Pious Agnostic

You could start the celebration early by purchasing the movie soundtrack:

Whatever you do, please go see Serenity this weekend.

Update:  Glenn Reynolds has a "Carnival of Serenity Reviews" post here.

Glenn Reynolds says:

AS I MENTIONED LAST NIGHT, I liked the Serenity preview. In fact, I liked it enough that I ordered the Firefly DVD set. I figured that for 29 bucks it had to be worth it.

Go forth and do likewise.

Powerline gets called up to the Big Time!

The movie Serenity is opening nationwide on September 30. The people who are promoting the film thought it would be a good idea to offer private screenings to selected bloggers, just as they do with movie critics for newspapers and magazines. The idea is that we'll watch the movie and review it on this site the following day. So we're going to have a private screening of the film next Wednesday night, September 28....

Good for them, they'll love it.

And so will you, especially if you go to see Serenity the first weekend, so that they'll have a $100M weekend, and then they'll make a dozen sequels, each better than the one before.

This daydream brought to you by years of being disappointed by George Lucas.

In the last month or so I have discovered podcasts, I guess along with many other people who downloaded iTunes 4.9 with Podcast subscription support.

Among the gems I've found The Signal...

...which is all about the science fiction show Firefly. Here you will find features, news, reviews, interview, chat, and anything else we can think of relating to Firefly. If you don't know anything about podcasting, don't worry, you can just download the individual MP3 files and then figure out all the podcasting stuff later. Go ahead and listen to - THE SIGNAL.

In the last three podcasts, they've had interviews with Adam Baldwin, who plays Jayne Cobb on Firefly (Show #4); Gina Torres, who plays Zoë Warren (Show #5); and Ron Glass, who plays Shepherd Meria Book (Show #6).

It's a lovely podcast made by some lovely fans who love Firefly. Each show runs about an hour.

Give it a listen, if you're a fan, or if you want to see what I keep going on about.

Freedom and Firefly

At its best, science fiction advocates liberty. While Star Trek lamentably supported a "Federation knows best" mentality, other works like Star Wars and Robert Heinlein's novels have promoted the dissolution of central rule and the triumph of the individual. For the science fiction writer, space means one thing: freedom. Like the Wild West where men made their own rules and property rights were enforced at the end of a landowner's shotgun, space has afforded the hope that one day man can move beyond the reach of any government's oppressive hand.

No recent T.V. series understands this better than Fox's Firefly, the tragically cancelled masterpiece spawned from the mind of Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. Firefly was critically acclaimed, but sadly mismanaged and was cancelled after only eleven episodes aired in 2002. But thanks to DVD sales, Firefly has maintained a steady popularity. It currently ranks at 49 among DVDs on Amazon.com after seventeen months since its release.

Yay! A Firefly story! Read, read!

With the Serenity movie only about two months away, if you aren't yet familiar with Joss Whedon's Firefly, you should run out right away and buy the complete DVD collection and catch up.

The Firefly - The Complete Series DVD may possibly be the most perfect collection of DVDs ever produced by the hand of man, but even this zenith of the televisual arts has a flaw: it’s distressingly short. There are only 14 episodes in all, which includes the two-hour pilot. This leaves the fan longing for more.

However, this does have one advantage: one can enjoy the entire run in the course of a weekend’s leisurely watching. If you include the special features, but forego rewatching the episodes with their commentary tracks, you can blow through the whole thing in about 16 hours. Include the commentary, and you add about another 7 hours, so you’ve got Labor Day weekend sewn up.

Each show is a joy, and deserves to be watched slavishly and praised excessively. But for those who, due to a lack of time or commitment, are unable to watch all the episodes, I present below my choices for shows that highlight the basic storyline and characters. I won’t say that these are the “best” episodes (though in many ways they are favorites), as the other episodes each are terrific and have much to recommend them; and if you’ve got the time, you will be rewarded by watching the entire series in order.

Firefly For New Fans In A Hurry

1. Serenity – Part 1 & 2 (Pilot) [Disk 1] – Though Fox, with their ham-handed programming, actually showed the pilot last (prior to canceling it), this two-hour movie introduces the characters and the ‘Verse of Firefly.

2. The Train Job [Disk 1] / War Stories [Disk 3] – These two episodes are linked through the recurring character of Adelai Niska, a sadistic crime boss. “Train Job” was the episode first aired by Fox. “War Stories” is pretty tough, but together these two episodes show the characters of Mal, Zoë, and Wash.

3. Shindig [Disk 2] – An absolute hoot of an episode, lots of fun, where Mal and Inara play their dance of love.

4. Our Mrs. Reynolds [Disk 2] / Trash [Disk 3] – Two episodes that feature another character named Saffron, who troubles the crew relentlessly. These are really, really funny.

5. Ariel [Disk 3] – The mystery of the girl River is explored by her brother Simon, as the crew make a play for some big money. This is another tense show that forwards the big plotline.

6. Out of Gas [Disk 3] – This is, perhaps, the most beloved of all the episodes, showing the Serenity crew as a family.

7. Objects in Space [Disk 4] – The final aired episode was one of the best, and left the fans hanging in space.

And, there you have it. If you absolutely have to pick-and-choose what to watch prior to the release of Serenity, and want to get up to speed, these are my picks.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned, last week I went to a sneak preview of Serenity, the Firefly movie. I'm not ready to review it, because frankly I can't say much about it except:

"Wow, what a great movie!"

However, Lynn S links to a good article about it:

The Browncoats Rise Again

Think of it as Star Wars, if Han Solo were the main character, and he still shot Greedo first.

Yeah, and if George Lucas had an ounce or two of writing talent.

Well, I saw the Serenity movie last night in a sneak preview. The theater in Tampa was full of Browncoats, and the movie was TERRIFIC.

I'll write a longer, spoiler-free post about it when I have the chance.

Whedon's 'Serenity' greenlit

Hat tip: Thanks Frank!