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Serenity - SPOILERS! Consider yourself warned!

I think Wash's death was handled well - as mentioned above, it showed that death isn't always nice and heroic/dramatic. Sometimes it is stupid and abrupt. Plus it conveyed the sense of danger. If all 9 had survived an encounter with the Reavers, it would have been unrealistic, or at least the reavers would have seemed less of a threat. His death served to make the threat very real, very immediate.

it's a bummer, true - Wash was probably my favourite character, but I think it makes sense, thematically, and cinematically.

@Jade Jaguar - the "deaths" in her flashbacks were, IMO, the intrusion of her suppressed memory (that she read from the parliamentarian - man that's a tough word to type!) into her "innocent" memory of childhood. It's sort of symbolic - in the same way that she's more stable once it's out. The "deaths" in her mind needed to be exorcised.

but I certainly didn't get the impression she'd been to Miranda. As far as I'm aware the events on Miranda happened a long time ago - before the war for sure. River would have been too young to have been there.

VB
 
Stupid "no longer valid" thing...

Okay, here's the short version of what I typed and lost: Joss only writes stories that matter. Life and death -- together and inseparable -- are his subjects, because they matter. He makes us cry and makes us weep because those are the truest of emotions; we diehard fans have always loved and hated him for his skill.

A_Ranger, you're right about the movie having pacing problems and feeling like TV. Imagine JMS had only gotten half a season of B5, then had a chance to make the movie, and felt so strongly about the story he had in mind that he had to do the entire tale of S2 in two hours. Of course it would feel like TV; of course it would feel a little rushed. It's what Joss tried to do, and while he may have failed, it's because of his uncompromising loyalty to the story.
 
I've skipped down this thread because I don't want to read any spoliers, but I've heard that the box office in the US hasn't been that great, so those of you who loved the movie, go back and see it again and drag some friends along if you want a sequel :)
 
Demon, what do you think the numbers need to look like in order for us to get a sequel? Just curious. I can definitely go again soon. YEAH! Twist my ARM! Ow ow.. ok ok.. I'll go. I am (AFTER ALL) A leaf on the wind.
 
The box office as a whole sucked this weekend. Serenity opened as the #2 movie with just over $10 million as of today... the #1 movie (Jodie Foster's Flightplan) stayed at the top for a second week, but it only made $5 million more than Serenity.
 
I'm not a Firefly fan, but I found it very enjoyable, well paced, and for the genre, well acted. If I was going to make a complaint, it is that all the characters seem to make the same sort of flip comments. I saw it at a midnight show, with a sizeable, and very approving, audience. I won't see it again soon, as I would ike to see the Polansky film, and the Cronenburg film, History of Violence, but the friend I saw it with has already seen it a second time.
 
I believe the magic number for a sequel is $80mil. One eighth of the way there, and Joss keeps saying that this will be a slow builder.

I know that I've got a couple more converts coming along the pipeline (one's watching an episode even as I type this) who I hope will be ready by next weekend. So I'll drag them along and add another $22.50 to the pile.

And let's not forget overseas, although the suits might not pay much attention to that.
 
All right, this is what I posted over at browncoats.serenitymovie.com, and what I was attempting to recapture when the form went all invalid on me:

When Joss is involved, death is inevitable... because when life is involved, death is inevitable. And while Joss may do fantasy and horror and science fiction, fundamentally what he does in every story, every show, is life. Real, honest life. Its problems, its joys, its catastrophes, its rich rewards.

Book died fighting (both literally as well as for Mal's soul). Wash went out flying and landed his crew in one piece. They died well. And considering that death comes for us all, if I went out like they did then I'd be well-satisfied.

Life and death, my friends, inseparable. In a story, nothing else matters. And Joss's stories always matter.
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That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Raise a glass for the fallen, honor their names -- and keep flying.
 
I loved Inara's bow and arrow.
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We were actually laughing at that. It also reminded me of Chewbacca's laser cross bow thingy.

I dunno why Whedon killed Wash off... I really can't figure it out.
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Not only that, but it came after the white-knuckle battle scene and Serenity's descent to the planet below, losing both thrusters and taking a hell of a lot of damage in the process. Just when we let out a collective sigh of relief, Wash is killed so quickly that we're left literally breathless.
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I think you answered your own question here. Action flicks are supposed to be a "roller coaster ride," to quote every hack movie critic, and this was just part of that.
Also, when the rest of the crew were fighting later on and various people got injured, it made the audience genuinely fear that they were in real danger (one reason most action flicks are cheesy is because you know the hero(s) will survive). Like when Simon got shot, one really could think he might actually die.

