Serenity *Spoilers*

[CapNColostomy]

I never feared Vader nor felt any sort of menacing presence...

 

Something's really wrong with you. Really.

[ET Warrior]

Did anyone else get the impression that Book used to be an Operative? I did. Then again, I've never seen the telelvision series.

That's actually the theory that me and my roommates have been tossing around since we saw this movie. It particularly makes a LOT of things in the series come together about Book...

[Lightsaberboy]

yea, it would also make sense since he knows a lot of inside stuff with the aliiance. plus, at the end of the movie with the operative might've been what happened to book when something similar happened to him. he lost his faith in the alliance and had to find a new one.

 

btw did anyone catch the blue sun reference in the movie? i was hoping they'd show it more, but they only showed the logo once on a bottle jayne was drinking out of while Mal did his "i aim to misbehave" speech.

[toms]

No, but I hope BlueSunTshirts atarts making Jayne's t-shirt from the movie...

[Mike Windu]

Something's really wrong with you. Really.

 

What?

 

It's not my fault you all ruined the OT for me!

 

I actually like ANH cause I saw that before I knew the story. I fell asleep during ESB. I started feeling sleepy during the middle of Hoth and finally went to sleep during Luke's training. Woke up as it ended though.

 

Damned bed. It's too comfy for its own good. >_>

[Master_Ginn]

So i just scrolled past everything just to say, today I finally get to see Serenity! I'm way excited, and i'll probably want to see it again instead of going to my hockey game.

[ET Warrior]

I demand a full report when you return from your hockey game letting me know what you thought of it.

[Prime]

Some thoughts after seeing the film this weekend. Note that this perspective comes from someone who hasn't seen the series.

 

The Good:

It certainly was an entertaining movie with some nice dialog and funny moments. Most of the characters were immediately likable and and even the main villian was different enough in that he wasn't just an evil kill-for-the-sake-of-killing kind of character. He was quite refreshing. The film had sort of a Cowboy Bebop feel which I identified with and that drew me in a little bit more I think. I can see why the series might have been popular with its fanbase. There is a lot of potential in that universe. The visuals were quite good considering the relatively low budget. The used-universe feel was a nice reminder of the feel the original SW brought.

 

The Bad:

Ultimately, while watching this film I felt like I was watching an episode of a TV show and so felt there was a lot I had missed. No doubt this was to some extent done on purpose. The problem with doing it this way is that many people who will see the film won't fully "get it." I found I didn't have much of an emotional connection with some of the fringe characters and so when certain things happened to them I was sort of "meh." Obviously viewers who are fans of the series would feel more of an impact. On some level I think this was a mistake in that when you are basing something on a "failed" TV show, you have to expect that the majority of the audience isn't familiar with your universe.

 

Perhaps because of the previous point, I found the plot to be a little weak and not really fleshed out. For example, why was the Alliance or whatever really after the psychic girl? It isn't because she is uber at kung fu because that isn't a threat to them. OK, so she may have gotten the inside info from the higher-ups, but that became irrelevant because they found the info anyway on that planet. Her being hunted didn't really have anything to do with the outcome of the film after it was played up in the beginning as the central plot thread.

 

While I understand that comedy, especially in the dialog, is a big part of the film, I found that there was a few places where it was over the top and detracted from the immersion. At those times it felt like the film was a flat out comedy and not a serious story with humourous elements. For the most part the writing had a good balance of humour in the right places and seriousness in other parts. I think those over the top moments are a bit of disservice to the rest of the film.

 

In the end, I think Serenity is hampered by not having enough time to spend on the characters or focus on the plot. Again, it seemed more like an episode where everyone is expected to know the characters and the plot just continues on from previous episodes. This may in fact be the case, but that leaves new viewers out in the cold to some extent.

 

Overall:

While the film is very good and enjoyable I don't think it is nearly as good as some have claimed, or that it is the best sci-fi film ever. I don't think that is entirely its own fault, as there just isn't enough information in the film about the characters and plot to make it stand up to that level on its own. It felt like there was too much story that presumably is a part of the series. But it is an interesting universe and hopefully we can see more of it, but I think this will end up in the cult classic category.

