Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: 20th Century Fox
Blu-ray: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: FREE!
(as verified by the
Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)
Pilot Runtime: 1:26:42.197 (665 minutes in total)
Disc Size: 46,993,282,576 bytes
Pilot Size: 18,200,875,008 bytes
Video Bitrate: 21.45 Mbps
Chapters: 21
Case: Standard Blu-ray case
Release date: November 11th, 2008
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3331 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3331
kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS Audio German 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
/ Dolby Surround
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
/ Dolby Surround
Subtitles:
English, Spanish, Dutch, none
Extras:
• Commentaries on 8 Episodes
• Here's How It Was: The Making of Firefly (28:39) in SD
• Featurette: Serenity: The 10th Character (9:45) in SD
• Featurette: Joss Tours the Set (1:23) in SD
• Featurette: Joss Sings the Firefly Theme (1:16) in SD
• Alan Tudyk's Audition Tape (1:04) in SD
• Gag Reel (2:40) in SD
• 4 Deleted Scenes
• Trailer for Dollhouse
The Film:
7.5
After Richard Blaine ran guns for the losing side against
the Nazi's in Ethiopia, then fought on the side of the
Loyalists in Spain – he spent a=some while in Paris until
the Germans marched in. Licking his political and emotional
wounds, he opened a saloon in Casablanca where he expected
to sit out the rest of the war as a certified cynic. Malcolm
Reynolds fought on the losing side in a civil war 500 years
from now, and after the Alliance put everything back in
order - albeit an insidious, bureaucratic order, with more
than a whiff of fascism about it – Mal became a criminal.
While Nathan Fillion is no Bogart, and Joss Whedon, as much
as I admire him, is not the Epsteins, the resemblance, even
if unconscious, is both a plus and a liability. We tend to
root for the underdog, and when the hero is a little vague
about his own moral convictions – that makes him all the
more interesting.
If you read through current reviews of Joss Whedon's short
lived television series from 2002, you will see references
to Whedon's smart writing, evidenced by the brilliant Buffy
the Vampire Slayer; the unexpected cancellation of the show
in mid season; the conception of a horse opera in space; a
large cast, whose backstories take their time to unwind; the
airing of episodes out of order: Two examples - the two-part
pilot was the eleventh episode to air, and what should have
been the final episode (of 14), Objects in Space, was aired
in the 10 spot. Couldn't have helped.
The series takes its name from the Firefly class of starship,
of which the Serenity is one of its relics. Mal is the
captain. His crew doubles as smugglers that try to stay a
step ahead of Alliance federalis. Also in pursuit are a
group of vicious predators known as Reavers and whomever
else Mal manages to offend in one episode or other. His crew
consists of Zoe, his number 1 (Gina Torres); Wash, pilot and
husband to Zoe (Alan Tudyk); Kaylee, engineer (Jewel Staite);
and Jayne, the muscle whose loyalties are always in question
(Adam Baldwin).
In the pilot, they pick up four paying passengers who, by
the end of the episode, seem likely to be here for the
duration: Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Maher) and his sister, River
(Summer Glau); Inara (Morena Baccarin), a registered
"companion" – or classy prostitute if you will, who seems to
have an uncomfortable recent history with Mal, and a
preacher fellow – maybe – named Shepherd Book (Ron Glass). A
good deal of the series is motivated by River, a super
intelligent creature who had been in the hands of the
Alliance for a couple years, where they did all sorts of
unspeakable things to get at or enhance her potential.
That's why Simon arranged to have her kidnapped into his
protection and how Mal came to pick them up.
Image:
5/7
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
I'm thinking Firefly looks pretty good considering that in
2002 high-definition video was just a twinkle in the eye –
and this is made for TV stuff. Not that the series wasn't
shot with care, and not that a number of older sitcoms don't
look perfectly glorious on DVD. One contributor might be all
the CGI and how much it eats away at resolution if big bucks
aren't spent: TV material wasn't the likely destination for
such money.
It makes sense to me that the producers wouldn’t want to
alternate between sharply filmed scenes over here and
murkier scenes over there without good cause. That said,
there are moments of relative clarity. Then there's the fact
that Joss really wasn't going for a picture perfect image,
even though he shot the series on 35mm film. Fine detail or
awesome resolution is not the objective here - after all,
the action takes place on a tramp ship and in bizarre, often
dimly lit fantasy locations. On the other hand, contrast
(while at times extending beyond the limits of the medium)
and color are generally appropriate to the scene and the
thrust of the art direction. In those darker scenes, grain
is significant, yet blacks remain noiseless after a moment
of noticeable noise in the pilot episode during the
nighttime battle just as the story gets under way. I didn’t
find a repeat performance. Edge enhancement rarely makes
itself felt.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
7/8
I had more trouble than I expected with the dialogue – and,
after seven years with Buffy, I would have thought this
would have come easier. But, no, it's just a shade whatever
the opposite of crisp is. On the other hand, the music and
effects were most cool, a nice 5.1 DTS HD-MA upgrade from
the 2.0 of the DVD: enveloping, spacious and with all manner
of armament fire and ship noises in all the right places.
It's not Hellboy, and doesn't aspire to be.
Operations:
7
The menu operations take a bit of getting used to, seems
there's more clicks needed to get where you want to,
especially if your destination is a special feature, but the
good news is that a return to the menu brings you back top
wherever you left off. There are itty bitty descriptions of
destinations. Also nice.
Extras:
6
All the extra features from the 2006 DVD release are
imported to the new Blu-ray, including the audio
commentaries by a mix of various cast and creative staff on
eight episodes and the half-hour making-of featurette,
easily the best of the bonus bits, including the new one
made for the Blu-ray. The new bonus feature is the Firefly
Roundtable with Joss, Nathan, Alan & Ron. It's the only
extra in HD, for all its worth, since the lion's share of it
is just talking heads in widescreen. Still we all would have
complained if it weren't. The boys reminisce about their
experiences on the show – and a good time is had by all. The
trailer for Joss Whedon's upcoming TV series, Dollhouse,
though 4:3, looks good.
Bottom line:
7
For all its lackluster image and only pretty good sound,
this is a fun series. Firefly is entertaining and not
without its moral complexities – a Joss Whedon trademark.
Leonard Norwitz
November 12th, 2008
April 19th, 2010