Serenity (Firefly vessel) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Serenity is a fictional Firefly class spaceship appearing in Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon

Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...

's Firefly
Firefly (TV series)
Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....

television series and related works. Set in the 26th century, the series revolves around nine characters, which form the crew of the small transport ship, as they try to make a living through various legal and illegal means. Because the ship is the main setting, it appears in all fourteen episodes, the film

Serenity (film)

Serenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is a continuation of the short-lived 2002 Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set in 2518, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew of a cargo ship...

, and all of the published comics

Serenity (comics)

Several comic book stories have been released under the Serenity title, set in the fictional universe created for Joss Whedon's Firefly television series and Serenity film...

.

The ship was designed by director Joss Whedon, production designer Carey Meyer, and visual effects supervisor Loni Peristere; the interaction between the three led to a greater consistency between the live-action and digital effects representations of Serenity than in other science-fiction works. Two contiguous sets were built, between them containing the entirety of the ship's interior, which provided several advantages to the cast and crew during filming. The digital model of the ship was created by Zoic Studios

Zoic Studios

Zoic Studios is a visual effects company based in Culver City, California. They specialize in visual effects for feature films, episodic television, commercials, video games, advertising design, and interactive online media...

, with the company developing the first digital replication for television of live-action filming techniques. This was to make digital effects scenes compatible with the documentary/found-footage filming style used for live-action scenes.

Serenity is described by Whedon as the "tenth character" of the series, and some reviews compare the ship to the Millennium Falcon
Millennium Falcon
The Millennium Falcon is a spacecraft in the Star Wars universe commanded by smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee first mate, Chewbacca...

in the Star Wars franchise. She has made cameo appearances in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries

Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)

Battlestar Galactica is a three-hour miniseries written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. It was the first part of the Battlestar Galactica reimagining based on the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series, and served as a backdoor pilot for the 2004 television series...

and the Star Wars: Evasive Action webcomic.

Fictional background

Serenity first appeared in the pilot episode of Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon

's Firefly, which is set in the year 2517, in a star system humanity migrated to after using all of Earth's resources. She is the property of Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds

Malcolm Reynolds

Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a fictional character and main protagonist in the Firefly franchise. Reynolds is played by actor Nathan Fillion in the 2002 TV series Firefly and the 2005 film Serenity. In the series, Reynolds is the captain of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity...

(Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion is a Canadian actor, currently starring as Richard Castle on the ABC series Castle. He is also known for his portrayal of the lead role of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the television series Firefly and its feature film continuation, Serenity.He has acted in traditionally distributed...

), a former sergeant who served on the losing side of a civil war ending six years before the series. Mal acquires Serenity from a used spaceship yard after the war (as depicted in flashbacks during "Out of Gas

Out of Gas

"Out of Gas" is the eighth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It differs stylistically from the rest of the series, in that it tells its story alternately in three timeframes: events in the present, events in the near-past that led to the present, and...

"), 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 Alliance

Alliance (Firefly)

The Alliance is a fictional supra-governmental entity in the Serenity franchise, a powerful authoritarian government and law-enforcement organization that controls the majority of territory within the known universe...

, the multi-planetary government Mal and Zoe were fighting against. 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

Alan Tudyk

Alan Wray Tudyk is an American actor known for his roles as Simon in the British comedy Death at a Funeral, as Steve the Pirate in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, as Sonny in the science fiction drama I, Robot, as Doc Potter in 3:10 to Yuma, as Tucker in the Tucker & Dale vs Evil and as Hoban...

), engineer Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite

Jewel Staite

Jewel Belair Staite is a Canadian actress, who portrayed Catalina in Space Cases, Kaylee Frye in Firefly and Serenity, and Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis.-Personal life:...

), and mercenary Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin

Adam Baldwin

Adam Baldwin is an American actor, known for his roles as Animal Mother in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, Ricky Linderman in My Bodyguard, Knowle Rohrer in The X-Files, and Marcus Hamilton in Joss Whedon's Angel...

), as well as Inara Serra (Morena Baccarin

Morena Baccarin

Morena Baccarin is a Brazilian-born American actress most widely known for roles in several American science fiction television shows: as Inara Serra in the series Firefly; as Adria in the series Stargate SG-1; and as Anna in the 2009 version of the series V...

