Fox bungled the short run of Firefly by showing the episodes out of sequence—and in the worst possible time slot it could find. What a surprise—they canceled it. On the strength of word of mouth, the DVD set of the series sold so well that a movie was green-lit. Would the movie be as good as the TV show? Would it work on the big screen? Would anyone see it? Well, yes, yes, and no.

Serenity continues the story of the ragtag crew aboard the ship of the same name. It takes place a few months after the end of the series, concentrating on the story of River Tam and her brother.

The anamorphic disc preserves the movie’s 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Image quality for the most part is good. It’s not quite as detailed as some DVDs, but it isn’t soft. There isn’t a lot of noise, and there are a lot of contrasty scenes to show off your system’s blacks. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio doesn’t make nearly as much use of the surrounds as you’d hope for a movie such as this. The center channel can be a little quiet, but otherwise the mix is just fine. The extras are a bunch of short deleted scenes, full-length commentary by the man Whedon himself, three documentaries, and some outtakes.

If you like sci-fi or even just good TV, you owe it to yourself to check out Firefly and then Serenity.