User:Saberwyn/Serenity (ship)

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Serenity is a fictional Firefly class spaceship appearing in Joss Whedon's Firefly television series and related works. Set in the 25th century, the series revolves around nine characters who form the crew of Serenity, a small transport ship, as they try to make a living through various legal and illegal means.

Contents

[edit] 'Overview'

Serenity first appeared in the pilot episode of Joss Whedon's Firefly, which is set in they year 2517, in a star system humanity migrated to after using all of Earth's resources. She is the property of Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), a former sergeant the losing side of a civil war ending six years before the series.[1] Mal acquires Serenity from a used spaceship yard after the war (as depicted in flashbacks during "Out of Gas"), intending to hire a small crew and take various jobs to support himself and wartime comrade Corporal Zoe Alleyne, while keeping out of the way of the the Alliance, the multi-planetary government Mal and Zoe were fighting against.[2] Other flashbacks in "Out of Gas" show how the rest of the main crew came to join the ship; pilot Hoban "Wash" Washburne (Alan Tudyk), engineer Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite), and mercenary Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin), as well as Inara Serra (Morena Baccarin), a courtesan who hires out one of Serenity's two shuttlecraft. At the start of the series, the episode "Serenity" depicts the arrival of the other three members of the ensemble cast as passengers aboard the ship: a preacher (or shepherd) Derrial Book (Ron Glass), a fugitive doctor Simon Tam (Sean Maher), and his psychic and psychotic sister River (Summer Glau).

In the original pilot episode, "Serenity", Serenity is described as a Firefly class transport ship by an Alliance starship crew, while Shepherd Book identifies her as an "aught three" model, with both parties implying that the class is an old design.[3] In the episode "The Train Job", which was created as a replacement pilot episode when Fox Broadcasting Company decided that the original pilot was not good enough to be aired, River identifies the ship as a "Midbulk transport, standard radion-accelerator core, classcode 03-K64, Firefly".[4] Although not stated in the aired episodes, the origin of the ship's name comes from the Battle of Serenity Valley, the final action of the civil war, in which both Mal and Zoe both fought. The revelation was made in a deleted scene from the episode "Serenity", where Zoe tells Simon that "Once you've been in Serenity [Valley], you never leave. You just learn to live there."[5] The Serenity Valley connetion is mentioned in the episode "Bushwhacked", although the reason behind the name is not given.[6] The capabilities of the ship are not elaborated on in aired material, beyond the fact that she is small, unarmed, defenceless except for decoy buoys used to either mimic other ships (in the episode "Serenity") or Serenity herself (in the film Serenity) and, like all other ships in the fictional universe, incapable of faster-than-light travel. In 2007, Geoffrey Mandel (the graphic designer from the film) and Tim Earls (the series illustrator and film set designer) produced an official set of Serenity blueprints, which included technical data for the ship.[7] According to the blueprints, Serenity was laid down in August 2459.[8] The ship is 269 feet (82 m) long, 170 feet (52 m) at its widest point, and stands 79 feet (24 m) high when landed.[8] Serenity weighs 282,500 pounds (128,100 kg), is capable of carrying 164,900 pounds (74,800 kg) of cargo and 18 passengers, can achieve an acceleration of 4.2 g, and has a maximum range of 440 astronomical units.[8]

Serenity and ships of her type are constantly talked down: throughout the episodes Serenity is variously refered to as a "flying piece of go se (crap)",[9][10] "luh-suh (garbage)",[11] or "junk".[12] However, in the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds", a mechanic from a starship chop shop claims that while the ship is a load of worthless parts and isn't as attractive as other vessels, the value of a Firefly class ship comes from its durability and ease of repair.[13] Kaylee regularly defends the reputation of the ship, while Joss Whedon regards Serenity as the tenth character of the series, as the relationships between the characters and the ship and how the audience reacts to the ship is as important as the relationships between and the reactions to the other main characters.[14]

[edit] Design and filming

The overall design of Serenity was conceived by Joss Whedon, before he handed it off to production designer Carey Meyer, who is credited with the design of the ship, for fleshing out.[15][16] The shape of the ship was first conceived when Whedon was searching for a title for the show.[17] While looking for something "that's got motion and strength", Whedon settled on 'firefly', which also conveyed the insignificance of the ship and crew in the grand scheme.[17] Whedon also wanted to quickly establish how much space there was aboard the ship, and how the different rooms were placed in relation to each other, while avoiding the impression that there "fourteen-hundred decks and a holodeck and an all-you-can-eat buffet in the back."[16] He wanted a ship that looked and felt like it was used and lived in, to the extent that he claims "One of the first things I thought was, I'm gonna have a ship with a toilet," which appeared as a pull-out drawer in Mal Reynolds' cabin in "Serenity".[18]

