Firefly

The Serenity Presentation at Comic-Con

Director Joss Whedon showed attendees at Comic-Con new footage from his latest film Serenity - based on his short-lived television series Firefly. Whedon had almost the full cast on hand to show some additional footage from the film that centers on the mystery of Summer Glau’s character River.

The scene started with a shot of the ship - also named Serenity - from the underneath. The shot comes around to show the ship is entering a large city. The crew lands, exits the ship and heads into the city to do a deal with a pair of twins. They enter a bar and ’check’ their weapons. Of course, the deal goes bad... but not why one would think. A curious River comes into the bar and starts to have flash backs of her not-so-pleasant days at school. She screams and then begins beating down every one in site... including Jayne (Adam Baldwin), who gets an unfortunate shot to the groin.

The idea for the Serenity movie came chiefly from material Whedon had written for the second season of the television show. When the show was cancelled, Whedon said he took the second season themes and streamlined them into what has become the film.

The transition from television to film apparently went well for the cast. Adam Baldwin liked the movie versus the show because it gave him more preparation time. Gina Torres (Zoe) said the catering was better on the Serenity set than it was on Firefly. Nathan Fillion (Mal) would have to be corrected every time he asked if ’they were taping.’ Whedon would snap: "Filming! This is a movie. We film!"

When quizzed about the ’sound in space’ argument, the always witty Whedon responded: "There will be no sound in the blackness of space. On the edge of space, there will be some sound... and on the planets there will be lots of talking."

Whedon was spied by at least one fan at a local San Diego bookstore overnight purchasing the new "Harry Potter" book. For the record, Whedon’s favorite "Harry Potter" character his Hermione.