Personally, the only way I can enjoy this film is to look at it as an alternate universe from the show. The complete rewrite of the rescue of River, including Simon suddenly knowing that she's psychic from the start, makes that an easy decision.
"The production has improved so much!" Yeah, that's the difference between working using network leavings, and actually having the budget of a visual effects feature.
There're some shows connected with the cast or the creators or just the style/era of the production time, that could be interesting for you: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (7 seasons + a SpinOff with 5 seasons, starting after season 3) Dollhouse (2 seasons) Tru Calling (2 seasons) Castle (8 Seasons) Dark Angel (2 seasons) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2 seasons, following the events after the first two Terminator movies). Was a good ride with you. Don't worry, be shiny!🌞. As an extra information: Zoe is pregnant with Wash's child 😊.
@@CvSp22 The big problem with The Sarah Connor Chronicles, of course, is that it's another series which leaves its audience high and dry due to cancellation. The second season finale was a huge cliffhanger/reveal and then....nothing. No third season; no mini-series wrap-up; no feature film. Nothing.
@@Pixelologist I don't see or feel it that way. For sure, i wish there would be more to see, but to have the rest free for imagination and speculation is some kind of satisfying as well.
One thing a lot of people miss in the story, they assume river has been to Miranda. but she hasn't, she pulled it out of the minds of the people who they paraded her in front of "You put them in a room with a psychic" "The memory, it isn't mine and i shouldn't have to carry it".
After the heist there is a Reaver that gets on board and is shot. River looks at the dead Reaver and says 'You didn't lie down... They never lie down.' This was maybe a little factoid that was lingering in her mind. '...They never lie down.' Might've been a fragment of memory left in her head from some Senator or Scientist who was observing Miranda and then paid a visit to River in the lab.
In an interview of Alan Tudyk (Wash), he tells that he doesn't say his I'm a Leaf on the Wind line anymore. He was at a comic con autograph session and 3 teenage girls came up for their turn, He said his line "I'm a Leaf on the Wind" and 2 girls just started bawling their eyes out. He didn't like making these girls cry and said to himself that he wouldn't say his line again.
Zoe grieved in her own way. At the end when Mal asked how she is, he wasn't speaking of Serenity, she was speaking about herself. 'she was torn up plenty.'
Summer Glau did train as a ballerina. A broken toe ended her career in dance before it could start, but it gave her the grace to be great in fighting scenes. She's Got The Moves. (loved the tiny clip of Electric Callboy)
A few Words about Shepard for those who have always wondered what his backstory is. First most of this is from the comic book "Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale" if you can find it and want to read it I would recommend it. Shepard's real name is Henry Evans. He had a troubled childhood and left home early to pursue a life of crime. He is recruited by the brown coats before the war starts. He volunteers for a mission as a mole. Derrial Book is the name of an alliance citizen he killed and stoles identity. He then enlisted with the alliance and climbed through the ranks at record speed becoming a very high ranking officer. At a key moment in the war he set up his command for an ambush leading to the "worst loss in alliance history". The alliance wasn't willing to take the bad PR from the loss so they wiped it from their records and "honorably discharged" Derrial Book meaning on paper he is still a retired high ranking and decorated alliance war hero. After his discharge he became homeless and found God in a soup kitchen becoming a Shepard.
I saw this on opening night in Austin, Texas. The theater was totally packed. When Book fell, the crowd was stunned. The only sounds, were a few muffled sobs. When Wash died, the whole crowd roared in outrage. Several people got up, and walked out.
The Operative is such an incredibly convincing villain. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a fantastic actor and in this film he creates one of the all-time greatest movie villains.
When they made this film, there were plans to make more if this one was a hit. Alan Tudyk (Wash) and Ron Glass (Shepherd Book) had other projects lined up, and were unable to commit to any sequels. From a practical standpoint, that's why their characters were killed off in this one. It wasn't just to be cruel to the fans. 🙂
Also, even before the show was canceled, Alan Tudyk volunteered to be the sacrifical lamb to up the stakes. Originally he thought it would be good in S2, and then the movie came around and he said it again. It's not that he WANTED to leave, but he knew that losing Wash would have the biggest impact on the story and the characters. Not to mention the audience. As soon as Wash died, suddenly it looked like they were all doomed. We actually believed any of the main characters could die in that final fight, because if WASH wasn't safe, how could anyone else be??
The way this movie made you feel was deliberate. They say you don't know what you've got till it's gone, and we can tell from your reaction that you loved Shepherd and Wash. They died so your heart can tell you how much you loved them. Just like all us Browncoats loved them and the rest of our crew, and even Serenity. (Yeah, I saw how sad you were when she crashed, you loved her too!) To me, that's what this movie is about. Mal said it at the end, and Shepherd also said it, but he called it faith. You have to love your ship and have faith that she'll get you through the mission, just like you have to love your crew and have faith that they'll do the same. That's what Shepherd meant, you have to have faith that you're doing the right thing, and that your crew will get you through the mission. That's what makes us Browncoats, and that's why you're now a Browncoat too, our shared love for our crew and Serenity, and our shared pain from the loss. But you know what? You think you can get over losing them, but really, they'll always be in your heart. Every time I re-watch Firefly and Serenity, they find their way back in, and I'm crying again as I watch them die. And that's what makes Firefly so magical, it makes you fall in love with our crew and their ship over and over again. Only 14 episodes and a movie, and it can do all that. Just imagine what it could've done with seven seasons and a movie! So welcome to the ranks of the Browncoats! The original Browncoats proved it's possible to do the impossible, so if you believe in your heart that Serenity and her crew are still flying, then maybe we might see more of them someday.
"She's tore up plenty, but she'll fly true." 😭😭😭😭 Everytime. We never get over it. Sorry. Forget tissues, the movie should come with a warning to have someone to hug nearby. Do what I do, go rewatch your favourite episode
Wash's death gets everybody, hell, it gets me still, every damn time. No one is prepared for the 3 phases of "Leaf on the Wind." Bit of backstory behind it though, Alan Tudyk knew that professionally he wouldn't be able to commit to a second movie due to other projects. As for story wise, it makes perfect sense. Having lost Book the viewer feels, "ok, I expected someone to die, we've had that, everyone will be ok now." which is helped by the whole scene where he gets to say goodbye. Wash's death however, after the HUGE triumph of crash landing the ship without losing anyone, brings the audience from the peak of excitement to the depths of despair. It just RIPS the hope away so that for a while, while they keep the tension high, you truly believe that no one is safe, that perhaps none of them may make it out of this, and the only hope left is that they get the signal out. As for Zoe's reaction, or rather lack thereof, she's a soldier. As much as she loves Wash she has dealt with a lot of death in her life and is able to set that aside and process the grief later. "To the job sir." Now, she does lose herself to her rage for just a moment and she pays for it with a hell of a new scar, but thankfully it doesn't cost her everything. It's a popular fan theory that she's pregnant at this point and if we'd ever got a sequel to this we'd get to "meet that child." And finally for the moment between Kaylee and Simon, that's just a signature of Joss Whedon's style. He always throws a touch of humanity and humor in the most intense sequences of his shows.
In one of the comic book mini series after the film, wich are canon since they were written by Josh Whedons brother, they did have a child. A baby girl. You can also find Shepards story and also Mals and Inara's relationship in them also also written by his brother. And Josh himself has said that they are true continuations of the story.
The scene near the beginning of the movie, with Mal walking through the ship, was mainly done so that any viewers who hadn't seen Firefly would know the layout of the ship.
Saw the movie in threater, so close to ten years for me to get over Wash's death. I will say so happy evertime I see people get mad about his death, it helps me even more.
I feel that the question of how much Simon knew about River's conditioning is a plot hole. The movie had to be aimed both at fans of the TV show and people who'd never seen it, which meant they had to introduce all the characters and sketch out River's backstory so that newbies knew what was going on, do it quickly enough that the TV fans didn't get bored, and try to make it feel organic rather than like an infodump. I think Simon suddenly knowing more about what happened to River than he knew in the series was a sacrifice they made to do that.
well, it worked, whatever they did. I saw the movie first. I refused to see the tv series after my friend told me Serenity had a "female chief engineer". I pictured all the female engineers and scientists on Star Trek TNG and said "no thanks" to Firefly. I had no idea they were talking the "master mechanic" delightful little Kaylee. After my friend sneakily got me to watch the movie w/o telling me it was Firefly, I binge-watched the series. Next time I rewatched Serenity... yeah I needed the kleenex.