 

oh, and the word out is that serenity placed #1 in the uk this weekend.good news indeed.

Which is good, since it has pretty much tanked in the NA box office. The question now is that once UK Firefly fans have seen the film this past weekend, will there be anyone left for the following weeks, or will it suffer the same fate as it did in NA?

[ET Warrior]

As far as the reason the Alliance wanted her back, there are several reasons, most of which seemed clear in the movie, if it weren't for River, they never would have GONE to Miranda, and found out the secret. That was undoubtedly the most important reason, though she was also a psychic ass-kicking machine, so I imagine alliance military had a few important uses planned for her.

[RoxStar]

As far as the reason the Alliance wanted her back, there are several reasons, most of which seemed clear in the movie, if it weren't for River, they never would have GONE to Miranda, and found out the secret. That was undoubtedly the most important reason, though she was also a psychic ass-kicking machine, so I imagine alliance military had a few important uses planned for her.

 

I thought that they were more afriad that the crew would find out about miranda then they would be if the crew found out about the weapon?

[ET Warrior]

Well certainly their main concern was keeping Miranda under wraps.

[Tyrion]

Yeah, I thought that since River was a prodigy, the Alliance tried desperately to recapture their prize, as in doing so they would've hit Miranda from the universe anyway. As the operative said, one of the key disadvantages for the Alliance was that they became prideful.

[jokemaster]

The Book is an operative theory is a favorite among me and my friends too.

[Prime]

As far as the reason the Alliance wanted her back, there are several reasons, most of which seemed clear in the movie, if it weren't for River, they never would have GONE to Miranda, and found out the secret.

Fair enough, but why go through all the effort to track her down as if she is the prize when really they just didn't want the truth to get out. Since the truth really had nothing to do with her and everything to do with the information on the planet, why didn't the Alliance just eliminate the data at the source? Did they not know it was there? Was there some other reason they didn't destroy it? If this secret was so devestating to their power, why leave it around since they obviously had the power to destroy it?

 

That was undoubtedly the most important reason, though she was also a psychic ass-kicking machine, so I imagine alliance military had a few important uses planned for her.

Which was another potential plot thread that wasn't really fleshed out.

[ET Warrior]

The planet was surrounded by Reavers, and even the toughest of the tough is afraid of Reavers.

 

And they certainly couldn't have fleshed out EVERYthing, there has to be some room to possibly tell more stories, and there is of course a limit on how much time you have.

[toms]

While the film is very good and enjoyable I don't think it is nearly as good as some have claimed, or that it is the best sci-fi film ever. I don't think that is entirely its own fault, as there just isn't enough information in the film about the characters and plot to make it stand up to that level on its own. It felt like there was too much story that presumably is a part of the series. But it is an interesting universe and hopefully we can see more of it, but I think this will end up in the cult classic category.

 

I'd agree with this in part. I'm surprised they went with such an "ending to the series" approach, rather than a "retelling of the series" approach that some other tv-to-film projects have taken.

I do think that whether this becomes a classic or just a cult will depend on whether we get sequels. As they created 8 or so maim characters, each with their own back-plots, secrets, motivations and attachments they certainly should have enough background material to make another couple of movies.. and that will definately help to flesh out the characters and the world a bit better.

 

I thought they did an excellent job of introducing so many characters in such a short time, but maybe i had an advantage as i've seen the series and can't know what it would be like if i hadn't.

Really they just took one plot element (the River one) and focused on that, but even that has much more to it.

 

Of friends I know who've watched it, but not the series. One said it was "interesting but weird" and one said "it was like a long tv show episode" and two hated it. So I'm not sure it has a wide ranging appeal outside a core audience.

[Prime]

The planet was surrounded by Reavers, and even the toughest of the tough is afraid of Reavers.

But the assassin made it in and then a whole bunch of Allaince troops showed up at the end, so obviously it wasn't too difficult, especailly if what was hidden there was so important.

