I’m a big Firefly fan myself as you might or might not know, so I’ve had a big interest in this fan project. They have some of the Big Damn Heros giving interviews, namely Mal, Kaylee, Wash, Inara, Book, Joss Whedon and Tim Minear, and others. Adam Baldwin (Jayne) acts as the host.

Well, it turns out to be from the fans – for the fans and about the fans. They explain how it all started, ended and started again, but most of the time they talk about the passionate fanbase trying to safe their beloved show. From that perspective, it differs from the usual Hollywood marketing making-ofs one is so used to see. Firefly fans have always been very emotional about their show and they like to express it. Be it on Podcasts (The Signal, FireflyTalk) or in this film, they very often show their passion and love for what they do. For my liking, that makes the documentary a little cheesy and feel a bit long…ish. The fan-performed songs make up for it a bit, Morena looks hot as usual, Nathan … is Nathan.

However the quality of picture, sound and editing can easily keep up with professional productions, and something like that costs solid bucks. They are giving away the torrent for free under the Creative Commons License, as people would copy it anyway. I think it’s a smart move. There’s still enough extra material on the DVD – and probably no watermark – to make it a worthy purchase for the die-hard fans, especially with all the extra music tracks.

I think it’s worth watching as you can do so for free, even when it gets a bit dull and repetitive towards the middle. From fans, for fans, about fans.

First of all, I expect you to have seen either the series or the movie. If you haven’t, hell, go and rent or buy the DVD! You’ve missed a phenomenon! But first things first. On some message board (I think it was at IMDB) I read that if Firefly was like Star Trek, Serenity was like Star Wars. That’s so true.

Serenity is a mainstream compatible sci-fi action movie. It has space battles, guys with guns, a horrible threat, the evil character and the good guys on their ship. For the average sci-fi flick, Serenity is a good, solid movie – entertaining and worth watching, popcorn cinema. Firefly is about nine characters with their very own personality, intentions and secrets. Firefly has action, too, but it helps to transport the story and develop the characters. It’s not there for the sake of itself. Firefly is experimental in many facettes. Serenity, well, Serenity isn’t.

There are the obvious differences between the show and the movie, and the more subtle ones. Obvious: In Serenity, the characters are not the same as in Firefly. Mal threatens to shoot his crew if they don’t follow him, he would have never done that in the show – it seems as if Joss Whedon (the writer and director) finally could make Mal be the person he wanted him to be from the start. As he states in the audio commentary on the show, he always intended Mal to be harder, darker and more cynical. The whole movie is a lot darker and more depressive than the show ever was. Two of the main characters die. At first it reminded me of the terrible “Now we kill Trip Tucker for no good reason so the show can never return. In your face, fans!” that we got in the very last episode of Enterprise, but it’s not the same here: The deaths build up tension and horror and served a certain dramatical purpose.

What I missed the most though was character development. In Firefly, characters evolved along the ongoing story line, they changed the way they communicate as they got to know each other better. They adapted to new situations, and always logical. In the movie, there’s no room for this. The characters start out well established and never change. There are clever and funny dialogues, like you would expect from Firefly, but unlike in the show they only serve as fillers. One hour of Firefly would show more about the nine personalities that made the crew so special than the two hours of the movie.

Mr. Universe … he so reminded me of the geeky Lara Croft sidekick in Tomb Raider – and that’s not really a good sign. The oh-so-evil villain changes his mind all of a sudden at the end of the movie. River’s powers can be switched on and off using secret phrases. The world is a lot more sci-fi and less western or culture mix. The special effects budget was really well spent, it beats the show in nearly every occasion. The sets are still great, while at the same time to make the movie darker, colours were changed and the ship looks a lot cooler, and less homely than in Firefly.

And then there’s one last thing: Reavers. In the show, Reavers were feared beyond everything else. Basically, they were the only thing the crew would ever worry about. Yet we never got to see them. Their ships looked horrible when they flew by, everybody holding their breath. They were horrid mysteries, phantom-like. They seemed really scary. In Serenity, we see them raid a town right at the start of the movie. They look scary alright, but they are clearly human. And they can be shot like you and me. Actually seeing them right away takes away a lot of the suspense and subconscious horror “Reavers” meant on Firefly.

I understand why Serenity had to be a meinstream product, rather than the experimental yet shiny tv show. In theatres, only numbers count. Studios don’t like risks. Oh wait, wasn’t that the same reason they cancelled Firefly for? Serenity still is a good action movie – better than some other sci-fi films in the last years. However, if you end up in the DVD store of your choice with Serenity in one hand and the Firefly box in the other, spend the extra ten bucks and get Firefly. It’s got more heart in it.