The Miranda story line was supposed to be introduced at the end of season 2. Book's death was to help Mal believe in something. Wash's death was to show how dangerous this way. It was also stated that Joss wanted additional movies, Alan and Ron were unable to commit to additional movies. There are comic books/graphic novels that tell more back stories and future stories. Titan Books has a series of books/audiobooks that tell more stories between the series and the movie.
Wash's death was also intended to make viewers believe that nobody on Serenity was safe. With Book's death, and now Wash's, the numbers were dwindling.
Inna I loved the series when it aired & was one of the people that campaigned to have it brought back. We failed there but Joss Whedon at least got us Serenity. I took off a day of work to see the 1st showing of the movie in theaters. How you're feeling now is exactly how I felt then - both hurt & numb at the loss of Shepherd Book & Wash, but gratified that the rest of the crew are back as family with the boat still flying. All the loose ends were wrapped up but the fact that it ends is always bittersweet. We're all left wanting more
When you're a medic in combat, you are looking in your package, your pouches, fortunatly finding the right stuff, but not always. Then you carry them to safety where you can treat them.
They ended Book and Wash's characters because neither of the actors could commit to a sequel . Shame is, since no sequel was ever made , they didn't need to be removed from the character cast .
".. have you guys ever gotten over it?" In places like Facebook Groups there's always someone who from time to time will post a Wash joke. And then 200 people will reply: Too Soon, it's still too soon! Hope that answers you're question.
Complete shock and devastation at Wash's death is a common reaction! As for Zoe, a common fan theory is that she would have discovered she was pregnant soon after the events of the movie with a little Wash Jr. It's a theory, in case it helps with the grieving process!
Wash's death is probably the single most memorable moment in the whole series. Almost as mind-numbingly shocking as that time Radar stumbled into the operating toom...
All these years later and that episode of MASH still hurts to think about. I remember everyone in my family just sitting there at the end of the show in stunned silence. Same thing happened years later in the final moments of Blackadder Goes Forth.
@@doug3691 i mean - all I said was "Radar stumbled into the operating room", and you knew exactly what I was talking about. If that's not memorable, nothing is.
The bruises on Nathan's (Mal's) face in the final boss fight are real. He did so many retakes to get it just right that he ended up with heavy bruises and a bloodshot eye.
The guy trying to get on the Mule when the crew was makig its escape from the reavers, the one that Mal shot, was the same guy that Zoey called a hero.
I've read a theory somewhere in YT reaction comments: the 10% of the people in Miranda who turned into Reavers from the PAX were latent psychics - like River. Her conditioning were done to make her into a controllable Reaver, a super Operative. Heck, even her name sounds almost the same... Actually, I accepted it in my head canon now.
Joss Whedon was still hoping to do another movie when he made this one, for which he already had a shooting schedule. Alan Tudyk (Wash) and Ron Glass (Shepherd Book) were not going to be available to shoot that movie, so he had to write their characters out of the script somehow. Of course, there are other ways he could have done that. However, particularly with the Wash character, he decided to use it to destroy all the plot armor main characters usually have, so you would think any or perhaps even all of the crew might die. Also, it would have been difficult to write Wash out another way without writing Zoe out as well.
The movie is one of River's dreams. Her nightmares. That's why her brother is so different, he is her hero, then she becomes the hero to save her brother. Then she could wake up with all the crew around her when they restarted the series. Except no other network wanted the series.
Zoe was/is a soldier. Her grieving was to cut off all emotion... except for rage. If you think about the seven stages of grief, she went through the shock and denial stages real fast and now she's on the anger stage. It is possible to get stuck on a stage though I believe that most people get stuck on the depression stage.
While I admit I despised this movie when it first came out due to the MASSIVE time jump there was (its why River doesn't seem to act like a complete schizo anymore), I do like that you finally get to see Mal finally fight in action instead of constantly using the gun like the series. Its constantly emphasized how much of a "warrior" he is, but throughout most of the series, you just see him as a marksman and rarely see any signs of his military training. His fight with the operative is brutal and Wheadon has actually confirmed that despite River being psychic, only Mal would have survived the fight and everyone else (including River) would lose. I cannot wait to see FIllion as Mal again in the upcoming revival series.
21:20 River moves like a ballerina because Summer Glau was trained as a ballerina. 21:38 Mal did not lie, he had no idea River could fight. In fact, Mal does not a lot about River outside of her name and that she is wanted by the government. 23:43 My guess is that Simon knew River was trained as a fighter or an assassin. What he does not know is how exactly and how to reverse it, nor the extent of the training. 27:24 Read the "Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale" comic book for the Shepherd Book backstory. 38:33 Shepherd Book was killed because the actor could not commit to a second, potential, movie. 42:36 River's visions were not her memories, but the memories of the government's people who visited her. As she said, the memories were not hers. 45:23 My guess is, River is now all-right because she now understands those horrific memories that she has. Around 48:53, I do not know if you noticed, but Jayne made sure everybody was secured before securing himself. The guy cares for the others. 49:59 Wash was killed because the actor could not commit to a second, potential, movie. 1:01:47 The movie was the season 2 cut to its bare bones. There was a lot that was not shown, not just Zoe grieving. 1:04:45 There were plans for a second movie. Unfortunately, there were so many early screenings for the fans before the release in theatres that the movie bombed at the box-office.
When they made this movie they understood many would not have seen the TV series Firefly so they rolled some things back a little to help the new viewers understand things like relationships. So some of the relationships are similar to the first couple of episodes to begin with. This was not a complete reset and the time actually did progress.
In a way, it's refreshing to see someone who stillwishes old stuff to be picked up instead of being afraid what they'll do to writing and characters, but... Firefly never got a chance to be bad. Let's keep it that way.
My favorite callback... Out of Gas: Jayne -- "We'd have been back 1st, but there's something wrong with Inara's shuttle. She's done something to it, Mal. It smells funny." Inara -- "I told you. It's incense." Jayne -- "So you say." Serenity (film): Inara -- "And that's not incense." BOOM!!! For your own viewing pleasure from UA-cam channel Cinema Therapy -- Serenity and Finding Your Purpose (28min), Serenity and Coping with Trauma (25min), Firefly: Teamwork and Found Family (30min) UA-cam channel Moosecat Productions "The Reason" Fan MV (4min) ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
"I'm empty now." Yes, Inna, that's entirely fair. There is so much that is positive in this movie, and the series -- and few movies make you truly fear for the death of the main characters like this one. But long-term story-wise, losing Wash and Shepherd Book makes it hard to imagine a positive continuation for the remaining crew. At the start of the movie, some months after Episode 14, Simon and Mal are practically at each other's throats, due in large part to the absence of Shepherd Book and Inara Serra. No Faith or Harmony on the ship Serenity at that time. By the end, Mal has a sort of Faith, and Inara is staying, but the Shepherd should properly have stayed on, and as for the laughter and levity that Wash brought to our favorite crew: to move forward in your Faith without laughter and a sense of humor is not likely to take you anywhere good. Not likely, but not impossible if River Tam is able to continue to grow and mature as some sort of existentially transcendental new Pilot of Serenity. Joss Whedon is supposedly one that lives by an Existential philosophy, so, if done right, that could be Very interesting. But when you lose characters like Wash and Shepherd Book, your audience tends to get smaller, and so 20 years on there is no second movie or episode 15. In the end, we have to be grateful for what we do have, in order not to be victimized by an otherwise cruel fate.
So, they had hoped to make a trilogy of movies but the actors for Wash and Shepherd Book had other obligations that precluded them from being able to sign on for additional movies. Therefore their characters were killed off. Unfortunately the movie didn't make enough money for the studio to greenlight the additional films. In the funeral scene, notice that Zoe is wearing a slinky dress like they talked about her getting in episode 4 when they were on Persephone. Canonically Zoe was pregnant in the funeral scene
37:37 Oh you sweet summer child. 50:02 Yeah. that was all of us. :( We could try to warn you but there's no way to prepare you really. But in happier stuff, top marks for the Gothy look you're rocking in this vid!