 

I'm not trying to pick apart the movie, I was just trying to point out that there were parts that I and others I went with thought were a bit sloppy and weren't explained very well. The main one being that the importance of the psychic chick was sort dropped and didn't make complete sense when all the events played out.

 

And they certainly couldn't have fleshed out EVERYthing, there has to be some room to possibly tell more stories, and there is of course a limit on how much time you have.

Which was my original point. There was so much to accomplish since a lot of people weren't familiar withthe series, and so in trying to cover as much as possible a lot of things weren't covered very well. That hurt the film IMO.

 

But again, I did like it and I'm not trying to nit-pick it to death. I was just pointing out why I didn't think it was as good as a standalone film as some people did around here.

 

I'd agree with this in part. I'm surprised they went with such an "ending to the series" approach, rather than a "retelling of the series" approach that some other tv-to-film projects have taken.

I think to some degree that was a mistake, if in fact the goal is in part to attract a new audience to help further the series. It is a little harder to draw in new fans if you are telling the story assuming that everyone knows what happened in the series. Because the cast is so large (even though they are good), it is hard to get as attached to individual characters when there isn't much time devoted to any of them. Thus there is less interest in finding out what heppens to them in potential sequels.

 

But if it is only ment to be an end to the series for the original fans, then it likely fills that roll to a T. But that doesn't really increase the fan base any.

 

I thought they did an excellent job of introducing so many characters in such a short time, but maybe i had an advantage as i've seen the series and can't know what it would be like if i hadn't.

Considering how many characters there were, they did about as good a job as they could. But I think it would be a huge advantage to have seen the original series.

 

Really they just took one plot element (the River one) and focused on that, but even that has much more to it.

Which it why we found it surprising that in the end she didn't really matter. Since the ultimate problem for the Allaince was the discovery of Miranda and the information on it and it was shown that they could get to it and ultimately destroy it without requiring River. That point seemed to reduce her to a kung fu wizard which didn't seem to be that big a deal anyway.

[Master_Ginn]

okay, i saw it, and I liked it. It's a lot to take in, in two hours. I'm gonna have to digest it and watch it again. But overall it was awesome, and the scene with serenity entering atmo was amazing and so intense. Plus I had a hard time focusing on the movie because I had to pee sooooo bad. Since I was playing hockey that night I had to stay hydrated, thus more peeing. But I made it through the movie, and my bladder felt the pain for that action. I want to see it again NOW!

[toms]

Which it why we found it surprising that in the end she didn't really matter. Since the ultimate problem for the Allaince was the discovery of Miranda and the information on it and it was shown that they could get to it and ultimately destroy it without requiring River. That point seemed to reduce her to a kung fu wizard which didn't seem to be that big a deal anyway.

 

But that wasn't really the problem. There were 2 problems the alliance had with her really:

 

1-She was a secret reseach project, so they wouldn't want knowledge of her existance to get out, or to loose the product of allt heir hard work.

2-She knew a lot of secrets that they didn't want to get out.

 

With regard to point one it wasn't just that she was a "kung fu expert", it was also that she was a psychic and could forsee the future and read people's minds. (plus it kinda implied she could influence jayne's mind). All that adds up to a pretty useful girl. (kinda like a prototype jedi without a lightsaber, in a universe with no other jedi). You just have to use your imagination to think of all the uses they could have made of her... plus as the best prototype she was the key to making many more like her.

 

With regard to point 2 the operative (who i thought was a great villain btw) didn't even know what secrets she knew. No one did. For all they knew she didn't even know ANY secrets. But they couldn't take the risk. Its possible that Miranda was the least of all things she knew. Its also possibel that if they hadn't triggered her to find her then she would never have remembered about miranda at all... ;-)

 

The only "logic" problem I had was that surely if they could talk to Mr Universe by wave, then they could have sent him the recording, and had him broadcast it... rather than going to all that hassle to get it there in person. A simple comment about transmissions being jammed would have plugged that gap.

 

They could concievably have more films based on secrets that she knows, in particular i'd expect that she knows something about the end of the war that would be important.