), a courtesan

Courtesan

A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

who hires out one of Serenity’s two shuttlecraft. At the start of the series, the episode "Serenity"

Serenity (Firefly episode)

"Serenity" is the two-hour series pilot for the American science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. However, Fox executives were not satisfied with this as a pilot, and so instead, "The Train Job" was created as a second pilot and was the first episode of the series aired....

depicts the arrival of the other three members of the ensemble cast

Ensemble cast

An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...

as passengers aboard the ship: the preacher (or shepherd) Derrial Book

Derrial Book

Derrial Book is a fictional character played by Ron Glass in the science-fiction/Western television series Firefly and its sequel movie, Serenity...

(Ron Glass

Ron Glass

Ronald E. "Ron" Glass is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as the witty Det. Ron Harris in the television sitcom Barney Miller , and as the spiritual Shepherd Derrial Book in the short-lived 2002 science fiction series Firefly and its sequel film Serenity.-Early life:Glass was...

), the fugitive doctor Simon Tam (Sean Maher

Sean Maher

Sean Maher is an American actor, best known for his role as Simon Tam in the science fiction television series Firefly and followup movie Serenity.-Early life:...

), and his psychic and psychotic sister River (Summer Glau

Summer Glau

Summer Lyn Glau is an American actress, known for playing River Tam in the science fiction series Firefly and follow-up film Serenity, and for playing Cameron in the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.-Early life:...

).

In the original pilot episode, "Serenity"

Serenity (Firefly episode)

, Serenity is described as a Firefly class transport ship by an Alliance

Alliance (Firefly)

starship crew, while Shepherd Book identifies her as an "aught three" model, with both parties implying that the class is an old design. In the episode "The Train Job

The Train Job

"The Train Job" is the second episode of the American science-fiction western television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon, although it was the first to be shown...

", which was created as a replacement pilot episode when Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

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". 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 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." The Serenity Valley connection is mentioned in the episode "Bushwhacked", although the reason behind the name is not given. The capabilities of the ship are not elaborated on in aired material, beyond the fact that she is small, unarmed, defenseless except for her speed and decoy buoys (referred to as "crybabies" used to either mimic other ships (in the episode "Serenity

Serenity (Firefly episode)

") or Serenity herself (in the film Serenity
Serenity (film)
Serenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is a continuation of the short-lived 2002 Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set in 2518, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew of a cargo ship...

)). 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. According to the blueprints, Serenity was laid down in August 2459. The ship is 269 feet (82 m) long, 170 feet (51.8 m) at its widest point, and stands 79 feet (24.1 m) high when landed. Serenity weighs 282500 pounds (128,139.8 kg), is capable of carrying 164900 pounds (74,797.4 kg) of cargo and 18 passengers, can achieve an acceleration of 4.2 g

G-force

The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...

, and has a maximum range of 440 astronomical units when carrying minimal cargo.

Serenity and ships of her type are constantly talked down: throughout the episodes Serenity is variously referred to as a "flying piece of go se (Mandarin Chinese for crap)", "luh-suh (garbage)", or "junk". However, in the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds

Our Mrs. Reynolds

"Our Mrs. Reynolds" is the sixth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon.As an unexpected reward for an unpaid job, Mal finds himself married to a naïve, subservient young woman named Saffron...

", a mechanic from a starship chop shop

Chop shop

In motor vehicle theft, a chop shop is a location or business which disassembles stolen automobiles for the purpose of selling them as parts. It may also be used to refer to a location or business that is involved with the selling of stolen or fraudulent goods in general, an example of the latter...

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. Kaylee regularly defends the reputation of the ship, while Joss Whedon

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.

Design and filming

The overall design of Serenity was conceived by Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon

, before he handed it off to production designer Carey Meyer for fleshing out. The shape of the ship was first conceived when Whedon was searching for a title for the show. While looking for something "that's got motion and strength", Whedon settled on 'firefly

Firefly

Lampyridae is a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera. They are winged beetles, and commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs for their conspicuous crepuscular use of bioluminescence to attract mates or prey. Fireflies produce a "cold light", with no infrared or ultraviolet frequencies...