I came late to Firefly. I saw "The Train Job" the first time it aired, but life got in the way. A coworker was a big fan, and she lent me her DVD box set to binge watch just before the movie came out. Loved the series, and the movie. I bought my own DVD box set and binged it two more times. Then I lent it to my mother, and she kept it (though she gave me a replacement later). But after 20 years, I still mourn Wash, despite Alan's appearance in other work. If you want another fun series to watch, check out "Farscape". Jim Henson Labs collaborated on it, so there are some fun aliens. If you want more Summer Glau, check out "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles". Her character is really fun. If you want more "Nathan Fillion", see "Castle". That series has a bunch of callbacks to "Firefly". If you want more Alan Tudyk, see "Resident Alien". It's a hoot. If you want a series that draws you in and pulls on your heart strings, try "Orphan Black". One actress plays _four_ leading roles, plus more guest and recurring characters. They're all distinct, and it's easy to invest heavily in some of them, in the same way most of us invested in Wash.
34:19 Characters/ letters are a combination of Chinese and/or Japanese, I can read the Katakana (Japanese), just like how everyone speak a little Chinese now and then.
For the movie to work in the cinema for the part of the audience that might not knew the TV-show that well (or not at all) too, they had to add a little bit of "re-dramatization" the relationship between the crew. Esp. the tension between Mal and Simon feels a little bit odd if you saw the whole show and know they they where already past that point. A little bit of a compromise, but I think they managed to do it in a way that is still enjoyable even for fans of the show. And we all know that Mal was a little bit jumpy and unpredictable, so it not completely out of place.
"Firefly" was a huge success in DVD sales. People could binge the show, so it could've been a hit in today's streaming environment. However, it just wasn't a show that was going to find a big audience on network TV easily. I do think the movie had "retcon" story elements that didn't flow very well for me. And unfortunately, it was not a hit at the box office, which doomed any remaining chances for a reboot in the 2000s. However, Browncoats unite! It's the greatest thing to be an underdog and never give up!
Some people attribute the lack of box office on the fact that they did too many preview screenings in the lead up to the release. The idea at the time was to get people to watch it so that they would do word of mouth advertisement, but so many of the people who were likely to watch it in theaters managed to find a (free) preview screening that there were fewer people to watch it once it got to theaters.
The show would have been much more successful if they hadnt sabotaged it. Constantly changing the air date on short notice so nobody knew when it was on and airing the show out of order.
I don't know if people can get over this in normal circumstances, but I sure can't. My wife and I were due to see it on opening night at the cinema, but she got the call telling her that my mother had died (dementia). She decided not to tell me until after the movie trip, but in the end we couldn't do it anyway. We did get to see it a few days later, and you can bet I was not dry-eyed! Do watch it with the commentary sometime, it's one of the best.
a pretty short series with Sumaren is "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" another good series is "Banshee" it was made by cinemax a few years ago 2013-16
*looks around shiftily.* Umm... yeah... about "closing" Firefly... you might want to instead think of it as a vacation of indeterminate length lol. Mal is in talks with Disney to try and get the show going again and is fairly insistent that Joss Whedon come back for it, based on the scuttlebutt. Supposedly, he's even trying to work on a way for Wash to come back too, and I can think of a few ways for that. I expect he'd try to bring Book back too, but his actor sadly passed. They implied Zoe was grieving with a double meaning. That conversation between her and Mal... when Zoe said "She's tore up plenty, but she'll fly true," she wasn't just talking about Serenity, she was talking about herself too.
You're welcome for the suggestion. Glad you loved it. If you need something lighter, may I suggest the British comedy The IT Crowd? It's a short series. Four seasons, only six episodes each season. Episodes are about 25 minutes long. It's a show that will actually make you laugh out loud.
I mentioned this in your twitch stream, but I'll repost here in case anyone else was wondering, the reason River is often barefoot, I actually asked Summer Glau this once at a convention, and she said she was having trouble getting into character, so she asked Joss Whedon the creator if she could take off her shoes and socks, and walk around barefoot, and Joss said that was okay. Also as a former dancer, she just likes being barefoot in general.
Welcome to the BrownCoats. There's always rumors and ideas floating around a out Season 2 or a sequel movie. But at this point Joss Whedon has said that it's dead. He tried in the past but Fox wasn't interested.
1) I am sorry. No, I didn't do anything, but I've been there, and I'm sorry. 2)You know that brown coat I suggested? You can pin a "leaf on the wind" on it 3) Zoey at funeral wore a slinky dress. (Shindig) Not word of Joss but of Gina Torres (actress who played Zoey) she (Zoey, the character, not the actress) was pregnant. 4) Now for Jayne/River theory. Jayne in pilot said (to lawman) "it's a girl. She's not all there but not all of her has to be." If River is a willing woman, his part is set. In Ariel when she first wakes up she says to Jayne, "Copper for a kiss." When she is going on about Christmas presents everyone ignores her gibberish, except Jayne getting pissed. Those are his memories and for some reason she finds him fascinating. In the bar in the movie he can sneak up on a effing psychic because in a fight he does not think, he just does. When he thinks on the ship, she takes him easily. (That also explains why she couldn't dodge his blow after the butcher knife in Ariel, although that might just be her being nuts.) No accounting for taste and River might be well advised to keep a guy who can sneak up on her loyal to her, and she likes him for some reason. BTW, I saw this described as Mal trying to be a criminal but always being annoyed by having a conscience. Then finally acting based on it. Did you notice the lighting for his, "I am to misbehave" speach? Long enough comment already, but again, I'm sorry.
Maybe she likes Jayne because she can read his mind and knows more about him than he does. Like why he's the way he is. She might have some understanding or even sympathy for a character who hates himself.. or at least holds himself in low-regard. She can know long before the hat that Jayne is motivated _the same way Simon is_ , to care for his family. If you listen, you can tell Jayne doesn't think much of himself, even before Jaynestown. His brief soliloquy in "The Message" makes it clearer, when he says folks like him don't live long. When he says, in Ariel, "If I'd wanted schoolin' I'd have gone to school"... he's not mad at Simon or Mal; he's ashamed/embarrassed. He excuses his behavior, like robbing Simon/River in "Safe", because "well, I'm a lowlife piece of shit, so I might as well" kind of boot-strapping logic. _He_ doesn't see the moments when he's NOT a lowlife piece of shit. Like when he and Vera join in rescuing Mal.
Yeah, the movie changed some stuff from the show. It had to stand on its own as a movie even for people who had never seen the show. The biggest retcon was Simon rescuing River himself and knowing a lot more thand he did in the show, rather than others getting her out and shipping her to Simon in cryo in return for payment.
They intended to make more movies but Ron Glass and Alan Tudyk weren't going to be available due to other commitments. Wash's absence would have been hard to explain, so they killed him off. Not necessary in the end as it turned out, because they never made the other movies.
My initial reaction to Serenity was exactly like yours. The massive change in the dynamics between Simon & Mal shouldn't be a problem for those who never saw the series first. But it's a funny way of honouring the fans by force-feeding them with some weird Simon2.0, punching his way through the introduction. Same thing with Wash. Completely unnecessary, but for the shock-effect. Empty d!ck move which seals the dramatic turn away from the series. Everything I loved about that unique half of a Firefly season got butchered in this movie. As a stand-alone, it's still pretty good though.
Summer’s fight scenes look like she is a ballerina because she grew up with serious training as a ballerina. She was home schooled for grade 3-12 to fit in her ballet and her first role on film was in Angel (one of whedon’s shows) where she played a ballerina. She got injured and tried out acting.
