Serenity

Today I saw Serenity at the theatre nearby. When I got there, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had heard good things, and I like the few episodes of Firefly that I'd seen, but I always try to not get many expectations going into movies.

I got there before the show began, and sat there with my friends, waiting for the previews to begin. I heard some people who sounded a bit obnoxious nearby, and preemptively was concerned that they would be rude during the movie. This was not the case. Except for a healthy dose of laughter when the moments arose, the audience was immersed, so far as I could tell.

It really is a great movie. I laughed at many points in the movie. I was moved to tears, and I tend to be the stoic type. I also was glad to see some real science fiction on the screen.

Now, I don't mind a bit of fantasy thrown in, but it's nice when the fantastic is limited in movies. I mean, the things shown in this story are feasible for the most part. The thing I noticed most, which I had missed in the TV series, was the absence of FTL travel. It's not a horrible thing, but most sci-fi assumes some form of faster-than-light travel. Many other things are plausible with future development in science, but our understanding of physics says that FTL is impossible, as I understand it. Many sci-fi books and short stories deal with universes where there is no FTL travel, but very few movies and TV shows do this, in fact, I can't think of any, off the top of my head..

In any case, I don't want to spoil anything. It's just too good to risk that. Just go see it. And save some money to see it again, buy the Firefly DVDs, and the DVD of Serenity when it comes out. I am.