The film is based on Firefly, a television series canceled by the Fox Broadcasting Company in December 2002, after 11 of its 14 produced episodes had aired.
The extremely loyal fans of Firefly are called Brown Coats which is a nod to the army Mal and Zoe fought for in the war.
A three-issue comic book,written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews and called “Those Left Behind, series titled Serenity: Those Left Behind was intended to bridge the 6 month gap between the end of the television series and the beginning of the film.
Joss Whedon’s feature film directorial debut.
Ranked #5 in Rotten Tomatoes “50 Best TV Adaptations of All Time“
The opening credits appear 10 minutes into the film. They are shown in a 4 minute, unbroken take through different decks of Serenity.
Among the buildings shown in the opening sequence (where voice-over narration describes the “terraforming” process) are the Emirates Towers, key features of the skyline of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. A skyscraper in the foreground of the same shot is based on designs by Sir Norman Foster (Lord Foster), including the Commerzbank headquarters in Frankfurt and the HSBC building in Hong Kong.
Jayne’s mini-gun is nicknamed “Lux”, after devoted fan Kerry Pearson’s message board handle LuxLucre. Pearson, who died of complications of diabetes, was best known for creating fan art featuring characters from Firefly in a South Park cartoon style.
The cannon the crew mounts to Serenity is a WW2 German 20mm Flak 38.
To put River to sleep, Dr. Simon Tam says, “Eta Kooram Nah Smech!,” Russian for “This is very ridiculous” (literally “This is for hens to laugh!”).
Crates in the cargo bay say “Reusable Container: Do Not Destroy” which is an inside joke because the ship from the original series was destroyed.
The first nine minutes of Serenity were made available online as a promotion in advance of its theatrical release.
The Alliance’s clothing is actually reused costumes from Starship Troopers.
The cast had a running gag where they would yell Summer Glau‘s name whenever any of them flubbed a line or forgot to do something. It originated on Firefly when she forgot her line at the end of a very long and difficult scene.
Joss Whedon said Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau and Sean Maher performed many of their own stunts. Summer Glau trained intensely with the fight choreographers for three months before principal photography began.
As the last of the credits roll, a solitary guitar plays the theme song of the original TV show, “Firefly”.
Hoping to generate buzz through early word of mouth, Universal launched an unprecedented 3-stage campaign to sneak preview the then unfinished movie in 35 US cities where the series had earned high Nielsen ratings.
Serenity was released on HD DVD on April 18, 2006, and was one of the first films, the first for Universal Pictures, to be released on the format.
After the title key for Serenity was copied from a software player and posted on the internet as a riddle, the film became the first HD DVD to be released on the BitTorrent network on January 12, 2007.
Serenity was the first film to be screened digitally, fully DCI-compliant.
It was number two during its opening weekend but it did not make back its budget until its release on DVD
Universal also employed a viral marketing campaign, producing five short videos, known as the “R. Tam sessions.” They depicted excerpts of counseling sessions with the character River Tam while she was being held at a “learning facility” known only as “The Academy“. The counselor is played by Joss Whedon himself. Taking place before the events of the film or the television series, the videos shed some light on the experiments and torture “The Academy” conducted on River.
NASA astronaut Steven Swanson, a fan of the show, took the Firefly and Serenity DVDs with him on Space Shuttle Atlantis‘ STS-117 so the DVDs can permanently reside on the International Space Station as a form of entertainment for the station’s crews.
Starting in January 2006 and continuing today, “Can’t Stop The Serenity” is a charity that organizes screenings of Serenity and other Joss Whedon projects to benefit Equality Now, a human rights organization supported by Whedon. As of 2012 CSTS has raised over $700,000 for Equality Now.
Science fiction author Orson Scott Card called Serenity “the best science fiction film ever”, further stating “If Ender’s Game (his book) can’t be this kind of movie, and this good a movie, then I want it never to be made. I’d rather just watch Serenity again.”
EASTER EGG – From the main menu screen, keep clicking “left” until you light up a triangle with a dot in the center on the right side of the screen. The icon will take you to the full Fruity Oaty Bar commercial. In the DVD commentary, Joss Whedon admitted that he wanted the commercial to be as odd as possible. He said it was heavily inspired by the “Mr. Sparkle” advertisement from The Simpsons: In Marge We Trust The uncredited actor in the commercial and the Easter Egg segment is Robert Michael Lee.
***SPOILER ALERT*** - Body count: 74
***SPOILER ALERT*** - According to Joss Whedon, the most difficult scene for sound was Simon and River’s final scene, after Simon is shot. Sean Maher and Summer Glau developed a strong bond during production of Firefly. Sean’s acting was so good that Summer kept bursting into tears whenever they attempted to shoot the scene.
***SPOILER ALERT*** – Joss Whedon revealed that the reason Wash and Book were killed off in the movie was because Alan Tudyk and Ron Glass could not commit to sequels. In his original script, before he knew they couldn’t commit, all members of the crew survived, with Zoe and Wash promising to have children together.
***SPOILER ALERT*** – After Mr. Universe betrays the crew to the Alliance, he turns to the Operative and demands his “thirty coin,” a reference to Judas betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.
***SPOILER ALERT*** – According to Whedon, the planet “Miranda” was named for William Shakespeare‘s Miranda in The Tempest, who says: “O brave new world, / That has such people in’t!” The Alliance had hoped that Miranda would be a new kind of world, filled with peaceful, happy people. Joss Whedon said the planet Miranda would’ve been discovered at the end of the second season if the show had been a success.
***SPOILER ALERT***-Whedon has said that the most important line in the film is when Mal says “I’m going to show you a world without sin”. Whedon makes the point that a world without sin is a world without choice, and that choice is ultimately what defines humanity.
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http://thedailycake.org/2013/03/18/netflix52-serenity/Speaking of Orson Scott Card, we saw Ender's Gmae and its quite well done. Not everything it perfect, and really they leave out so much you realize it should be a two parter ( because you would cut nothing that IS in there) but still a great Film.
