Serenity Chronicles III: Revelations

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9.8 (13)
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Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2005
Original Running Time:
119
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
130
Time Added:
11
Brief Synopsis:
This is the most complete version of the film Serenity. All deleted scenes have been added back in and whenever possible, they have been scored with music from the score composed by David Newman.
Intention:
In order to create a more complete ending to the story I was trying to tell in my Serenity Chronicles trilogy I wanted to add back in all of the deleted scenes that could be used. Now you feel more of a finality to Mal and Inara's story and the final exchange between Mal and The Operative brings the story full circle as The Operative now understands how far Mal has come since the ending of the war.
Other Sources:
David Newman's awesome score for the film
Special Thanks:
The magic eyes of BionicBob
Release Information:
DVD
Editing Details:
All "finished" deleted scenes, have been added back in:
Cuts and Additions:
-Extended lilac entrance
-Extended Kaylee and Jayne
-Deleted Inara and Sheydra
-Deleted Operative tracks Mal
-Extended River and Simon/Haven opening
-Deleted escape from companion training house
-Deleted Mal and Inara quiet moment
-Extended Mal and Operative coda

1 small few second trim to the ending so that as Serenity flies off into space nothing breaks off from the ship and we fade to black. The piece breaking off was a joke that I felt ruined the momentum built up by the emotional ending, especially when you accept that this is the finale to the story of the crew.

,,Unable to include Mal and Inara shuttle chase as no chase effects were done and the dialogue could not be put in elsewhere
Cover art by BionicBob (DOWNLOAD HERE) image

[Trailer]

User reviews

13 reviews
 
92%
 
8%
5-7 stars
 
0%
3-5 stars
 
0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.5(13)
Audio Editing
 
9.8(13)
Visual Editing
 
9.8(13)
Narrative
 
9.8(13)
Enjoyment
 
10.0(13)
View all user reviews View most helpful
Overall rating
 
8.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
In this final piece of the cinematic version of Firefly, we're swept away by the arrival of the Operative. Enter, Serenity. But, unlike with Serenity after a viewing of the un-edited series, this time it all comes together smoothly. The first two pieces set the arcs of this edit up *perfectly*, and make it seem like the extra narrative work in the film is a natural byproduct of the story.

The added footage is great, generally adding a lot of depth to a film that clearly got its story edited down to fit in low audience attention spans. These give us a lot more growth between characters, and even one funny action scene that beautifully showcases Mal's approach to problem solving. There was only one edit that I disagree with: the final addition of Mal's line after the Operative leaves was well-cut from the original film because it damages an otherwise incredibly poignant emotional beat with misplaced irreverent humor. We don't enter the truly perfect final scene with quite as much buy-in.

That said, this is a small niggle for an otherwise ideal edit. Very close to being the perfect way to watch Serenity.

From my review of Part I because it's relevant throughout all three edits:
There are definitely places where some audio cuts are noticeable, or where music fades show up over one another. But these are few, and rare enough to not distract from the enjoyment or immersion. I could also see room for improvements through both some more advanced editing and the use of modern technology. AI upscaling of the footage from deleted scenes might yield some interesting results, for instance. But, more reasonably, there could be color grading edits that would help sew some of the scenes together better. This is a comment that I'll repeat for all three releases. However, despite this, I have to say that the overall effect is still excellent, and I wasn't particularly pulled out of the narrative by anything. Then again, I'm a Firefly superfan.

I don't think I'd start someone new to Firefly off with this, because you're going to end up missing a lot of the little moments from sideline episodes, moments that make the series what it is. But, I do think this is absolutely the edit-to-end-all-edits when it comes to *rewatching* Firefly, if you want to watch an arc that lines up **perfectly** with the Serenity film. One of the greatest problems with the film was that it needed to cater to an audience that hadn't seen the show!

Time to pull out my old DVDs and catch the other episodes now, though... or maybe just watch the whole thing again through. :D

User Review

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Yes
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Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This is oddly a different sort of edit to the other two. it is much more just the movie that we know. the deleted scenes are welcomed. the deleted scene of the operative at the end kinda weirded me out. i missed the piece falling off. i think the "what was that?" was the thing that annoyed me. ah well. i was glad to see it and to have the set along with the other two. Really glad that MusicEd made these.

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Digital
J
Top 500 Reviewer 11 reviews
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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
The quality of included scenes is not very good. Nevertheless overall amazing movie with new subtle details!

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Yes
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Digital
F
2 reviews
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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This works as both a great Extended Edition of the movie Serenity, as well as a great finale to part 3 of MusicEd921's "Serenity Chronicles". It is overwhelmingly a good edit, though I haven't decided yet if it replaces the original film for me, for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, a few others have noted the difference in quality of the added scenes, and the editor himself does put a warning of this at the start of the film. Personally, it did bother me the most in Part 3 though. The first 2 parts were sourced from TV, and the resolution of the normal footage was average anyway. However, the footage here from the theatrical film looks great!....and consequently the contrast with the added scenes is that much more noticeable. Also, unlike with the previous 2 parts, several scenes here are "extended", and it actually seemed to me that specific shots of a few seconds each were spliced in with the extant footage. So you're watching high quality video, than suddenly the scene switches to be much rougher looking, then back to high quality, then maybe back again to rougher footage ten seconds later. I found this much more distracting than in parts 1 and 2 when there were simply some rough quality scenes added in whole.

I will say that while all of the "deleted" and "extended" footage is great on its own, there were a few bits that I could see why they were deleted. Sometimes they were just better left out for tonal reasons. While I was very grateful for scenes of Inara's world or other longer ones that were probably cut for time, the bits that were cut for tone should probably have stayed out. The most notable one for me was a big fight between Mal and The Operative which suddenly stops for 10 seconds to trade quips. I mean, they're funny, but it just ruins the momentum of the scene. The result of all this is that this Extended Edition is basically just the maximum length the film can be, without much editing for quality.

Fifteen years has given time to see this film for what it is, a fantastic Star Wars substitute that had a lot of potential. It's given time to let all the superlatives die down and realize that it does have continuity issues (Simon starts off as a super-confident secret agent mastermind?!) and it does fail to pay off many points from the series. It would've been a great start for a film trilogy, but here it's the finale of a TV trilogy. It's a bittersweet experience watching this, because it's so good but also leaves so much undone. It actually doesn't stand on its own very well or wrap things up either. I'd still recommend any sci-fi nerd go out and watch the series, though. If you like it, The Serenity Chronicles are a great way to rewatch and get even more added bits.

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Digital
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(Updated: March 18, 2018)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
The development of the series worked perfectly for this final part. if Joss never had the series and was just doing a movie series it would have been MusicEd921's series.

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Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
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