me too
Serenity vs. Star Trek
- Thread starter Aike
- Start date
I didn't even know Firefly existed, until I saw it in Forbidden Planet sometime after watching the film. I remember thinking at the time 'They already made a prequel series?'
I just saw the thread title and had to pop in and give my regrets that I alas cannot participate; Conflicts of interests and all that. Anywho, peace out.
I absolutely loved Star Trek 09.
I also really enjoyed Firefly and Serenity.
Bottom line: Serenity was a good movie that deserved better box office success. It lacked the pop cultural foundations that a franchise like Star Trek enjoys.
Star Trek was pretty moribund before Star Trek 09. The movie was successful, in large part, because it went back to the franchise's foundational characters, Kirk and Spock, and built success via pop cultural recognition of these characters and great word of mouth.
I also really enjoyed Firefly and Serenity.
Bottom line: Serenity was a good movie that deserved better box office success. It lacked the pop cultural foundations that a franchise like Star Trek enjoys.
Star Trek was pretty moribund before Star Trek 09. The movie was successful, in large part, because it went back to the franchise's foundational characters, Kirk and Spock, and built success via pop cultural recognition of these characters and great word of mouth.
Serenity was a GREAT movie - it's plot was tighter and it resolved a number of character arcs from the series brilliantly. I think it beat the new Trek movie in the most recent top 100 too. The characters are more varied, more flawed, and more interesting than typical Trek. I was very disappointed that Cassiopeia didn't make it into Battlestar Galactica after enjoying Denara's turn as an ethical prostitute (although Number Six and Starbuck took on a number of aspects of her role). Compare Denara's role to the Orion cadet in Trek and you can see that Whedon has far more respect for his female characters. In fact, Trek's treatment of women generally looks neolithic compared to some of its rivals; it's the most irritating thing about the Trek reboot apart from that mess with the transporters...
Having said all that, Trek is still my favourite franchise, I loved the movie and I will probably forgive many of its shortcomings if Janice appears in the sequel!
Having said all that, Trek is still my favourite franchise, I loved the movie and I will probably forgive many of its shortcomings if Janice appears in the sequel!
Yep, Serenity clocks in at #88 and Star Trek is at #93.
I have to approve of a list that ranks Forbidden Planet at #12, ahead of any Star Trek movie, and that leaves the vast majority of Trek movies off altogether.
Last edited:
List schmist. The rankings are pretty meaningless in the overall scheme of things.
As I said in the thread on the thread about this particular list...I can't take seriously a list that leaves out films like Abre Los Ojos, Pi, The Iron Giant and City Of Lost Children (not to mention TMP) but includes Westworld and Terminator 2.
It was a good list in that it respected great SF classics like Forbidden Planet, Metropolis and The Day The Earth Stood Still. Great also to note the inclusion of more demanding and/or off beat films like Solaris, The Stalker, The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Quiet Earth, La Jetee, Altered States etc.
I was also happy to see Moon on there, and I suspect District 9 would have made the list had it been released earlier in the year. That's a pretty good showing for recent SF.
The ST movies are a mixed bag. I do think TWOK deserves a nice spot on the list, as does XI, and I'd actially have TMP on there too.
Everything is pretty meaningless in the overall scheme of things, as there is no overall scheme of things.
Yep, and the Tartovsky version at that - not that Lem thought much of either.
Ahh..exactly.
But let me rephrase my comment for accuracy: I don't personally find individual rankings on lists like this very meaningful - commercial nonentities are placed above great films, with the merely well crafted and the the merely entertaining interspersed throughout. (I'm not damning with faint praise here, as I'm very fond of many of these kinds of films, including the unlisted Quatermass & The Pit and The Hidden).
But I set no store by the fact that Total Sci-Fi has Serenity higher that XI or TWOK, due to the fact it has some great SF totally missing and blatant medicorities above far worthier films.
These kinds of lists best serve as starting points for discussion.
Last edited by a moderator:
My favourite film of all time was Blade Runner, until 2005 when Serenity came out. The only Trek film that comes close to the greatness of Serenity is TMP (pretty gorram close, btw).
So...not a STXI Fan huh?
I loved both but thats a tough one.
Both had strengths and weaknesses... not a big fan of what happened to Wash and Book that killed a lot for me.
However unlike Serenity , Trek has a sequel.
I loved both, however it's really no contest; however much fun it was to see Kirk, Spock & Bones get their Trek off, Serenity had a more organic & realistic feel to the characters & events. On the popcorn scale, Trek blows Serenity out of the water, but for meatyness, Joss just out-directs JJ I'm afraid.
Don't ever go to New Orleans or Texas, mah friend.
Man those were tough, especially Wash.
XI and Serenity are very different flavors of SF to me. I'm happy to have them both...and soon...VII!! Yay!
I saw Serenity one time in the theatre, and watched it 30+ times more once I got the DVD.
I saw JJ's Trek one time in the theatre, and look forward to wearing that disk out as well, once it's released.
Lindley, by my pretty floral bonnet, you are the genuine article!
Know what I found out? A Lego Serenity is so much gorram easier to build than a Lego Enterprise!
Really, Firefly is the anti-Trek. No aliens, no exploration (beyond what was necessary to leave Earth-that-was), no "Kirk-Fu", no love for government...
It's really more like Gene Roddenberry's "Planet Earth" if you think about it.
Pax...Serenity...
LeahBoBo
Commander
Actually, I agree with you.
LeahBoBo
Commander
Similar threads
- Locked
