Re-Visiting Serenity

CByrd and I re-watched Serenity Sunday evening.

This is not going to be a review of the film, which, frankly, is pretty review-proof, where I am concerned. I am deeply in love with Joss Whedon's Firefly/Serenity 'verse, and the characters that inhabit it. Any film that can still, after probably dozens of viewings, make me tense for the cast's fate, is doing something right.

No, I want to talk about the way this film was marketed by Whedon, and Universal. I started thinking about this when watching Joss Whedon's Introduction, as part of the special features on my Blu-Ray.

 Now, there's nothing, in and of itself, problematic about this video. It was made to run before very early screenings, for which the studio quite rightly determined the audience would mainly be the faithful. Firefly fans en mass.

As I re-watched this clip on Sunday, I (and my arts marketing professional wife) kept thinking, "why all this effort to sell to your day-one buyers?"

See, the problem was that the idea of these screenings was to build "buzz" for the film. The problem was, they were building "buzz" with people who were already "buzzing." Serenity, no ifs, ands, or buts, needed to reach a new, larger audience to be a financial success. Almost to a fault, the entirety of the pre-release marketing was geared to sowing excitement with the people who already knew and loved Firefly.

The result? A box office disappointment.

There's also the film itself, which we, as fans of the show embraced easily, and got right up to speed with. While I will concede that the film does a  solid job of presenting the broad strokes of the series concept very quickly, it doesn't, nor really could it, really share the "flavor" of the relationships that really makes the third act fly for fans. Yet, the film plays like we're all in the club. Which was fine for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as Star Trek had a decade of reruns to worm it's way into the collective mindset. Serenity jumps in as if Firefly had the same advantage, instead of an aborted one-season run and a whole lot of DVD sales.

I always wondered about those DVD sales, too. It seems pretty clear that the Browncoats were all about buying the set for friends and relatives. It's how I got on board, despite my luke-warm-to-outright-dislike of Whedon's other shows. Did everyone who was gifted a set like the show? Did they even watch it?

Of course, I'll also acknowledge that this whole line of thought is fanboy service at it's worst. Serenity/Firefly is over. It's done. It won't be coming back. All the Monday-morning quarterbacking in the world isn't going to change that the film did not do well enough to warrant a sequel.

But, man...we got that film.

We got the film, and it's good, and it winds up the story in a pretty worthwhile way.

Be happy about that.

Stuck In My Head 2.10.2011

Oh, this one's a doozy.



Hero of Canton

Jayne!

The Man they call Jayne!

He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor,

He stood up to the man and he gave him what for.

Our love for him now, aint hard to explain,

The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne!

Our Jayne saw the Mudders' backs breakin'

He saw the Mudders lament

And he saw the magistrate takin'

Every dollar and leavin' five cents

So he said, "You can't do that to my people"

"You can't crush them under your heel"

Jayne strapped on his hat

And in five seconds flat

Stole everything Boss Higgins had to steal

He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor

Stood up to the Man and he gave him what for

Our love for him now ain't hard to explain

The Hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne

Now here is what separates heroes

From common folk like you and I

The man they call Jayne

He turned 'round his plane

And let that money hit sky

He dropped it onto our houses

He dropped it into our yards

And the man call Jayne

He turned round his plane

And headed out for the stars

He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor

Stood up to the Man and he gave him what for

Our love for him now ain't hard to explain

The Hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne!

Hi, I'm The Guy That Hates Everything

I apparently have this reputation as a guy who dislikes everything.

Which I find funny.

I think you could ask CByrd, or any of my friends, when I like something, I LIKE it to the point of annoyance. It took my friend KenG months to get me to watch Firefly, but when I did it was all over. I was rabid for it, trying to get EVERYONE to watch it.

Here's the thing, Firefly isn't perfect. Nothing is. I could watch any episode of that series, probably with the exception of "Jaynestown," and give you a list of problems or ways I felt it could be better.

