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"It ain't all buttons and charts little albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is? Love. You can know all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love and she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down. Tells you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens. Makes her home."
When it came to choosing our top twenty-five films of the year, films that had excited us, challenged us and entertained us with the most tenacity last year, one film kept insisting on recognition. One film filled us with passion unlike any other. From the hoards of email we got from readers badgering us to, "give more coverage; what you're doing is good, but, you know, more," to publicists who told us that they'd never had more fun promoting a movie in twenty years or more of work, through staff-members who wouldn't keep bugging their hard-working editor for second screenings and interview opportunities, one film gave us all reason for excitement.
That film was Serenity, Joss Whedon's dazzling space adventure ressurected like a phoenix from the ashes of the TV show Firefly's impromptu death. Astonishing. Whedon had everything riding on his second chance and no other film last year managed to live up to the weight of simply immense fan expectation quite like Serenity. And then it went and set the bar even higher.
So it seemed logical, to us, to give our Film of the Year Award to the film that most deserved it. Like flying, the first rule of filmmaking is love, and the love of all involved in the production and distribution of Serenity was unconditional. They did the impossible, and that makes them mighty.
- Joe Utichi, Editor, FilmFocus.Co.UK
As Serenity comes to DVD on 27th February, we thought it'd be high time to celebrate our Film of The Year once more and serve up a host of new features for your delectation. Questions for Joss must be with us by 23rd February, so get writing! |
New Features |
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From the Cinema Release |
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| We don't give 5-stars out without reasonin' it good. |
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| Catch up on the TV show that launched this boat. |
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| Find Serenity with our massive photo gallery. |
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| Our essential episode guide continues. |
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| We chat to Joss and co. in Leicester Square. |
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| We conclude our guide to Firefly. |
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| We talk to Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion. |
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| We get acquainted with Summer Glau. |
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And Across The 'Verse |
| While it's certainly true that FilmFocus.Co.UK is just about the only site anyone ever really needs [undisputed fact -Ed] it's also true that Serenity fans, or browncoats as they like to be called, are somewhat prolific on the web. No true celebration of Serenity would be complete without running down a list of our favourite fan-run sites in the 'verse, for it's the fans who truly give Serenity her wings. Note: FilmFocus is not responsible for the rabid enthusiasm of Serenity fans on external websites! Just our own rabid enthusiasm. |
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| Remember we talked about rabid fans? Well they don't get much more rabid than the British ones over at Can't Stop The Signal and its related message board. Indeed, it's well worth noting that our own Joe Utichi and Scott Andrews are members, so you should need no more assurance of their insanity... [hey! -Ed]. |
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| Serenity fans and their blogs, this is the official browncoats website. And it's fan-run. Which'd make it the first fan-run official website for fans. Confused? So are we, but we've come to learn that browncoats are meant to be a mite confusing. Makes them more fun. We think. |
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| Quite simply the ultimate resource for all things Joss Whedon. Including the man himself who's been known to lurk around the comment threads. If news has even the slightest connection to the Whedonverse (encompassing Serenity, Firefly, Buffy, Angel and all other past present and future Whedon projects) it'll be here. Want to know what Joss' housekeeper's cousin is up to? This is the place. |
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| Apparently the Chinese things in Firefly and Serenity mean stuff. This site attempts to work out Nathan Fillion's sloppy Chinese and provide translations of every Chinese line from ever episode of Firefly, the movie Serenity and all related tie-ins. Dong ma? |
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| For those of you who are familiar with those new-fangled podcast things, The Signal and Firefly Talk are for you. Two distictly different but wonderfully intelligent podcasts for you to sync to your iPod or similar, non-branded, generic MP3-playing device. |
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| Allyson Beatrice probably represents the peak of fan fixation with the Whedonverse, and here she releases a chapter from her upcoming book in which she presents her story of the campaign to save Firefly from cancellation. Other chapters we're aching to read: Celebrity Pussy in which Allyson is called in to rehome Joss Whedon's cat and Munchausen's By Internet in which a woman claiming to be the mother of a dying child attempts to dupe the fan community. It all looks fascinating. |
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| Espenson had a little involvement with Firefly, but she's a firm member of the Whedonverse following her collaborations on Buffy and Angel. Her blog launched last month, which means catching up with the archives isn't a big stress, and contains plenty of useful tidbits if you're hoping to break into television writing. It's also a good insight into the life of someone who already has and, perhaps most crutially, keeps us up to date on the lunchtime eating habits of those crazy Los Angeles folk. Genius. |
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