Nice post, Marvin! BUT, I do have to say that I am a Firefly fan. I thought the "western in space" concept was an excellent/new/quirky idea, and well excecuted. The movie was a perfect end to the series... and I also liked the FX... it's just the physics that stand out.

To enjoy sci-fi I really just have to go into the theatre with a low expectation of the science, and just enjoy the fiction. I've actually found there are two kinds of physicists (my major by the way)... the ones who like Star Trek and the ones who don't. The ones who do basically just take the attitude I just described above, and the ones who don't just cant get over what they know to be true.

Keith,

"Thumbs down from the guy who reviews the movie based upon seeing the trailer."

I gave a one sentence opinion of the material in the trailer based on the material in the trailer. The reference to not having seen the film is indicative that the opinion, which was not even a recommendation of any sort, cannot be generalised to the full movie. If you are under the impression the opinion was meant to cover the movie I said I had not seen, then I suggest the mistake is yours.


Thanks Justin,

I don't have a problem with Firefly in the same way I do with John Doh, or Trek, but what I've seen of Whedons work suggests to me his writing is not suited to the space western genre. Its all very well setting up a battle in terms of good and evil between a slayer and vampires coming up from hell, but the same good vs evil stances fall flat for me for cattle rustlers. He seems to have a George W Bush understanding of right and wrong.

Western in space does not strike me as new and original. My recollection is this was the original premise for Star Wars, and off the top of my head I can think of WestWorld, the Oblivion films and a highly cliched western using only robots called Omega Doom. I liked the Oblivion films, Full moon productions so I barely need to say more, enough to buy a copy and they get away with rather cliched campy fun for me because they simply don't try and explain any science. Most of my objections to bad science is when it is described in great detail to explain away a part of the plot that makes no sense.

Firefly's captain seems to me to be a carbon copy of the character setup for Han Solo. The ship, small fast, designed to zip into trouble and then run away, favored by smugglers, seems to be a cosmetic overhaul of the millennium falcon. I'm pretty much ambivalent to the premise of firefly and the episodes of the series I've seen have failed to set anything on fire for me. Maybe its just because I'm a Brit and I don't 'get' westerns.

Something to try on your Trek physicist friends, hand them a photomultiplier and see if they know what it is or what it does. Physically hand them one don't just ask them. One of the basic building blocks for experimental physics for the past 50 years or more and of the 9 physics graduates I knew only 1 recognised one when handed it. The best from the other eight was one who said 'some sort of valve'. I'm thinking speculations by a trekkie might be worth a listen :) It's also been a major part of movie projectors (the sound pickup) and TV tube camera technology for 70 years or so.

I feel bound to say something relevant to the thread, so since I apparently haven't said it yet, my worst effect is from 'Catwoman', the director is a former CGI supervisor, and the CGI through the whole movie is dire and used constantly, particularly the sequences climbing up walls and buildings. Pitoful.

I love Firefly I would consider myself a Browncoat for sure (fans will know what I'm talking about and If you're not a fan rent the DVD's and watch them in order) but I found the movie a little too "epic" compared to the show more about a grand quest then about the characters.....but anyway some bad FX I have to mention is on my favourite show 24 in Season 4 when Jack finally has the big bad terrorist cornered and hanging from a building the terrorist falls........oh boy it may as well have been a photoshop image of him that they moved down the frame at a way too slow speed.

"We've done the impossible, and that makes us" .... liars.

Sorry, couldn't resist :)

"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal." ;)