So I haven’t watched my winsome Serenity DVD straight through yet, but I did watch with the new commentary track on. Whedon did a cool thing, which was to watch his original commentary track before recording the new one so that he was sure not to repeat himself.
Anyway, the commentary was good, except that with these group commentaries, you can’t always tell who’s talking. Adam Baldwin is especially tricky because a Firefly fan is used to his accent, and that’s not real, so he sounds nothing like Jayne.
Anyway, Joss was saying that the original script was 190 pages, and he had to get it down to 120, and Nathan Fillion asked him what was in the 190 page version (Ron Glass said “Me! Me!”) and Joss said “Basically, all of Season Two” and one of the guys asked “What about the second half of Season One?” And Joss said, “Good point! But no, I always pictured Miranda as being at the end of Season Two.”
Which is, like, amazing to me.
I have to say, when I saw the movie (and I guess I shouldn’t spoil it by saying what Miranda is or anything), I didn’t have the sense that Miranda was planned as the solution to certain series mysteries. It felt like it was the movie version. So I’m stunned to learn that, indeed, the answers to so many of our questions were intended to be found there all along.
Probably the coolest tidbit on the commentary. My respect for Whedon just grows and grows.
The man knows how to plant seeds.
I agree that Whedon really knows how to plant seeds. And while we’re on the topic, I thought I’d comment on what I think was another “seed” that was planted but never went anywhere.
About the second or third time I went through the entire series of “Firefly” (something I’ll confess to doing every couple months), I noticed a little detail in the pilot. It’s during the first scene at the Battle of Serenity Valley. At one point, Mal pulls a crucifix from under his shirt and kisses it before sticking it back in its hiding place. The whole incident only takes a second or two of screen time, but I found it very curious considering his general hostility to Shepherd Book (especially whenever the older man starts talking about God). In fact, Mal’s attitude throughout the rest of the series and the movie kind of makes that one scene rather conspicuous.
Oh, yeah, I thought that was conspicuous. He lost faith as a direct result of the battle of Serenity; that’s the point. That frozen look on his face as the kid next to him dies; the look used in the opening credits (I’ve seen the whole series about 5 times through myself); that’s Mal losing faith.
And losing faith in a very immature way. “We’re too pretty” for God to let us die is not how a grown-up views faith. So his anger at Book (“You’re welcome on my ship. God ain’t”) is anger at God for not being his hero.
I need to borrow the series and keep watching it. And then the movie again.
Oh, and Buffy is finally not being shown on FX in the mornings. I knew it would eventually happen… used to be she was on FX, Fox, UPN and maybe even WB, all repeats, all the time. Then just FX, but four times a day. Then two. Then one. Don’t call me a girl who can’t read the signs.
Point is, I don’t own ’em. And that’s just wrong.
None of this surprises me. As TomHilton can tell you, while Buffy was on the air my obsession with the foreshadowing that could be mined from almost every episode was a major feature (and running gag 🙂 ) of the Yahoo Buffy Board. But, come on, the Big Bad for Season 7 was introduced in the middle of Season 3! And one of these days I’m going to sit down and nail down all the clues dropped in the “Restless” episode.
Skip: “I love a story with scope.” 🙂