DVD Review: Serenity

It's all Julie D.'s (Happy Catholic) fault. She started talking about this odd series, Firefly, that had been on Fox, who showed the episodes out of order and then canceled it because of low ratings. SciFi Channel--home to many of my favorite TV series, like the new Battlestar Galactica--had bought the series and was going to show them all, in order.

Hubs and I were hooked. Okay, so it doesn't take much to hook us: character, setting, plot, well-written scripts acted by a talented cast.

Then we saw the movie, Serenity. Which I added to my Christmas list. And got.

We watched it as a family the other night. The kids haven't watched the series and only DS#2 saw any of the movie (he came in for the last 10 minutes to find us). Serenity is one of those movies that bears watching again and again because you miss so much the first time. The kids enjoyed the movie as a whole. DS#2 thought the ending made more sense now that he saw the beginning. But we don't buy the DVD for just the movie. We buy it for the Extras.

If you're new to the Firefly/Serenity universe, watch Joss Whedon's introduction first. The movie will make much more sense in context.

After the movie, watch the Deleted Scenes. As DD#1 pointed out, most of these were concerned with character development rather than story advancement. And in this 'verse, the characters are at least as important as the story! The Bloopers were okay, except there was much adult (i.e., foul) language that was not bleeped out. The story behind how Serenity rose from the ashes of Firefly was interesting and attests to the power of fans who wanted more and a producer/director who just couldn't give this universe up.

DD#1 felt she would have enjoyed the movie more if she had followed the series and knew the relationships of the characters. Certainly, Hubs and I laughed in places that the kids (and others in the theater) didn't because we knew more of the backstory.

Still, the kids enjoyed it and this is one we'll probably return to because it gets better with the retelling.

Besides, Hubs birthday is coming up and what could be better than a boxed set of Firefly: The Series?

On the March Hare scale: 5 discs out of 5