Firefly on Blu-ray

[ganthc]

Fox Plotting 'Firefly' for Blu-ray | High-Def Digest

A definite buy on my part!!

[Pirate]

Holy shit! RESULT!

[dugpa]

It always looked a little soft to me on UniversalHD, but still, I'm in.

[GlacierMonkey]

I'll be in my bunk.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by dugpa

It always looked a little soft to me on UniversalHD, but still, I'm in.

No surprise there.

I think Fox will do a great job on this. They have been really putting out some great transfers as of late. I am hoping that the Fox of old is dead and buried. Getting Firefly in AVC and DTS-HD will be great.

[Wirehed]

Originally Posted by dugpa

It always looked a little soft to me on UniversalHD, but still, I'm in.

We're talking about Firefly, the TV show, not Serenity the movie.


Wow, this is great news!

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by Wirehed

We're talking about Firefly, the TV show

As was I. UniversalHD runs the entire series in HD and have for over a year and a half now.
Firefly on UniversalHD

Originally Posted by ganthc

I think Fox will do a great job on this. They have been really putting out some great transfers as of late.

It'll be the same transfer used for the UniversalHD broadcasts I'm sure, but at least it won't suffer from the horrible cable compression. And a lossless soundtrack would be a nice bonus.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by dugpa

As was I. UniversalHD runs the entire series in HD and have for over a year and a half now.
FireFly on UniversalHD

Dugpa, I have to agree with you that the Firefly presentation on UniversalHD is not as good as it could be. Similar to how the BSG series looks a little off too. However, I am hoping that Fox can up the quality and not just churn out what has been shown on the UHD channel.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by ganthc

However, I am hoping that Fox can up the quality and not just churn out what has been shown on the UHD channel.

I can't see them spending the money for new transfers for the series. But I'm sure they'll beef up the soundtrack from the standard cable DD 5.1 soundtrack, hopefully to lossless. And as I said, not having the horrible cable compression will be a big improvement right there. I actually canceled my cable at the start of this year because I was fed up with the bad compression, which has only gotten worse. BD and HD-DVD have spoiled me too much.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by dugpa

I can't see them spending the money for new transfers for the series. But I'm sure they'll beef up the soundtrack from the standard cable DD 5.1 soundtrack, hopefully to lossless. And as I said, not having the horrible cable compression will be a big improvement right there. I actually canceled my cable at the start of this year because I was fed up with the bad compression, which has only gotten worse. BD and HD-DVD have spoiled me too much.

Yeah, I've noticed the difference on Smallville, from the hd-dvd and blu-ray versions to what I see on the CW. Oh, and LOST was a HUGE difference. The blu-ray version was just spectacular, while there are compression issues quite often in the ABC presentation.

[Wirehed]

Originally Posted by dugpa

As was I. UniversalHD runs the entire series in HD and have for over a year and a half now.
Firefly on UniversalHD

Ahh! I didn't catch that! Thanks.

[Astrakan]

This will be mine. I've got more copies of Serenity on disc than any other movie (well, it's the only movie I've got more than two copies of, so...) so having two copies of the series is no biggie.

KM

[ganthc]

Even though there is no release date, Amazon does have Firefly: The Complete Season on Blu-ray available for pre-order. I got that and LOST: Season 4 preordered.

[sub780lime]

This is a must buy for me. Hopefully they release the newest two disc features of Serenity on BD since the original HD-DVD release didnt have all the features.

[Mr. Furious]

I must have been the only person on this planet who was really in love with the show, but so disappointed with the movie. It was definitely a "never going to be resurrected" movie.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Mr. Furious

I must have been the only person on this planet who was really in love with the show, but so disappointed with the movie. It was definitely a "never going to be resurrected" movie.

No, I agreed. It killed off too many characters to just be a segueway into another TV series.

[dugpa]

Why would anyone think there would be another series? The ratings on the original one were horrible and there was never any talk of trying to to another series. If the film had been a success they might have done more films, but that's it. The TV ship sailed forever when Fox canceled it.

[sub780lime]

Originally Posted by Mr. Furious

I must have been the only person on this planet who was really in love with the show, but so disappointed with the movie. It was definitely a "never going to be resurrected" movie.

Probably one of only a few. What didn't you like about it?

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by dugpa

Why would anyone think there would be another series? The ratings on the original one were horrible and there was never any talk of trying to to another series. If the film had been a success they might have done more films, but that's it. The TV ship sailed forever when Fox canceled it.

Because there was a belated fan base that generated for the show after it had been cancelled. Fox never really gave the show a stable or good time slot for it to catch on. So when sales for the dvd series took off, Serenity was greenlighted. But I don't know if Universal did a great job in marketing that film either. Regardless, I think there were plenty of the fans that hoped that a successful movie would convince Fox to bring it back to cash in on the popularity.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by ganthc

Regardless, I think there were plenty of the fans that hoped that a successful movie would convince Fox to bring it back to cash in on the popularity.

If they were they were deluding themselves. A show like Firefly costs a crapload by tv standards, so it has to get pretty big ratings in order for Fox to make any money. Hence the reason scifi/fantasy rarely lasts long on network TV. Hell, SciFi Channel was even considering canceling Battlestar Galactica a couple of years ago because it cost so much and they were barely breaking even. A midly popular film would not be enough to make Fox take the risk of bringing back something so expensive. By comparison, they could give Family Guy another shot because it costs peanuts to make initially.

