"A vampire in love with a slayer. It's rather poetic...in a maudlin sort of way."
April 01
2007
'Serenity' beats 'Star Wars' in SFX poll for best scifi movie ever.
Remember
back on March 12, when it was posted that there was
an SFX poll on the best scifi movie ever? These are the results. The BBC also covers the results and
has a poll in a similar vein.
SFX magazine editor Dave Bradley said: "Seeing Serenity topple Star Wars as the UK's favourite sci-fi movie is a massive surprise.
"The TV show may have been cancelled, yet the Serenity universe clearly struck a chord with fans, thanks to its likeable characters, witty dialogue and amazing special effects.
"Our list features some really classic movies, many of which, like Serenity, launched to no praise or applause at the box office, but have lived on for many years thanks to the fans, and continue to influence today's films and TV."
[ edited by theonetruebix on 2007-04-02 05:36 ]
@theonetruebix
| Firefly&Serenity
| 23:11 CET
|
49 comments total
| tags: best of the best, mal shoots first, poll dancing
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Simpleba | April 01, 23:28 CET
fanbuoyant | April 01, 23:38 CET
It is, however, the best drama fantasy science fiction action comedy horror movie ever. I guess.
crossoverman | April 01, 23:44 CET
Please step back to 4th place, please. Make way for Empire, Jedi, and a New Hope... because someone clearly is off their rocker.
numbereleven | April 02, 00:57 CET
crossoverman | April 02, 00:57 CET
vesta | April 02, 01:21 CET
Serenity, on the other hand, had everything - including the necessary death of Chewie, which, in Star Wars - not so much with the happening.
And River would kick Luke's ass any day.
GreatMuppetyOdin | April 02, 01:24 CET
Serenity is a great movie. Better than Back to the Future and Star Wars though? (or even 2001 and The Matrix?) Nah.
Eric G | April 02, 01:27 CET
Nah. There was a lot of Browncoat
ballot stuffingvoting over the last weeks. So it's not really a surprise. I wouldn't take it that seriously. Ask the average Briton in the street what the best scifi movie is and I doubt Serenity would get a look in.Simon | April 02, 01:31 CET
Celebithil | April 02, 01:50 CET
[ edited by gossi on 2007-04-02 09:30 ]
gossi | April 02, 03:08 CET
dreamlogic | April 02, 03:21 CET
gossi | April 02, 03:31 CET
Yeah, I remember the thread where we
rigged this poll'organised' our voting, it even had a few Joss posts (I say 'we' but I actually didn't vote, just can't pick a single best film, sci-fi or otherwise - especially given the fairly glaring omissions. Fun to discuss though).Saje | April 02, 06:41 CET
browncoatrising | April 02, 06:49 CET
About the bad acting? About the hype? About the tedious pace in large segments of the movie?
I honestly didn't like 'Star Wars" when it first came out for all of the above reasons. Most of the other films on that list would be ahead of Star Wars as all-time favorites. Star Wars wouldn't ever even make my list. (Neither would 2001: A Space Odyssey.) I felt about Star Wars the way I feel about the last three "prequels."
In its place (and 2001's) I might put Star Trek II & IV.
In terms of "Serenity" being #1, I can live with that. I could live with others on the list ranking #1, too, but Serenity does belong somewhere on the list of best sci-fi movies of all time.
Nebula1400 | April 02, 07:28 CET
The Matrix= Bad philosophy and bad acting and unecessarily violent. Sorry Joss, I just don't like this movie. All the guns...WAY too male for me.
The other contenders were pretty much cultish light-weights with the possible exception of Alien(s).
Serenity...eventhough I LOVE Joss' work I never got caught up in the Browncoat business-- but when I saw the movie I knew that I was watching something more entertaining, more layered and more interesting than the average (even above average) sci-fi movie.
And I don't give a rat's ass what some of you people say, the TV time that Serenity received during the promotional phase was pathetic and THAT was the cause of the lackluster performance at the box office. People just didn't know it was on...Yet studios put HUGE amounts of money behind truly stupid movies that don't amount to squat.....Hell it's a miracle that Serenity broke even with the kind of promotion it got.