The design that Joss Whedon, Carey Meyer, and Loni Peristere (the visual effects supervisor from Zoic Studios) fleshed out was based on Whedon's decision that the ship would have the qualities of a bird mixed with those of a firefly.[19] The long neck was one of the bird-like features, while the enlarged abdomen reflected the bug.[19] The insect metaphor also reflected the ship's position in relation to the Alliance, the all-powerful government in the series.[19] The main method of propulsion was developed from the idea of using a fusion explosion behind the ship to propel it at greater speeds than normal.[20] This idea was used to justify causing the 'tail' section of Serenity to glow like a firefly before the explosion caused the ship to rocket away.[20] For secondary propulsion; allowing such a large object to fly gracefully in atmosphere and perform controlled landings, the group added two engines, each on a stubby wing projecting from the side of the ship.[20] The engines were designed to rotate, giving Serenity VTOL capability, and would fold down and in like a bird's wings when the ship was inactive.[20] Because the director, production designer, and visual effects supervisor collaborated on the design, Serenity shows less inconsistency between the size of the interior and exterior than other science-fiction spaceships.[7]

[edit] Interior

External images
Diagram showing the internal layout of the upper and lower decks
Diagram showing the layout of the crew cabins and cargo bay catwalks

The interior of the ship has two levels or decks. The upper deck starts at the head of the ship, with the brigde area. This leads to the neck corridor, which contains ladders down the the crew quarters, an airlock to Serenity’s exterior in a small side corridor, and connects the bridge to the rest of the ship. Next along is the dining area and kitchen, which is followed by another passageway leading to the engine room at the rear of the ship. The lower deck starts with the main airlock, which leads directly into the cargo bay. Behind the cargo bay is a common area and the ship's infirmary. At the back end of the lower deck is a number of passenger quarters, ranging in size from small rooms (used by the characters) to small tubes like those in Japanese capsule hotels (not seen in detail on screen).[21] The two decks are linked by stairwells between the neck and the cargo bay, and between the aft passageway and the common area. A network of gantries around the walls of the cargo bay extend from the nearby stairwells, and also provide access to the ship's two short-range shuttlecraft, one of which is hired out to Inara as her place of residence and business.

Whedon came up with the idea of building each deck of Serenity as a contiguous set, so that he could establish the size of the spaceship, and film scenes where the actors could be followed as they moved around the ship.[22][23] The two sets were built on seperate sound stages, making second unit filming possible.[23] The opening to the film highlights this: a 4 1/2 minute shot (technically two shots connected together) near the start of the movie follows Mal from the bridge as he walks along the entire upper deck set, down a set of stairs near the engine room (where the cut is hidden by a whip pan from Mal to Simon at 12:15) and back along the lower deck set to the cargo bay.[24][25] This shot (and similar shots in the early episodes) were intended to establish the space which made up the ship, and where locations were in relation to each other.[24]

Having the sets constructed as contiguous decks had several advantages for the cast and crew: Joss Whedon would physically move around on the sets to help him in writing or blocking difficult scenes,[26] Summer Glau (playing River Tam) would often walk around the set to get into character and prepare for filming,[27] while other cast members would use the set as a green room or a place to relax.[28] The sets were built with all walls and ceilings, but designed so that walls, ceilings, and large objects could be moved to facilitate filming.[21][29] Director of photography David Boyd chose to use small hand-held cameras for interior filming, which in turn enhanced the 'documentary' feel Whedon wanted for the series.[29] Lighting was provided by lights built into the ship, which were designed to appear practical and realistic.[30]

