Serenity is the New Star Wars

Yesterday morning I read this quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon about his movie directing debut, Serenity:

“I worked for a long time to come up with something epic enough to be a Universal movie and not just a glorified episode of Firefly. I wanted to make a movie that made me feel or made people feel the way I felt the first time I saw the first Star Wars.”

Yesterday evening I went to a pre-screening of Serenity, and I’ll just say that as dangerous as it may be to compare a movie to the original Star Wars, in this case it’s not a bad idea.

Go. See. Serenity.

It opens Friday.

(For those really geeking out, I’d also recommend the Time interview with Whedon and the Amazon Whedon sale [Oops, guess it was yesterday only]. Just for kicks, yesterday and today Firefly was among the top 10 selling DVDs on Amazon.)

Update: I’m feeling like I should really qualify and explain the comparison to Star Wars, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say the greatest similarity is in the movie-going experience. Once more people have seen Serenity we can get into the details.

6 thoughts on “Serenity is the New Star Wars”

  1. Hey Kevin,

    Planning to pick up Firefly but haven’t yet. Would you recommend watching the show before seeing the movie?

  2. Seeing Firefly will certainly help, but it’s not required. I think seeing Firefly will make you that much more invested in the characters and story, which can make for a heightened movie experience, but it’s not a must. The guy I went to the screening with knew nothing about Firefly and actually didn’t like Buffy the Vampire Slayer at all–he had the same reaction I did. He was totally amazed and loved it.

    Either way, I think you’ll end up seeing Firefly eventually. The downside of seeing the movie first is that the canceled TV show might be a let down. The movie is just on a different level. The stakes are higher.

    Of course watching all of Firefly before Friday is a tall order. And I do think you should go see Serenity on Friday. And maybe again on Saturday. ;-)

  3. I’m finishing the last disc of Firefly this week. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect! I’m totally stoked.

    Dude, who do you know to get into a pre-screening? (Well, everybody, I guess.) Lucky! :-)

  4. I wish I could see it this weekend, but Jess and I have to figure out a weekend get together so we can watch it at the same time. Wish it could be this weekend, but not so.

  5. I think Jess needs to change her name. When I read Neal’s comment I thought it said “Jesus and I have to figure out a weekend get together.” Apparently Neal’s got better hook-ups than Kevin.

  6. Orson Scott Card on Serenity

    It’s been a commonplace in reviews of Joss Whedon’s Serenity to compare him to George Lucas. The author of Ender’s Game tells us that the rightful comparison is actually William Shakespeare. It’s a bit much for me, but I do…

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