Nice re-choreography.

Craig Oxbrow | December 30, 04:25 CET

The best swordfighting I've ever seen was in the Three and Four Musketeers.

Everything was an accident, except when Athos (Oliver Reed was so badass!) was in the mix. D'Artagnan was a dear, stumbling mess, but still he managed to get his 'point' across. And everyone would get so exhausted! Even the bad guys (I'm looking at you, Rochefort you scum!). Porthos was a hoot, and Aramis was... well... Richard Chamberlain *sigh*.

Come to think of it, Faye Dunaway was beyond fabulously beautiful and evil, and Geraldine Chaplin was so frail and sweet as the queen...hmm.

*Runs off to netflix*

Willowy | December 30, 04:40 CET

Inigo Montoya and the Dread Pirate Roberts in the Princess Bride. Awesome.

madmolly | December 30, 05:26 CET

Ekk, that was swordfighting stage fright.

Agree with Willowy, rather see the classics!

Madhatter | December 30, 05:37 CET

This was cute.I had fun imagining it out of door and figuring out who was whom.

Lioness | December 30, 06:34 CET

Lord Harrow: "You didn't have to stab that man."

Mal: "I know, it was just funny." :)

TDBrown | December 30, 09:26 CET

The fighting itself was realistic enough for two kids fighting in a blackroom, but the acting could have been much better. Still, thumbs up for choosing the right scene to perform!

Valentyn | December 30, 10:19 CET

As frightening as it is, the best swordfighting I've ever seen captured on camera was in a B-grade '90's film called "Ring of Steel". They hired 2 fencers and pretty much just told them to go nuts. The results are impressive.

Muggi | December 30, 11:34 CET

That wasn't our best take, that's for sure. That was after we had both gone through a long day of school and labs and whatnot. When we actually performed the fight we had people playing the other parts and we did it outside. Anyway, yeah, glad you all are enjoying it.

JediJuggler | December 30, 14:03 CET

Not bad, good attention to detail. Like the stances for instance - the woman (Mal) stands much squarer and looks a lot less poised, the guy (Atherton) stands like a fencer and looks like he has the moves.

Somehow though, even without knowing the outcome, my money would be on Mal. Skill takes you a long way but fierceness and an almost pathological inability to just lay down and die will trump it every time. Actually, not so much with the "almost" ;).

Best swordfight ? Hmm, Inigo/DP Roberts was pretty good. Any of Errol Flynn's swashbucklers. Obi Wan/Qui Gonn vs Darth Maul from 'The Phantom Menace' and Yoda vs Dooku from 'Attack of the Clones' (not really for the choreography in the second case, just because, y'know, finally, right ? ;). There's a film from the 90s called "By the Sword" with F Murray Abraham and Eric Roberts which has some great fencing in it (can't remember too much about the film itself though - not usually a good sign).

Saje | December 30, 14:23 CET

Yoda fought like a Gremlin.

And I knew Emily would win because Joss keeps writing these strong female characters. Even when they're originally male on screen. :D

Craig Oxbrow | December 30, 17:09 CET

Wait, where were we?

Madhatter | December 30, 17:25 CET

I dunno 'Hatter but remember, wherever you go, there you are ;).

Yeah, those Gremlins are tough little bastards. And the force is strong in them.

(heard a few - kung-fu muppet, Yo-Da-Kung-Fu, Jedi Piggy - but to the naysayers I say "Nay!" cos it still rocked hard enough to bother the foundations. So there ;)

Saje | December 30, 17:28 CET

I detest using Internet lingo on message boards and whatnot, especially Whedonesque, but...

LOL. Seriously.

(And I too think the Yoda/Dooku fight was badass, just having rewatched it a couple weeks ago. In fact, I just rewatched Revenge of the Sith this morning, and I've gotta say, that final Obi-Wan/Anikan showdown is pretty rockin'.)

UnpluggedCrazy | December 30, 17:39 CET

There you are indeed.

Madhatter | December 30, 18:32 CET

On some interview or another, Jane Espenson said that the "stabbing while he's down" with the lines "You know, they say mercy is the mark of a great man.
[stabs the man]
Mal: Guess I'm just a good man.
[stabs him again]
Mal: Well, I'm all right." came straight from Joss who demonstrated the stabbing in the writers room.

