Serenity Full Length Reaction
Added 2024-09-19 00:39:32 +0000 UTCI'm having to prioritize uploads because of my Wi-Fi right now, so standby for THE PACIFIC. I wanted to get this to you guys ASAP anyway, but as I've started editing, I realized I really do need to do this in two parts for YouTube. And since I want to do a live stream for my birthday on Saturday, I'm trying to figure out just how that scheduling is going to work. Internet issues are certainly not helping with that 😅
Comments
Interesting take on the "I know how you must feel about the Alliance," and Mal says, "You really don't" lines. I've seen the theory that Mal (almost certainly correctly) assumes the operative thinks Mal hates the Alliance, but when Mal says, "You really don't," what he's saying is that he doesn't hate the Alliance. He doesn't care about the Alliance. He wants to just ignore the Alliance and go his own way. On a separate matter, regarding the deaths in the movie, I heard that they would have been able to do several movies, if the first one did well enough. Sadly, it didn't; we only got the one, but Ron Glass and Alan Tudyk were the only ones who couldn't commit to a multi-movie deal.
Michael Cyr
2024-12-16 03:07:40 +0000 UTCI don't think I've ever gone so fast from kinda enamoured to a full-on crush as when I heard you stop with all the forking bullshirt and drop a sweet sweet string of proper cussing! It was so very warranted and utterly delightful that... well, let's just say I'll be in my bunk!
Alex Black
2024-12-04 15:24:00 +0000 UTCThe doc Done The Impossible, about the making of Serenity. https://youtu.be/XALfqxTGvoo?si=epMhCU1ReRma0woT
Kurt Roers
2024-12-03 18:31:59 +0000 UTCDone The Impossible: https://youtu.be/XALfqxTGvoo?si=epMhCU1ReRma0woT
Kurt Roers
2024-12-03 18:29:14 +0000 UTCThis. So very much this.
Kurt Roers
2024-12-03 18:26:32 +0000 UTCI feel like you would also enjoy Farscape and its finale movie, The Peacekeeper Wars.
Kennedy Allison Farner
2024-12-03 09:26:42 +0000 UTCThank you for sharing your time with Firefly - took me about 4 efforts to get through the movie after Wash. Still struggle. The first time I turned it off and left it for a week or so - watched the tv series again before coming back to it. So thank you. Cheers
Rupert Purcat
2024-12-02 15:29:16 +0000 UTCI will join the chorus that joined to watch this reaction (and bought the movie so I could follow along.) It was worth every penny and was the perfect way to spend this evening. My dad and I loved this series and watched Serenity often. Tomorrow is the anniversary of his passing and I feel close to him tonight. Such a joy to watch others experience things we love.
Sara L. Young
2024-11-04 03:54:07 +0000 UTCLiterally subscribed to Patreon for this reaction and it did not disappoint! I have appreciated your perspective on reactions because of your background in film but I also appreciate your perspective on everything you do
John Juska
2024-10-24 23:45:20 +0000 UTCAlso saw Serenity in a theatre rerelease at Alamo Drafthouse with a coworker
Benjamin Bradtke
2024-10-19 01:41:48 +0000 UTCSubscribed to your Patreon to watch the full Serenity reaction. Can't count how many times I've watch the series and Serenity. Loved your reactions to them.
Benjamin Bradtke
2024-10-19 01:40:41 +0000 UTCI can't explain how exciting this was to walk into my cinema and see this huge "Coming Soon!" display for Serenity. Only to be followed by the bitter disappointment of my cinema never actually showing it. I've watched this so many times over and it's perfect. I love it more every watch. I cry every watch.
James Fleischman
2024-10-18 01:36:01 +0000 UTCYes, she went for some payback in the heat of battle. That doesn't diminsh my statement abou ther holding it together earlier. I agree completely that Mal was primarily asking about Zoe. A perfect exchange between two people who care a great deal for each other but also don't show those feelings openly.
John
2024-10-13 22:49:41 +0000 UTCBut then she didn't. She cracked and focused all her rage into that one reaver and... got into everyone's way and also taken down herself to the hinderance of everyone behind her, but I think we can forgive her one moment of humanity in all of that. But I also love how that conversation is continued at the end when Mal asks her "Think she'll hold together?" and she replies with "She's torn up plenty, but she'll fly true." They're not talking about Serenity. Or at least not only about Serenity.