I love Star Trek with a white-hot fire, and 60% of the time, it sucks. I don't mean in a "oh this is not great for this show" way, I mean in a "God, if I didn't love these characters so much I wouldn't subject myself to this" way.

It really seems we've fallen into a realm where people can't fathom you might be disappointed with something you profess to enjoy. I like The Swell Season quite a bit, but I wasn't blown away by their concert at Ravinia on Wednesday. Some people react to that like I've kicked their dog.

When I honestly say I don't like something, or some element of something, that's not something you ought to take personally. Especially when you had nothing to do with creating what I'm criticizing. I don't get how people can get so up in arms about things.

Take when Superman Returns came out. I liked it, I really did. I felt like the design and look of the film, as well as the overall feel was exactly right for a Superman movie. I also said I felt it was far too beholden to the Richard Donner/Christopher Reeve version of the character, and, particularly in the case of Brandon Routh's performance, who I honestly think could be a great Superman, it really hamstrung the film.

I got a LOT of flack from a lot of people who really wanted to love that movie. Now, judging by the online community, everyone hates it. Go figure.

I endeavor to be honest with my opinions. If I truly hate something, I won't even bother. I also reject those that say I put to much thought into movies that don't deserve it. Hell, I liked G.I. Joe.

Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down...

And today is both.

The weekend ended up being quite long. I got a lot done on Saturday, so I can't complain, but Sunday ended up sucking the life out of me. It was a long, stressful, emotional day, and I was pretty glad to see it all over.

Of course...it's the Holidays! "Stressful" and "emotional' are part and parcel.

Also, talking with some friends about the end of Joss Whedon's latest attempt at television, Dollhouse. I actually put together an e-mail that pretty clearly summed up how I feel about Joss, so I thought I might share a re-edited version;

Can we just come to the understanding that Joss Whedon is not a mainstream talent? The general public does not care for his material, he's had plenty of opportunities to prove that they could be enticed to his work, and truly succeeded only once...with Buffy, which managed to tap into the "90210 mindset" (which, I'd wager was the main draw with your "civilian" viewer) while also playing with a deeper pool.

Angel...limped to an early end.

Firefly...(which I love with a white-hot fire) didn't register with the general public at all.

Serenity....see above.

Dr. Horrible...a hit, but in micro terms.

Dollhouse....See Angel.

His audience is rabid, but it's much, much smaller than anyone wants to admit. I have to be honest here, never watched Dollhouse, never wanted to, it didn't spark me, in concept, visuals, or the people involved. I actively HATE every bit of Buffy I've ever been exposed to. Angel...didn't care because of the Buffy connections. Ken had to FORCE Firefly on me...Dr. Horrible does gangbusters in a market where 1/1,000 of a television audience is considered pretty amazing.

Firefly does awesome on DVD, or did...but how much of that was Browncoats buying it, over and over, for people they knew? How many people actually watched, and additionally liked the thing? CByrd and I gave that set out A LOT, and had good luck, but I read people on line who gave the set to EVERYONE they knew, no matter if they had a remote interest, or not. I mean, these are the same people buying out entire movie theatres to give away tickets....And this is the Whedon property that I, personally, think is most accessable. Certainly the characters are.

I can say this...

Every damn time I watch a Buffy episode, I get this "oh, you REALLLY think you're so clever" response, and it turns me off to the entire product.

Firefly worked for me because the cast sold that stuff FAR better. Even at that, I've watched people stare blankly at it and wonder what the hell I made them watch this.

I certainly don't believe him to be a hack, or anything, but I just find it funny that everyone always expects the next show/movie/whatever to be THE THING that's going to really take off. Certainly, anyone who created the crew of Serenity has my ever-lasting gratitude and respect as a talent. Still, it's becoming a bit of a "abusive relationship" type of thing. The same set-up, and we keep expecting different results.

I wish you well, Joss, like I said giving me 16 hours of Mal Reynolds and crew buys you a second glance at anything you ever come up with. I'm just sorry Dollhouse didn't pull me in either.