Me at the Serenity
premiere in front
of Nathan Fillion!
Just how good is Joss Whedon’s first feature, Serenity? It’s an absolute stormer of a film! A science fiction adventure, Serenity cleverly balances action, adventure, hugely likeable characters and witty Whedon dialog. It’s a blockbuster, but with a finely crafted script and a smart and caring attention to character - it’s a blockbuster that’s ok to like. As with Star Wars, you needn’t be a geek, or a Whedon devotee to enjoy the ride.
Serenity rose from the ashes of Whedon’s TV series Firefly, which was cancelled after it’s first season. A Sci-fi and Western hybrid, it’s characters are a ragged crew of anti-authoritarian outcasts, traveling through space making shady deals and scrabbling for cash.
The ruling power is the Alliance, similar to Trek’s Federation but with more sinister intentions toward controling the behaviour and beliefs of some of the wilder outposts of humanity.
The crew of the ship Serenity (a Firefly class ship) is led by Captain Mal Reynolds, a tough but mostly fair man, played excellently by Nathan Fillion. He is accompanied by warrior woman Zoe, her husband the pilot Wash, a super-macho hick called Jayne, wacky engineer woman Kaylee and siblings-on-the-run Simon and (prescient but barking mad) River.
The story continues threads from the series, the origin of the evil Reavers (think zombies from the re-make of Dawn of the Dead) and River’s mysterious background as some kind of psychic weapon for the Alliance. I had watched the Firefly pilot but not the series and can reassure you that you won’t miss out if this is your first encounter with the Serenity world. An introduction is woven into the opening of the movie, and from that the story flows easily.
Nathan in sit-com mode
Fillion, a Canadian new-comer can be recognised from the last season of Buffy as the psychopathic priest Caleb. Before that he also starred in a less than memorable TV series from 1998, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place.
The premiere was held at the generic but spacious Pathe de Munt, and a token red carpet (a little like an offcut from the factory) was bordered by a modest but enthusiastic gathering of fans. My Dutch host, Miss M, reliably informed me that in attendance were numerous forgettable Dutch soap stars and also “the most famous Dutch plastic surgeon” with his female guest (great nose, wrinkle-free face).
Nathan Fillion appeared looking tall and bookishly attractive in glasses. A poor choice of clothes masked what, I am sure, is a finely proportioned figure, although in his oversized baggies, he looked a little “lazy Sunday” for my likings. Although blinded by the flashes of the cameras, he stopped to scrawl his signature on proffered boxsets.
Summer Glau was disappointingly cute with fashion catalog stylings, far from the bedraggled, spooky teen in the film.
Summer and Nathan gave a quick interview with Fantastic Film Festival’s director Jan Doense, which can be seen as an AVI file here.
After the event, Nathan also took time to write a note to the Browncoats, the fan community for Firefly/Serenity. What a great guy!
Go see the movie, the UK release date is 7th October 2005. See the Serenity trailer from Apple. Box office takings may well decide if we’ll see a sequel or another season of episodes.