Great reaction to a devastating movie. After Firefly ended so poorly, thanks to the inability of Fox execs to actually try to understand what the show was, it was a fan outpouring that made them think that giving a movie would let them see if the fan support was enough to justify making more movies. While the fan turnout was huge, it wasn't enough for Fox to approve more work being done. So we got what we got. Serenity's script was based on the plans for the second season which, among other things, was going to reveal what happened to River and where the Reavers came from. Someone who is used to the staging of episodic scriptwriting can tell where the lines between individual episodes were in the movie, but it all flows smoothly and makes a consistent, coherent and brutal story. The deaths of Book and Wash were due to their inability to guarantee that they would be available for future movies. Better to just get them out of the way here rather than have to wonder whether or not they'd be available in the future and maybe have three different scripts to cover who was available. Still hurt like hell. As it was, this ended up being the end. Kind of. There are several comic book series that deal with the time between the end of the show and the start of the movie, and one that deals with Book's history. They're worth reading for sure. There's also a Firefly boardgame where each of the players picks a captain and a ship and flies around the 'verse doing missions and trying to win whichever of the scenarios the players are playing. I've used the things that happened in the boardgame as the basis for some short stories I wrote for my Browncoat friends who I was playing with. If nothing else it kind of a way to keep the stories of Firefly going. Plus, Wash and Book are still available as crew in the boardgame so they're still alive there. I know a story that potentially explains more of the connections between Miranda, where River had never been, and River herself. In it, the people who became Reavers were the people among the colonists who had some amount of psychic capability, whether they knew it or not. The Pax affected their brains to heighten their capabilities as well as drive them mad. Some of the higher ups in Parliament had obviously seen the transmission from Miranda, which is why River had 'seen' Miranda, and they decided that they should identify psychics in the population and choose some of them to be exposed to a lesser dose of the Pax to turn them into weapons even more effective than the Operatives. That is where River was when Simon rescued her, at one of those testing centers being conditioned with Pax to be a brutally effective fighting force for Parliament. It's also potentially something that helped them pass through Reaver space, as the thought is that the psychic, Pax contaminated Reavers could feel that there was one like them on the ship. There's no way of knowing if any of that is true, but I absolutely think that it could be, so I like it. 🙂 I don't care what you believe. Just believe it! Also, I think the Operative would make a fine Shepherd, don't you? It's obvious that his steadfast belief has been completely shattered, which is why, as he tells Mal at their farewell, there is nothing left of him to see. It would seem that, with all Book knew, he had been on a path somewhat like the Operative's at some point but had also been broken. Maybe it could happen again? The Operative was amazingly well done, and I liked that he wasn't killed but instead was shown what his "perfect world" looked like and from that he obviously made the decision to no longer be Parliament's man. It'd be interesting to see his growth from that point, at least to me. Nathan Fillion, who played Malcolm Reynolds, went on to next play the lead character in the police show Castle, and it was fun to look for all the Firefly Easter Eggs snuck into the scripts there. Less often some of the other Firefly main cast appear as guest stars. The first four seasons of the show are the best, but only one of the Firefly cast appears in them, with Jayne/Adam Baldwin appearing in season 4. Zoe/Gina Torres appears in season 5, while Kailee/Jewel Staite, River/Summer Glau, and once again Jayne appear in different episodes in season 8.
According to inside sources this is essentially the two part season.series two finale…Watch Buffy for what Whedon season finales are like; they typically put more money into them…Inara leaving and difficult times not surpassingly equals tensions..River, of course, is this shows Buffy and the actor who plays her (See Whedon’s Angel) is trained in dance…Dude, Simon is protective of River and that breeds, well think about it…See trigger messages…Oh, and remember Early? River shares much with Early and the Operative. Why? Think about it…As in the series, Book goes to the Abbey…Whedon is an existentialist as should be clear from Objects in Space and Buffy…And the metaphor is how great holier than thou powers like the USA and the USSR and their surveillance apparatus (CIA, KGB, NSA also see MI6 and CSIS) act and justify their actions…So much for utopias…By the way, go look how much money was put into this film…Have you been watching too much comic book war or too much film and TV war???…War kills and it kills children and friends. War is brutal. War is rape as a weapon. See the wars of Napoleon, the USA, and the USSR…Zoe is a soldier who has seen the utter brutality and fickleness of war…Gee, gotta love humans who reduce everything to emotions and want to see a Sea of Azov full of tears...
Book was killed so Mal would have a firm belief and win. Wash was killed so we the audience would not have a firm belief that they would all survive to the end.
The killing off of Wash and Book was more about the fact that the two actors couldn't commit to more Firefly films. Sad truth is there weren't any more films. disney now owns the rights, and have toyed with a reboot, but so far, nothing.
"Serenity: The Movie": Some questions are answered, new ones appear, and pieces continue to fall off the ship... Please stand for the complete Browncoay anthem: ua-cam.com/video/gUn-eN8mkDw/v-deo.html
Chernobyl is an excellent choice! I'd really like you to watch it. ++ About Wash, yeah, and Book. I left the theater with a bad taste in my mouth, and decided that the movie wasn't part of the story at all. I have been slow to re-accept it, and still haven't fully. For me, it's an alternate universe [edit: I see that someone else called it that first lol. same feelings] than the series. Good as a separate thing.
For this reactor, a Whedon series up her alley would be: 💃🕺"Dollhouse". 2 Seasons. Great cast (including Wash's guy, Alan Tudyk). & River (later). Plus Buffyverse & BSG castmembers. Virtually the whole cast is smokin' hot. Not sure how popular it would be, but since no other reactors have started it that I know of, it might be a draw. An incredible story of morality & technology that is exactly pertinent to current times. Also, FOX tried to sabotage it as well... Unlike "Firefly", which is universally loved, "Dollhouse" divided the Whedon fans. A painfully genius series. Answering the age old question: 🧠💾 If you put your brain on a hard drive, is your soul stored with it? 👻
Beautiful reaction by a beautiful young lady. There is a theory within the Browncoat community that Zoe was pregnant (after their talk in "heart of gold" episode). The idiots at Fox wanted to silence all screaming when they cancelled FireFly so they let Joss make this movie. Joss made a great movie and left the world open in case it could be revisited in the future.
@@antonchertov5424 Wow! I have the comics but have never removed them from the original packaging. So it is my fault for not knowing that. Thanks for replying and letting me know, I appreciate it.
Thank you for allowing me to share this wonderful Firefly journey with you
Personally, the only way I can enjoy this film is to look at it as an alternate universe from the show. The complete rewrite of the rescue of River, including Simon suddenly knowing that she's psychic from the start, makes that an easy decision.
"The production has improved so much!"
Yeah, that's the difference between working using network leavings, and actually having the budget of a visual effects feature.
There're some shows connected with the cast or the creators or just the style/era of the production time, that could be interesting for you:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (7 seasons + a SpinOff with 5 seasons, starting after season 3)
Dollhouse (2 seasons)
Tru Calling (2 seasons)
Castle (8 Seasons)
Dark Angel (2 seasons)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2 seasons, following the events after the first two Terminator movies).
Was a good ride with you. Don't worry, be shiny!🌞.
As an extra information: Zoe is pregnant with Wash's child 😊.
@@CvSp22 The big problem with The Sarah Connor Chronicles, of course, is that it's another series which leaves its audience high and dry due to cancellation. The second season finale was a huge cliffhanger/reveal and then....nothing. No third season; no mini-series wrap-up; no feature film. Nothing.
@@Pixelologist I don't see or feel it that way. For sure, i wish there would be more to see, but to have the rest free for imagination and speculation is some kind of satisfying as well.
One thing a lot of people miss in the story, they assume river has been to Miranda. but she hasn't, she pulled it out of the minds of the people who they paraded her in front of "You put them in a room with a psychic" "The memory, it isn't mine and i shouldn't have to carry it".
After the heist there is a Reaver that gets on board and is shot. River looks at the dead Reaver and says 'You didn't lie down... They never lie down.' This was maybe a little factoid that was lingering in her mind. '...They never lie down.' Might've been a fragment of memory left in her head from some Senator or Scientist who was observing Miranda and then paid a visit to River in the lab.
Actually, the first tile I saw this happen
Mal: "If I start fighting a war, I guarantee: you'll see something new"
Audience: *sees something new*
In an interview of Alan Tudyk (Wash), he tells that he doesn't say his I'm a Leaf on the Wind line anymore. He was at a comic con autograph session and 3 teenage girls came up for their turn, He said his line "I'm a Leaf on the Wind" and 2 girls just started bawling their eyes out. He didn't like making these girls cry and said to himself that he wouldn't say his line again.
Zoe grieved in her own way. At the end when Mal asked how she is, he wasn't speaking of Serenity, she was speaking about herself. 'she was torn up plenty.'
You beat me to saying this.
Summer Glau did train as a ballerina. A broken toe ended her career in dance before it could start, but it gave her the grace to be great in fighting scenes. She's Got The Moves. (loved the tiny clip of Electric Callboy)
The first Reaver that you see River punching in slow motion, is played by the incomparable Neil Patrick Harris!
"Laundry day/
see you there/
underthings/
Tumbling."
“He rides across the nation, the thoroughbred of sin…”
Wait…
What?
Wait, WHAT?!
I can't unsee it now.