', which also conveyed the insignificance of the ship and crew in the grand scheme. 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, to avoid the impression that there were "fourteen-hundred decks and a holodeck

Holodeck

A holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...

and an all-you-can-eat buffet in the back." 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".

The design that Joss Whedon, Carey Meyer, and Loni Peristere (the visual effects supervisor from Zoic Studios

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. The long neck was one of the bird-like features, while the enlarged abdomen

Abdomen

In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

reflected the bug. The insect metaphor also reflected the ship's position in relation to the Alliance

Alliance (Firefly)

, the all-powerful government in the series. 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. 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. 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. The engines were designed to rotate, giving Serenity VTOL

VTOL

A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...

capability, and would fold down and in like a bird's wings when the ship was inactive. 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.

Interior

The interior of the ship has two levels or decks. The upper deck starts at the head of the ship, with the bridge area. This leads to the neck corridor, which contains ladders down 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 hotel

Capsule hotel

A is a type of hotel with a large number of extremely small "rooms" intended to provide cheap and basic overnight accommodation for guests not requiring the services offered by more conventional hotels...

s (not seen in detail on screen). 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. The two sets were built on separate sound stages, making second unit

Second unit

In film, the second unit is a team that shoots subsidiary footage for a motion picture. Its work is distinct from that of the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving principal actors...

filming possible. The opening to the film highlights this: a 4 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

Whip pan

A whip pan is a type of pan shot in which the camera moves sideways so quickly that the picture blurs into indistinct streaks. It is commonly used as a transition between shots, and can indicate the passage of time and/or a frenetic pace of action....

from Mal to Simon at 12:15) and back along the lower deck set to the cargo bay. 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.

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

Blocking (stage)

Blocking is a theatre term which refers to the precise movement and positioning of actors on a stage in order to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, film or opera. The term derives from the practice of 19th century theatre directors such as Sir W. S...

difficult scenes, Summer Glau

Summer Glau

(playing River Tam) would often walk around the set to get into character and prepare for filming, while other cast members would use the set as a green room

Green room

In British English and American English show business lexicon, the green room is that space in a theatre, a studio, or a similar venue, which accommodates performers or speakers not yet required on stage...

or a place to relax. The sets were built with all walls and ceilings, but designed so that walls, ceilings, and large objects could be moved to facilitate filming. Director of photography David Boyd

David Boyd (cinematographer)

David R. Boyd A.S.C. is an American cinematographer, television director and camera operator best known for his role as director of photography for the FOX television series Firefly. He also worked as cinematographer on the first three episodes of HBO's Deadwood...

chose to use small hand-held cameras for interior filming, which in turn enhanced the 'documentary' feel Whedon wanted for the series. Lighting was provided by lights built into the ship, which were designed to appear practical and realistic.

Carey Meyer developed a color scheme for the rooms, generally ranging from warm colors near the engine room to cool colors near the bridge. 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. For example, the warm, rusty brown color 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

Jewel Staite

Jewel Belair Staite is a Canadian actress, who portrayed Catalina in Space Cases, Kaylee Frye in Firefly and Serenity, and Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis.-Personal life:...

), 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.

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. A large wooden table was located in the centre of the dining room, which lent itself to communal scenes.

The bridge area was the 'home' of Wash (Alan Tudyk

Alan Tudyk

), the ship's pilot. It was designed to merge the ideas of a ship's bridge and an aircraft's cockpit

Cockpit

A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin...

: somewhere that resembled the packed-in command area of the space tug Nostromo from Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...

, but had enough space to allow all nine characters to be present and interact. 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". The pilot station was decorated with Wash's toy dinosaurs, and had the pilot's "magic three switches", which Alan Tudyk found himself always flicking first when instructed to do anything during scenes (from activating communications to taking off and running away) because they "made good 'chicky' sounds".

The crew quarters were built separately from the main sets. 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. Mal's cabin set had the hatch and immediately surrounding hallway constructed for a scene in the episode "Serenity". The cargo bay airlock was designed so it 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. This was used twice: first in "Bushwhacked" to 'connect' Serenity to a disused Power Rangers
Power Rangers
Power Rangers is a long-running American entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live action children's television series featuring teams of costumed heroes...

spaceship set adapted for the episode, then again in the film for the ship's second visit to Haven.

