If you’ve seen a trailer (though not the trailer currently up on the site) for the sci-fi western Serenity, then you know it makes much of the director Joss Whedon’s pedigree. Whedon is the auteur behind the excellent ‘Buffy: The Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Angel’ TV series. He also created the short-lived ‘Firefly’. Despite the fact that ‘Firefly’ was cancelled after just eight episodes, ‘Serenity’ is based on the same characters and story.
The trailer for Serenity gets it all wrong. It aggressively associates the film with ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’. ‘Buffy’ fans are pretty committed, so most of them are probably aware of Whedon’s connection to Serenity.
On the other hand, lots of people didn’t watch or didn’t get ‘Buffy’. Affiliating Serenity with the show only discourages that audience, doesn’t it?
If I were running Serenity’s marketing campaign, I’d make the message ‘more Star Wars than Star Wars’. If you watch the trailer, it’s got that loose, swashbuckling, wise-cracking, operatic feel of the 1977 film (as opposed to the stiff, overly-serious tone of episodes 1-3). At every opportunity, I’d have Whedon and the cast talk about channelling a 1977-era George Lucas and recapturing the fun of science-fiction movies. You could also play up the almost entirely unknown cast (excepting the wonderful Chiwetel Ejiofor) as another connection to Lucas’s film.
Serenity opens on September 30. It might be a late summer dark horse, or it might sink without a trace–it’s a pretty unknown quality. Given the popular and critical acclaim for ‘Firefly’, I’d recommend giving it a look.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
I think there are Buffy and Angel fans who don’t watch the Firefly series.
Having seen most of the Firefly eps, I think it’s a very different animal from Buffy. It’s way slower, isn’t largely dependent on mythology in its overall story arc, and the lead character is a guy, and it definitely has a Western theme. The fact that the setting is in the future may be incidental I think anyways.
Just going by the trailer alone, this film feels very different from the original TV series.
If anything by promoting the Joss Whedon name, it’s going to drive his Angel and Buffy fans to this movie, and any others who know of his involvement in film and TV.
It’s also possible that promoting the Star Wars angle right after the hype of Episode 3 would create some jaded-ness in the general viewing population.
The Firefly series was much better than is publicly perceived. Part of the problem is that the episodes were shown out of order when broadcast by Fox, so the storyline really didn’t make that much sense.
I would highly recommend renting/buying the DVD (or, if so inclined, downloading the torrents) and watching the entire series in its intended order. It’s a brilliant little show.
Finally, someone agrees with me 🙂 I absolutely adore Firefly, it was a revelation when I first got to see it on DVD and as with anything I think is great, I go and spread the word like a good little evangelist. However, whenever asked what the hell I’m going on about with Firefly, I mention Buffy + Angel as a reference but that tends to get an apathetic response. I can’t really blame them, as I wasn’t a fan of either series myself.
So going by that alone, I tend to view the association with Buffy and Angel as a dubious one…a curse if you will. Fans of Buffy and Angel who are unfamiliar with Firefly will go see the film due to the Joss Whedon link, but those who aren’t a fan will likely give it a miss.
It’s a shame really as those people who don’t see the film (or the series for that matter) will really be missing out. The only comfort I take is that word-of-mouth is a powerful thing for a cult film. I don’t doubt that Serenity will benefit massively from this.
Also, I agree with Norlinda. Another Star Wars advertised film will likely receive a poor response. I, for one am bored of Star Wars now…(“ooo can he say that?”)
Good Article Darren, and I think your ideas would work much better than what they are trying now. Although they are great shows, I think alot of people who have never seen the shows have negative ideas about the buffy and angel series. Its too bad because the writing for both those series and for Serenity is all top notch.
I caught the Serenity episodes and really enjoyed them. I look forward to the movie
Rumor on the internet is that the movie is test screening really well too.
There is a guy on Craiglist Vancouver right now who apparently has heard about a test screening for the movie here in town and is desperately trying to find a ticket to it…I hope he finds it, I know I would love to see the movie too.
Like Darren Harkness said, I would recommend watching the DVDs if you get a chance… I resisted Firefly for a long time, and had similarly resisted Buffy and Angel, but my husband forced me to sit down and watch an episode of Firefly and I was hooked! Joss seems to have a talent for making shows that are actually quite good sound really, really dumb. I mean, come on, a space western? Sounds stupid right? Same thing with Buffy – I never watched it until after I watched Firefly.
Also, I’ve seen the movie, and it is so, so good. I was lucky enough to snag some tickets to a Seattle showing last month and we made a road trip out of it (we’re from Victoria). Totally worth it! 🙂