The whole Firefly/Serenity thing to me is analogous to what heavy metal is to music: if you like it then you embrace it's objective "faults." Like the criticism that everyone in Firefly/Serenity makes the same sort of flip comments- well, yes, yes they do. And every British metal band has juvenile lyrics about Satan and wizards. Objectively stupid, but for those of us into the style it's part of the fun.
 
Like the criticism that everyone in Firefly/Serenity makes the same sort of flip comments- well, yes, yes they do. And every British metal band has juvenile lyrics about Satan and wizards. Objectively stupid, but for those of us into the style it's part of the fun.
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I said if I were going to make a criticism, that would be it. I accept it as his writing style, and generally laughed where I was supposed to. My real point was to say that the criticism of the pacing and acting, from others, was unfounded. It was as it should be for an action picture. If this was supposed to be great literature, then I would think it kind of stupid that almost all of the characters shared this one trait.

My only complaint on Wash's death is not its suddeness, but it's odd nature. Some strange, long, pointed, possibly organic, thing penetrates the bridge and him after the ship has come to a stop? It's only the mechanics of it that made no sense to me.
 
My only complaint on Wash's death is not its suddeness, but it's odd nature. Some strange, long, pointed, possibly organic, thing penetrates the bridge and him after the ship has come to a stop? It's only the mechanics of it that made no sense to me.
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The Reavers shot that thing into the ship to act as a harpoon or grapling hook. They were shooting more in, that's why Mal had to pull everyone away real quick.
 
My only complaint on Wash's death is not its suddeness, but it's odd nature. Some strange, long, pointed, possibly organic, thing penetrates the bridge and him after the ship has come to a stop? It's only the mechanics of it that made no sense to me.
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At first I thought you were making an NC-17 remark... heh.

But yeah, GKE was right -- it was a Reaver grappling hook. Although it did seem odd that it would come through the front window and through Wash's chest, when according to the CGI, Serenity finally stopped facing toward the wall... or at least partly sideways. The Reavers landed behind them. "Continuity error" is what I'll chalk that up to.
 
I thought it was a different Reaver ship that fired the grappling hook/spike thing into the bridge of Serenity than the one that was chasing the ship.
 
I believe there were two ships following them down, yes, but I had a hard time following all that. Until I read more stuff online, I thought Wash had been killed by a burst of electricity from the ship's controls!
 
Demon, what do you think the numbers need to look like in order for us to get a sequel? Just curious. I can definitely go again soon. YEAH! Twist my ARM! Ow ow.. ok ok.. I'll go. I am (AFTER ALL) A leaf on the wind.
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I don't know the answer to that but it looks like someone below does :) I hope overseas sales count, as I think it's going ot be big here in the UK when it opens this weekend. Lots of fans over here, and Sci Fi UK have given it one hell of a boost by running Firefly episodes back to back all weekend, with trailers in every commercial break, and every episode introduced by a cast member.
 
My only complaint on Wash's death is not its suddeness, but it's odd nature. Some strange, long, pointed, possibly organic, thing penetrates the bridge and him after the ship has come to a stop? It's only the mechanics of it that made no sense to me.
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At first I thought you were making an NC-17 remark... heh.

But yeah, GKE was right -- it was a Reaver grappling hook. Although it did seem odd that it would come through the front window and through Wash's chest, when according to the CGI, Serenity finally stopped facing toward the wall... or at least partly sideways. The Reavers landed behind them. "Continuity error" is what I'll chalk that up to.
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Continuity error is about the only excuse I can buy. It was clear to me that the ship flew into a building, down a long open space, and came to rest with the bridge facing the inside, with nothing in front of it, save perhaps a wall. Certainly there was no Reaver ship in front of it, so I don't see how a Reaver grappling hook could have come from that direction. They could have had the ship spin around, or something, to show how this was possible. But, it's a small quibble
 
I think that might be possible, GKE. If I'm remembering correctly, we didn't see out the cockpit of the ship right before the spike impaled Wash, but we did see out it afterward before the second volley was shot.
 
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