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Serenity and Universal Studios - Hero and Goat
01/10/2005 . Source: Aleta Vinas 
In the course of three days Universal Studios managed to take the prize for being Big Damn Heroes and bottom of the barrel scum. Aleta Vinas reports from the Hollywood premiere of the science fiction movie Serenity. Buy Serenity in the USA - or Buy Serenity in the UK  Willie Wonka's Golden Tickets were more difficult to come by but certainly no more coveted than a ticket to the Hollywood premiere of Serenity at Universal CityWalk on September 22nd. I was one of the lucky ones with a ticket.
The movie, Serenity, picks up about six months after the TV series Firefly ends. Fox abruptly cancelled the critically acclaimed Firefly in 2002 after 11 episodes. Heavy DVD sales of the series and fan support prompted Universal to green light the movie. Series creator, Joss Whedon, best known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, penned and directed Serenity.
Firefly/Serenity fans called Browncoats, after the Independent and losing side (but not necessarily the wrong side) of the war in Firefly, lined the red carpet of the CityWalk Theater hours before the 7:30 scheduled premiere.
Browncoats, who only knew each other through the fan boards, met and shared Firefly stories of who introduced them to the series, when and how many DVD sets they purchased and gave as gifts and of course, how many Browncoats they've recruited.
After standing with the crowd shouting and screaming and watching the fashionably late arrival of some of the stars it was time to head into the theater. My friend, Wendy and I gleefully clutched our passes and walked down the red carpet, not quite believing just several hours earlier we were in St. Petersburg, Florida.
There's no skimping at a premiere, bags of popcorn and bottles of soda lined the concession counters for the legions of Browncoats filing into the theater.
From our assigned first row seats we were able to watch the arrivals. Ooooo look, there's Sean (Sean Maher who plays Dr. Simon Tam), he's even more handsome in person. There's Adam (Baldwin who plays mercenary Jayne Cobb), is he hot or what? Doesn't Morena (Baccarin who plays Companion Inara Serra) look beautiful? Actually all the ladies looked stunning. The one no show was Gina Torres.
The lights flashed the five minute warning and everyone settled in for 119 minutes of non-stop action. This premiere was my fourth viewing of Serenity. For my friend, it was her first. The first of many, I dare say.
The movie was E ticket all the way but once the credits rolled and the lights came up thoughts turned to the after party, which was part of our tickets. Actually first thoughts were a bee-line to the ladies room along with half the theater. On the way, Wendy had her most memorable encounters, turning the corner she bumped into Sean and while still in a daze, accidentally ran into Adam. I sopped up the melted puddle on that floor that was now my friend and we made the ladies room without further incident. I secretly hoped I would have the same kind of encounter on the way out, particularly with Nathan, sigh.
For the after party a small area near the Globe Theater at Universal was set aside. Hot trays with French fries, burgers and mini calzones lined the walkways. Open bars stood at each corner. I'd hate to see the bar bill alone after treating hundreds of fans to open bar for a few hours.
The biggest treat was inside the Globe Theater. Chocolate fountains, white, milk and dark were the center pieces of long tables spread with fruit, marshmallows and other yummies. My friend and I dutifully interrogated it. The décor was Oriental, for the American-Chinese totalitarian government that runs the Firefly/Serenity 'verse.
The vast majority of fans heeded the letter that was included in our invitations which said no cameras and no autographs. The fans, me included, were certainly well behaved. There were small groups of fans surrounding each star and creator Joss Whedon but everyone waited their turn to have a few words with their favorite.
I had the pleasure to meet Summer Glau (who plays psychic River Tam) for the first time and she proclaimed to me "you look beautiful." I won't forget that moment coming from someone who looks like a fairy tale princess. She is as sweet as she is lovely and I wish I had more time but some friends or family were seeking her presence.
I consoled myself by wandering over to where Sean and some Browncoats were talking. When my turn came I introduced myself and muttered something probably very fan geek. I asked for a hug and without hesitation he said "sure." Purrrr, whereby I spent the next few moments as a melted puddle on the floor, when once again whole I walked on air and tried, unsuccessfully, to get near some of the other stars. When I noticed my feet once again touching the ground, I glided over to Sean and simply asked for another hug, hey there was nothing in the rules against asking for a hug. He once again obliged and I floated for the rest of the evening.
Universal had succeeded in throwing one Big Damn Shindig for the cast, crew and fans of Serenity. I just hope it was as shiny for the cast and crew as it was for the fans.
