On a personal note : Browncoats everywhere had reason to cheer when Joss Whedon announced that Serenity was going to come to a theater near them. Speaking honestly, I was not a fan of the TV show. I couldn’t tell you what I was watching instead of Firefly, but for some reason it fell below my sci-fi radar. I opted out of seeing the film when it hit theaters because I had no attachment to the characters or the future universe that Whedon had created. But before I saw the film, I sat down and watched the entire TV show, front to back. I was blown away. How did, why did this show ever get canceled? It was brilliant, beautifully shot and written with the same intelligence and wit as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The characters were as endearing and engaging as those in Buffy, a show that I absolutely adored. Then I watched Serenity. Once again, I was blown away. There are only a handful of truly successful films spun from television shows. This is one of them.

The beloved crew of Serenity, begins where they ended on the show; cruising through space in search of food, guns or money, looking for a tiny piece of space away from the prying eyes of The Alliance. Even if you are not a fan of the show, you should have no trouble picking up on the relationships or the lingo. The opening action sequence has Simon Tamm saving his sister from the evil clutches of The Alliance. It’s not long before a new bounty hunter is after them and the crew of Serenity. Complicating matters are the Reavers, men who were thought to have gone mad by seeing the edge of the Universe. They are beyond savage but have a secret that no one, not even die-hard fans of the show, could ever imagine. The clever dialogue is there, the story is original and the action is paced just right.

To know the crew of Serenity is to love them. There is a family dynamic, a tenderness there that is sometimes like watching a surreal Little House on the Prairie. The ship is a character itself. It’s not just a vehicle, but a home with softly colored walls, stenciled vines in the mess and bedrooms styled to each of the character’s personalities. Carried over into the movie are the heart, guts and humor of its TV counterpart.

It is truly a sad shame that Firefly did not make it, but lucky for us there was Serenity – and HD re-runs.

Director: Joss Whedon

Writer: Joss Whedon

MPAA Rating: PG-13 parents strongly cautioned, violence