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The io9 March Movie Madness Poll...

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I generally don't get all excited by these internet polls, but I don't understand how this is so close.

I, personally, have never seen Serenity, but I hear it's good, and I'm sure it is... but there's literally no way that it's better than Empire. No way. How can Serenity have almost half the vote in this?!

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Firefly/Serenity have a certain fanbase which is very active in the blog community.  The Serenity movie provides a logical conclusion to one of the major situations of the Firefly show.  (which is being reaired on the Science Channel currently)  Whedon in general is a thing io9 bloggers really dig.  Plus io9 has a lean towards harder sci-fi which partly explains why a fantasy leaning movie can be on equal voting with a show which pays tribute to many of the Star Wars movies attributes.  The debate that Malcolm Reynolds is more or less Han Solo and Firefly = a Han Solo tv show also shows that when they vote for Serenity they are voting for much of what appeals about the OT, but because of the Lucas factor, the vote pushes over to Whedon's show.

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And Whedon is pure genius. I always like to think what the PT could have been, if Lucas let him write the screenplays and/or direct.

But writing a good screenplay doesn't mean it will be a good movie: Whedon wrote at least two screenplays, that were totally f*cked up by the director: Buffy - The Vampire Slayer (1992) and Alien - Resurrection.

Okay, I'm getting a little off topic here.

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Oh God. Serenity is up by ~200 votes.

Have these people never seen Empire? I do not understand.

 

Also: I reject all of your explanations. This is a travesty!

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Serenity/Firefly/Whedon is completely awesome in every way.  Better than ESB...?  I would say no simply because of the history of ESB over Serenity, but Serenity rules.

I voted for Empire, but I had to think about it.

 


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I have a really hard time believing that Serenity comes up to the level of brilliant, subtle storytelling that is Empire.

I have a feeling that Serenity is winning because it's newer and a bunch of kids who can't appreciate or understand Empire for the masterpiece it is are voting here. Either that, or Serenity is the unsung Citizen Kane of sci-fi. Which I doubt. I hear Browncoats are a pretty rabid bunch of nuts, though...

Damn show wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Star Wars... ~600 votes now...

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^ I think none cleared up the logic quite soundly, I don't know many "kids" who are Firefly/Serenity fans who wouldn't enjoy Empire just as much if not more. 

But I also think Empire is maybe being elevated a bit high as well in this discussion?  Don't get me wrong it's amazing, but neither ESB nor Serenity are anywhere near Citizen Kane.


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I'm just in disbelief that someone who knows Star Wars could ever consciously choose something else over it.

I didn't really care that much for Citizen Kane, really... but it's a good metaphorical example to use since a lot of people believe it's the best movie of all time.

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Tyrphanax said:

I have a really hard time believing that Serenity comes up to the level of brilliant, subtle storytelling that is Empire.

I have a feeling that Serenity is winning because it's newer and a bunch of kids who can't appreciate or understand Empire for the masterpiece it is are voting here. Either that, or Serenity is the unsung Citizen Kane of sci-fi. Which I doubt. I hear Browncoats are a pretty rabid bunch of nuts, though...

Damn show wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Star Wars... ~600 votes now...

I think you shouldn't make any of the above assumptions without having seen Firefly and Serenity. Actually the tone of your post makes you sound dangerously like a rabid nut yourself. (I keed, I keed) ;-)

I saw Serenity first, years before I watched Firefly, and I thought it was okay, but lacked context. I would compare it to watching Return of the Jedi without having seen Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. But once I'd seend Firefly, and re-watched Serenity in context, I enjoyed it immensely more.

When I finally sat down and watched Firefly, I was blown away by the sheer brilliance and quality of the writing, acting, plotting, and visual effects. It is a funny, poignant series about the struggle of a group of rebels against a monolithic empire. Familiar? Yes. Was it familiar when Lucas first did it in 1977? Yes. That story wasn't new when Lucas wrote it. Would Firefly exist without Star Wars? Probably not. But neither story would exist without the vast collective storehouse of myths that underpin all stories of good vs. evil. They both tell a timeless story in a uniquely timeless way. I can safely say that Firefly belongs in the top 5 science fiction series ever produced for television, right alongside Star Trek and The Twilight Zone.

I do not think that Serenity is a better film than The Empire Strikes Back. But I love Firefly/Serenity, and I'm glad to see its legacy grow.