Information on rooms

  • The crew quarters were built separately from the main sets.[31] They were constructed with a curve to one wall, to reinforce the shape of the ship's neck and remind viewers that they were on a spaceship.[31] Mal's cabin set had the hatch and immediately surrounding hallway constructed for a scene in the episode "Serenity".[31]
  • Carey Meyer developed a colour scheme for the rooms, generally ranging from warm colours near the engine room to cool colours near the bridge.[32] Each room or space was also intended to have its own character, which would reflect the characters that spent the most time in each room.[32] For example, the warm, rusty brown colour of the engine room reflected both the engine's attributes of heat and power, as well as the earthiness, warmth, sexuality, and optimism of Kaylee (Jewel Staite), while the clean, sterile, and white/blue infirmary was both a match to Simon Tam's role as a doctor and the character's personality and Alliance background.[32][16]
  • The dining room consisted of yellow walls (which were intended to be warm but more diffuse when compared to the engine room) that were decorated with a floral pattern, which Whedon envisioned as being the work of Kaylee.[33] A large wooden table was located in the centre of the dining room, which lent itself to communal scenes; Adam Baldwin, who played Jayne Cobb, remembered filming such scenes as the "most special times".[33]
  • The bridge area was the 'home' of Wash (Alan Tudyk), the ship's pilot.[34] It was designed to merge the ideas of a ship's bridge and an aircraft's cockpit: somewhere that resembled the packed-in command area of the space tug Nostromo from Alien, but had enough space to allow all nine characters to be present and interact.[35] Originally, the area in front of the two control consoles was designed as a lounge area, but it was removed as Whedon wanted the bridge to be "about business".[35] The pilot station was decorated with Wash's toy dinosars,[citation needed] and had the pilot's "magic three switches", which Alan Tudyk found himself always flicking first when instructed to do anything during scenes (from activiating communications to taking off and running away) because they "made good 'chicky' sounds".[34][36]
  • The cargo bay yadda yadda yadda. The cargo bay airlock could be removed from the rest of the set and transported to other locations, allowing it to be 'docked' with sets representing other ships or placed on location, allowing for continuous filming from inside the airlock through to the other set or out onto the location, while avoiding the need to intercut between location and soundstage filming.[37] This was used twice: first in "Buskwhacked" to 'connect' Serenity to a disused Power Rangers spaceship set adapted for the episode, then again in the film for the ship's second visit to Haven.[37][38]

[edit] Exterior

physical sets

  • The lower deck set incorporated the front of the ship, including the cargo bay door and surrounding hull, the forward landing gear, and the engine nacelles, as well as a small amount of soundstage area where scenery could be placed in front of the ship.[39][40] Digital effects were used to add the rest of the ship in during post-production.[41] The lower deck was built on Stage 16, which was built over a water tank 36 metres (120 ft) long by 45 metres (150 ft) wide, which was installed for the filming of underwater scenes in Alien Resurrection.[42][43] The tank was located under Serenity′s cargo bay door, and Whedon wanted to do a scene in an episode using the tank: several characters would run through the cargo bay and jump off the ramp into the tank, which would be dressed as a lake or lagoon.[42]

The section of outer hull from the base of the neck to the windows above the dining/common area was also constructed.[22] Nicknamed the 'tortoiseshell', this set was used for scenes in "Bushwhacked", "Trash", and "Objects in Space".[22]

Digital model

  • Loni Peristere from Zoic Studios was brought in early during the design process to co-ordinate the visual effects from the series, including those related to Serenity.[44] Peristere was instructed by Whedon to depart from the standard 'filming' techniques for digital sequences, and instead replicate the documentary style of filming Whedon intended for the live-action sequences.[45]

Digital filming

Visual effects for the Serenity's movie appearance were again created by Zoic, this time with Emile Edwin Smith in charge.[49]

A 15 feet (4.6 m) practical model was built by Grant McCune Design for the crash-landing sequence in the film (from 1.25:25 to 1.26:02), which was the only non-CGI exterior of the entire ship used in either the series or film.[50][51] The scene was filmed as miniature effects, and was enhanced digitally by Illusion Arts, who added sparks, debris, and an exploding engine.[50][51]

[edit] Differences between series and film

External images
Animation showing the difference between the engine pod digital models used in the television series and movie [52]

Among the changes made to Serenity between the series and the movie, the most significant were to the digital model. The digital model for the ship was re-used from the series, but as it was created for standard-definition television, the level of texture and detail had to be increased significantly to the 2K digital cinema definition standard.[48][53] Although the leap from television to cinema definition was significant, ZOIC had previously upgraded its infrastructure to the level of high-definition television, required for the digital effects in the reaimagined Battlestar Galactica.[50]

Sets end up on same stage.[24] Were they destroyed and rebuilt, or just moved?

[edit] Appearances

As Serenity is the the main ship used by the characters in the series, it has appeared in all fourteen episodes of Firefly, the Serenity movie, and the comic miniseries. Several episodes are set entirely aboard the ship.


[edit] Reaction

Many of the reviewers of the series and movie reflect the common in-universe opinion of the ship; describing Serenity as a "battered old jalopy of a space craft",[54] "a rattletrap transport ship ... held together by 26th-century chewing gum and duct tape",[55] or "a ship that seems to be held together with baling wire and paper clips",[56] Some reviewers, while making comparisons between Firefly′s Malcolm Reynolds and Han Solo from Star Wars, invoke the Millenium Falcon when talking about Serenity.[57][58]

  • Good Stuff Here
  • The staff at IGN have placed Serenity at number five in their list of favourite spaceships in a January 2008 article.[59]

[edit] Cameo appearances

The popularity of Serenity has resulted in several cameo appearances in other science fiction works.