Now fast forward to Saturday, September 24th and the Fan Fest at Universal. I should have gotten a hint at the kind of day it would be when the ticket person showed us a sign saying Joss Whedon couldn't make it. Wendy and I beat feet to find the table with the blue wristbands which "guaranteed" us an autograph because they were "only" giving out about 350. The cast would be there for an hour. You do the math…, let's remember this for later. Next stop was the orange wristbands for the question and answer session, about 1600 bands were available.
Before I skewer Universal for poor mathematics, as if they've NEVER had a fan fest before, I have to compliment them on the wristband idea. I'd had visions of having to make the choice between standing on line for the Q & A session or the autograph session. The wristbands allowed for the fans to check out the park with no worries, or so I thought.
Meanwhile outside the park, even while I was lucky enough to be sporting two wristbands inside, people were being told at the gate that all the wristbands for the events were gone. This turned out to be false; I learned this bit of info from the fan site www.fireflyfans.net. The autograph session bands were likely long gone, remember those 350 fans that divides into 60 minutes… but there were plenty of Q & A bands left. The partly empty Fear Factor Theater should have been another hint that something was amiss.
Our next minor disappointment came when the seven chairs on the stage for the Q & A was lessened to six. No one announced who had cancelled, so we don't know if it was Whedon's chair removed or if another cast member had cancelled. There was a multiple choice trivia game to take our mind off the fact that the session was late in starting. It was painfully obvious the trivia questions were not looked over for accuracy by anyone who knew Firefly.
Every Browncoat knows that the necklace Zoë wears does not represent her marriage to Wash, though Whedon states this in one of the DVD commentaries. We know this because she is wearing the necklace when she meets Wash for the first time. Secondly we know that it's the small, concealable weapons go to the far left of the place setting, not the grenades. Not many of the cast members showed up, Adam and Summer made it. Also attending were Chris Buchanan one of the producers, Loni Peristere of Zoic Studios, the creators of the visual effects and Yan and Raphael Feldman who played the twins Mingo and Fanty. Most of the audience questions were geared to Adam and Summer.
All the guests were honest, funny and entertaining in the allotted time. When Summer was asked her least favorite thing about her character River, she replied "I wish that River brushed her hair a little bit." Probably the best response to a question came from the Feldman's; they were asked if they were Firefly fans prior to being cast in Serenity. They bought the DVD sets and "it was one of those things where you get instantly addicted and I would literally be late for appointments because I was watching, and I'm thinking 'just one more'." Welcome to being a Browncoat!
Once the Q & A ended, believing that my magic wristband would get me into the autograph session (how's that math coming), my friend and I walked leisurely to the Globe Theater (wow, déjà vu) and got on line with the other 350 folks that were "guaranteed" an autograph. The line moved slowly with groups of about 25 being sent in at a time, I wasn't worried, I had my magic wristband. About 50 minutes into the signing there were rumblings of closing the line, the stars leaving etc. The approximately 75 of us that were left were not happy to say the least. Those of us, including myself who would have been in the next group to go in were particularly unhappy.
The vast majority of us were at Universal that day with the specific intent of attending the Fan Fest and seeing the cast, and we were rather well controlled, considering we were just shut out of something we were supposedly "guaranteed."
I guess I forgot to check the "fine print" or read between the lines. The Universal staff was very apologetic. Their apologies came across to me as empty but they did say they were gathering up some freebies for the left out Browncoats and we would be allowed inside the theater where there were many props and set pieces from Serenity set up. They also had the five remaining guests quickly signing some autograph cards for us. Regrettably, Summer was the one that had to leave early. So I did get my "guaranteed" autograph, though certainly not in the preferred manner. Nothing buys bygones, like Serenity freebies, I just can't help wondering, how they ever thought 350 fans would make it through in 60 minutes.
May I suggest to the organizers of this unhappy scenario that they plan a Fan Fest at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida and show the East Coast Browncoats they really can do it better and have everyone go home happy?
For those of you unable to attend the premiere or Fan Fest, I noticed Brian and Jeremy, the DVD guys from www.donetheimpossible.com taking videos at the Q & A and the autograph session. The Done the Impossible team is producing a fan documentary about the rise and fall and rise again of Firefly. There are fan and cast and crew interviews in the high definition documentary which is due out in November. Just in time for Christmas for the Browncoat that has everything.
After we Browncoats fork over enough hard earned dollars to have Universal green light at least two sequels for Joss and the crew, what's next? When I was walking down Hollywood Boulevard on the way to the Metro Station, I noticed a nice large space in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater perfect for the cast of Serenity to place their hands and feet prints. Maybe right next to the Star Trek crew …
Aleta Vinas
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