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Very well put *8, and yeah, it's nice to see something like Firefly bloom into a huge fandom, especially since it was treated so horribly during its original run.  It's probably a good thing you saw the episodes in the correct order on DVD, and not how FOX showed them.  And I think of the movie as a "what could have been" epilogue of the series, but even in it's own right it's awesome.

I'm glad the polling is close, it speaks to the strengths of both films and both fanbases


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It's a sad story, how Fox screwed the Firefly pooch. Airing it out of order, forcing Whedon to change the tone after previewing the pilot, commissioning a new pilot, and then repeatedly preempting it for sports and holiday programming. They had no idea what they were doing.

I've had the discussion with other fans: would Firefly be as beloved if it had lasted for more than 13 episodes? Is its legacy due in part to its length? It was spared the opportunity to jump the shark and disappoint its fanbase, as many other series have done. I say that situation has had an influence on its perceived "perfection", but that many series have been canceled after one season without gaining such a loyal following afterward. There has to be something more to it than just that. The way I see it, Firefly is a rare series that felt lived-in and fully-realized from its very first episode, and in the short 14 hours of its run it established great and diverse characters who you wanted to know and befriend. I dare anyone to watch Firefly and not want to sail the stars on Serenity, stealing Alliance gold and flirting with gorgeous companions. :-)

 

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asterisk8 said:

It's a sad story, how Fox screwed the Firefly pooch. Airing it out of order, forcing Whedon to change the tone after previewing the pilot, commissioning a new pilot, and then repeatedly preempting it for sports and holiday programming. They had no idea what they were doing.

 

Isn't that pretty much what Fox has done with just about every show the past decade except the Simpsons? ;)

I'm pretty sure one reason King of the Hill had such a long run was that creator Mike Judge has blackmail photos of someone high up at the network. I swear Futurama got preempted for it even.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

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RedFive said:


http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lffslrtAfU1qgwp20o1_500.png


Nathan Fillion loves "Firefly" so much, that he makes as much references as possible to it in his current series "Castle": Click. His "daughter's" response is the best ever: "Didn't you wear that like five years ago? Don't you think you should move on?"

I've read that Fillion said, he would buy the rights to "Firefly" if he had the money, and would make an internet series of it. Most of the cast-members would join him...

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I wish he would get the rights to it, I LOVE this series, I am actually watching them all over right now and then watching the movie for the 100th time afterwords, this is a great show and a great cast.

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dark_jedi said:


I wish he would get the rights to it, I LOVE this series, I am actually watching them all over right now and then watching the movie for the 100th time afterwords, this is a great show and a great cast.
He was joking, which people found out AFTER they started to organize to raise money.

Star Wars Revisited Wordpress

Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress

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I actually just recently blazed through Firefly/Serenity myself just last week. Really really great show, definitely lives up to all the praise it gets.

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^http://www.unstoppablesignals.com/hnbf

Nathan Fillion:

“Yes. Yes. I would examine very closely Fox’s reasoning — I’m a little gun-shy. If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to Firefly, make it on my own, and distribute it on the Internet.”

 

The Plan was well received by most of the Fans and the pledge numbers continued to rise. Then late March 7th, over 100,000 hearts sank with one tweet. Through Joss Whedon’s sister in-law, the Whedon team expressed that they did not support HNBF (later clarified to express uninvolvement).

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Final score...

Serenity: 55.72% (13,242 votes)

Empire: 44.28% (10,522 votes)


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I don't know why this is so shocking. Not everyone thinks SW movies are the greatest films of all time. In fact, some of the people closest to me think they kinda suck. But the fact that ESB made it to the finals is a pretty impressive sign--it won out against Alien, T2, Robocop, The Matrix and 2001. Io9 is a hard-sci-fi site and I'm surprised ESB got so far, because its a fantasy film and not hard science at all. I guess Serenity isn't either, but it definitely is the sort of thing that readers of that site would put in the finals. And, like many others have said, its a terrific film to one of the best sci-fi works of all time, let alone on television.

Personally, I think 2001 should have won. If this was 1990 it would be an outrage that anyone could think otherwise. But the relevance and popularity of older films wane and preferences change as newer films give you more choice and introduce new classics.

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My mind is reeling, still.

*shakes his head sadly*

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zombie84 said:

Personally, I think 2001 should have won.

 

booooorrring. needs more splosions, less cello.