Looks much better than the original indeed. I would have preferred Mal to have his pistol instead of the Terminatoresque looking thing. And a cast shot somewhere in the background.

At least this time there are no llamas. :)

Hex | May 15, 05:57 CET

Oh pretty! I'm glad I ordered it (well, obviously I was already glad I ordered it, but I'm happy it has nice cover art). This really does feature the three most important character arcs of the film: Mal's, River's, and Serenity's!

embers | May 15, 05:59 CET

Well I guess Earth's moon on the DVD makes as much sense as Earth itself appearing on the German poster. So, that aside, nice cover. I like the partly-monochromatic look - I wonder if it might be a metallic slipcase?

willbueche | May 15, 06:06 CET

Where's the llama? Heaven help me, I can't spot the llama!

ETA: Hmm... "a Session 416 featurette". Is that just a weird way to refer to the clips themselves, or do we get a little "making of" thing, too?

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2007-05-15 03:17 ]

theonetruebix | May 15, 06:15 CET

I like it - it's simple and effective - and glad that it's River & Mal on the cover - makes good sense, if it's not gonna be the whole cast - which would make their heads the size of M&Ms...

I do find the absence of llamas pretty upsetting, but I suspect I'll get over it.

QuoterGal | May 15, 06:19 CET

YESS! So much more classy and appropriate. Sort of hilarious that it's a shot of Serenity from the pilot episode of Firefly, but also in way classy and appropriate.

CaptainB | May 15, 06:51 CET

What makes you think it is Earth's moon? It is that moon with the chunks taken out of it from Firefly. See it is not a whole moon. TAKE SOMES CHUNKS OUT OF THE MOON!!!! edit:Whoops...figured out what moon it is. Didn't see any chunks taken out of it.

Woman.
Man.
Gun.
Word Serenity.
Miranda's Moon.
Spaceship.

It must be a science fiction movie!!!! Whoo-hoo! Not a movie about a woman named Serenity and her boyfriend. And the woman is holding something on fire in her hands. Why is everything BLUE?

Might still be a science fiction movie about a woman named Serenity who lives on a spaceship with her boyfriend and he has a gun. Hmmm, maybe the moon is named Serenity. Maybe the ship is named Serenity. Nah, a spaceship named Serenity. Hey, isn't that the guy from Waitress? Nah, too intense...looks like that guy from that show you liked that just got canceled...what was that...oh yeah...Drive.

Is there enough color in the cover? Would people think it is a black and white art movie? You can see the red and green lights. Would the Serenity logo on the ship be too small to read?

[ edited by Anonymous1 on 2007-05-16 03:10 ]

Anonymous1 | May 15, 06:55 CET

I'm sure theres a llama on the back cover.

eddy | May 15, 06:55 CET

Great River face, wounded and determined, just on the verge.

Pointy | May 15, 06:59 CET

Yes, it looks arty and moody but with that cover why don't they just call it "A Girl, a Gun and a Spaceship" instead of "Serenity" ?

I'd like to see the designs they rejected.

malformed | May 15, 07:00 CET

I am not a big fan of the cover art, but it is vastly superior to the original, and at least has some coherency in the look. So any petitions this time? *cough*Gossi*cough* kidding lol.

kurya | May 15, 07:08 CET

That's "A Guy, A Girl, A Gun and a Spaceship".

How about "Serenity: Firefly Class"?

Would taking chunks out of the moon violate a Firefly copyright? edit: Doesn't need any chunks taken out...turns out it is Miranda's moon.

[ edited by Anonymous1 on 2007-05-16 03:12 ]

Anonymous1 | May 15, 07:09 CET

I like it, despite Mal's M-16-looking gun. And they got Summer's eyes right this time.

flakbait | May 15, 07:09 CET

Wanna see the backcover.

Anonymous1 | May 15, 07:14 CET

I am assuming the black cover will just be plain text, no suspicious llamas about.

kurya | May 15, 07:20 CET

Since when is Mal left handed?

Other than that (and the possibility of it being our moon - I'm not very up to speed on lunar geography), I love it. I wonder if they'll have any advance copies that we can raffle off at the browncoat booth at ComicCon...

RayHill | May 15, 07:30 CET

Ah-hah! I found the llama! :)

cabri | May 15, 07:35 CET

Oh man, that is SO much better.

