While picking up the original King Kong and remake at the store awhile back, we also picked up Serenity (affiliate) on DVD [Hmm review here].

The big question for the DVD release for fans (who already caught it on the silver screen) to go along with the short-lived on TV cult hit Firefly was: what about the extras?

Serenity DVD extras
- Over 20 minutes of deleted scenes and outtakes
- Joss Whedon Introduction: Re-lighting The Firefly: The story of how a television show gained enough of a cult following to become a major feature film
- Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Joss Whedon

Sorry fellow Browncoat fans, I was disappointed in the extras. In talking to one of my friends, FranciscoIV, another Firefly fan, he wasn’t originally excited about the extras either, although I noticed he has since warmed up to them. He blogged about it highly recommending the DVD:

[Joss Whedon] is so passionate about his work yet also very realistic about his and the works limitations. He gives plenty of detail about both the technical aspects of making this movie as well as some of the phylosophical aspects.

Whedon’s directory commentary track aside, his early introduction was promising but then we don’t actually get to see the early version of Serenity. I would like to have been able to see that rough cut version (without the special effects). Yeah, I’m sure I’m in a very small minority, but I’m curious how the film evolved. Also, the interviews with the cast are not long or detailed enough for a series that went off air so quickly and Joss Whedon worked so hard to get made into a movie.

Specifically, the characters that bite the dust in the film (no spoilers), was there a contract problem? Did they only agree to do one film? There are behind-the-scenes stories in the making of this film that we didn’t get to see in version 1.0 of the Serenity DVD.

Another cheap DVD marketing ploy. The first DVD that comes out rarely has all the good stuff, although more and more Collector’s Editions are being launched simultaneously with the regular DVDs. The studio practice seems to be to test the market for sales and if it’s positive then later they will come out with some super, fantastic, wiz-bang, ultra, raw director’s cut. Serenity — marketed as a movie for the fans — wasn’t marketed as a DVD for the fans. At least not the first DVD. I suspect we’ll see another one come out that delivers more.

The problem with not buying this DVD is if sales are poor we might never be able to get the real collector’s edition, so it’s a catch 22. Argh. If you loved the Firefly series, you’ll love the movie and right now the only fix for that in town is the DVD.

The BBC viewer poll picked Serenity up as the #1 film of the year. Rotten Tomatoes Critics gave it an 80% fresh rating, but the box office sales (25 million) were disappointing.

Will Serenity ever fly again?

• Review: Serenity soars
• Entrepreneur lobbying for a second season of Firefly
• With fan passion on its side, Serenity flies next Friday
• Let’s hope the Firefly MMORPG will be better than Star Wars Galaxies
• Starship Troopers 3 rumor
• Bitten by 10 hours of Spider-man 2 DVD extras