Exterior 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. Digital effects were used to add the rest of the ship in during post-production. The lower deck was built on Stage 16, which was modified during the filming of Alien Resurrection to include a 36 by water tank under the floor for underwater scenes. The tank was located under Serenity’s cargo bay door, which Whedon planned to use in a later episode: 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.

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

Objects in Space

"Objects in Space" is the 14th episode and series finale of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. Serenity encounters Jubal Early, a ruthless professional bounty hunter who will stop at nothing to retrieve River...

Digital model

Loni Peristere from Zoic Studios

Zoic Studios

was brought in early during the design process to co-ordinate the visual effects from the series, including those related to Serenity. 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. As part of this process, Peristere developed rules for 'filming' the exterior of the ship; primarily that the digital sequences would be created as if filmed from a 'chase spaceship', with a camera operator trying to keep Serenity in frame, while reacting to the movements of both Serenity and his own ship. Zoic was the first company to use a realistic frame of reference for digitally created scenes for a television series, although Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...

was the first overall: similar effects were created for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series' internal chronology...

, which was released four months before Firefly began airing. The visual effects created for the spaceship chase scene in the episode "Serenity

Serenity (Firefly episode)

" won Zoic the 2003 Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Series.

Most of the scenes involving the ship were rendered

Rendering (computer graphics)

Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model , by means of computer programs. A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene...

in LightWave 3D. Other software used included Maya

Maya (software)

Autodesk Maya , commonly shortened to Maya, is 3D computer graphics software that runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, originally developed by Alias Systems Corporation and currently owned and developed by Autodesk, Inc. It is used to create interactive 3D applications, including video...

and mental ray

Mental Ray

mental ray is a production-quality rendering application developed by mental images . mental images was bought in December 2007 by NVIDIA.As the name implies, it supports ray tracing to generate images....

for rendering, Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...

and Body Paint for texturing, and Combustion

Combustion (software)

Combustion 2008 is the newest version of Autodesk's visual effects and compositing software tool.Combustion is a computer program "for motion graphics, compositing and visual effects" . The software retails for US$995...

or Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software published by Adobe Systems, used in the post-production process of filmmaking and television production. Its main uses are the origination of 2D and 2.5D animation, visual effects compositing and finishing...

for compositing

Compositing

Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live-action shooting for compositing is variously called "chroma key", "blue screen", "green screen" and other names. Today,...

.

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

Filming model

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. The scene was filmed as miniature effect

Miniature effect

A miniature effect is a special effect created for motion pictures and television programs using scale models. Scale models are often combined with high speed photography or matte shots to make gravitational and other effects appear convicing to the viewer...

s, and was enhanced digitally by Illusion Arts, who added sparks, debris, and an exploding engine.

Differences between series and film

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

Standard-definition television

Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...

, the level of texture and detail had to be significantly increased to the 2K digital cinema

Digital cinema

Digital cinema refers to the use of digital technology to distribute and project motion pictures. A movie can be distributed via hard drives, optical disks or satellite and projected using a digital projector instead of a conventional film projector...

definition standard. After Firefly, Zoic had upgraded their computing infrastructure to be capable of producing effects at the level required for high-definition television

High-definition television

High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...

, primarily for work on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)

Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...

. The re-detailing of Serenity took twelve weeks to complete, and went down to the level of showing individual rivet

Rivet

A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked A rivet...

s.

One of the main changes to the set was to redesign the interior of the cargo bay. The interior walls were changed from straight to slightly curved sides—designer Tim Earls had learned that rounded surfaces are better for containing pressure.

Most of the changes to the sets were minor, although the combined effect was described by Morena Baccarin

Morena Baccarin

, who played Inara Serra, as "like coming into your living room and your mom rearranged all the furniture and things aren't where they were but you're still home."

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", "a rattletrap transport ship ... held together by 26th-century chewing gum and duct tape", or "a ship that seems to be held together with baling wire and paper clips", Some reviewers, while making comparisons between Firefly’s Malcolm Reynolds

Malcolm Reynolds

and Han Solo

Han Solo

Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...

from Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

, invoke the Millennium Falcon
Millennium Falcon
The Millennium Falcon is a spacecraft in the Star Wars universe commanded by smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee first mate, Chewbacca...

when talking about Serenity.