River: "to borrow a phrase, I am not locked out here with the Reavers, the Reavers are locked out here with me."
😎
A few Words about Shepard for those who have always wondered what his backstory is. First most of this is from the comic book "Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale" if you can find it and want to read it I would recommend it.
Shepard's real name is Henry Evans. He had a troubled childhood and left home early to pursue a life of crime. He is recruited by the brown coats before the war starts. He volunteers for a mission as a mole. Derrial Book is the name of an alliance citizen he killed and stoles identity. He then enlisted with the alliance and climbed through the ranks at record speed becoming a very high ranking officer. At a key moment in the war he set up his command for an ambush leading to the "worst loss in alliance history". The alliance wasn't willing to take the bad PR from the loss so they wiped it from their records and "honorably discharged" Derrial Book meaning on paper he is still a retired high ranking and decorated alliance war hero. After his discharge he became homeless and found God in a soup kitchen becoming a Shepard.
You've now joined the club. It's been a pleasure watching along with you through the Firefly 'verse. Shiny.
Inna: "I cant loose any of the crew!"
Me: "What do you think the tissues are for?"
😭
Well, the crew was certainly loose when they landed on Miranda. They were getting tossed all over the ship.
I saw this on opening night in Austin, Texas. The theater was totally packed. When Book fell, the crowd was stunned. The only sounds, were a few muffled sobs. When Wash died, the whole crowd roared in outrage. Several people got up, and walked out.
"He ain't coming." One of the saddest lines in any movie. Breaks my heart every time I hear it.
Chitwel is one of my all-time favorite bad guys in all of cinema. The way he pulls off the unapologetic villain is perfection.
Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Ejiofor was also great in The Shadow Line.
@@ceji566 I love him as an actor. I need to watch that one. Thank you for the heads up.
The Operative is such an incredibly convincing villain. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a fantastic actor and in this film he creates one of the all-time greatest movie villains.
@@dhavaram8064 Agreed. I put him up there with Heath Ledger in owning a villain role.
When they made this film, there were plans to make more if this one was a hit. Alan Tudyk (Wash) and Ron Glass (Shepherd Book) had other projects lined up, and were unable to commit to any sequels. From a practical standpoint, that's why their characters were killed off in this one. It wasn't just to be cruel to the fans. 🙂
Also, even before the show was canceled, Alan Tudyk volunteered to be the sacrifical lamb to up the stakes. Originally he thought it would be good in S2, and then the movie came around and he said it again. It's not that he WANTED to leave, but he knew that losing Wash would have the biggest impact on the story and the characters. Not to mention the audience. As soon as Wash died, suddenly it looked like they were all doomed. We actually believed any of the main characters could die in that final fight, because if WASH wasn't safe, how could anyone else be??
I believe Ron Glass had cancer and died shortly after filming.🤓
But it was effective. Shepherd we could have taken, but Wash too? That made you think everyone could die, that no one was safe.
The way this movie made you feel was deliberate. They say you don't know what you've got till it's gone, and we can tell from your reaction that you loved Shepherd and Wash. They died so your heart can tell you how much you loved them. Just like all us Browncoats loved them and the rest of our crew, and even Serenity. (Yeah, I saw how sad you were when she crashed, you loved her too!)
To me, that's what this movie is about. Mal said it at the end, and Shepherd also said it, but he called it faith. You have to love your ship and have faith that she'll get you through the mission, just like you have to love your crew and have faith that they'll do the same. That's what Shepherd meant, you have to have faith that you're doing the right thing, and that your crew will get you through the mission.
That's what makes us Browncoats, and that's why you're now a Browncoat too, our shared love for our crew and Serenity, and our shared pain from the loss. But you know what? You think you can get over losing them, but really, they'll always be in your heart. Every time I re-watch Firefly and Serenity, they find their way back in, and I'm crying again as I watch them die.
And that's what makes Firefly so magical, it makes you fall in love with our crew and their ship over and over again. Only 14 episodes and a movie, and it can do all that. Just imagine what it could've done with seven seasons and a movie!
So welcome to the ranks of the Browncoats! The original Browncoats proved it's possible to do the impossible, so if you believe in your heart that Serenity and her crew are still flying, then maybe we might see more of them someday.
"She's tore up plenty, but she'll fly true."
😭😭😭😭 Everytime.
We never get over it. Sorry. Forget tissues, the movie should come with a warning to have someone to hug nearby.
Do what I do, go rewatch your favourite episode
Oh, you should really watch The Expanse next time you fancy sci-fi.
@@thebigboo5 Great suggestion. I would love that. Maybe Chernobyl first, since it's a short series, and also great.
Getting torn up, and still flying true, is the mark of a true Browncoat.
Q: How do Reavers clean their spears?
A: They run 'em through a Wash! 😁
I'm really glad YOU posted that so I don't have to get blamed. lol
Too soon!
Wash's death gets everybody, hell, it gets me still, every damn time. No one is prepared for the 3 phases of "Leaf on the Wind." Bit of backstory behind it though, Alan Tudyk knew that professionally he wouldn't be able to commit to a second movie due to other projects. As for story wise, it makes perfect sense. Having lost Book the viewer feels, "ok, I expected someone to die, we've had that, everyone will be ok now." which is helped by the whole scene where he gets to say goodbye. Wash's death however, after the HUGE triumph of crash landing the ship without losing anyone, brings the audience from the peak of excitement to the depths of despair. It just RIPS the hope away so that for a while, while they keep the tension high, you truly believe that no one is safe, that perhaps none of them may make it out of this, and the only hope left is that they get the signal out.
As for Zoe's reaction, or rather lack thereof, she's a soldier. As much as she loves Wash she has dealt with a lot of death in her life and is able to set that aside and process the grief later. "To the job sir." Now, she does lose herself to her rage for just a moment and she pays for it with a hell of a new scar, but thankfully it doesn't cost her everything. It's a popular fan theory that she's pregnant at this point and if we'd ever got a sequel to this we'd get to "meet that child."
And finally for the moment between Kaylee and Simon, that's just a signature of Joss Whedon's style. He always throws a touch of humanity and humor in the most intense sequences of his shows.
In one of the comic book mini series after the film, wich are canon since they were written by Josh Whedons brother, they did have a child. A baby girl. You can also find Shepards story and also Mals and Inara's relationship in them also also written by his brother. And Josh himself has said that they are true continuations of the story.
The scene near the beginning of the movie, with Mal walking through the ship, was mainly done so that any viewers who hadn't seen Firefly would know the layout of the ship.
It's a HELL of a one take shot too cinematically speaking!
@@CarBENbasedEspecially for Nathan Fillion, who had the most lines to memorize.
And to show off they had the budget to build a full set.
Saw the movie in threater, so close to ten years for me to get over Wash's death. I will say so happy evertime I see people get mad about his death, it helps me even more.
I feel that the question of how much Simon knew about River's conditioning is a plot hole. The movie had to be aimed both at fans of the TV show and people who'd never seen it, which meant they had to introduce all the characters and sketch out River's backstory so that newbies knew what was going on, do it quickly enough that the TV fans didn't get bored, and try to make it feel organic rather than like an infodump. I think Simon suddenly knowing more about what happened to River than he knew in the series was a sacrifice they made to do that.
It was definitely a tightrope the writers had to walk, but I think overall they nailed it for the movie . . .
well, it worked, whatever they did. I saw the movie first. I refused to see the tv series after my friend told me Serenity had a "female chief engineer". I pictured all the female engineers and scientists on Star Trek TNG and said "no thanks" to Firefly. I had no idea they were talking the "master mechanic" delightful little Kaylee. After my friend sneakily got me to watch the movie w/o telling me it was Firefly, I binge-watched the series. Next time I rewatched Serenity... yeah I needed the kleenex.
The Miranda story line was supposed to be introduced at the end of season 2. Book's death was to help Mal believe in something. Wash's death was to show how dangerous this way. It was also stated that Joss wanted additional movies, Alan and Ron were unable to commit to additional movies.
There are comic books/graphic novels that tell more back stories and future stories.
Titan Books has a series of books/audiobooks that tell more stories between the series and the movie.
Wash's death was also intended to make viewers believe that nobody on Serenity was safe. With Book's death, and now Wash's, the numbers were dwindling.
We are sorry. It is a path you must walk alone. Welcome to the Browncoats. We are leaves on the wind. Much love and keep on keepin on J.