Darjan
2024-10-13 22:21:36 +0000 UTCFunny story. First, yes this was released to theaters. I had a very close friend at the time who know my tastes pretty well. He was a brown-coat through and through. (I had no idea what that meant at the time but it describes him now.) I had never seen Firefly. He knew I would love it but I got to be a guinea pig. Everyone he knew was a brown coat and was very familiar with the series. He wanted to see what someone who had never seen the show thought of the stand alone movie. Long story short, I'm now a brown coat for life and no, I wasn't upset since I got to see it through unique eyes. I'm fairly certain we watched it 2-3 times that first day in the theater.
Matt Ferguson
2024-10-04 20:43:11 +0000 UTCI also saw this on Facebook a few weeks back and thought you might be interested regarding the two central antagonists in Serenity - Malcom & the Operative (he never had a name). It brought me to tears when I had time to think about it. What fictional character do you feel the most sorry for or pity? My answer is going to surprise you—at first. There’s no denying it: there are a lot of pitiable characters out there. Gollum, Ikari Shinji, Edmund Dantès, Prometheus. So the character of Malcolm Reynolds from the sci-fi TV series Firefly might strike you as an odd choice. After all, he seems to be living his best life. He’s got a gun on his hip, a ship’s deck beneath his feet, and a semi-reliable crew at his back. He’s perpetually cash-strapped and hounded by the Alliance everywhere he roams, but he’s still flying. But beneath that swashbuckling, cavalier veneer is a broken, beaten man. A pitiable man. Ask yourself: What makes a person who they are? Is it their looks? Or is it their outlook? Is it their personality? Or is it their priorities? Is it their habits and tastes? Or is it their values and beliefs? I think it’s the latter. When we first meet Mal, he’s full to bursting with belief. Look at him. Kissing a crucifix before charging into battle to free himself and others from the yoke of tyranny. He clearly believes in something. And like most people who believe in something, he’s spiritually at ease. Happy. Contented. Sanguine in the face of death and danger. Jovial, even. Then the unthinkable happens. His side loses the battle, and the war. Look at that. That is the face of a man watching his most cherished beliefs being ground into the dust before his eyes. When we see Mal again, five years later, he’s changed. He doesn’t believe anymore—in God or anything else. He’s lost his faith. His ideals have gone up in smoke. He’s alive, but only in the academic sense. He’s a husk. An empty shell. A shadow of his former self. Now he just exists. Crawling from job to job, scrapheap to scrapheap, payday to payday, living for nothing. God, it’s pitiable. You can starve a man, whip him, torture him until he’s a physical wreck. But the day you rob him of his ideals? Take away all he holds dear? Crush his hopes and dreams? Revoke his very identity as a human being and a man? Kill his beliefs? That’s how you really destroy someone. The incredible spiritual beating that Malcolm Reynolds took in the wake of the Battle of Serenity Valley manifests itself in everything Mal does—and is—in Firefly. Most people don’t realize this, but even Mal’s lifestyle is an act of defiance against the tyrannical powers he fought and lost to in the war. In much the same way that Cato the Younger fell on his sword rather than live a single moment under Caesar’s rule, Mal refuses to live by the Alliance’s edicts and turns outlaw. He and his gang live on the fringes of human society (geographical and metaphysical), robbing and pirating and pillaging their way across the ‘verse. This is not merely survival. It’s a parting shot. A shaken fist. A middle finger to tyranny and oppression. The last remaining shred of the banner of freedom that once waved proudly in the breeze of Mal’s soul. There is a tiny ember of idealism that yet burns in him, and dictates his movements and his choices (such as the name of his beloved home, the Firefly-class freighter Serenity). Mal is angry and embittered and heartbroken, but he hasn’t surrendered. His ideals are toast—at least at the start of the series—but he refuses to knuckle under and lick the Alliance’s boots. Malcolm Reynolds may have lost the war, but he continues to fight…in the only manner left to him. He could be naught else but an outlaw. Belief. It all comes down to belief. Belief is a central theme in Firefly. The show’s creator, Joss Whedon, pitched the show by stating that it was about “nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things.” Most of the series’ drama (and humor) stems from its characters’ belief systems clashing. This is even more true in the feature-length film, Serenity. Malcolm Reynolds—barren, empty, and hollowed-out spiritually—is pitted against his opposite number. His nemesis. His dark reflection. The Operative. This is a man who believes, hard. He fights for an ideal—an ugly one. Rather than defend truth, justice, and individual liberty, the Operative surgically removes them from the universe. Rather than fight and kill only when necessary, the Operative kills indiscriminately. He’s an unthinking, unfeeling, unwavering agent of the Alliance—the living