Super SPOILER FILLED Serenity thread

[0-hr]

Of course, the Operative couldn't beat Mal in an unfair fight, so I'm not sure how he expected to be able to take down River...

Ya know, that's what struck me too. Mal should have though "Hey, this guy doesn't carry a gun. If he wants River, good luck with that."

The operative would have lasted all of about 10 seconds.

I'm also wondering why Mal didn't just shoot the Operative in the head at the start of their last fight. We know Mal can make the shot. Did the Operative block his face as he went down (I'll have to watch more closely next time).

As for looting Miranda - it's not like the loot is going anywhere. If your plan is to try and outrun the entire Reaver fleet, do you really want to fill up your cargo hold first? Speed might be important. And dallying on a poisonous dead world with the Reaver armada overhead just don't seem too bright. If Reavers loot, then the planet has been looted. If the Reavers don't loot, then it's going to be awfully suspicious to see that Firefly down there loading up with goodies.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Shallown]

As far as the leading he reavers to mr universe's world. Zoe said in the research and rescue ship that the alliance would see that coming and be there to stop them and mal said "they won't see this coming"

The reason Joss killed Wash is to Shock us and make us realize no one was safe. It kept everyone on edge (including me) about who was next. Ie that even made no one safe even mal.

I think Book either at one time was an operative in training or was somehow in charge of or a liason to one. The reason I don't think he was one was even though he kicks butt didn't he lose to the assassin that came on the ship in themiddle of space? Seems like an operative might not have gone down so easy.

I did like how some crew seemed to go on with their lives such as Book and Innara. made the movie more 3 diminsional.


What threw my friend was Innara using a bow against the reavers but I seem to remember her saying something about learning to shoot (and sword duel) as part of her companion training am I imagining that?

Later

 

[0-hr]

And he may also have access to River's conditioning pass phrases.

You posted while I was writing. That's a good point.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Saw it. Loved it.

Some thoughts

Name Dropping - A buddy of mine met up with Adam Turyek (or however you spell his name, anyway, "Wash") after seeing him in the Broadway "Spamalot". My buddy asked Adam if he was going to be in a new Firefly TV show. Adam said "no" very quickly and then went on to say that Joss has been bitten by the movie bug and doesn't want to go back to TV anytime soon. In hindsight, Adam was obviously referring to Wash's death in the movie and then covered up for his spoiler.

River's big Reaver fight - Eh. It was good, but the actress needs more martial arts training. She has a lot of dance training and that obviously helps her and gives River a bit of an eerie grace. But I frankly thought that was a weak melee.

Innara's big Reaver fight - Wow. What detail. Innara used a bow with chemical arrows. Anyone else catch that? It was a nice touch for the fans. Innara knows how to use archaic weapons as a kinda-sorta member of the elite class. We've seen that she's pretty much useless in a fight, so when she loads for bear she does it with the only weapons she's any good with. Another nice touch was when she attempted to fight the Operative. She got her ass kicked.

Jayne shows some love - Notice when everyone was belting up for crashing Jayne did not strap himself in, but did a check on everyone else first? He's definately one of the crew now even if he's still the captian in his own head.

Operative & Book - I'll bet a d12 that the Operative is Book's son.

Mr Universe - Eh. I laughed at the wedding clip though. L'chaim!

Wash's death - I also thought that this was going to result in a Total Party Kill.

Mal kites the Reavers - You know, even though saw it coming, it was still cool.

Good movie.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Saw it. Loved it.

Mr Universe - Eh. I laughed at the wedding clip though. L'chaim!

Good movie.

Thinking back on it now, Mr Universe should have been "Warren"

 

[Pielorinho]

River didn't do anything to me to get me to feel sorry for her or anything. And the villian guy was bleh. There wasn't that much motive for him to hate Mal with such "passion". I rather liked the guy who "liked to blow stuff up".

Interesting--I didn't get the impression that the Operative hated Mal at all. He was a zealot, and he prided himself on breaking the eggs you gotta break to make an omelette. His identity was built around being passionless--or, rather, for having a passion only for utopia. What a lethal villain, therefore!