Inna I loved the series when it aired & was one of the people that campaigned to have it brought back. We failed there but Joss Whedon at least got us Serenity.
I took off a day of work to see the 1st showing of the movie in theaters. How you're feeling now is exactly how I felt then - both hurt & numb at the loss of Shepherd Book & Wash, but gratified that the rest of the crew are back as family with the boat still flying.
All the loose ends were wrapped up but the fact that it ends is always bittersweet. We're all left wanting more
When you're a medic in combat, you are looking in your package, your pouches, fortunatly finding the right stuff, but not always.
Then you carry them to safety where you can treat them.
Zoe finally got the slinky dress she mentioned wanting, in Episode 4, "Shindig".
They ended Book and Wash's characters because neither of the actors could commit to a sequel . Shame is, since no sequel was ever made , they didn't need to be removed from the character cast .
".. have you guys ever gotten over it?"
In places like Facebook Groups there's always someone who from time to time will post a Wash joke. And then 200 people will reply: Too Soon, it's still too soon!
Hope that answers you're question.
No more than the fans of "Gravity Falls," who are waiting for the Mystery Twins to return "next summer.";)
It felt so wrong, laughing at Kaylee's declaration of intent to live, right after Wash died. But it was just the tension breaker we all needed.
There is little known TV show, Burn Notice. It has 7 seasons and a satisfying ending. That may interest you.
Just finished re-watching Burn Notice while showing it to a friend a couple months back, one of my favorite shows! :D
Complete shock and devastation at Wash's death is a common reaction! As for Zoe, a common fan theory is that she would have discovered she was pregnant soon after the events of the movie with a little Wash Jr.
It's a theory, in case it helps with the grieving process!
I think it was confirmed by the staff later, and in the official continuation comic books.
Wash's death is probably the single most memorable moment in the whole series. Almost as mind-numbingly shocking as that time Radar stumbled into the operating toom...
It is a pity not more shows or movies do that. Taking away plot armour makes the story better.
All these years later and that episode of MASH still hurts to think about. I remember everyone in my family just sitting there at the end of the show in stunned silence. Same thing happened years later in the final moments of Blackadder Goes Forth.
That ended up being The most memorable episode of MASH (for me). But yeah, Death also happens, and both of those moments made it real.
@@doug3691 i mean - all I said was "Radar stumbled into the operating room", and you knew exactly what I was talking about. If that's not memorable, nothing is.
@@jakubfabisiak9810 Especially since you didn't even write "room".😉
At the end when Zoe says "She's torn up plenty but she'll fly true.", she was referring to herself. So she is grieving.
What a detail!
The bruises on Nathan's (Mal's) face in the final boss fight are real. He did so many retakes to get it just right that he ended up with heavy bruises and a bloodshot eye.
And the make-up people didn't realize it until it wouldn't come off at the end of the day.
I left the theater numb and in shock with a sick feeling in my stomach. I think the fans deserved a happier ending.
The guy trying to get on the Mule when the crew was makig its escape from the reavers, the one that Mal shot, was the same guy that Zoey called a hero.
You should look up the outtakes , they are hilarious and any extra scenes of this cast is worth seeing.
Plus the gag reel.😂
I've read a theory somewhere in YT reaction comments: the 10% of the people in Miranda who turned into Reavers from the PAX were latent psychics - like River. Her conditioning were done to make her into a controllable Reaver, a super Operative. Heck, even her name sounds almost the same...
Actually, I accepted it in my head canon now.
A tenth of a percent, not 10%.
Joss Whedon was still hoping to do another movie when he made this one, for which he already had a shooting schedule. Alan Tudyk (Wash) and Ron Glass (Shepherd Book) were not going to be available to shoot that movie, so he had to write their characters out of the script somehow. Of course, there are other ways he could have done that. However, particularly with the Wash character, he decided to use it to destroy all the plot armor main characters usually have, so you would think any or perhaps even all of the crew might die. Also, it would have been difficult to write Wash out another way without writing Zoe out as well.
She got the moves, she got the moves. Let's do it again.
The movie is one of River's dreams. Her nightmares. That's why her brother is so different, he is her hero, then she becomes the hero to save her brother.
Then she could wake up with all the crew around her when they restarted the series.
Except no other network wanted the series.
While there probably won't ever be a live-action sequel, it may be some consolation that there are comic series set in the aftermath of the movie.
Zoe was/is a soldier. Her grieving was to cut off all emotion... except for rage. If you think about the seven stages of grief, she went through the shock and denial stages real fast and now she's on the anger stage. It is possible to get stuck on a stage though I believe that most people get stuck on the depression stage.
While I admit I despised this movie when it first came out due to the MASSIVE time jump there was (its why River doesn't seem to act like a complete schizo anymore), I do like that you finally get to see Mal finally fight in action instead of constantly using the gun like the series. Its constantly emphasized how much of a "warrior" he is, but throughout most of the series, you just see him as a marksman and rarely see any signs of his military training. His fight with the operative is brutal and Wheadon has actually confirmed that despite River being psychic, only Mal would have survived the fight and everyone else (including River) would lose.
I cannot wait to see FIllion as Mal again in the upcoming revival series.
"I'm gonna show you a world without sin."
21:20 River moves like a ballerina because Summer Glau was trained as a ballerina.
21:38 Mal did not lie, he had no idea River could fight. In fact, Mal does not a lot about River outside of her name and that she is wanted by the government.
23:43 My guess is that Simon knew River was trained as a fighter or an assassin. What he does not know is how exactly and how to reverse it, nor the extent of the training.
27:24 Read the "Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale" comic book for the Shepherd Book backstory.
38:33 Shepherd Book was killed because the actor could not commit to a second, potential, movie.
42:36 River's visions were not her memories, but the memories of the government's people who visited her. As she said, the memories were not hers.
45:23 My guess is, River is now all-right because she now understands those horrific memories that she has.
Around 48:53, I do not know if you noticed, but Jayne made sure everybody was secured before securing himself. The guy cares for the others.
49:59 Wash was killed because the actor could not commit to a second, potential, movie.
1:01:47 The movie was the season 2 cut to its bare bones. There was a lot that was not shown, not just Zoe grieving.
1:04:45 There were plans for a second movie. Unfortunately, there were so many early screenings for the fans before the release in theatres that the movie bombed at the box-office.
following along with the series it is a masterful movie. and one of my favourites.
When they made this movie they understood many would not have seen the TV series Firefly so they rolled some things back a little to help the new viewers understand things like relationships. So some of the relationships are similar to the first couple of episodes to begin with. This was not a complete reset and the time actually did progress.
In a way, it's refreshing to see someone who stillwishes old stuff to be picked up instead of being afraid what they'll do to writing and characters, but... Firefly never got a chance to be bad. Let's keep it that way.
My favorite callback...
Out of Gas:
Jayne -- "We'd have been back 1st, but there's something wrong with Inara's shuttle. She's done something to it, Mal. It smells funny."
Inara -- "I told you. It's incense."
Jayne -- "So you say."
Serenity (film):
Inara -- "And that's not incense." BOOM!!!
For your own viewing pleasure from UA-cam channel Cinema Therapy -- Serenity and Finding Your Purpose (28min), Serenity and Coping with Trauma (25min), Firefly: Teamwork and Found Family (30min)
UA-cam channel Moosecat Productions "The Reason" Fan MV (4min)
❤🧡💛💚💙💜
If you want more Wash, you should check out his TV series "Resident Alien"
If that space battle was in Star Trek it would be Voyager being pursued by a Borg fleet and head towards a Dominion blockade surrounding Rigel 7
So a very overlooked detail. Wash wanted to see Zoe in a slinky dress. In shindig. She honors him at the funeral in a slinky dress. I love it!!!
What an amazing detail!
"I'm empty now." Yes, Inna, that's entirely fair. There is so much that is positive in this movie, and the series -- and few movies make you truly fear for the death of the main characters like this one. But long-term story-wise, losing Wash and Shepherd Book makes it hard to imagine a positive continuation for the remaining crew. At the start of the movie, some months after Episode 14, Simon and Mal are practically at each other's throats, due in large part to the absence of Shepherd Book and Inara Serra. No Faith or Harmony on the ship Serenity at that time. By the end, Mal has a sort of Faith, and Inara is staying, but the Shepherd should properly have stayed on, and as for the laughter and levity that Wash brought to our favorite crew: to move forward in your Faith without laughter and a sense of humor is not likely to take you anywhere good.