manifestation of everything Mal fought against in the war. As such, the Operative is the perfect foil for Mal. And like a good villain must, he forces the hero to change. Mal finds that he must reach deep inside himself, into that heart of hearts that he and everyone else thought had been scoured clean by his defeat at Serenity Valley, and find the tiny, shriveled kernels of his old beliefs. The values that the lost battle almost blasted from his soul…and all the resolve and courage and selflessness which accompany them. And thus, Mal rises. He fights. He believes again. When Mal and the Operative meet again, the following exchange takes place: MAL: I know the secret. The truth that burned up River Tam’s brain. The rest of the ’verse is gonna know it, too. ‘Cause they need to. THE OPERATIVE: Do you really believe that? MAL: I do. THE OPERATIVE: Are you ready to die for that belief? MAL: I am. Quite a difference between the Mal speaking in that scene and the Mal from first episode of Firefly. Serenity is ultimately about a clash between beliefs—between two men who hold very different beliefs. One is an unthinking, unfeeling, machine-like automaton. The other starts the film as a sour, jaded, bitter skeptic and gradually rediscovers his idealism—and becomes strong enough to defeat his nemesis, the vicious zealot. It’s an incredibly rewarding climax. It brings Mal’s character arc full circle and creates a delicious payoff for viewers. Ultimately, though, it’s a Pyrrhic victory. The Alliance is weakened, but not gone. A number of Mal’s much-beloved comrades and allies are dead. His heroic deeds have won him no accolades; they’ve only painted a broader target on his back. Which isn’t to say he shouldn’t have done what he did; just that it’s a great injustice that he should receive no reward for it. I feel bad for Mal. Got his faith bored out of him in the climactic battle of the war he fought, lived in the shadows for a good few years afterward, hoisted his colors again when a worthy cause came along (or reappeared)…and it cost him a lot. But at least he’s still flying.
Dennis Marshall
2024-10-04 19:57:59 +0000 UTCI have watched both the show and the movie more times than I care to admit, but finding your first reaction clip on YouTube made me start again- since finding the first one, I’ve watched the series (again) twice and once I joined on Patreon I watched it yet again with you. I’ve tried to get friends hooked on it- even giving out two sets of the series on DVD. It was so enjoyable to see the joy you took in the series as well as the craftsmanship that went into making it. I highly recommend watching the deleted scenes on the DVD set, as well as the documentaries and the commentaries (especially Joss’ on Objects in Space). There is also a documentary about how Serenity got made called Done the Impossible that is cool to check out. Again, thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts about my favorite show. I may have to go buy the Buffy DVDs again to watch along with you. Joss had another show (oddly on Fox) called Dollhouse that was really interesting as well- you’ll see some familiar faces. You mentioned B5 in your concluding remarks and I would LOVE for you to go through it as well. Hope your family troubles will get sorted out and know I have been praying for you and your family in dealing with your loss. See you in the ‘Verse & stay shiny!
Dennis Marshall
2024-10-04 19:50:25 +0000 UTCI watched opening day, by myself. After, I walked into a Taco Bell across the parking lot and cried into a bean burrito. I wasn’t expecting to get so emotional during this! I almost took a break after Haven. The only reason I didn’t was it would have been a pain to get everything synced again. So, yay laziness! I said “I know, I know!” to you several times in many different ways during the movie. I’ve had a lot of fan music coming back into my head while rewatching. The Bedlam Bards’ “On the Drift” Is a beautiful album. The title track, Leaf on the Wind, and Sail the Sky, along with Michele Dockery’s “Mal’s Song”, are worth a listen. (Hey, B5 shout out!)
Siobhan Beaumont
2024-10-04 11:21:08 +0000 UTCit made me so happy to see how beaming you were watching this, was so excited for you to get to it coz i knew you'd love it but at same time was so worried coz knew you'd be heartbroken x
Stuart Biegala
2024-09-30 20:13:35 +0000 UTCI finally found my dvd remote and it’s midnight! *sigh* Tomorrow. Or later today…
Siobhan Beaumont
2024-09-27 09:32:13 +0000 UTCI saw this in theaters. Had never seen the show. I heard (obviously incorrectly) that it was going to BECOME a show, not that it was concluding an existing show. I later found the show and was so devastated to realize the truth. Still, I fell in love with the show and every character in it. I have watched the show and movie too many times now to count. Thank you for taking this journey to join the Browncoats' family and for taking us along for the ride!
Lady Warhammer
2024-09-25 16:41:56 +0000 UTCA leaf on the wind
Adam Wilton
2024-09-24 04:04:28 +0000 UTCYes, the movie was a full theater release. I knitted myself a Cunning Jayne hat and wore it to the first showing in my town. Watching it with a full crowd the first time was quite the experience, for the ups and downs and absolute shock.
