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Apr

12

The Greatest Sci-Fi Movie I’ve Ever Seen

Filed Under Movies | 19 Comments

Joss Whedon created a TV series in 2002 called Firefly which lasted only 14 episodes. In fact, the show was taken off the air before all 14 episodes were shown. Bad ratings. It should have ended there. It would be commercial folly to pursue it further. Ratings had proven that the show didn’t have much of an audience. Joss took it to all kinds of studios and cable stations. Nobody wanted it. Who would want a failed show?

And yet Joss persevered. He wanted to make a big budget movie. How crazy is that? It was impossible. Who would watch it? In the meantime, DVD sales of the compiled 14 episodes shot through the roof. Fans had discovered it and made it an unexpected DVD hit. Firefly finally found it’s audience. And three years later, the Firefly movie, SERENITY finally got made.

And oh my God, it’s probably the best freaking sci fi movie I’ve ever seen. It’s very inspiring, not only the movie itself, but also how it got made.

I had been seeing Firefly on cable, but I only saw the movie last night. It it damned near took my head off. It was incredible. Summer Glau is awesome. Not to mention red hot. From now and ever on, I’m a Joss Whedon fan. Joss seems to be a comic book fan and has created comics not only of his creations (Firefly, Buffy), but I think he’s also writing Astonishing X-men. To have the chance to work with him one day would be fantastic. It’s an impossible dream. But then many years ago it was impossible for me to work on comics and yet I did. Who knows?

Comments

19 Responses to “The Greatest Sci-Fi Movie I’ve Ever Seen”

  1. Josel Nicolas on April 12th, 2008 7:33 pm

    the firefly fever is an awful sickness, sir. My sister’s hubby got us into it when he gave us copies of the actual DVD and I found myself loving it and (gah) hating it. Its so good that its burning me inside that it never got a 2nd season. I nearly cried when I wathched the movie, and crap, I still am waiting for them to revive it.

    Get the original DVDS, listen to the commentaries and get attached at the hip to whedon’s unfinished dream.

  2. Reno on April 12th, 2008 10:15 pm

    Haven’t gotten around to watching it, either the TV show or the movie. Although I do have the DVDs, though.

    I don’t see Summer Glau’s “hotness.” Althoguh she plays stoic very well. :)

  3. Rod Samonte on April 13th, 2008 10:10 am

    Gerry,
    The greatest this and the greatest that is of course very subjective to each individual. A friend of mine swears the greatest science-fiction movie he ever saw is Solaris, the 1972 Russian version directed by Andrei Tartovsky, not the recent George Clooney remake. Well, I tried to watch it twice and it was ploddingly long and boring to me, and to this day I’ve never finished it. Citizen Kane is always at the top of everyone’s list of the greatest movies ever made. I’ve actually tried to watch it more than once, but somehow I can’t ever finish it. With this background in mind, I hope you won’t be offended if I say I actually saw Serenity, two, maybe three months ago and for some reason (I was watching it late at night) I fell asleep. I returned the movie (borrowed from the library) and didn’t finish it. Well, I’m going to give it another chance, now that I’ve heard such good words about it from you. I’ll borrow it again, and this time watch it more attentively.
    And I agree with Reno, didn’t see Summer Glau as that “hot.” I’ll take Ali Larter over all comers, anytime, hehehe.
    Rod

  4. adam! on April 13th, 2008 10:16 am

    ayuz, ano? o ika nga ni Callie, Shiny.

  5. eman paelmo on April 13th, 2008 11:55 am

    Baih na! Di ko pa rin napapanood yang dyaskeng SERENITY na ya-an! I was going through my CDs, 700Mb data files ng movies in DivX and avi format, wala talaga. Seen some Firefly episodes and I liked it instantly. 14 episodes la-ang pala yun? E bakit yung Andromeda got through several season’s , when after the first it just dwindled into Star Trek storytelling?

    Sayang.

    He also did Angel di baga? Crossovers and spin offs, may familiarity na ang mga story ni Whedon. At medyo close sa ating timeline, if not dimension, or parallel universe or however people want to put it, kaya siguro ako ngayon hell bent on finishing my own story.

    I’m guessing pero yung humor ng mga previous shows ni Whedon nandito rin sa Serenity?

  6. Ferres on April 13th, 2008 12:17 pm

    Summer Glau is a kind of person that grows on you. At first glance she looks like a younger version of Sigourney Weaver. :)

  7. jeff huet on April 13th, 2008 3:12 pm

    It was I think 2 years ago that I had the chance of watching FIREFLY on DVD. First Carlo(Pagulayan)was really pushing me to watch the DVD. I got a glance of it while everyone was watching it in the studio(GHG)in cubao and said “What the? A western Sci-fi?!” and lost interest from 5 min of watching it.

