Serenity Chronicles I: Firefly

My first introduction to Firefly was the movie Serenity, yeah weird place to jump into a series. I watched it I thought it way okay, I loved River's fight scenes but I didn't really have any emotional investement in the characters. A year later I watched firefly and I liked it, some episodes were a little boring, but when it was good, it was REALLY good. I'd bought the series and watched it once and followed up on Serenity again (which was so much better second time around.) I was hoping to return to the series again at some point, that never happened.

So when MusicEd209 announced he had made this fanedit, I jumped at the opportunity to come aboard the ship Serenity for adventures and High Jinx with Captain Mal once more.

As per usual I don't want to talk about the technical side too much, i've never made an edit,I don't know what the process entails, i'm sure I have a good idea. But The footage is a little jarring in places, I'm not so bothered about the quality of deleted scenes, that is an always will be an issue where you only have one viable option, to include or not include... he made the right choice to include those scenes.

The age old problem of TV credits though, I wish there was a simpler way of avoidiing this, would I be just as jarred by a blurred watermark, or a big black censorship? I think yes. I suppose it depends on the placement of said credits, could we zoom in and lose even more of the sides... anyway long story short I don't think there is a really viable workaround that wouldn't draw attention. And thankfully it's not a very regular occurance.

Okay story, this is where the edit gets top marks, it is perfect and superflous, characters are introduced, we get their intro arcs, it all makes sense, I absolutely loved how it all came together in chronological order using the flashbacks and then the dealing with the mole and the way we get a glimpse of where things are going with Serenity Chronicles II and that's before we even get to the teaser at the end.

Well done sir, I look forward to the next in the series.

As a Johnny-come-lately to the TV series, this is a great companion piece. I've been binge viewing Firefly on FireTv and am wondering how it was that I eschewed this fine show when it first aired in 2002-3. A word about how I watched this Fanedit. I didn't make a DVD, instead I converted it to an .m4v at the native 720p resolution using iFlicks2. So consider that when evaluating my ratings.

As someone with little foundation in the entirety of the 11 episodes and the movie, I found some of the jump cuts a little jarring. The one early on that introduces us to Jayne's character in particular had me rewinding to make sure I didn't have a glitch in my transfer. I also became too much aware of the variation of the source material's visual quality (not the fault of the faneditor) which temporarily took me out of the scene until I recovered and got back into the story. On a big plasma display the slightly grainy elongated SD clips really stood out. The variation in sound level had a similar effect upon occasion.

Where this fanedit really shines is in the narrative. As a newbie, the characters and the sequencing made perfect sense to me. It will be interesting to see how my perception is affected by watching the rest of the TV episodes. The quality of the visual and sound editing, the pace, the story development, all of those were big plusses and made the fanedit really feel like a theatrical release. I loved the "coming attractions" clip at the end; nice way to whet the appetite for your next installment.

From the quality of the work it is apparent that lots of love went into this project. Can't wait for SCII!

As you can tell by my numerical score, I loved this. But since there is so little wrong, I will start with the small things I didn't love, starting with: The aftermath of the Serenity battle. It was the only cut in the whole thing that felt off to me. It's a shame to have to switch to lesser footage so early in the edit--before the new credits--but I liked the way you structured the whole story, so that's where the deleted scene needed to go. The whole movie is so good, it is easy to forget it and move forward. The first scene with Inara and her young client seemed a little bit choppy. I wasn't bothered by it, but I did notice it. (Thank you for keeping as much of Morena Baccarin bathing as you did! Any inclusion of semi-nude Inara scenes is mightily welcome!) The only other issue I had was that I thought the new music was a little louder than the dialogue sometimes. This only affected the couple of re-inserted scenes.
I couldn't detect a single commercial fade. I loved the TV show, but the way you introduced the characters in this, I am sure I could have come at this with no prior knowledge of the show still gotten totally on board. Your previews for the next one look great! I am in agreement with BionicBob that I cannot wait for the next one either! I am tempted to go rewatch the whole series now, as this edit reminded me of what a fantastic show this was, and how fully realized the characters and universe of Firefly were/are. This is probably my fav tv-to-movie edit I've seen.
Highly recommended.

SHINY!!!!

A wonderful, magical and emotional fan edit that will bring joy to long time Browncoats and entertain those who are unfamiliar with Joss Whedon's space western.

This edit is pretty darn close to perfect in my book. Technically, it is flawless both in terms of cutting and audio work. I say close but not perfect only because Ed had to use some lower video quality deleted scenes and also had to zoom-in/crop out the opening credits. Otherwise, I could find no fault to this edit.

In regards to the deleted scenes, yes they are of obvious lower video quality, but they are so character driven and well acted, that as a viewer I did not find them a distraction in the slightest. Further, Ed has added some incredibly emotional, heart-tugging new music to these scenes, so they pack a powerful punch. Well done Ed!!!

The new opening act and the introduction of the crew from the episode Out of Gas, is brilliantly weaved into the fabric of the story. It moves smoothly and organically. Again, some amazing editing done in this sequence.

Commercial breaks are perfectly eliminated. And the new closing, again with added music, is pitch perfect, leaving viewers both satisfied and wanting more.

Ed has created new closing titles, and as one who has done credits on few edits now, I can attest how mundane and challenging it can be, so great work there too.

And the post-credits trailer -- goosebumps!!!! Part two can not come fast enough!!!

I really enjoyed the dvd menu design. Again -- the MUSIC! So haunting and beautiful.

This edit has magnificently captured the wonder and spirit of the Firefly Universe and is Must-See viewing imo.

Thank You Ed for such a wonderfully executed and entertaining fan edit. BRAVO!

THUMBS WAY, WAY, WAY UP!

I'm going to recommend this edit as a great way for fans to rewatch the series Firefly. So thanks for that, MusicEd921. On the other hand, for anyone who hasn't seen the series, I think actually watching those episodes will be superior, and there's a couple reasons why.

Firstly, I have to say that it's not apparent that this was intended to have commercial breaks and credits. The editor pieces it together to feel like a movie, a TV pilot movie, but a movie nonetheless. There are a couple subtle audio hiccups, but for the most part the editing is all top notch. Where I got a little hung up is on the placement of scenes in the beginning third of the film. It's a weird start, honestly. We're in a big battle that's filmed on a TV budget, and we have no attachment to any of the characters or reason to care about what's happening. These scenes work great as they were intended: flashbacks to reveal more character. They're also great when in contrast to the slow West feel that's established for much of the later series. When we suddenly cut from that to a full-on space battle, it's exciting. However here, it just looks like a cheap deleted scene, and then doesn't jibe with the later tone of the film. Similarly, playing the flashbacks of the crew getting together in chronological order actually doesn't work very well. The jokes of the scenes fall flat because we don't know what the personalities and relationships of those characters are until later.

I know it's more complicated to find artful places to insert flashbacks, but I think it would greatly improve the narrative flow for a first-time viewer. It would also allow the editor to play around with filters for these scenes, which could cover for the loss in visual quality in the deleted scenes. And there are some great places where they could be inserted, for example inserting the battle of Serenity into the other deleted scene where Zoe interrupts Simon to tell him ABOUT that very battle. If we're going to be retelling Firefly, why not get creative with it and play with the presentation a bit more? Some of the Western music could even be exchanged for more sci-fi music (like from the film) in the space scenes, a montage title sequence could be created, etc.

As is, this is a fun alternate viewing of the TV show. The deleted scenes are appreciated, and it's an enjoyable trip down memory lane. I'll probably still go back to my episodes next rewatch though, and that's what I'd show to a new viewer. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for the next installment.