EngineeredTwist
2024-09-22 01:56:06 +0000 UTCThat's exactly what's happening. What's really ironic is that Nathan Fillion didn't grasp the subtext until Gina Torres pointed it out to him. He's mentioned it in interviews.
Ed Bartlett
2024-09-22 00:52:01 +0000 UTCThis is it, this is the payoff. Watching you experience it all for the first time has been a powerful experience. Knowing the pain that this final act was going to bring is always difficult when bringing someone new into the fandom, and looking forward to your reaction feels more than a little ghoulish. But it also comes with the reactions of joy and laughter, astonishment and tension. Add it all together and you get something akin to catharsis. Validation for what we felt when we first took this journey. Thanks, and welcome to the fold. Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand. I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me.
Greg Schwartz
2024-09-21 06:13:04 +0000 UTCIt’s always a beautiful thing when the Browncoat community grows
Brian
2024-09-21 00:42:21 +0000 UTCI think one of the most painful moments for me was when Mal asked Zoe, "Are you here?" He absolutely knew how wrecked she was but both she and he knew how necessary it was for Zoe to be on her best game right then. And how Zoe was able to just push all the emotion aside and focus on the job - it just kills me.
John
2024-09-20 21:37:04 +0000 UTCYeah. Mal knows who he's capable of being and he knows none of his crew, except Zoe, has ever seen anything close to it.
John
2024-09-20 21:32:47 +0000 UTCThat's my belief and I don't care what other media might suggest otherwise, this is what I believe.
John
2024-09-20 21:28:54 +0000 UTCMy theory about Book is he was once an operative which is why he can fight so well and knows so much about the inner workings of the alliance!
Stuart Biegala
2024-09-20 21:17:20 +0000 UTCThe Man Dressed in Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AboQCiTUBPU
Barry
2024-09-20 19:24:57 +0000 UTCFun fact! Firefly is in the same universe as Alien!
Sicarrax
2024-09-20 18:51:54 +0000 UTCAlso, I think you are pretty much spot on with your thoughts about Mal and Inara.
Sample-Text
2024-09-20 07:45:48 +0000 UTCZoe got her slinky dress.
Scott Moore
2024-09-20 05:50:39 +0000 UTChttps://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005726/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr
Castanea
2024-09-20 05:33:45 +0000 UTCPeople telling you that something is going to "wreck" you (or not) is a spoiler. It really shouldn't be allowed and I wish people wouldn't do stuff like that. It's one thing for you to suspect that, but it's quite another for dozens of people to tell you about it. Going into a movie with those kinds of solid expectations will absolutely color your reaction to the movie.
Sample-Text
2024-09-20 05:25:36 +0000 UTCI noticed that Jacqui usually mentions "Red Danger Lighting." But she was so excited to hear "I am a leaf on the wind." that she didn't mention it. It made the next thing much more impactful when I knew what she was about to witness.
Granger Hermion
2024-09-20 04:14:32 +0000 UTCAt the end of Serenity, the Operative was who Mal was after the Battle of Serenity Valley.
John
2024-09-20 01:27:52 +0000 UTCI have no doubt that's exactly what's happening. Mal and Zoe know each other enough and they also know not to poke too much at a painful scar, so this was Mal's way of asking if Zoe was okay without either of them having to talk about it.
John
2024-09-20 01:19:44 +0000 UTCNow that you've seen the movie, I give you... Firefly: The Big Damn Musical https://youtu.be/5i66-uatvgg?si=r0VFxlFtjRrWF-uu (apologies for the poor quality) Sometimes I re-watch Firefly not for the story, but to just spend some time hanging out with my crew.
John
2024-09-20 01:12:10 +0000 UTCThat story comes from a novel. It might have been the original backstory, but it almost feels like the author created the story from the song and not the other way around. The story doesn't appear to come from Joss Whedon, but from an author named Nancy Holder(wrote Buffy novels but did not work on any of the Whedon-verse shows) and another author named James Lovegrove(also had nothing to do with the show). The book was published in 2018, over 15 years after the show started airing. All that being said, Whedon has called the new novels canon, so there you go. I'm personally going to hold my Mal theory in the same type of suspension as I hold the alternate Book theory. I think they were the "true" version back in 2002, but they've been retconned behind the scenes as necessary. At least until I see/hear something on the record regarding what was true back then. (quotes from Whedon, Minear, Fillion, Glass, etc.) But I fully acknowledge I could be wrong and that I don't have any sources of my own to back up the Mal and Book backstories. edit: Forgot to mention that I found the Mal backstory in something published on the internet years ago. It claimed all the "secrets" were at least semi-confirmed, but I didn't care enough back then to confirm the sources, and then when I tried to find the article again, too much time had passed and I couldn't remember where I saw it. That's why I give the theory a little weight, but don't claim it's anything close to being confirmed.