[RoxStar]

The only "logic" problem I had was that surely if they could talk to Mr Universe by wave, then they could have sent him the recording, and had him broadcast it... rather than going to all that hassle to get it there in person. A simple comment about transmissions being jammed would have plugged that gap.

 

I thought that they were also looking for a safe haven?

[Prime]

1-She was a secret reseach project, so they wouldn't want knowledge of her existance to get out, or to loose the product of allt heir hard work.

But they did want to destroy her. The assassin had to order the troops to stand down because they had orders to kill her. That only makes sense if they are trying to silence her because of what she knows.

 

2-She knew a lot of secrets that they didn't want to get out.

Most likely, but we don't know because they aren't a part of the plot.

 

With regard to point one it wasn't just that she was a "kung fu expert", it was also that she was a psychic and could forsee the future and read people's minds. (plus it kinda implied she could influence jayne's mind). All that adds up to a pretty useful girl. (kinda like a prototype jedi without a lightsaber, in a universe with no other jedi).

But again, they were trying to kill her, so she couldn't have been that valuable. But whatever her powers are, there is no real connection plotwise between her and the Alliance wanting to hide certain unpleasantries. That's my only point, that for the first half the movie the plot revolves around River and what she is and what she knows, and that the Alliance is after her. But in the end they don't need her to solve their plot problem (word getting out about the Reevers) because they are shown to have the ability to deal with it themselves anyway. What I mean is River's importance is rendered unnecessary plotwise because of events at the end of the movie.

 

You just have to use your imagination to think of all the uses they could have made of her...

Of course we could come up with all kinds of things. But shouldn't that be explained as part of the plot (if they hadn't been trying to kill her that is)? We are led to believe that they need to get her back/terminate her because she read the minds of high ranking Alliance officials and gleaned secret information. The only secret information of importance the story gives us is about the Reevers.

 

With regard to point 2 the operative (who i thought was a great villain btw) didn't even know what secrets she knew. No one did.

Well, the higher-ups did, as they were the ones directing him.

 

For all they knew she didn't even know ANY secrets. But they couldn't take the risk. Its possible that Miranda was the least of all things she knew.

Maybe, but the Reever secret is the only secret that matters in terms of the plot.

 

Its also possibel that if they hadn't triggered her to find her then she would never have remembered about miranda at all... ;-)

Then why did they trigger her if there was the potential to remember things they wanted her to forget? Did they not know?

 

The only "logic" problem I had was that surely if they could talk to Mr Universe by wave, then they could have sent him the recording, and had him broadcast it... rather than going to all that hassle to get it there in person. A simple comment about transmissions being jammed would have plugged that gap.

Indeed.

[ET Warrior]

I think you're confused about what planet the movie ended on Prime. Neither the Operative nor the alliance troops were on Miranda, they were on Mr. Universe's planet. It was explicitly stated that even the alliance doesn't venture out into Reaver territory, which was fine by them, because the reavers hid their nasty little secret quite well, until they found out that River might know their secret, and needed to be silenced.

 

She is allowed to live at the end because the Operative realizes that there is no longer any point, the damage has been done, and the secret is out.

 

And them wanting to kill her doesn't make her not-valuable, it merely means that she is less important than keeping that information secret, even if it means destroying her.

[Prime]

I think you're confused about what planet the movie ended on Prime.

Ah ****, you are right. My mistake, sorry.

 

She is allowed to live at the end because the Operative realizes that there is no longer any point, the damage has been done, and the secret is out.

That part was clear.

 

And them wanting to kill her doesn't make her not-valuable, it merely means that she is less important than keeping that information secret, even if it means destroying her.

Sure, since her value was not why they were after her.

[ET Warrior]

I suppose your points are rather valid, and I would understand your side better had I not been a faithful Firefly follower beforehand, since I am well aware that the Alliance had several people who were certainly trying very hard to capture River alive.

 

The operative's job was, of course, to kill River. I suppose the Alliance had mayhaps given up on catching her, and new the threat she posed needed to be ended.

[Prime]

I'm going to try and scrounge up the series episodes, so I'll see how I feel after that.

 

But regardless, I still really enjoyed the film...