Zealots don't bend: they break. Mal captured the zealot, and showed him the utopia for which the Operative was working. That utopia was Miranda, a planet that the Alliance had made peaceful and free of fighting.

And, in the process, killed thirty million people, and spawned a group of psychotic cannibalistic murderers; and whose existence they'd covered up. Had they learned from their hideous error? No: they were sending out an assassin, a zealot--him--to kill enough people that nobody would ever learn the lessons of the error. He wasn't on a mission for utopia; he was on a mission to cover up Hell.

The zealot, on seeing his dream turn out to be a nightmare, could not adjust himself to the new reality. He could not modify his plans. His plans shattered.

It was beautiful.

Daniel

 

[CarlZog]

Innara's big Reaver fight -


Jayne shows some love -

Both of the these caught my attention too. I'm eager to see this again for those nuances of development. Especially since some of the movie was way too blunt for me, like the argument over leaving people behind and Mal's history in the war -- little too cliche.

Another more subtle touch I noticed was when the reaver made it into the cargo bay and got shot. River approaches the body and mutters "He didn't lie down. Why didn't he lie down?" -- a hint at the reavers' origin that seemed truly meaningless at the time. Nice detail.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Another more subtle touch I noticed was when the reaver made it into the cargo bay and got shot. River approaches the body and mutters "He didn't lie down. Why didn't he lie down?" -- a hint at the reavers' origin that seemed truly meaningless at the time. Nice detail.

I think she said "they never lie down." Having seen the movie back when the were doing the original screenings, and then seeing it again, I noticed that a lot of River's ramblings were tied into the Reavers and Miranda, if obliquely.

 

[sniffles]

Another more subtle touch I noticed was when the reaver made it into the cargo bay and got shot. River approaches the body and mutters "He didn't lie down. Why didn't he lie down?" -- a hint at the reavers' origin that seemed truly meaningless at the time. Nice detail.

Actually, I think she said "They never lie down". Still the same significance, though. Nice subtle foreshadowing.

The first time I saw it, about 3 weeks ago at a sneak preview, I was in tears when Wash died. I had to sort of stifle it because I was sitting next to a total stranger. On second viewing since I knew what to expect I actually got more emotional over Shepherd's death
(I teared up the first time, too, but not as much as for Wash). I recall that during the movie on Friday, I heard a woman cry out "No!" when Wash died. I thought that scene was very effectively done - it looked like everything was okay, and Wash said "I'm a leaf on the wind" and the audience was laughing and then - wham! he's dead.

I was almost expecting a TPK too, as many others posters have commented. It was a relief to see that most of the team survived. I like it when a creator isn't afraid to kill off some of his creations. I was also really pleased that no one felt it necessary to linger on the Reavers' appearance too much. So many movie directors these days would give us long loving shots of just how horrific the Reavers are, mainly to show off their special effects budget. Joss Whedon recognizes that his audience members have imaginations and can fill in the blanks themselves. I also liked it that after Mal defeated the Operative, he looked like someone who'd been involved in a knock-down, drag-out fight.

One thing I did notice more on seeing it a second time was that the editing seemed much more like a tv movie than a theatrical film. I can't think of specific examples at the moment, except for the opening credits when they were showing the actors' names over the scenes of Wash and Mal in the cockpit. It just reminded me more of what you normally see on television. In retrospect I think it might have worked a bit better as a tv movie, but I'm very glad it was made and that I got to see it.

 

[Broccli_Head]

So in the Firefly/Serenity series we can say Pirates 2, Ninjas 0 !

Firelfly fan. Cant believe that this series was cancelled when other sci-fi series that are not nearly as good are still going. My theory -- No alien races. Scifi producers tend to like lots of bug-eyed, spacefaring races to fill up their screens.

I really enjoyed the film and want to see it again. Shocked at Wash's death . Zoe's lines are very poignant, "Wake up baby.." showing how strong their relationship is (i really appreciate Joss writing in a loving, loyal married couple). Thought that Zoe was going to suicide til Jayne talked some sense into her.

I thought that both Kaylee and the Doc were going down, until River woke up. Didn't cry until the funeral scene.

I liked how the big hero of the story was Mal. I love that the Operative underestimated his opponent. We know that Mal is a tough SOB. Remember "War Stories"?