Mal'sGal | May 15, 07:53 CET

I have to say... it's much MUCH better. The art is almost as good as 11th Hour's (almost). The list of features has me really excited, too! Finally Serenity is getting the treatment it is due. (Now how about a sequel/spinoff series?)

...That said, I don't remember the part in Serenity where they visited the moon of Earth-that-was. But hey, they didn't inexplicably change River's eye color, photoshop lasers shooting out of Serenity, or throw in a crowd of llamas that had *nothing* to do with the movie, so it's a marked improvement! ;-)

[ edited by AnotherFireflyfan on 2007-05-15 05:06 ]

AnotherFireflyfan | May 15, 08:01 CET

Hey, it's okay. Not a huge fan of the gigantic gun they "gave" Mal (look closely, you'll see it's two pictures photoshopped together to look like he's holding it--he's not). Other than that, I think it is much better than the regular edition.

Resolute | May 15, 08:17 CET

Photoshopped or not, is that not actually the gun he had for Miranda? It actually looks a lot like the shot f him looking at Zoe over the first dead body they find, but flipped left/right.

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2007-05-15 05:40 ]

theonetruebix | May 15, 08:39 CET

Much better than last time (obviously). I suppose there's bound to be some disappointment no matter what the cover looks like - I imagine we all have visions of our perfect cover dancing in our heads (you know doing the cruelly taunting haha-you'll-never-have-me dance), I know I do. Still a vast improvement, although I have to say I'm very partial to seeing the whole cast, even if their heads were the size of m&ms. Also, 'A girl, a gun, and a spaceship' :), and I too mourn the loss of the llamas...

onthedrift | May 15, 09:05 CET

Oh, MUCH better. Very simple but effective. Is it August yet?

leiasky | May 15, 09:25 CET

Okay, so it's got its problems, but very little DVD art doesn't. Still, this is lightyears ahead of the aberration the first was. And for that I am very very glad. Maybe now someone will actually be compelled to pick it up in a store, and not to see if it's some shitty SciFi Channel flick?

w00t!

UnpluggedCrazy | May 15, 09:40 CET

My first thought was, it doesn't half look like the Blade Runner DVD cover.

My second thought was the moon is the new llama!

And my final thought was it's not that bad actually. Am I right in thinking that this collector's edition doesn't include the Joss Q & A that was on the R4 DVD?

Simon | May 15, 10:29 CET

As far as anyone has heard, it does not.

theonetruebix | May 15, 10:57 CET

Mal looks a bit constipated. Maybe he should be holding a screwdriver?

napua | May 15, 11:04 CET

This cover is definitely an improvement over the regular U.S. release cover design. On a side note, I immediately noticed that the basic size and placement of Serenity bears a close resemblance to the Serenity RPG cover.

Simon, your comment may be even closer to the mark than you realize. I happened to get a hold of an image of the preliminary cover design, and well, everyone can see the design that almost got the thumbs up here.

Hey, I'd still buy it.

11thHour | May 15, 11:12 CET

11thHour, I've just spent a lot of time sifting through the old threads about the DVD art, getting a huge nostalgia kick (even though it was a shitty time)...and that just made my day.

AWESOME.

ETA: 11thHour, I've added a link to your image on the post I have on my blog about the new cover art. Made sure to give you credit. Hope that's cool with you.

[ edited by UnpluggedCrazy on 2007-05-15 09:34 ]

UnpluggedCrazy | May 15, 12:30 CET

What, no llamas?
Expect the llamas association to write an long complain letter soon. I kid, I kid.

It's a cool cover, but still would prefer a group shot, or even the American Movie Poster (even with the -ass thing in there).

Numfar PTB | May 15, 12:47 CET

Can't anyone else see the Llama in the Moon ? I think he's winking.

Quite a nice design that, less busy than the first US one. That gun does look like the one Mal had, even if the shots have been mucked with to fit a 'non-gun face' with a gun hand.

(and i'm fairly sure that's our Moon or bits of it at least, the dark patch just in front of Serenity's port engine looks like the Mare Crisium though that photo may also have been messed with since most Moon pictures on Google show it from a different angle, with different surrounding features)

Saje | May 15, 13:20 CET

I always prefered the original UK release cover to the US version, which is odd, as I seem to remember I much prefered the US posters to the UK ones... The UK cover is far from perfect tho...