People like sci-fi for different reasons.... I like it when it liberates and explores (a la Blade Runner or A.I.)
Star Wars... for all the success was really a movie with little or NO originality...it was part of the whole Post Modern routine about story teling that admitted it had nothing new to say..and it was ok with that-- that kind of admission is the first sign of mediocrity which is why its sequels have sucked...It simply had nothing to say...
Serenity took old tropes (which I've expounded on before...man without civilization...man's inate depravity) and BLAMMO gave us something completely new and interesting..
And who can forget the iconic teenage girl kicking Reaver ass?
Or the heartbreaking death?
Or the moral ambiguity of the Operative?
etc..etc...
Yes.. I'm a fanboy.. but I know what I like and WHY...
Long Live Joss!!!!
hbojo | April 02, 07:52 CET
Did anyone else take exception to this line? I mean while Serenity didn't do great at the box-office it certainly got a lot of good reviews.
Derf | April 02, 08:04 CET
The reason that Serenity bests Star Wars, despite the fact that they're both masterpieces, is, in my opinion, the writing. It's far more layered, with better characters, better dialogue, and overall a more significant meaning. There's not one moment in Star Wars that tops the emotion and significance of Mal's "They will swing back to the idea that they can make people better" speech.
Besides that, there are several other sci-fi movies I would place ahead of Star Wars: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, etc.
Star Wars does, however, have the best score of all time. No use arguing that. Dig that John Williams.
[ edited by UnpluggedCrazy on 2007-04-02 14:45 ]
UnpluggedCrazy | April 02, 08:42 CET
I know there's a lot of classic films that Serenity beat, but lighten up. It's one poll. We rabid Browncoats are entitled to our opinion, and the fans of the classics are entitled to theirs.
deepgirl187 | April 02, 08:58 CET
A little more balanced, it shows Star Wars leading Serenity 2:1 and Blade Runner also slightly ahead.
AlanD | April 02, 09:34 CET
Serenity's good, and certainly in my top ten too, but the SFX result is way more about the willingness of fan(atic)s to stuff ballots than about widespread public opinion. That's not bashing Serenity; it's being honest. Spike fans did the same for James Marsters in polls; it's fun, and it gets a picture of Nathan onto the BBC news site's front page (always a good thing), but I wouldn't claim it for more than it is.
roadrunner | April 02, 09:51 CET
AlanD | April 02, 10:03 CET
All I have to say is, this guy clearly does not get it at all.
Resolute | April 02, 10:15 CET
"Use the Force, Luke."
Emotional for a completely different reason. (And Serenity is a much better film than Return of the Jedi... though, it has been noted, ROTJ is my least favorite Star Wars film)
[ edited by The Dark Shape on 2007-04-02 16:32 ]
The Dark Shape | April 02, 10:32 CET
And say what you like about Star Wars and Serenity, they are no Ice Pirates. It is deeply unfair of SFX and indeed the BBC to ignore this movie.
Simon | April 02, 10:32 CET
"Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter" carries some weight IMO (though technically that's Empire).
Mal's speech is good, does the job but for me it's as much Jayne's response and Simon's response to that that make it (a tiny thing like him not wiping the bottle that Jayne's just swigged from speaks volumes in context, given their past).
(and, strictly speaking, in the broader context i'm not sure I completely agree with Mal anyway)
Saje | April 02, 10:48 CET
Simon | April 02, 10:59 CET
People tend to do this sort of thing all the time. Whatever is new must be better. Quickly toss aside the older stuff, in this case Star Wars. I see it in sports all time. Some new player comes in and all of a sudden they are being talked about as one of the best ever. Sometimes the arguement makes since like Tiger Woods. Other times, the guy fades away or has a decent career but doesn't meet the expectations.
Let's take a look at this 10 years from now and see where everything stands. Time offers great perspective.
munn75 | April 02, 12:09 CET
Ask the average Briton in the street what the best scifi movie is ...
