Perhaps it didn’t soar to great heights, but Joss Whedon’s Serenity landed 2nd for its opening weekend at the Box Office, with $10,141,000. (I gave $16 of that for my ticket and my duty to bring a non-fan.) It was in the top spot for new releases, though, and it’s by no means unsuccessful, so far.

1 Flightplan 15,038,000 (46,145,000)
2 Serenity 10,141,000 new
3 Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride 9,755,000 (32,910,000)
4 A History of Violence 8,200,000 (8,969,000)
5 Into the Blue 7,000,000 new

The film is based on the cult series, Firefly, about misfits thieving their way to survive–and just “be free,” in space-in the wild west-like (“Joss’s unique vision of the”) future.

The t.v. show was cut short by its network, and all 14 episodes were not even allowed to air. Fans blame the cancellation on Fox for not showing the episodes in their correct order (intended by Joss), thus confusing or alienating some of its would-be audience.

But, according to this “Buffy” fanatic, it was better than Joss’s other two t.v. series. Yes, better than Buffy.

Hear me out, my argument stems from the fact that The Vampire Slayer’s first season was so-so, only rising to average-but-likable, and sometimes-charming, toward the end of the first 11 episodes. Also, as someone who first-and-only saw Firefly on DVD; it only took ½ of one episode (which was 2 hours long) to really get into the story; the show was excellent, and I already started to care for the rough-and-tumble characters after the pilot.

– Take this; Nathan Fillion (Captain Malcolm Reynolds) as Caleb (on season 7 Buffy), strikes terror into the very heart of me. And I was unsure about being able to watch a whole show in which that actor is the leading star. Well, Fillion’s acting is so superb, that I immediately felt comfortable with Mal. After just a few episodes, I developed a crush on him (yes, instead of the handsome, intelligent and classy Simon, surprisingly). He’s hot, and he has this subtle, true goodness to him. He’s sort of “dark and morally ambiguous,” to put it as my best friend would say (which, we agree, is not a bad thing). I love it when he gets dark and gruff, and I now appreciate much more his terrifying moments (aside from “the eye thing”) on Buffy. –

Add this to the points; Firefly, after 11 episodes, was already as good as “Buffy” and “Angel” were in their final seasons. (Who knows what we could expect after a full run of Firefly. Well, we’ll n—please, let us find out. There’s still chance.)

Just as the series rose above television quality, the film outdoes Hollywood standards. It truly lives up to the fan hype and Whedon’s hopes. Ella says, anyone to rate it poorly must either not get quality films, and is used to the standard fare, or perhaps we’re all slightly wrong – just slightly – and the movie is pretty much only for the Joss, Buffy, or genre(s) fan.

I’m not completely wrong, though. My best friend brought two friends of his own–one had never seen the series, and loved the movie. My tag-along doesn’t like “space movies,” and claimed he slept through half of it. (His eyes were open through that snoring, I tell you!) I heard him laughing, though, and he admitted, “it was better than I thought.” Trust me in my knowledge of this person, this was not such an insult.

Never mind that, though, I’m just trying to show that it can’t be exacted whom this movie is for. There is so much for everyone, but you must note that there is some horrifying and saddening violence (although its quite modest in gore). It is a truly great movie. It has everything a film should, and is a perfect blend of genres that makes it possible for a fan of just one to enjoy the whole ride. Although, I don’t know how I let myself forget that “Joss is a crazy MOFO.” He will tear at your heart, while entertaining & exciting you, scaring you, and cracking you up. You should forget that same thing, too, though. Just let yourself go through the natural emotions (if you already love these characters). For me, Whedon’s about the characters. Which is why we need to see more. Please bring it back as a series, again, because I can’t stand the heart-pounding level it had to be brought to for theatrical release! It’s a wonderful, moving, thought-provoking, piece-of-art film. But I want to see the Serenity crew’s lives drawn out over many seasons of many hours! I want more Joss at the movies, but television is severely lacking without one of his works in run. If you see this movie, you will see how Hollywood blockbusters don’t even achieve this greatness, which just makes me want to see more original scripts for the big screen from this writer/director (which will happen with Goner: a story of a young woman’s journey that involves a great deal of horror and heroics. [in production now]). Boy, I hope Joss likes to work hard, because he’s just going to get more popular, and he will have so many people to keep happy seeing his creations.