Serenity (DVD)

Serenity knocked me off my feet when I saw it in theaters. My expectations were very low, and that is almost an understatement in and of itself. How in the world could a movie based on a cancelled television show be any good at all? Is it possible? The answer to that question is a resounding YES and this DVD is yet another must own this holiday season.

Fans of sci-fi are in for a treat with this one as Joss Whedon, the man behind "Angel" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", brings his western space romp to the big screen after a lot of hard work following the show's cancellation. Given a limited budget he managed to create a movie that even people who had never seen the show ("Firefly") could love, the only problem was that no one went to the theaters to see it.

Ignored on TV and ignored once again in theaters Serenity did its best and will live on, just as "Firefly" has, on DVD. The film centers on a group of galactic misfits who have just rescued the psychic sister of one of their shipmates and are now on the run from the concerned government known as The Alliance. This little girl holds more than just thoughts of her youth in her head, as secrets not meant for the world to know are now on the loose and it is a race to find out what they are or squash them for good as an evil assassin played brilliantly by Chiwetal Ejiofor chases the space cowboys throughout the galaxy.

For me this DVD really had only two features. The movie and Joss Whedon's commentary. Yeah there is more, including a lot of deleted scenes, a gag reel, a look at how the show went from on television, to cancelled, to the big screen, a look at the making of the film and a pleading introduction by Joss Whedon. None of this really mattered to me and it was all pretty much standard. I just wanted to see the movie again and listen to Joss talk about it as he goes into how he managed to bring a story to life for fans of the show and those that had never seen it, a tricky task if you ask me.

The deleted scenes do come in handy in showing the line Whedon had to walk along between going too far into the back story and sticking with what was relevant to the telling of this movie. One deleted scene in particular will show you how Whedon cut out unnecessary back story on Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his crew, a scene that wasn't needed even though it would have built the character a little more for those unfamiliar.

On a whole, this DVD is great, but that has to do with the fact that I loved this movie. There could have been no special features and just the movie itself and my opinion would be the same. Like I said, besides Whedon's commentary, the special features don't add all that much to the DVD, the movie is really what you are buying. If you are a sci-fi fan fork over some cash for this one, you won't be disappointed.