#16: Done the Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly and Serenity (2006) April 12, 2008
Posted by badblokebob in : Documentary, Sci-fi, 2000s, 4 stars, 2008, true stories, films about films , trackback
One of the more recent entries in the “fan documentary” sub-genre (which also includes the likes of Starwoids and Ringers: Lord of the Fans), Done the Impossible investigates the cult sparked by the prematurely-cancelled TV series Firefly and its continuation movie, Serenity — a movie that only exists thanks to the fans’ dedication.
The activism, and success, of Firefly’s fans (known as Browncoats) makes for a key difference from other fan docs: these aren’t just people who queue for obscene amounts of time to see something they like; these are people who helped turn a cancelled TV show into a DVD hit, and then a successful movie too. As such, as well as touching on the basics of fandom (forums, conventions, fanfic, and so on), this documentary is the tale of the rise and fall of the TV show and the making of the movie, but from the perspective of the fans rather than the filmmakers. That said, a noteworthy number of those involved in the film are interviewed, discussing their love for both the show and its fans, and often confessing to be fans themselves. These include six of the lead cast (one of whom hosts the documentary, and another narrates the DVD’s extras), writers and directors, and creator/writer/director (and God to fans) Joss Whedon.
As a film, Done the Impossible has a nicely loose structure, on the whole following the thread of the production story through to around the time of Serenity’s premiere, but taking time for diversions into personal recollections and general areas of Browncoatism. Actually having a story to tell gives the film an advantage over other fan docs (Ringers rather lacked one, for example) — even though there are diversions, there’s always a narrative to keep things moving forward. It certainly stops things from seeming too slow or repetitive.
Whatever you may think of them, Firefly and Serenity broke the rules, and in the process helped pave the way for other cancelled properties being revived by fan support. With its emphasis on personal recollections alongside the minutiae of fandom, Done the Impossible is undoubtedly of primary interest to fellow Browncoats, and perhaps anthropologists. But there should be broader interest in the story of a dedicated and unfailingly hopeful mass of people who came together, refused to give up, and, against all the odds, actually won.
Comments»
Just to establish my geek credentials, I’m a Firefly fan, I’ve, *cough* been to the odd SF convention now and then and I’ve tried to sit all the way through this - God knows I have - I’ve watched similar stuff (like Trekkies, for example, although that poked fun a bit more at the fans, in a gentle way) but this really is unbelievably overly reverent, touchy-feely, onanistic stuff. For every vaguely interesting interview with a cast member there’s some Harry Knowles lookalike bursting into self-penned song about his undying love of Joss Whedon.
It’s fairly cringeworthy.
I agree, to a point, that when it switches from fans loving the show/movie to fans loving each other it becomes a bit sickly sweet, but one of the things I liked most about this was how good natured everything was. A problem I often have with documentaries that try to poke fun at fans is that the makers are invariably fans too, so it seems to me that they’re saying, “here are fans, aren’t they WEIRD! Haha! We’re fans too, but we can see these guys are WEIRD, so we’re OK. Aren’t we OK? Please laugh at them. Don’t laugh at us. Laugh at them not us. Please. Please!”
…and so on.
Perhaps I just enjoyed the niceness of DiT because, as a rule, fans are bitchy bastards to each other. I spend a vague amount of time on Doctor Who and Torchwood forums, where even people who are agreeing with each other can’t seem to avoid arguing. It made a nice change to see fans who actually get along with each other.
Incidentally, my main problem was with the disc more than the film (hence why I haven’t mention it in the review). It might just be my copy, but about halfway through the subtitles suddenly switched themselves on… except they were semi-transparent green, halfway up the picture, and completely out of sync. Fixed it after the next chapter point by going out to scene select and starting again from there, but it was quite strange.