Lifeforce? ... Runs away
Tonya J | April 02, 12:17 CET
rileysaplank | April 02, 12:21 CET
UnpluggedCrazy | April 02, 12:25 CET
Dietcoke | April 02, 12:53 CET
embers | April 02, 13:03 CET
Keep_flyin | April 02, 13:08 CET
[ edited by gossi on 2007-04-02 19:29 ]
gossi | April 02, 13:26 CET
http://imdb.com/chart/scifi
Empire Strikes Back comes in at number one, Serenity number 40. They have a weirdly wonderful formula for working it all out.
Simon | April 02, 13:31 CET
prospero | April 02, 15:48 CET
Serenity is a great movie. Better than Back to the Future and Star Wars though? (or even 2001 and The Matrix?) Nah.
Ditto. I love Serenity, but I'm not even sure it belongs on the list.
holycow | April 02, 16:40 CET
erico | April 02, 17:27 CET
[ edited by erico on 2007-04-03 00:39 ]
erico | April 02, 17:51 CET
Star Wars has a huge advantage in that it was a new kind of SciFi at the time - the traditional Heroes Journey epic with SciFi trappings. Previously it had all been arthouse (2001, Solaris) or bleak dystopias (Soylent Green, Westworld etc). SW was SciFi the whole family could enjoy, and its biggest fans are (IMO) those who remember it fondly from their younger days when it was the only game in town.
Later, on, despite worthy efforts like BladeRunner, the whole of cinematic SciFi had descended into just another version of the Action Movie (Totall Recall, the Island, I Robot). I like to think Serenity was, in its own quiet way, just as revolutionary. Well spoken characters with likeability and wit beyond ArnoldDieselesque one-liners, a certain level of plausibility, a ship with no lasers. When I saw it I just thought Whedon hit it out of the park in terms of sheer cinematic high - just like I felt at 7 when I saw StarWars.
Looking back, there's a few more flaws you can point out, but the same is true for Star Wars, so I have no problem ranking them near each other. Serenity, for me, brought the recent upping of IQ levels seen in dramatic TV to the big screen, while still being watchable by the mainstream (though maybe not the kiddies - SW still wins out there).
All IMHO, of course.
giles (yes, it is my real name) | April 02, 18:52 CET
But if you strip away the legend, the childhood memories and the quotes that have ingrained themselves into our cultural identity, you are left with 'just' a movie. And when you compare Serenity and Star Wars as 'just' two movies, I feel that Serenity has the deeper plot, the better dialogue, more layered characters and a bigger emotional impact, while Star Wars has more wide-eyed joy, wonder and a whopping, superior soundtrack. Also, Star Wars is an epic in every sense of the word, while Serenity is a story about small people who just happen to end up in epic circumstances.
So in the end, I'd say the movies are certainly comparable (which isn't strange, considering that Serenity shares a similar setting and a certain type of visual language with Star Wars), but I'd give Serenity the edge because the writing is - in my very humble opinion - simply better.
Does that make Serenity the best movie ever? No, it doesn't. But it's certainly a contender for the title of best sci-fi movie. Maybe it deserves the top spot, maybe it doesn't. But it does, at the very least, deserve to be considered.
GVH | April 02, 20:42 CET
"But I was going to go to Tasche Station to pick up some power converters!"
That is all.
Mort | April 02, 22:24 CET
giles (yes, it is my real name) | April 03, 01:42 CET
No offense to Star Wars fans but I think the big difference is that Serenity is a much more adult film. Multi-layered & complex, as are all Joss's creations. And in 1977, I was probably the first person in Hawaii to have a "May The Force Be With You" t-shirt. Hmm, back to t-shirts, must be some hidden significance there.
But seriously, although these polls are fan driven, let's not forget that Joss's Serenity script won a Nebula award. More prestigeous than that you do not get, in the SciFi world.
Shey | April 03, 03:04 CET
also, it's pretty much a rip off of the superior Dark City.
t r a c y | April 03, 03:56 CET
t r a c y: another excellent point (love me some Dark City, matrix not so much)
everybody: It's way too late and I shouldn't be typing. Thanks for putting up with me (love me some whedonesque).
giles (yes, it is my real name) | April 03, 09:03 CET
They're just totally different films.
And FWIW, my number 1 would be ALIENS.
[ edited by kipron on 2007-04-07 07:38 ]
kipron | April 07, 01:35 CET