Not likely, but not impossible if River Tam is able to continue to grow and mature as some sort of existentially transcendental new Pilot of Serenity. Joss Whedon is supposedly one that lives by an Existential philosophy, so, if done right, that could be Very interesting. But when you lose characters like Wash and Shepherd Book, your audience tends to get smaller, and so 20 years on there is no second movie or episode 15. In the end, we have to be grateful for what we do have, in order not to be victimized by an otherwise cruel fate.
So, they had hoped to make a trilogy of movies but the actors for Wash and Shepherd Book had other obligations that precluded them from being able to sign on for additional movies. Therefore their characters were killed off. Unfortunately the movie didn't make enough money for the studio to greenlight the additional films.
In the funeral scene, notice that Zoe is wearing a slinky dress like they talked about her getting in episode 4 when they were on Persephone. Canonically Zoe was pregnant in the funeral scene
37:37 Oh you sweet summer child.
50:02 Yeah. that was all of us. :(
We could try to warn you but there's no way to prepare you really.
But in happier stuff, top marks for the Gothy look you're rocking in this vid!
I came late to Firefly. I saw "The Train Job" the first time it aired, but life got in the way. A coworker was a big fan, and she lent me her DVD box set to binge watch just before the movie came out. Loved the series, and the movie. I bought my own DVD box set and binged it two more times. Then I lent it to my mother, and she kept it (though she gave me a replacement later). But after 20 years, I still mourn Wash, despite Alan's appearance in other work.
If you want another fun series to watch, check out "Farscape". Jim Henson Labs collaborated on it, so there are some fun aliens.
If you want more Summer Glau, check out "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles". Her character is really fun. If you want more "Nathan Fillion", see "Castle". That series has a bunch of callbacks to "Firefly". If you want more Alan Tudyk, see "Resident Alien". It's a hoot.
If you want a series that draws you in and pulls on your heart strings, try "Orphan Black". One actress plays _four_ leading roles, plus more guest and recurring characters. They're all distinct, and it's easy to invest heavily in some of them, in the same way most of us invested in Wash.
The actress playing River WAS a ballerina, so they made the fight moves dance moves.
34:19 Characters/ letters are a combination of Chinese and/or Japanese, I can read the Katakana (Japanese), just like how everyone speak a little Chinese now and then.
For the movie to work in the cinema for the part of the audience that might not knew the TV-show that well (or not at all) too, they had to add a little bit of "re-dramatization" the relationship between the crew.
Esp. the tension between Mal and Simon feels a little bit odd if you saw the whole show and know they they where already past that point. A little bit of a compromise, but I think they managed to do it in a way that is still enjoyable even for fans of the show.
And we all know that Mal was a little bit jumpy and unpredictable, so it not completely out of place.
"Firefly" was a huge success in DVD sales. People could binge the show, so it could've been a hit in today's streaming environment. However, it just wasn't a show that was going to find a big audience on network TV easily.
I do think the movie had "retcon" story elements that didn't flow very well for me. And unfortunately, it was not a hit at the box office, which doomed any remaining chances for a reboot in the 2000s.
However, Browncoats unite! It's the greatest thing to be an underdog and never give up!
Some people attribute the lack of box office on the fact that they did too many preview screenings in the lead up to the release. The idea at the time was to get people to watch it so that they would do word of mouth advertisement, but so many of the people who were likely to watch it in theaters managed to find a (free) preview screening that there were fewer people to watch it once it got to theaters.
The show would have been much more successful if they hadnt sabotaged it. Constantly changing the air date on short notice so nobody knew when it was on and airing the show out of order.
Chernobyl is a tough watch, as you might expect considering such a serious topic, but it's a fantastic TV-show. You should definitely watch it.
I don't know if people can get over this in normal circumstances, but I sure can't. My wife and I were due to see it on opening night at the cinema, but she got the call telling her that my mother had died (dementia). She decided not to tell me until after the movie trip, but in the end we couldn't do it anyway. We did get to see it a few days later, and you can bet I was not dry-eyed! Do watch it with the commentary sometime, it's one of the best.
a pretty short series with Sumaren is "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"
another good series is "Banshee" it was made by cinemax a few years ago 2013-16
Wash dying was needed. it made the last part of the movie more tense, knowing more people can die.
*looks around shiftily.* Umm... yeah... about "closing" Firefly... you might want to instead think of it as a vacation of indeterminate length lol. Mal is in talks with Disney to try and get the show going again and is fairly insistent that Joss Whedon come back for it, based on the scuttlebutt. Supposedly, he's even trying to work on a way for Wash to come back too, and I can think of a few ways for that. I expect he'd try to bring Book back too, but his actor sadly passed. They implied Zoe was grieving with a double meaning. That conversation between her and Mal... when Zoe said "She's tore up plenty, but she'll fly true," she wasn't just talking about Serenity, she was talking about herself too.
You're welcome for the suggestion. Glad you loved it. If you need something lighter, may I suggest the British comedy The IT Crowd? It's a short series. Four seasons, only six episodes each season. Episodes are about 25 minutes long. It's a show that will actually make you laugh out loud.
I have seen a couple of episodes of IT crowd years ago, it’s so funny!
It's always so painful watching those minutes leading up to Wash getting killed. Just know we all went through it.
Summer Glau is a trained ballerina.
R.I.P. Hoban Washburne, killed by the contract negotiation monster.
I mentioned this in your twitch stream, but I'll repost here in case anyone else was wondering, the reason River is often barefoot, I actually asked Summer Glau this once at a convention, and she said she was having trouble getting into character, so she asked Joss Whedon the creator if she could take off her shoes and socks, and walk around barefoot, and Joss said that was okay.
Also as a former dancer, she just likes being barefoot in general.
curious you said "like a ballerina" as Summer Glau actually does have a ballet background.
Welcome to the BrownCoats.
There's always rumors and ideas floating around a out Season 2 or a sequel movie. But at this point Joss Whedon has said that it's dead. He tried in the past but Fox wasn't interested.
That is a giant and beautiful kitty you have. Unless you are very tiny, that cat has to very large. ❣
1) I am sorry. No, I didn't do anything, but I've been there, and I'm sorry. 2)You know that brown coat I suggested? You can pin a "leaf on the wind" on it 3) Zoey at funeral wore a slinky dress. (Shindig) Not word of Joss but of Gina Torres (actress who played Zoey) she (Zoey, the character, not the actress) was pregnant. 4) Now for Jayne/River theory. Jayne in pilot said (to lawman) "it's a girl. She's not all there but not all of her has to be." If River is a willing woman, his part is set. In Ariel when she first wakes up she says to Jayne, "Copper for a kiss." When she is going on about Christmas presents everyone ignores her gibberish, except Jayne getting pissed. Those are his memories and for some reason she finds him fascinating. In the bar in the movie he can sneak up on a effing psychic because in a fight he does not think, he just does. When he thinks on the ship, she takes him easily. (That also explains why she couldn't dodge his blow after the butcher knife in Ariel, although that might just be her being nuts.) No accounting for taste and River might be well advised to keep a guy who can sneak up on her loyal to her, and she likes him for some reason. BTW, I saw this described as Mal trying to be a criminal but always being annoyed by having a conscience. Then finally acting based on it. Did you notice the lighting for his, "I am to misbehave" speach? Long enough comment already, but again, I'm sorry.
Maybe she likes Jayne because she can read his mind and knows more about him than he does. Like why he's the way he is. She might have some understanding or even sympathy for a character who hates himself.. or at least holds himself in low-regard. She can know long before the hat that Jayne is motivated _the same way Simon is_ , to care for his family.
If you listen, you can tell Jayne doesn't think much of himself, even before Jaynestown. His brief soliloquy in "The Message" makes it clearer, when he says folks like him don't live long. When he says, in Ariel, "If I'd wanted schoolin' I'd have gone to school"... he's not mad at Simon or Mal; he's ashamed/embarrassed. He excuses his behavior, like robbing Simon/River in "Safe", because "well, I'm a lowlife piece of shit, so I might as well" kind of boot-strapping logic. _He_ doesn't see the moments when he's NOT a lowlife piece of shit. Like when he and Vera join in rescuing Mal.
Can't stop the signal
When did I get over Wash dying? Not quite yet... Almost though... it's been 19 years, 8 months and 6 days. I'll let you know...