This one looks pretty good, but it really should have been Mals pistol. And I agree that it looks suspiciously like our own little moon, and I'm certain that it's the series version of Serenity...

Anyone seen any possible UK covers for this new release? Or even a possible UK release date?

As for not having some of the R4 extras, I was hoping that this would be the "ultimate" version, with every possible extra available... Maybe they're saving that for another release in a couple of years!

[ edited by -=NeoDoug1=- on 2007-05-15 10:53 ]

-=NeoDoug1=- | May 15, 13:50 CET

Where did the llamas thing come from exactly? I understand what it's in reference to I just don't know the originator of the llamas plague.

war_machine | May 15, 15:59 CET

Much, much better. The cover now represents the movie. No hoard of screaming zombies and their llama, no photoshopped River looking like she belongs on the cover of Cosmo, no Serenity looking as though it's shooting phasers, and no Mal as an after-thought. It's not perfect, but by god, it's so much better.

Dizzy | May 15, 18:17 CET

Actually, 11th, my first thought was that maybe you had done it, because it was so reminiscent of the RPG cover!

lexigeek | May 15, 18:35 CET

Much, much better. The cover now represents the movie. No hoard of screaming zombies and their llama, no photoshopped River looking like she belongs on the cover of Cosmo, no Serenity looking as though it's shooting phasers, and no Mal as an after-thought. It's not perfect, but by god, it's so much better.

Quoted for truth. That's a bold, fuss free cover in my humble opinion.

gossi | May 15, 19:08 CET

Now that I think about it, is there a moon on the Region 2 cover as well (just under the V in Misbehave). Or is that Miranda?

Link:

Even so I'm still puzzled by what there's a great honking big moon on the cover of the Collector's edition.

Simon | May 15, 19:33 CET

Well the moon thing really doesn't make sense, but to me that's only something a fan would have issues with. If that's the only thing that is out of whack on this cover, I'm ok with it. What makes this a much better cover is that someone who doesn't know Firefly could see the cover and not be surprised by what's in the movie.

Best cover art ever? Well, no. But it's bold and clear and fits the content of the movie. And if it's printed on metallic paper, it should be eye-catching.

One problem I see, though: does River look wall-eyed to anyone else?

Dizzy | May 15, 19:47 CET

"One problem I see, though: does River look wall-eyed to anyone else?"

I do see that. But more, I'm sad that in reigning in the goofy Cosmo-esque look of the previous cover they've made River look rather...old. Sorta jowly and baggy-eyed. Overall it's a better cover, but not especially flattering to the lovely Summer.

foxeye | May 15, 20:51 CET

I think they put a moon on there to make sure people did not think it was a plane. Must be a spaceship. Cause there is a moon.

Anonymous1 | May 15, 20:59 CET

UnpluggedCrazy ~ It's fine with me to post a link to my image. Very nice of you to ask, and thank you for the kind words on your blog.



war_machine ~ To answer your question, the great Serenity llama legend began with an observation made by JustNick when the cover art for the regular U.S. version Serenity DVD was released. That comment spawned an entire llama subculture... heh... I tried to link to the thread and JustNick's post, but for some reason it isn't showing up. The thread is 8669, and JustNick's post is 8669#94991. Just add those numbers to the end of the url 'http://whedonesque.com/comments/' to view the posts.



lexigeek ~ *grin* Well perhaps Universal is going for "synergy"? Either that, or maybe the graphics art person liked the RPG cover... heh... (Should I mention the RPG cover was a rushed, last minute save after the original design was nixed? Oops, I just did... )



That's what I thought too. But on closer examination, it's an illusion. The strands of hair falling in front of her eye on the left of the image block out the white part of her eye. This obliterates the visual cue that balances out the position of her iris in her eye on the right side.

Still, there should be a little touching up for Summer. The light is very harsh on her face and not especially flattering. And yeah, I'd find a way to fix that wall eye illusion thingy.

Simon ~ Regarding the "great honking big moon" on the cover: Just a theory, but it's probably there as the visual cue to make sure people know that's a space ship, and the story is all futurey. The thing is, whoever did the graphics may not have had the pics, the time, or the inclination, to procure a planetary image that was related to the actual movie. So, 'Viola', a stock image of Earth's moon is used. And if only a few visual elements are going to be used, then make the moon big to fill the space. Again, just a theory.