    We we’re already doing some pages of PLANET HULK that I got bored of the everyday routine(you know what I’m talking about)and decided to borrow the DVD from Carlo and guess what? I didn’t stop watching it till I’ve finished the whole set…all 14 episodes in one sitting…God!!! My wife was furious and looking at me just watching the whole thing like I was the only in the house and hadn’t finished any work that day.

    After finishing the set set I got word from Carlo that SERENITY is already out for quite a while and quickly got hold of a copy…never finished any work again…hahaha:D

    Right now I’m addicted to BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and AVATAR the last air bender(I greatly recommend this two hehe:))

  8. Caloy on April 13th, 2008 3:13 pm

    Loved the characters, kaya ang lungkot ko after the movie

    Gerry, Have you seen Battlestar Galactica?

  9. Gerry Alanguilan on April 13th, 2008 4:56 pm

    Ferres, I agree! The first time I saw Summer Glau, she didn’t even register. But I kept seeing her in The Unit, Cold Case, Terminator and Firefly and she was getting prettier the more I see her. Astig pa sya sa mga roles nya. She was incredible in Serenity.

    Caloy! Jeff! Uy!! Napadalaw kayo! OO nga, shocked ako sa ending ng movie. After seeing the TV series and movie, and realizing what a great show it is, it’s really heartbreaking how much it has gone so unappreciated.

    Battlestar Galactica… isa pa yan. Maraming nangungulit sa aking manood nyan. Buti na lang available sya sa Region 3 at bagsak presyo DVD. Bibili ako nyan balang araw.

    Eman, welcome! Yes, the writing in Serentiy is infused with comedy, pero tamang tama lang. Ang galing ng writing. Matalino, witty, and sometimes unexpected.

  10. Gerry Alanguilan on April 13th, 2008 5:01 pm

    Rod, I wasn’t able to see the original version of Solaris, but I did see the George Clooney version and I thought it was really good. It was slow, but I guess it’s part of it. James Cameron co-wrote it I think, and I’ve never known him to write anything boring.

    The first time I saw Citizen Kane, I was scratching my head. It was a terrific movie, but looking at it with modern eyes, having seen hundreds of movies that undoubtedly have been influenced by Citizen Kane, it didn’t feel like the greatest I’ve ever seen. But I loved it.

    As to the greatest movie I’ve ever seen… it would probably be the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

  11. Caloy on April 13th, 2008 5:49 pm

    You’ll love BSG, I’ll be buying the collected after this season (last na itong 4th)

    And then pipilitin ko sina kuya na manood. naalala ko nung sinasabi ko kay kuya yung Firefly… di daw nya trip. Pero nung napanood ang first 2 eps, wala na…. 2 araw tapos kasi “hindi daw maganda” LOL

  12. auggie on April 14th, 2008 12:28 am

    Rod/Gerry,

    I have seen SOLARIS, pero wala, nainis lang ako, pangit para sa akin. Mas maganda pa di hamak yung SUNSHINE ni Danny Boyle. Ganoon din sa CITIZEN KANE, inantok ako. Napanood niyo ba yung WESTWORLD, yung robot gunslinger si Yul Brynner sa isang theme park ?

  13. Jon on April 14th, 2008 12:22 pm

    I think this is also shown on C/S. Only caught one episode of it during the last holiday.

  14. Leinil on April 14th, 2008 2:44 pm

    Cool! Check the credits, I’m in there! cool! hehehe…

  15. Gerry Alanguilan on April 14th, 2008 2:46 pm

    Nil! Ang alam ko nga may mga ginawa ka doon e. Mga concept art ba ng mga ship? Parang nakita kong ginagawa mo noon.

  16. Studio Boom on April 14th, 2008 5:01 pm

    Summer Glau borders between the dangerously-underage-minor-looks and the young-sizzling-hot-waif-break-you-in-two. Just watched Serenity and I like it. Witty banter, cool characterizations, nice combat choreography and great effects.

  17. Budjette on April 15th, 2008 12:59 am

    I only got to watch SERENITY and liked it. My friend told me I’d like it more if I watched FIREFLY first.

    :)

  18. gilbert monsanto on April 15th, 2008 9:17 am

    Makahanap nga ng firefly, SERENITY lang din ang napanood ko eh :)

    Kung gusto mo makatulog, SOLARIS nga ang dapat sa iyo hehe. May humming sound iyon para sa akin, feeling ko nanood ako ng… aircon hehe.

  19. Godly Man on April 16th, 2008 1:10 pm

    Gerry,

    It’s funny that I come across your site and your mention the Sci-Fi series Firefly and the movie Serenity. My wife and I saw that a couple of years ago, and you’re right it is a really good movie which we both enjoyed. Hard to do!

    I will be coming back to take a closer look at your site. Keep up the good work.

    Patrick