Yeah, the movie changed some stuff from the show. It had to stand on its own as a movie even for people who had never seen the show.
The biggest retcon was Simon rescuing River himself and knowing a lot more thand he did in the show, rather than others getting her out and shipping her to Simon in cryo in return for payment.
Fun fact: they used Chinese in the show and movie to get around bad language issues.
Watch Person of Interest! 🎉❤
I am a leaf on the wind.
I float in midair precisely the way bricks don't (h/t Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)
They intended to make more movies but Ron Glass and Alan Tudyk weren't going to be available due to other commitments. Wash's absence would have been hard to explain, so they killed him off. Not necessary in the end as it turned out, because they never made the other movies.
My initial reaction to Serenity was exactly like yours. The massive change in the dynamics between Simon & Mal shouldn't be a problem for those who never saw the series first. But it's a funny way of honouring the fans by force-feeding them with some weird Simon2.0, punching his way through the introduction.
Same thing with Wash. Completely unnecessary, but for the shock-effect. Empty d!ck move which seals the dramatic turn away from the series. Everything I loved about that unique half of a Firefly season got butchered in this movie. As a stand-alone, it's still pretty good though.
Summer’s fight scenes look like she is a ballerina because she grew up with serious training as a ballerina. She was home schooled for grade 3-12 to fit in her ballet and her first role on film was in Angel (one of whedon’s shows) where she played a ballerina.
She got injured and tried out acting.
"They got River!!" Um, no. River got THEM.
Great reaction to a devastating movie.
After Firefly ended so poorly, thanks to the inability of Fox execs to actually try to understand what the show was, it was a fan outpouring that made them think that giving a movie would let them see if the fan support was enough to justify making more movies. While the fan turnout was huge, it wasn't enough for Fox to approve more work being done. So we got what we got.
Serenity's script was based on the plans for the second season which, among other things, was going to reveal what happened to River and where the Reavers came from. Someone who is used to the staging of episodic scriptwriting can tell where the lines between individual episodes were in the movie, but it all flows smoothly and makes a consistent, coherent and brutal story.
The deaths of Book and Wash were due to their inability to guarantee that they would be available for future movies. Better to just get them out of the way here rather than have to wonder whether or not they'd be available in the future and maybe have three different scripts to cover who was available. Still hurt like hell. As it was, this ended up being the end. Kind of. There are several comic book series that deal with the time between the end of the show and the start of the movie, and one that deals with Book's history. They're worth reading for sure.
There's also a Firefly boardgame where each of the players picks a captain and a ship and flies around the 'verse doing missions and trying to win whichever of the scenarios the players are playing. I've used the things that happened in the boardgame as the basis for some short stories I wrote for my Browncoat friends who I was playing with. If nothing else it kind of a way to keep the stories of Firefly going. Plus, Wash and Book are still available as crew in the boardgame so they're still alive there.
I know a story that potentially explains more of the connections between Miranda, where River had never been, and River herself. In it, the people who became Reavers were the people among the colonists who had some amount of psychic capability, whether they knew it or not. The Pax affected their brains to heighten their capabilities as well as drive them mad. Some of the higher ups in Parliament had obviously seen the transmission from Miranda, which is why River had 'seen' Miranda, and they decided that they should identify psychics in the population and choose some of them to be exposed to a lesser dose of the Pax to turn them into weapons even more effective than the Operatives. That is where River was when Simon rescued her, at one of those testing centers being conditioned with Pax to be a brutally effective fighting force for Parliament. It's also potentially something that helped them pass through Reaver space, as the thought is that the psychic, Pax contaminated Reavers could feel that there was one like them on the ship. There's no way of knowing if any of that is true, but I absolutely think that it could be, so I like it. 🙂 I don't care what you believe. Just believe it!
Also, I think the Operative would make a fine Shepherd, don't you? It's obvious that his steadfast belief has been completely shattered, which is why, as he tells Mal at their farewell, there is nothing left of him to see. It would seem that, with all Book knew, he had been on a path somewhat like the Operative's at some point but had also been broken. Maybe it could happen again?
The Operative was amazingly well done, and I liked that he wasn't killed but instead was shown what his "perfect world" looked like and from that he obviously made the decision to no longer be Parliament's man. It'd be interesting to see his growth from that point, at least to me.
Nathan Fillion, who played Malcolm Reynolds, went on to next play the lead character in the police show Castle, and it was fun to look for all the Firefly Easter Eggs snuck into the scripts there. Less often some of the other Firefly main cast appear as guest stars. The first four seasons of the show are the best, but only one of the Firefly cast appears in them, with Jayne/Adam Baldwin appearing in season 4. Zoe/Gina Torres appears in season 5, while Kailee/Jewel Staite, River/Summer Glau, and once again Jayne appear in different episodes in season 8.
Still not over wash. I saw this in the theater.
According to inside sources this is essentially the two part season.series two finale…Watch Buffy for what Whedon season finales are like; they typically put more money into them…Inara leaving and difficult times not surpassingly equals tensions..River, of course, is this shows Buffy and the actor who plays her (See Whedon’s Angel) is trained in dance…Dude, Simon is protective of River and that breeds, well think about it…See trigger messages…Oh, and remember Early? River shares much with Early and the Operative. Why? Think about it…As in the series, Book goes to the Abbey…Whedon is an existentialist as should be clear from Objects in Space and Buffy…And the metaphor is how great holier than thou powers like the USA and the USSR and their surveillance apparatus (CIA, KGB, NSA also see MI6 and CSIS) act and justify their actions…So much for utopias…By the way, go look how much money was put into this film…Have you been watching too much comic book war or too much film and TV war???…War kills and it kills children and friends. War is brutal. War is rape as a weapon. See the wars of Napoleon, the USA, and the USSR…Zoe is a soldier who has seen the utter brutality and fickleness of war…Gee, gotta love humans who reduce everything to emotions and want to see a Sea of Azov full of tears...
CAT!
(Possible tiger, unclear.)
Alliance to the Empire! Now The Univers Rebeling to Alliance!
I hated that they killed Wash and Shepherd. Still not over it. I like to imagine the crew all still together and flying free...
Book was killed so Mal would have a firm belief and win. Wash was killed so we the audience would not have a firm belief that they would all survive to the end.
The killing off of Wash and Book was more about the fact that the two actors couldn't commit to more Firefly films. Sad truth is there weren't any more films. disney now owns the rights, and have toyed with a reboot, but so far, nothing.
"Serenity: The Movie": Some questions are answered, new ones appear, and pieces continue to fall off the ship...
Please stand for the complete Browncoay anthem: ua-cam.com/video/gUn-eN8mkDw/v-deo.html
Chernobyl is an excellent choice! I'd really like you to watch it. ++ About Wash, yeah, and Book. I left the theater with a bad taste in my mouth, and decided that the movie wasn't part of the story at all. I have been slow to re-accept it, and still haven't fully. For me, it's an alternate universe [edit: I see that someone else called it that first lol. same feelings] than the series. Good as a separate thing.
For this reactor, a Whedon series up her alley would be:
💃🕺"Dollhouse".
2 Seasons. Great cast (including Wash's guy, Alan Tudyk).
& River (later). Plus Buffyverse & BSG castmembers.
Virtually the whole cast is smokin' hot.
Not sure how popular it would be, but since no other reactors have started it that I know of, it might be a draw.
An incredible story of morality & technology that is exactly pertinent to current times. Also, FOX tried to sabotage it as well... Unlike "Firefly", which is universally loved, "Dollhouse" divided the Whedon fans.
A painfully genius series.
Answering the age old question:
🧠💾 If you put your brain on a hard drive, is your soul stored with it? 👻
Thanks for the suggestion!
Zoey won't be alone nine months later.😉
"Nobody on the crew can die"..... yeah, about that
😭
Beautiful reaction by a beautiful young lady. There is a theory within the Browncoat community that Zoe was pregnant (after their talk in "heart of gold" episode). The idiots at Fox wanted to silence all screaming when they cancelled FireFly so they let Joss make this movie. Joss made a great movie and left the world open in case it could be revisited in the future.
Actually it was confirmed as canon later in the official comic books, Zoey was pregnant.
@@antonchertov5424 Wow! I have the comics but have never removed them from the original packaging. So it is my fault for not knowing that. Thanks for replying and letting me know, I appreciate it.