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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chain Lightning" data-source="post: 2725864" data-attributes="member: 6791">I totally agree John. It is totally a hard concept to sell in a few seconds. As the movie came out, I had not seen a single Firefly episode. I didn't go see Serenity either. Let me tell you want happened with my group of friends and I. A story I'm sure will get a few tomatoes thrown at me from fellow board members.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I wasn't a big fan of Buffy or Angel. I tried, probably watch a good portion of episodes with friends. But I just didn't get into it that much. Didn't think it as bad...but again, I didnt' think it was good enough for me to take time to try and watch it. But there was always this 'Joss is god' thing going on around me with friends -- and others at the local comic book shop . So because of that, I always felt Joss Whedo was over-rated.Now comes Firefly and through word of mouth , I hear its like a western in space. So my first thoughts was of Space 1889 (remember that game anyone) or something like that. But as I saw images of the show thru commercials and magazines it didn't look all that western.  Sure, a few six-shooters and lever actions here and there (mostly only on Mal and Zoe) but other than that....not too much else was "western" feeling to me.  Plus, because of the tv budget ....the show just looked cheap. So I didn't try and tune in and see it.Later, I get advance tickets for a special Sci-fi movie screening. I go to it with a friend , who also has never seen Firefly....and we totally think it'll probably be "The Island" test screening. Lo and behold, it turns out to be Serenity. So we watch it and the same feeling comes up again .... man, this looks cheap .... I mean, doesn't have a bigger budget this time because its a feature? But.....story is good, fairly decent. There are some good moments.  I gave it an average review with a few comments and went on my way. I could definitely tell that I probably would've liked it more if I had watched the Firefly DVD box set first. Y'know...more investment in the cast.  But I didn't......Then the movie comes out wide release...and the trailers are out. I debate on going to see it again, this time paying for it. Y'know see what might've changed betweent the test screening and the final theatrical. But the trailers annoyed me, the whole "....Joss Whedon brings you his vision of the future ...."   ....."blah blah says his vision is like nothing you've ever seen....blah blah"     -- man that turned me off.   I was like "whatever......his vision is thrift store cheap costumes and uninspired art direction "Then just recently -- out of boredom I borrowed my friend's copy of the Firefly DVD box set. And I watch it ........and then I'm like, "hey...this is pretty good....looks like crap still, but the stories are well written".  In the end, ....for me ( I don't know about the rest of America) ..but for me, the thing the killed it was the "look" of the world. Everything looked cheap. I mean.. y'know sci-fi "Soldier", "Cyborg", "Nemesis", "Bablyon 5" , "Andromeda" cheap.  And my friends thought the same. Except they're less forgiving. One friend caught me watching a few episodes as he walked pass my desk. He couldn't help but make fun of the Starship Trooper re-use costumes and the tin-foil covered whore house.   I kept saying, "Yeah yeah...I thought so too, but you really gotta give the story a chance despite that". He was like, "Whatever dude...that looks bad".So in the end, Joss is a good writer .....but his stuff always looks cheap and unimaginative. Its possible many others that the same maybe.  I mean, you look at Doom or Resident Evil and go, "I bet you that sucks"....then you look at the trailer and go, "well...maybe not, it does look like they put some money into it......okay maybe I'll check it out" . Then it turns out that it does indeed suck. Then you got "Serenity" ... which is way better a movie, but from the get go, if you didn't know this, you DEFINITELY would think it was gonna suck based on the 'look of it'.Joss really needs a higher budget or better art design team. Or both. Its true , we should'n't base things on looks....but with movies....especially sci-fi ones,  personality only goes so far. A lot of the way a movie initially hooks viewers to buy tickets is based on that.  For me  it would be sweet to see Joss do another Serenity movie, but this time he just handles the writing and directing of actors part, and has other experts handle the decision making on the art direction and cinematography.</blockquote>

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