Lioness | December 30, 20:45 CET

So when are YouTubers gonna re-stage the scene where Mal pushes that guy into Serenity's turbine engine thingy? That'd be teh AWESOME!!!1!one!

"On some interview or another, Jane Espenson said that..."

Julie Espenson said a lot of things in the DVD commentary about changes that were made to her script and she described the writing process on a Whedon series. It was very illuminating. She's very insert multiple positive adjectives here. Have I mentioned recently that I think she's hot? ...I think she's hot.

ZachsMind | December 30, 21:59 CET

Julie? That's my cruise director not one of my favorite writers. Unless I'm wrong somehow. And that'd be weird.

Anyhoo, nice swordplay, you two! You move with good speed and I was afraid of seeing someone accidentally get pierced. Glad that didn't happen but I can easily see the skill it took to not let that happen and tell your story, or His story. (I just noticed "his story" looks a lot like "history" - and isn't it so true?) Nebber da less, where's the vid of the outdoor shoot? I'll be waiting in the dark, front and center in your theater eating corn nuts until you...what's that...go look at your links on utube? Good plan. Keep the nuts.

EDIT: Uh, yeah, can I get those nuts back, to annoy you with as I sit here in the dark...'cause there isn't another vid. So, yeah, gonna need those nuts back.

[ edited by RhaegarTargaryen on 2007-12-30 19:57 ]

RhaegarTargaryen | December 30, 22:55 CET

I have a question about the legalities of filming performances based on copyrighted scripts. My reason is not out of concern for these people filming their Firefly swordfight, it's about a project my friends and I just began developing. We plan to show people episodes of Buffy and Angel and have them reenact the emotional scenes.

Is it against the law to film these scenes? Is it against the law to film them and then upload them online? Does it make any difference that this is a project for my friend's graduate art program?

It looks like I need some facts about Fair Use law in an art context, but what I've researched so far makes it seem very murky. Are there are any entertainment lawyers in the house? Anybody come across this kind of issue in their school, business or personal projects? Feel free to comment here, but please also email me if you have any knowledge on this matter. Thank you.

[ edited by electricspacegirl on 2007-12-30 20:21 ]

electricspacegirl | December 30, 23:10 CET

electricspacegirl--If you're using someone else's script, then, yes. You're breaking the law if you're performing it for an audience. It's also illegal for you to record it, and uploading it to the internet makes it (much) more likely that you'll attract the attention of the people who own it.

Now, that said (I am not a lawyer, I am not your lawyer, and this shouldn't be taken as legal advice) I suspect the worst that would happen is you'd get a cease-and-desist notice and be forced to take the videos down off the internet.

On the other hand, there's lots of out-of-copyright stuff out there, and even copyrighted plays that you could probably get permission to use in this context. TV scripts are a little more complicated because they're usually owned by ginormous corporations who could care less about your friend's art project.

JesterInACast | December 30, 23:59 CET

JesterInACast, what I'm wondering about now is art appropriation laws. Please, somebody with first-hand knowledge, email me. We plan to take our questions to art/theater/film faculty members at my friend's university, because they've most likely been confronted with this kind of issue before. If that gets us nowhere, we'll probably contact a lawyer.

electricspacegirl | December 31, 00:50 CET

That was awsome.

Allen Doyle | December 31, 05:24 CET

ESG, I don't know for sure, but I think you might not be dealing so much with a general legal issue, as with Fox's recent actions against theatrical use of Buffy. Remember the whole OMWF sing-along cancellation thing? And it may not just apply to commercial uses. I'm not a lawyer, but if you get one you should definitely let him or her know about that.

[ edited by dreamlogic on 2007-12-31 07:51 ]

dreamlogic | December 31, 10:35 CET

Y'know, it might be worth a hundred bucks to sit down with a lawyer and ask him about it. I have a feeling, though, that:

A) This doesn't fall under fair use--it's just like producing a play, which you can't do with someone else's script without permission. It doesn't belong to you.

B) Even if it is this side of legal, 20th Century Fox has a lot more money and a lot more lawyers than you do. Sometimes it's not so much about who's right as who can last longer in a legal fight.

Like I said, I think it's unlikely you'll get in a whole lot of trouble over this. But if your question is "Is this legal?" the answer's almost certainly no.

JesterInACast | January 01, 03:56 CET