In the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries/pilot, a ship resembling Serenity appears in the background of the scene where Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) is diagnosed with breast cancer.[60] Serenity is one of several spaceships inserted as cameoes into digital effects scenes by Zoic Studios, the company responsible for digital effects in both Firefly and Battlestar Galactica.[60]

In Firefly, several ships from Star Wars were inserted as cameoes (including a Lambda-class shuttle in "Serenity" and a Mobquet Transport from the Dark Empire comics in "Shindig" and "War Stories"). In reply, Thomas Hodges, the artist for 2006 Star Wars webcomic Evasive Action drew Serenity in one of the scenes.[61]

[edit] Recreations

Serenity has also been reproduced and detailed in various forms, primarily as merchandise.

In August 2006, Dark Horse Comics released a 6 inch (15 cm) ornament of the ship.[62] Following the success of the product, Dark Horse announced a limited edition ornament of Serenity in her Reaver 'camouflage' from the movie in December, with the production quantity determined by the number of pre-orders between then and March 2007.[63]

Quantum Mechanix has released two sets of blueprints for the ship: first as a 10 page limited edition run of 750 sets in April 2007,[7] then as a 33 page general release, which was smaller in size but contained additional information about both Serenity and the overall ship class.[64] The blueprints were created by Geoffrey Mandel (the graphic designer from the film) and Tim Earls (the series illustrator and film set designer), with information contributed by those who worked on the sets and CGI models,[7] and was "a nice side effect" of research done by Quantum Mechanix and The FX Company as part of a project to produce an 18 inch (46 cm, approximately 1:180 scale), screen-accurate collectors model.[65]

One fan has constructed a LEGO model of Serenity, using over 3,000 bricks.[66] The fan has released plans for a smaller, 'Snack sized' model of the ship.[67]

[edit] Stuff I don't know where to put yet

"the sci-fi equivalent of a tramp steamer",[68] quote about what the ship is does not fit in with reviewer putdowns, but belongs somewhere