Cameo appearances

The popularity of Serenity has resulted in several cameo appearance

Cameo appearance

A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

s in other science fiction works.

In the 2003 Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)
Battlestar Galactica is a three-hour miniseries written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. It was the first part of the Battlestar Galactica reimagining based on the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series, and served as a backdoor pilot for the 2004 television series...

miniseries/pilot, a ship resembling Serenity appears in the background of the scene where Laura Roslin

Laura Roslin

Her first actions include organizing all FTL-capable ships together and convincing Commander William Adama to abandon a retaliatory attack on the Cylons. President Roslin and Billy Keikeya, her aide/press secretary/chief of staff, establish a working office space aboard her transport, renamed...

(Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell

Mary Eileen McDonnell is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received an Academy Award nomination for her role as Stands With A Fist in Dances with Wolves, and she is also very well known for her performance as President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica, the President's wife...

) is diagnosed with breast cancer. Serenity is one of several spaceships inserted as cameos into digital effects scenes by Zoic Studios

Zoic Studios

, the company responsible for digital effects in both Firefly and Battlestar Galactica.

In Firefly, several ships from Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

were inserted as cameos (including a Lambda-class shuttle in "Serenity" and a Mobquet Transport from the Dark Empire
Dark Empire
Dark Empire is a Star Wars comic book metaseries produced by Dark Horse Comics. It consists of a six-issue limited series written by Tom Veitch and drawn by Cam Kennedy , followed by a second six-issue limited series by Veitch and Kennedy and a two-issue limited series written by Veitch and drawn...

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.

In the internet-exclusive musical film Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 2008 musical tragicomedy miniseries in three acts, produced exclusively for Internet distribution. Filmed and set in Los Angeles, the show tells the story of Dr...

, a collection of pots and pans hanging in a window in Dr. Horrible's lab created a silhouette resembling Serenity. As Dr. Horrible was created by Joss Whedon and involved Nathan Fillion as one of the cast (both people associated with Firefly) it was assumed by fans that the silhouette was an actual Serenity model, or that the pans were deliberately hung to resemble the starship. According to Jed Whedon (Joss Whedon's brother and a member of the production team), the pan-silhouette was not set up for filming but already present in the house they used as the shooting location, and was likely unintentional.

A Firefly-class ship also has a cameo in the music video for "If You Should Go" by Armin van Buuren.

Recreations

Serenity has also been reproduced and detailed in various forms, primarily as merchandise such as keychains and printed t-shirt

Printed T-shirt

A Printed T-shirt is a T-shirt bearing a design, image or lettering on it. Various types of printed T-shirts exist.-Concert T-shirt:A concert T-shirt is a T-shirt that is associated with a concert or a concert tour, usually rock or metal. Bands and musical groups often promote themselves by...

s.

In August 2006, Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

released a 6 inches (15.2 cm) ornament of the ship. Following the success of the product, Dark Horse announced a limited edition ornament of Serenity in her Reavers

Reaver (Firefly)

Reavers are a group of humans in the television series Firefly and the movie Serenity who live on the fringes of civilized space and have become animalistic...

'camouflage' from the movie in December, with the production quantity determined by the number of pre-orders between then and March 2007.

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, then as a 33 page general release, which was smaller in size but contained additional information about both Serenity and the overall ship class. 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.

The creation of the blueprints 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

Scale model

A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...

), screen-accurate collectors model. The hand-built and -painted model, completed after three years work and titled Serenity: The Big Damn Replica, was unveiled online on 21 July 2009, then physically at San Diego Comic-Con a few days later. The replica model went into production at the end of October, and was limited to 1,000 ships.

External links

Firefly Series Wiki Web.
Firefly-class mid-bulk transport - Wookieepedia
Wookieepedia
Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki is an online encyclopedia for information on the Star Wars fictional universe—including information on all six films, as well as The Clone Wars and the Expanded Universe...

page detailing the Star Wars comic appearance.
Firefly Ship Works - Website tracking the development of a screen-accurate collectors model of the ship.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.