Michael Kemmet
2024-09-20 00:53:57 +0000 UTCI was surprised at no acknowledgement of the continuity in the scar on Mal's chest in the shirtless scene. He got that scar in The Train Job from Crow's thrown knife.
David Bresson
2024-09-20 00:21:49 +0000 UTCI think your theory on Mal's backstory may be incorrect. I don't know if there's real evidence for this, but the theory I heard (and I think it makes perfect sense) is that Mal's family was killed by the Alliance at the beginning of the war. The planet they lived on, Shadow, was glassed by the Alliance, destroying the environment and killing most of the population. It explains why Mal has such intense hatred for the Alliance. It's not just a war of ideology, it's personal. I think there's a telling line in Serenity when the Operative says "I've seen your war record. I know how you must feel about the Alliance," and Mal says, "You really don't." This also explains the lyrics in the opening song. "Take my love, take my land." "Burn the land, and boil the sea." Those are all lines describing what the Alliance did to Shadow.
Dude Longcouch
2024-09-20 00:07:19 +0000 UTCYes, there have been re-releases of Serenity in theaters multiple times. It's been done as a fund raiser for charity in most cases. I've been fortunate enough to see it a few times on the big screen. https://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/
John
2024-09-19 23:14:06 +0000 UTCA wonderful reaction to top off all your Firefly reactions. You had almost a physical reaction to that long shot! Inara is a tough one to pull apart. I think she is much more complex a character than we got to see. We don't know how or why she went into her career, but you can see that she takes pride in being on a plane above all the men that she sees. She orders men of power about (Jaynestown), excuses all manner of bad attitude from a man, but has no trouble tossing a very lucrative client to the wolves when she decided that it is time (Shindig). I suspect her upbringing was without love and she has never felt love in her life, so she was unprepared for it. Inara feels that she is completely above men, and is shocked and loses all bearing when she runs into a man that has power over her emotions. She plays the same games with Mal, treating him like the same dirt that she treats other men as, but this was the first time that she saw him with another woman, and she was not ready for those feelings. Not knowing how to deal with the realization that she loves him, she leaves the ship, but this does give her time to put her thoughts into perspective, so that when Mal again asks her about her plans, she has no problem saying that she maybe wants to stay and try out these new feelings.
Alan Kobb
2024-09-19 20:53:18 +0000 UTCJust a little tiny trivia thing about why the movie got made... Prior to Firefly, TV series on home media weren't really a thing. VHS had been around for many years, but it was prohibitively expensive to release an entire series on VHS. You could generally only fit two or maybe three 42min episodes on a single tape. With TV seasons typically being 24 episodes long, a five-season show might need anywhere from 40-60 tapes. DVD changed all that. You could now fit an entire season of an hour show in a double-size DVD case that held four or five discs. Firefly was one of the first complete series to be released on DVD. It sold far, far beyond studio expectations. The studio execs thought that meant the fanbase was far bigger than they ever imagined. They based that off comparing the DVD sales volume to the old VHS sales volumes from previous shows. What they eventually realized was that DVDs had completely shifted the paradigm of home media and, while still good, the Firefly box set sales weren't nearly as amazing as they'd first thought. This paradigm would continue until streaming services blew it away a decade or so later.
Michael Kemmet
2024-09-19 18:25:06 +0000 UTCHave you spotted the Imperial Shuttle in the Firefly pilot episode? Or Serenity in the pilot episode of Battlestar Galactica? (also TOS Enterprise in BSG and the Millennium Falcon in Star Trek First Contact) All those ships really get around. lol
Michael Kemmet
2024-09-19 18:05:26 +0000 UTCThe payoff to that line is Mal's orders to the crew on Haven. When he coldly executes the gunship pilot and tells the crew basically: "If you don't either follow my orders or leave, I'll kill you myself." That's a side of Mal that no one has seen before except Zoe.
