bunch of outer space cowboys, doing any job that comes their way, legal or not. One of their crew, River Tam, is a 17 year old girl who has been operated on by the Alliance, the proto-fasicist regime in power, and has developed psychic abilities and other, well, more physical abilities. She’s on the run and the government wants her back. All very simple and straightforward. However, this is Joss Whedon we’re talking about and you’ve got to remember that nothing with Joss Whedon is ever straight forward. The moment a script seems to be about to descend into cliche, Whedon normally pulls the rug out from under your feet. Nothing is ever going to go quite as you expect it. This alone makes it worthwhile viewing. And even if it is going as you expect it, you know there’s going to be some cracking - and quotable - dialogue too.

Final verdict: after this maiden voyage, let’s hope Serenity flies again.