From a graphics person point of view, I found it interesting to see the way the exhaust jets were added to Serenity. The stock CGI photo is just the ship on a field of dead black, no FX... well at least the one I had was like that.

Okay, long post. But Firefly/Serenity art is a very interesting subject for me. :-)

11thHour | May 15, 21:55 CET

No excuse. There are cheap Photoshop plugins that will whomp out different planets and moons as fast as you can click, all with gorgeous detail and weather and whatnot. Geoff Mandel used one for the Miranda graphics (and Miranda would have been a far better choice than the moon, being, you know, relevant).

But I'm so happy it's as close as it is, I can overlook a moon between friends.

C. A. Bridges | May 15, 22:54 CET

I've added this thread to the side bar on the right hand of the front page, so it'll be easily accessible for a while.

That's a very interesting theory 11thHour, thanks :).

Simon | May 15, 22:59 CET

It's pretty good, but it doesn't really scream ULTIMATE ACTION ADVENTURE like the other one.

dingoes8 | May 16, 00:33 CET

At least it doesn't scream BAD SCIFI CHANNEL FODDER like the other one.

UnpluggedCrazy | May 16, 00:54 CET

Wow, the cover is awesome! Will definitely be getting this! ;)

Jossfan_21 | May 16, 01:30 CET

Noticed in the article that the suggested retail will be $26.95. There's a preorder link to Universal on the thread that first announced the release date. The price there is $19.95, plus a couple bucks shipping. Better deal, and it'll get Uni's attention. I'm just sayin', is all... :)

-And I like the new cover alot. The picture of River is practically a screencap from when she was chained up in the storeroom. I think it fits; shows her emotional turmoil. (Oooh, I sound smart!)

TDBrown | May 16, 01:40 CET

River's visage evokes the profound anagnorisis, or recognition, she experiences on Miranda, which precipitates the peripeteia, or turning point, in her character's growth. A most fitting selection.

(I sound smart too!)

ETA: The eye thing's cool. Spooky.

ETfurtherA: What, a little Greek never hurt no one! The merest touch of Aristotlian dramatic theory, is all.

[ edited by Pointy on 2007-05-16 01:02 ]

Pointy | May 16, 01:54 CET

MOON OVER MIRANDA!!!!

It is right there when River is looking through the school tablet.

Just checked the old Serenity DVD.

The Alliance must have just loved Miranda. One moon just like Earth-That-Was. Their perfect little Utopia. Could have even terra-formed it to look like some old pics of our moon..

[ edited by Anonymous1 on 2007-05-16 04:18 ]

Anonymous1 | May 16, 05:56 CET

Girlfriend just said to me, "You cannot buy another copy of Serenity!"

I say "The hell with that", I'll buy every version I can. Joss give us more!!

digitalMindy | May 16, 06:18 CET

I wonder if Universal had input from Joss on what the new cover art should include since they hit it really close to the mark this time around. It isn't perfect but it is worlds better then the cover art on the current release.

haven | May 16, 06:29 CET

aristoliwhosit ? peripetwatcha? *hand over head motion*
I dont sound smart at all.....

ETA: oooo great point about the miranda's moon Anonymous!

[ edited by kurya on 2007-05-16 06:20 ]

kurya | May 16, 09:19 CET

Kurya, shhhh, there are like billions of people who haven't seen the movie yet.

Anonymous1 | May 17, 05:33 CET

Wanna tin!!! Aussies got a tin.

Anonymous1 | May 17, 07:20 CET

Tin would be apt since firefly class vessels are, as Socrates noted, "like tin cans."

Pointy | May 17, 08:49 CET

On that subject, for whoever haven't got that collectible aussie tin Serenity, you should get it now. It's like the half the price, compared to when It was released, over more than a year ago.

Numfar PTB | May 17, 15:07 CET

I should have said I wanna Serenity Collectors R1 Edition tin.

Thanks for the info. I'll pass it along.

Wanna Serenity Collectors Edition poster and mini-poster too.

[ edited by Anonymous1 on 2007-05-20 04:06 ]

Anonymous1 | May 20, 00:06 CET