Michael Kemmet
2024-09-19 17:57:55 +0000 UTC"Think she'll hold together?" "She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." I feel like, at that point, they're both talking about Zoe as much as they are about Serenity 😢
Stuart Brewster
2024-09-19 17:55:42 +0000 UTCAs is typical for me, sorry for the length. I might follow this up with more detail if people want to talk about it, but there is a confirmed story that at least some of the main cast were sat down early in the production of the series and given secrets about their characters. They were told up front because Whedon & Co. wanted the actors to have that info to inform their performances during certain breadcrumb drops throughout the show. Some of these secrets are known, some are unknown, and some are guessed at. A few comments in this video and others have already dropped some of these. From most confirmed to least confirmed: (to the best of my knowledge) 1. River is a mind reading assassin created by the government and knows the Reavers were accidentally created by the government. Obviously this is confirmed because it's the main plot of the movie. The only major alteration was that it was originally supposed to be a corporation(Blue Sun) that made River, or at least a collaboration between corporations and the government. It was simplified to just the government for the movie because of time constraints. 2. Inara was dying(confirmed by Morena Baccarin). Inara was diagnosed with a terminal, degenerative disease during the annual medical exam she took just before signing on to Serenity. It's why she suddenly abandoned her goal of becoming a leader in the Guild, and to instead travel around the outer worlds to see as much as she could in the time she had left. It also explains most of her side of the Inara/Mal push-pull. She was too scared to get involved in a relationship, and she justified it to herself by saying she was protecting Mal from loving her only to lose her. It's also the reason behind her choice to leave the ship at the end of Heart of Gold. 3. Book was an Operative before he became a shepherd. (not canon because of the graphic novel, but very likely the original plan) I firmly believe Book's original backstory was repurposed during the writing of the movie in order to use it for the antagonist. Even if by some miracle the movie had led to a second season of the show, Ron Glass had other commitments. I think Whedon & Co. liked Book's backstory so much they wanted to use it somehow. My (unconfirmed) belief is that the graphic novel backstory is version 2.0. 4. Simon is resentful of River and will eventually betray her in a moment of weakness. This is much more a subconscious thing than a conscious thing. There are at least two big moments in the series where River says something that we think is from River, but it's actually River repeating what Simon is thinking. The first time is in their quarters very early in the series(maybe Serenity or Train Job?). River says something to the effect of "You gave up everything for me". The second was in Ariel when Simon was pushing River around in a wheelchair. River says something like "You should be here". While we're meant to believe those are River's thoughts, they're actually Simon's subconscious thoughts that River's picking up on. This most likely would have lead to Simon having a moment of weakness and betraying River during a season finale, only to spend the first part of the next season immediately regretting his mistake and trying to fix it. Lots of good conflict when the rest of the crew finds out what he did down the road. 5. Mal is from a very powerful and wealthy family and hates everything about them. It's the reason he joined the Independents. I heard this theory a few years ago and think it's correct, though I've never been able to confirm it with official sources. While Mal was mostly raised by his mother on a cattle ranch, the theory is that he also has family ties to one or more of the largest corporations in the system(maybe even Blue Sun?). Maybe it was his father, maybe it was through his mother. My theory is that his mother raised him up to maybe 12, then he was taken by his father(mother dies?) and sent to elite inner planet boarding schools. After being ripped away from what he loved, he came to absolutely despise everything about wealth, power, and the inner planets. This would explain Mal's inconsistent behavior towards Inara and her job(he loves her, has no problem with sex work in general, but hates Companions because they are linked to wealth and power). It would also explain why Mal knew every step of a complicated, upper-class pattern dance in Shindig. 6. Jayne's family is trapped in slavery or indentured servitude and his sole purpose is to make enough money to buy their freedom and set them up on a different planet. I think this is why the concept of forced labor is brought up so often in the series. We also find out in The Message that Jayne sends some(most?) of his money to his mother and siblings. The reason that Jayne never feels like part of the Serenity found-family is because his loyalty is always to his blood family. If you look at him from that perspective, he almost becomes something of a noble(but flawed) character. 7. Zoe, Wash, and Kaylee I got nothing. Either they never got secrets, or I've never heard them. Yes, Zoe would end up pregnant, but I don't count that because it would have been an external factor(Gina Torres getting pregnant) not something internal to the story/world. I've heard a rumor that Zoe might have done some terrible things after the war that Mal saved her from, but I don't see any breadcrumbs in the series to back that theory up. If someone has something reasonably confirmed, I'd absolutely love to hear it; it bugs me that I'm comfortable with six of the backstories but know almost nothing of the other three. Again, sorry for the length.
Michael Kemmet
2024-09-19 17:46:28 +0000 UTCTo a certain degree, yes. They probably would have been better off with just the SDCC screening and maybe one more round. But even with all the screenings together, that's only a few dozen showings at most, so wouldn't have made that big of an impact to the bottom line overall.
