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.

New Comic THURSDAY 6.3.2010

Day late for the holiday, I'm just getting tomorrow's blog out of the way today, and a nice, small week for my pocketbook.

Serenity: Float Out #1 (one shot)

Writer: Patton Oswalt
Artist: Patric Reynolds
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Cover Artist: Frank Stockton

Acclaimed writer/actor/comedian Patton Oswalt (The Goon, Batman, JLA, Dollhouse, Ratatouille) brings back one of Firefly's most beloved characters in this special spotlight issue!

Always ready with a brilliant aerial maneuver and a terrible one-liner, Wash was pilot of the Firefly-class ship Serenity in Joss Whedon's cult-classic TV series before being killed in the movie. Float Out includes three brand-new stories of Wash in a series of exciting smuggling raids, each providing a hair-raising escape or daring last-minute rescue! Featuring a cameo that will leave Serenity fans reeling, this special one-shot presents new tales of the Serenity universe's past and tantalizing hints about its future!

I'm actually befuddled as to why there haven't been more Serenity/Firefly comics. It seems like such a natural fit, and with the series well and truly dead, there's no reason not to let these characters play. The show has a rabid fanbase that will buy anything.

Interested to see how Patton Oswalt handles the writing.

Brightest Day #3 (of 4)

Written by GEOFF JOHNS & PETER J. TOMASI
Art by IVAN REIS, PAT GLEASON,
ARDIAN SYAF, SCOTT CLARK & JOE PRADO
Covers by DAVID FINCH
1:25 variant covers by IVAN REIS & OCLAIR ALBERT

If this is the BRIGHTEST DAY then what is Black Lantern Firestorm doing on our cover?!

But...Black Lantern Firestorm isn't....

Oh, never mind.

Red Robin #13

Written by FABIAN NICIEZA
Art and cover by MARCUS TO & RAY MCCARTHY

Fabian Nicieza joins RED ROBIN as the new regular writer! A surge of organized mobs spreads across Gotham City like a virus! Who are The Socials and what is their mysterious agenda in moving young people across the city in self-organizing crowds? Is it mind-control or simply youth boredom? What starts as fun and games becomes deadly serious and leads to an unexpected confrontation between Red Robin and Robin!

New creative team, and a new direction. Now that we know Bruce Wayne is on his way back, I really don't want to see this solid book slide into irrelevance. They need to act quickly to give Tim Drake a new mission and reason for being Red Robin, and quickly.

The Stand: Hardcases #1 (of 5)

COVER BY: Tomm Coker
WRITER: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
PENCILS: Mike Perkins

The Trashcan Man was spared for a reason. To join the Dark Man Randall Flagg's swelling army and to set the world on fire. It's a dream come true for the pyromaniac, but he has to reach Flagg's compound in Las Vegas first--and, somehow, survive crossing paths with "the Kid," a hardcase who's even crazier and more dangerous than Trashy is! The villains are front-and-center as we cross the mid-point of this epic adaptation of Stephen King's horror masterpiece!

And so begins the...third? Miniseries of the six that will make up the full adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. I'm a fan of the novel, which never read as "horror" to me. It's an epic tale of adventure, faith and survival. Of course, there are horrific elements, don't get me wrong, and the comic doesn't shy away from them. If you enjoy this book, the comics are a faithful, interesting adaptation. Worth checking out.

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.