The other extremes of sci-fi...

Well, after a satisfying round of "Galact-oh-yeah", I decided to step back in time for a bit and rewatch "Star Wars". As in, the first one. And I don't mean the so-called "Episode I", I mean the very first one. Which, as loath as I am to say it, is known now by the name of "Episode IV". Bleah.

Not too much to say there except that I did it as a contrast between "Battlestar Galactica" and what I rented for the evening: "Serenity".

Yes, that's right, the "Firefly" movie (which I once called "Blake's 7 with horses").

If anything, "Serenity" joins "Galactica" in the whole postmodern made-for-TV sci-fi diaspora. It continues the whole "cowboy series" dialogue of "Firefly", without any profanity or anything like that, and it even shakes up the camerawork a lot like "Galactica" does. It unfortunately departs from the "no-sound-in-space" purism that the series had, and we're subjected to engine wooshing and weapons fire in the supposdley soundless void of space.

Still, it had many cool aspects about it. And overall, I got the feel that it probably would have made an excellent anime release (reinforced by all the Asian -- Japanese or Chinese, I couldn't tell ya -- characters that everything is written in). Still, I can see why it did jack squat in the theatres. You have to be a part of that universe to feel like you want to experience any more of it. Those that never got into the series in the first place probably wouldn't find anything worth their time in this one. As cool as it is.

So, to sum up, I really don't have any sort of common thread I can use to tie up these three sci-fi series. They're all excellent in their own way. "It's all good" may as well have been my review.