Ray (Fanporium)
2024-09-19 17:02:24 +0000 UTCI completely agree. I believe Whedon & Co. decided to model the Operative in the film off of Book's original backstory because they thought it was a cool idea and didn't want to let it die unused. When an official backstory was later needed for the graphic novel, I think they whipped up the undercover agent idea. But I just want to say I love your thoughts about it being the reason Book was absent from Ariel. I know the real reason is probably that Ron Glass just had some commitments that meant he had to be written out of the episode. But I really like the idea that Whedon & Co. were dropping another Book breadcrumb with his absence. After all, there are two other giant breadcrumbs in Ariel already(one for Inara and one for Simon/River - plus maybe a small one for Mal).
Michael Kemmet
2024-09-19 16:01:33 +0000 UTCLesson learned, Alliance: never wake a potential Slayer without adequate safeguards. That's what they got with River.
PNWKyle
2024-09-19 16:00:30 +0000 UTCIt's interesting that you can briefly hear that news wave about how the people locked in the vault were the only survivors of the Reaver massacre. Mal saved all their lives. And the security guy would have lived too, if he had listened to Mal and got in the vault :/
Dude Longcouch
2024-09-19 15:42:48 +0000 UTCThank you for your reaction and your journey (so far) in this universe! Another thing I like about this movie/show is moral ambiguity of the choices made particularly by Mal and the consequences, without entirely defending each choice. Mal is not above sacrificing (the security guard to the reavers in the beginning) or killing (the alliance pilot on Haven), but he let the Operative live. That decision wound up saving them, as the alliance soldiers would have probably killed some/all of the crew if not for the order to stand down. Mal didn't know that was how it would all turn out when he made his decision.
Inhonor Oftrip
2024-09-19 15:38:07 +0000 UTCIt definitely lived up to my internal hype.
Rune
2024-09-19 15:18:23 +0000 UTCIt feels like I have been checking for this daily for the past 2 months. I am so happy I get to watch it now.
Rune
2024-09-19 11:36:09 +0000 UTCI am so glad you love this 'verse as much as I do. There are two episodes that were never written except for the concept that I so wanted to see. The first was, if you remember in the pilot episodes Inara opens up a box with a syringe in it. That substance would not kill her but it would kill anyone who raped her. In the unwritten episode Inara is kidnapped either by reavers or a gang. Mal and co rescue her and everyone on the ship who took her is dead. Mal doesn't comment on it but treats her like the Lady she is. The other one, Mal and the crew are given a Sophie's choice. Mal tells everyone to sleep on it and when they are all in their bunks he locks everyone in and takes off leaving a bunch of colonist to die. It turns out that it was the "right" choice because if they had tried to help they would have died as well. I am with your thoughts on Heart of Gold that was my reading as well. see you around
Garrick Smalley
2024-09-19 08:19:45 +0000 UTC"I start fighting a war, I promise you'll see something new" To me it seemed like a throwaway line the first time, like "Oh yeah, there's still more sides to me." After a bunch of watches, I feel like it was a very poignant message of saying that Mal's fully aware that he shows a bunch of different demeanors, because he very carefully chooses who to be. If it were to come to a war, especially involving his crew, all holds would be released and he would become an entirely different person, which we see immediately upon the conversation with the Operative on Haven
DeathScytheVT
2024-09-19 06:57:17 +0000 UTCYou bring up Jubal Early and Chiwetel Ejiofor's "The Operative"...but I respectfully disagree. I think Jubal Early is more closely tied to River, a result of maybe early versions of that training, a failed version, but the two of them felt closer to each other, as he felt psychic-sensitive. No...The Operative...I truly believe that is the mirror, the younger version of Shepherd Book. (First...yes, I know there was a comic book that went over his official backstory, but that feels as rushed and incomplete and not fitting the story as much as anything. So I choose to ignore it. What follows is my head cannon.) I believe that Book in his previous life was an Operative for the Alliance. It fits him. Both his knowledge that he has of the workings of criminal enterprises and the Alliance. An Operative is a boots-on-the-ground person who floats through the 'verse, as well as knows how to run an Alliance force. It would grant him the knowledge he reflected on Niska, on understanding Alliance jurisdictions in "The Message", and of course, why he gets a come-and-go with an Alliance ship's medical facilities, no questions asked. It might also explain the episode he missed, in-story. He didn't go to Ariel, and instead went to meditate. Why? Perhaps he knew that if security sensors on a core world detected him, it would bring him unwanted attention. But more so, I think Book and The Operative share so many parallels, particularly about Belief, the obvious thread in this movie. The Operative had his belief that what he was doing was necessary, and justified. And he lost it. I imagine Book went through something similar, finding a new belief to sustain him. And that's why Book initially was so hesitant in the first couple of episodes on the ship, afraid he would fall back into some version of the man he was. There was even parallels in the lack of names. It's long been assumed (and even the comic says) that Book was an assumed name, and we didn't truly know his real one. Book saw in Mal in particular a man he used to work against A man who had also lost a measure of faith. I think that's why there was that respect between them, what I would've liked to have seen come forward. I'd also like to point out who Book seemed to be closest to on the ship...Jayne. The last few episodes have them chatting it up, working out together, building a real bond. Again, I think that sort of physical enforcer that Jayne represented on the ship spoke to Book, as that was essentially what he was for the Alliance as an Operative. So that's too many words on my head cannon and theory. I know that officially, I'm wrong. There's a different story about him in the comics. I don't care, I like mine better. And I wish I'd gotten to see the meeting of the minds between Book and Mal as the show had gone on, talking about faith, about belief, and maybe even of political theory and the nature of man. But I'll just have to imagine that. Thanks for all of these reactions Jacqui! I loved them. And I know I keep harping on it, but I look forward to Severance once your bandwidth (in many ways) opens up!