Universal promoted the film exactly as they should have. As much as I love Serenity, even I am realistic to know it appeals to a niche market and wasn't going to be a huge blockbuster theatrically. DVD sales is where cult films make their money, and indeed that's where Serenity made it's money as well. Which might inspire more dvd films at best.

Besides, if Fox brought it back they'd probably mess it up again like they did the first time. I really think they blew it right from the start by airing The Train Job first out of order. It's the weakest episode of the series easily. In fact, when Firefly first aired I watched that first episode, said to myself this isn't very good and never watched any more. It wasn't until the dvds came out that I revisted it and discovered that the rest of the episodes were pretty damn good.

[ganthc]

Do we have actual numbers on how much Firefly cost? I wouldn't think it was that expensive. Most of the effects were pretty cheap. None of the actors were really famous. The sets were pretty much the ship and some sort of terrain. It's not like they were filming in NYC or San Francisco.

The key was that it wasn't making money. However, it was also marketed terribly and bungled by Fox, like you said. I am just saying that there were those fans who thought it might return because if Fox gave it a stable and reasonable time slot, and promoted it, that all the people that bought the dvd set would tune in.

As far as the movie is concerned, it's possible that they took it as appealing to a niche audience, but you would think they would want to attract more people. The real problem was that it did kind of require that you see Firefly in order to understand things. That said, Universal spent all that money making it, you would think they would want some theatrical return from it.

[Mr. Furious]

The first thing I noticed about the film was the difference in characters' ages from the series to the film. Supposedly only a short time had passed since the end of the series and the film (6 months?) but the actors appeared to have aged a lot. Small thing I know, but still it was somewhat hard to get past it (for me).

Secondly, the chemistry had somehow changed. It wasn't gone or bad... it just wasn't the same. The characters just didn't seem to have the "snap" that they used to have.

Finally, I thought the usage of Book was somewhat careless. It's like the actor was busy, so he made a guest token appearance. Also, the killing off of my favorite character (Wash) kind of told me that they were ensuring that the series couldn't be resurrected or moved again.

As far as sci-fi not being profitable because of the expense, I'm sure you guys are probably right. It also doesn't really fit with the demographics a lot of these companies are after (15-21 year old girls). Apparently that's a area that they all want really badly.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Mr. Furious

The first thing I noticed about the film was the difference in characters' ages from the series to the film. Supposedly only a short time had passed since the end of the series and the film (6 months?) but the actors appeared to have aged a lot. Small thing I know, but still it was somewhat hard to get past it (for me).

Secondly, the chemistry had somehow changed. It wasn't gone or bad... it just wasn't the same. The characters just didn't seem to have the "snap" that they used to have.

Finally, I thought the usage of Book was somewhat careless. It's like the actor was busy, so he made a guest token appearance. Also, the killing off of my favorite character (Wash) kind of told me that they were ensuring that the series couldn't be resurrected or moved again.

I agree with you on this. The actors seemed to have too much makeup. And the killing of two main characters seemed thrown in. I remember Whedon saying he wanted to give the impression that anyone could die in Serenity, but what it really stated was what you said. The series had no shot at returning.

[Astrakan]

I loved that people were dying.

I was shocked and saddened, yes. But during the Reaver standoff I knew that all bets were off and I felt a true sense of danger. Anyone could die at any time. How often do you feel that in a franchise movie? Or in any movie, for that matter. Normally when there's danger you know the characters will be fine. Not so with Serenity, and I love that.

I was having a conversation about this with a friend of mine a few days ago actually, he's just about to start watching Firefly for the first time, and without really thinking about it I stated that Serenity ranks in my top 3 cinema visits of all time.

Now that I've had a chance to ponder that statement, I think it's very accurate. Rarely does a movie grab me the way Serenity did in terms of being there with the characters and not being sure what the hell was coming next. And the deaths of Book and Wash are completely to thank for that.

KM

[MooglePorn]

I thought the show and movie were both okay but not great, but the movie was a good deal better.

Whedon has a style that works in something not so serious, like Buffy or Angel, but in Firefly he tried to apply that to a real drama and it just doesn't quite work for me. Serenity was more serious in tone and worked a lot better, but still felt slightly off.

But that's me.

[Wirehed]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

I thought the show and movie were both okay but not great, but the movie was a good deal better.

Whedon has a style that works in something not so serious, like Buffy or Angel, but in Firefly he tried to apply that to a real drama and it just doesn't quite work for me. Serenity was more serious in tone and worked a lot better, but still felt slightly off.

But that's me.

I probably like Firefly a little more than you do, but I also agree with your statement.

One of the things I would point out though, is Firefly didn't have enough change to develop like Buffy and Angel did. Firefly is LESS than one season. If you judged Buffy based only on the first 8 episodes, I'm not sure you would think it's as good as it eventually turned out to be.

Angel, I think, is a better show, but of course it had YEARS of Buffy behind it, the kinks were worked out.


Firefly had a fantastic foundation with a wonderful cast and very interesting characters all around. It's a shame there couldn't have been more.