Gamugamu, Bangka at Whedon

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fire·fly    (frfl)

n.

Any of various nocturnal beetles of the family Lampyridae, characteristically having luminescent chemicals in the posterior tip of the abdomen that produce a flashing light. Also called lightning bug. See Regional Note at lightning bug.

se·ren·i·ty     (s-rn-t)

n.

The state or quality of being serene.

se·rene    (s-rn)

adj.

1. Unaffected by disturbance; calm and unruffled.
2. Unclouded; fair: serene skies and a bright blue sea.
3. often Serene Used as a title and form of address for certain members of royalty: Her Serene Highness; His Serene Highness

FIREFLY + SERENITY
=
ONE KICKASS MOVIE

Reavers were the focus of this ass kicking movie.  And they are not your common variety theives.  As Zoe puts it:
“They’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skin to their clothes. And if we’re very, very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.”

That actually scared me.

reaver

\Reav”er\, n. One who reaves. [Archaic]

reave¹   (rv)

v. Archaic reaved, or reft (rft) reav·ing, reaves

v. tr.

1. To seize and carry off forcibly.
2. To deprive (one) of something; bereave.

v. intr.
To rob, plunder, or pillage.

That was from the pilot episode of the TV series where this movie was shown.  It was a flop you know.  One major flop from someone who created 2 hit TV series — JOSS WHEDON creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

Then again, Joss Whedon has been known to push anything he thinks he still can push and make it into a somewhat disturbingly successful anything.  What’s up with this guy?  I love him so much.  No — I’m obsessed with him.

For a long time, I didn’t know what FIREFLY was.  I knew the insect and I love looking at them at night (pretty futile to look at them in the daylight right?). That was just it.  It was as elusive as a *Tuko* is to me.  It was a chain of staggering events that brought me to the fandom known as Serenity

Angel Season 3.  The ballet episode, where Angel first made out with Cordelia and Gunn first kissed Fred.  Ok so I was more focused on the making out side of story, eternally obsessed with the relationships, I am.  But the ballerina stood out.  Really.  She wasn’t as pretty as the other the other girls.  But somehow, she exuded a charisma that makes you look again.

That was Summer Glau.  Known now to me as River Tam.  Genius above and beyond.  She actually made Reaver massacre look so graceful … almost comparable to watching the nutcracker.  Not to everyone of course.  Just me.  And a few other fans.

Buffy Season 7.  Caleb came and wreaked havoc in Sunnydale.  Not to mention, he actually scared the Scooby Gang out of their wits and the Buffy’s Slayerettes out of their lives.  He blinded Xander’s left eye (or was it the right?).  And all season long, I was trying to remember where I first saw him.

Caleb was Nathan Fillion.  Known now to me as Capt. Malcom Reynolds.  Brooding Bad ass with a twisted sense of humor.  He’s like Angel … only with half a soul.  He’s morbid and brutal like Angelus, but loving and protective at the same time like Angel.  He’s like Spike … only brooding.

Angel Season 4.  About the same time as Angel Season 3.  The season where my beautiful 2nd husband, Vincent Kartheiser, was formally added to the Angel cast.  And through him, Cordelia conceived Jasmine who was born a full African-American adult female.  She gave everyone peace, and devoured their soul.  In the end, when she was defeated, she left everyone with a huge hole in their hearts.  And the peace was no more.

The full African-American adult female was Gina Torres.  Now Zoe — Mal’s Kira Nerys and Wash’s B’Ellana Torres.

Angel Season 5.  Thon with the Pinoy Slayers.  The characters came up in the discussion.  That was the first time I’ve heard of Firefly.  They explained to me, after the demise of the promising space cowboy TV series, Whedon got the actors to play characters in his at-that-time-almost-stable-existing-livelihood. 

That caught my interest.  I always believed in Space cowboy set up.  A bit chaotic, a bit dystopic, but there’s still a system.  Not to mention that piracy and fugutism would a lot be easier, jumping from one planet to another and did I mention no consuls? 

I’m a big Cowboy Beebop fan.  I’m not much into phasers (even if I love Star Trek), it’s not as exciting as bullets.  And I feel like a rundown ship has more character.  Kalampagin Character.  That’s how I imagined Firefly would be when the Pinoy Slayers described it to me.

Then the word of a movie coming hit the internet buzz.  I panicked.  I haven’t seen the series.  It’s only composed of 13 episodes.  And still haven’t seen it … haven’t even seen a trailer of an episode … now a movie’s coming out!  You’ve got to be kidding me?!

Serenity was the working title.  Serenity is the name of the ship.  Firefly is the class of the ship.  Serenity is to Voyager as Firefly is to Intrepid. 

I searched the internet.  Found a trailer.  Saw River Tam dancing.  Was she really dancing?  No … she was beating the crap out of some bar patrons.  I’ve always known, good dancers look good punching and kicking and slicing.  Heck that’s why Jennifer Garner types have work other than dancing in variety shows nowadays. 

And what’s with a very slim woman in a short flimsy-form fitting dress holding a weapon in each hand make them so sexy?  This is where flat really is flattering.

Now that’s another articel to write about.

When the opportunity knocked to watch the Serenity movie in advance — I grabbed, short of mangling someone to sell me tickets.  Good thing before I even got to thinking of that plan of action, an big angel in glasses lent me the money to get the tickets.  Thanks a bunch, Ian.

And all hell broke lose.  This movie rocked my world.

I admit I’m a HUGE JOSS WHEDON FAN.  But that’s not it.  The movie, was almost flawless, intriguing and witty (as usual, Whedon trademark).  It’s also graceful and heart wrenching.  If I say more, I’m afraid I might blurt much of spoilers.

Too bad I’d have to wait February to watch it all over again.

Too bad, rumors roam that the movie we saw was incomplete.  Actually the rumors were, all advance screenings shown an incomplete movie.

Let this twisted little girl’s wish come true.  Show Serenity sooner than February.

*Serenity Images came from Firefly.net and angel-btvs.co.uk