The neck is more streamlined, the area just before the 'tail' is modified, the 'thrusters' are not curved in back, less plating on the side of the neck, and none on the side of the dining hall, also looks a bit different in front of the dining hall and the window to the rear and above it is moved farther back, the nose is a bit less angular, and the light from the 'tail' is a bit different. Wow, it is quite different! (Is it sad that I could point out most of those without seeing the top image?)

The most major difference is the neck, that is completely changed.

~AFf

Serenity new is a less lot chunky than the new version,the neck has been stretched,the window in the middle appears to be missing,under serenity looks smaller,lets hope in some way these changes are explained.

Yeah, they streamlined it a little bit, but mostly it just looks like the washed the ship. They had to do it sometime, I suppose. You guys think there are sp-highways? I'd bet there are loads of kiosks on the side of them to get your boat washed. Not exactly sure how they stay in place though... Maybe they just let some kids on one of their stops wash her for 20 creds...

Yeah, they streamlined it a little bit, but mostly it just looks like the washed the ship. They had to do it sometime, I suppose. You guys think there are sp-highways? I'd bet there are loads of kiosks on the side of them to get your boat washed. Not exactly sure how they stay in place though... Maybe they just let some kids on one of their stops wash her for 20 creds...

Let me clarify something - the bottom "new" image is not from the upcoming movie - it is the model used on the TV series. The top "old" image is what was shown on the Fox site - but must be a prototype that was never used.

When the movie comes out - it will be interesting to add a third image of Serenity for comparison.

JR

Normally, I am a purist...never much cared for any Enterprise after the first, could have lived without Death Star II...but I really, REALLY like the updated Serenity. My thoughts on the explaination are simple...sooner or later, they made some good money (even the hardest cases get a break every now and then) and had to replace parts anyways. Fireflys are very versatile in that regard anyway, so they just fixed her up a bit. Call it the Firefly Mark 3-A ;)

As for changes I see also...
The "canopy" over the dining area is more svelt...not as tall.
There appears to be a change to the underbody somewhat, but I'd have to see a shot from that angle to see how much.
The "wings" are different as well.
And of course, as mentioned, it looks washed! LOL

Hey, thanks for posting this, btw!

Again I will point out that the bottom "new" image is NOT FROM THE UPCOMING MOVIE !!! - it is the model used on the TV series.

The top "old" image is what was shown on the Fox site - but i think that it must have been a prototype that was never used in the series. We all saw that old image and thought it was what Serenity looked like - but it was not. The upper image is from the series.

Sorry - I am confusing myself now - the end of my last post should say "the lower image is from the series."

JR

Call me strange I like the top picture of Serenity better. The prototype. Of course the new picture is "Shiny". The thrusters appear to have a squarer look to them in the second picture. It is more stream lined in the neck. When you get fuel in space do you have the choice of getting your shipped washed for free or is that extra. The top pix also has panels that I have noticed, they are not in the pix from the show version at all. Near the shuttle. In Out of Gas you see the way Mal feels about the ship, I could compare it to a classic car... I love my 90 Camaro but it's still not a 69 muscle car. Having said that I favor the prototype. Both are amazing creations.

Regarding the "solar panels" or whatever those things are over the shuttle in the top picture, they are also on the lower model, but only over the port shuttle (not Inara's). See link below for detailed views of the lower (series) model.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/feature.asp?f=49

In Out of Gas, we see Serenity from the left (port) side in the flashback and so those panels are visible.

I think for clarity we should refer to the models and "prototype" (top) and "series" (lower) to avoid confusing anyone else...

I like the top picture better two. Less streamlined, more bulky, battered, broken-down-and-kept-together-with-bailing-wire-and-Kaylee's-chewing-gum looking. It's a midbulk transport ship, after all, not a SPFerrari.

Isn't it strange, though, that the top (old) one is the one that shows up everywhere? I mean.. THAT's the one that's on the DVD cover!! It's become so familiar I'll have to watch the show again just to notice that they really did use the bottom one. (work work work) ;)

If you want to compare with the (presumably) movie version of serenity, you can check out the full-size teaser poster here (make sure to view it in full size if your browser automatically re-sizes it):

I think I opened up an interesting can of worms (or Pandora’s box, or whatever metaphor you choose). I just scanned through a few dozen screen caps from the series and it looks like the older model was actually used for a few shots, at least in the first two episodes (Serenity and the Train Job). Maybe they changed the model part way through but still used the older shots – thinking we would not notice the change (and we didn’t until now).
I might have to rewatch the first few episodes tonight to see if I can verify this – like I needed an excuse.

JR

BTW, I looked closely at the movie poster and it looks just like the newer model above - no discernable difference.

Forget Kaylee...why is the actor that played Eddie Munster taking over the role of Simon?!?!

Cool.

Ok, so where can I get a wallpaper sized version of the other versions? I have the boxy version already.

Thanks,
ByteTheBullet (-:

You know what's fun?
Paste the two images into a new Photoshop document, one on top of the other, then move the Opacity slider on the top image back & forth!
You can REALLY see the differences that way!