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Shooting script for "Serenity". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pp 14-18
  2. ^ Shooting script for "Out of Gas". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pg 41
  3. ^ Shooting script for "Serenity". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pgs 20, 24
  4. ^ Shooting script for "The Train Job". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 57
  5. ^ Shooting script for "Serenity". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 43
  6. ^ Shooting script for "Bushwhacked". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 57
  7. ^ a b c d The Official Serenity Blueprints (PDF). QMx Insider p. 1. Quantum Mechanix. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  8. ^ a b c Geoffrey Mandel & Timothy Earls, (2007). Official Sereity Blueprint Set. Quantum Mechanix (QMx SER-004).
  9. ^ Shooting script for "Shidig". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 112
  10. ^ Shooting script for "Out of Gas". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pg 58
  11. ^ Shooting script for "Safe". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 129
  12. ^ Shooting script for "Out of Gas". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pgs 41, 56
  13. ^ Shooting script for "Our Mrs. Reynolds". In Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 163
  14. ^ Joss Whedon, in Serenity: The 10th Character, 00:52-01:14
  15. ^ Film record - Serenity.
  16. ^ a b c Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 10
  17. ^ a b Joss Whedon & Nathan Fillion, "Serenity" - Audio Commentary, 39:30-39:58
  18. ^ Jensen, Jeff. "Galaxy Quest", Entertainment Weekly, 2002-09-13, pp. 4. ISSN 1049-0434. Retrieved on 2008-05-09. 
  19. ^ a b c Loni Peristere & Carey Meyer, in Serenity: The 10th Character, 05:45-06:44
  20. ^ a b c d Loni Peristere & Carey Meyer, in Serenity: The 10th Character, 06:46-08:10
  21. ^ a b Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 11
  22. ^ a b c Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pg 37
  23. ^ a b Joss Whedon, Carey Meyer, & Nathan Fillion, in Serenity: The 10th Character, 04:00-04:44
  24. ^ a b c Joss Whedon Serenity - Audio Commentary, 10:30-12.48
  25. ^ Thomas, David (2007). The Ten Best Tracking Shots Ever. Filmcritic.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
  26. ^ Joss Whedon, "Objects in Space" - Audio Commentary, 21:07-22:20
  27. ^ Summer Glau, in Serenity: The 10th Character, 08:13-08:36
  28. ^ Alan Tudyk & Adam Baldwin, in Serenity: The 10th Character, 08:37-09:07
  29. ^ a b Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pg 38
  30. ^ Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pg 84
  31. ^ a b c Joss Whedon & Nathan Fillion, "Serenity" - Audio Commentary, 34:52-35:35
  32. ^ a b c Carey Meyer & Joss Whedon, in Serenity: The 10th Character, 01:17-02:06
  33. ^ a b Joss Whedon & Adam Baldwin, in Serenity: The 10th Character, 02:20-02:45
  34. ^ a b Adam Baldwin & Alan Tudyk, in Serenity: The 10th Character, 03:08-03:48
  35. ^ a b Joss Whedon & Nathan Fillion, "Serenity" - Audio Commentary, 59:55-1.01:00
  36. ^ Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk, "War Stories" - Audio Commentary, 7:02-7:24
  37. ^ a b Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 84
  38. ^ Joss Whedon Serenity - Audio Commentary, 1.02:33-1.02:47
  39. ^ Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pgs 34, 37
  40. ^ Joss Whedon & Nathan Fillion, "Serenity" - Audio Commentary, 22:10-22:35
  41. ^ Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume One, pg 158
  42. ^ a b Joss Whedon & Nathan Fillion, "Serenity" - Audio Commentary, 22:35-23:00
  43. ^ Hochman, David (1997-12-05). Beauties and the Beast. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2008-06-01. p. 2
  44. ^ Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pg 182
  45. ^ Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pp 182-185
  46. ^ Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pg 184
  47. ^ Firefly: The Official Companion - Volume Two, pg 185
  48. ^ a b Beckwith, pg 2
  49. ^ Beckwith, pg 1
  50. ^ a b c Goldman, 2005, p. 13
  51. ^ a b Joss Whedon Serenity - Audio Commentary, 1.25:40-1.26:10
  52. ^ TV versus Movie Serenity: It’s All In The Details, Part 1. Firefly Ship Works. The FX Company (2008-05-21). Retrieved on 2008-01-02.
  53. ^ Moltenbrey, 2005, p. 40
  54. ^ Ide, Wendy. "Serenity", The Knowledge (The Saturday Times), 2005-10-08, p. 12. 
  55. ^ Pennington, Gail. "Future that looks like the past: Shag rugs, six-shooters, no monsters", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2002-09-18. 
  56. ^ Hartlaub, Peter. "'Serenity' earns director Whedon spot on sci-fi's Mount Rushmore", San Fransisco Chronicle, 2005-09-30, p. E1. 
  57. ^ Toto, Christian. "Soul of 'Serenity' holds promise", The Washington Times, 2005-09-30, p. D02. 
  58. ^ Howell, Peter. "Thrill ride on the wing of Serenity", Toronto Star, 2005-09-30, p. C03. 
  59. ^ IGN Staff (2008-01-22). Ships of the Line pg 2. IGN.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
  60. ^ a b David Bassom (2007), Battlestar Galactica: the official companion, p. 148
  61. ^ TDHArtist (Thomas Hodges) (2006-03-14, 9:29 pm). Daily Hyperspace SW Comic Strip Adventures Discussion-"Rookies" & "Evasive Action: End Game" (Forum post). TheForce.net Jedi Council Forums. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  62. ^ Serenity Ornament. DarkHorse.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
  63. ^ Serenity Ornament. DarkHorse.com (2006-12-22). Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
  64. ^ The Official Serenity Blueprints Reference Pack (PDF). QMx Insider p. 1. Quantum Mechanix. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  65. ^ The Search For Intelligent Reference in The ‘Verse. Firefly Ship Works. The FX Company (2008-05-14). Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  66. ^ Doyle, Chris. ReasonblyClever - Sereneity LEGO-ized (and subpages). ReasonablyClever.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  67. ^ Doyle, Chris. ReasonblyClever - Snack sized Serenity (and subpages). ReasonablyClever.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  68. ^ Eagan, Daniel (September 2005). "Finding Serenity". Film Journal International 108 (9): 10-12. ISSN 1526-9884. 

[edit] Reference list

[edit] Visual media

  • Cite the DVD box set
    • List the individual features used (audio commentaries, special features) and disc/track location

[edit] Books

  • Bassom, David (2007). Battlestar Galactica: the official companion. London: Titan Books. ISBN 9781845764784. OCLC 141382921. 
  • (July 2006) Firefly: The Official Companion, First ed. Volume One, London: Titan Books. ISBN 9781845763145. 
  • (April 2007) Firefly: The Official Companion, First ed. Volume Two, London: Titan Books. ISBN 9781845763725. 

[edit] Articles

Journals, newspaper, magazines, interviews. Multi-page websites of the above also here

[edit] External links