Kevin C
2024-09-19 06:06:31 +0000 UTCI appreciate the way you pick out things that would take a film student to see. River being barefoot was always a thing. I believe it was actually discussed in the extra audio in the DVD. But the way you kept mentioning River walking on grating made me notice her scene during the repairs at the end. This time I noticed that while she was working on the wiring, she is laying on a solid platform. Whether intentional or not, it makes me think she is on more solid ground.
Soloydiver
2024-09-19 05:32:26 +0000 UTCLooking forward to the bloober reel as well as deleted scenes.
George Roybal
2024-09-19 05:24:13 +0000 UTCThank you so much for doing this reaction. It changes you but also makes you family.
Christopher Spiritistone
2024-09-19 04:56:06 +0000 UTCAs promised, Some storylines that would have been revealed had the show gone on for longer: Zoe: Was pregnant. She had a baby girl. Mr. Universe: Was Wash’s roommate in flight school. Wash would let him cheat, so he paid back his debt by sharing Alliance secrets with him. Inara: Had a terminal illness with less than 2 years to live. This is why she did not want to burden a training house or any person (Mal) since she would soon die. Shepherd Book: Was a criminal recruited by the Brown Coats to infiltrate the Alliance. He killed a person named Derial Book and used his identity. He was successful, rising to the rank of Captain. He intentionally lost a major battle, which Parliament hid; abandoning Book to a moon with only a monastery on it.
Edmund Dantes
2024-09-19 04:10:22 +0000 UTCWaited SO long to watch Serenity with you. Have watched the series so many times and the movie so many times that I've lost just a bit of the emotion of it all. Getting to see it again through your eyes really helped to bring the excitement, joy and sorrow to the front again. After joining you for the Firefly run, I figured that would be the case and you didn't disappoint. Thank you for bringing that magical, unrestrained presence back!
ErisKnight
2024-09-19 03:55:52 +0000 UTC"I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I BREAK YOUR HEART FOREVER."
Michael G. Munz
2024-09-19 03:37:33 +0000 UTCI've been watching this series for 20 years, and tonight, I realized something for the first time ever. They were planting the seeds for the Pax storyline as early as episode 2, "The Train Job." Remember the subplot about Bowden's Malady, and how the air mixed up with the processors made everybody sick? "Everybody gets it. Hell, I got it and I ain't ever set foot in a mine." That was them showing how the technology they have in this universe can be used to saturate the terraformed atmospheres and affect every person on a planet. That's so crazy.
Dude Longcouch
2024-09-19 03:27:51 +0000 UTCLiked your closing Mal/Inara analysis, Jacqui. I'd add that the depth of her hurt she showed in private when she didn't have to put on her poised, trained face was maybe a surprise to her. She didn't know it would hurt THAT much, as of course we often don't until it's too late. As for 'head canon' that you have for Zoe's pregnancy, I have 'head canon' on Jayne going to let out River. Was that voluntary for Jayne? I say no. He was River's only way out of that room, and she put that idea in his head, knowing his weaknesses. That's my 'head canon' anyway, always curious what people thought about that.
PNWKyle
2024-09-19 03:26:32 +0000 UTCThe problem was that they handled the theatrical release almost as badly as they handled the series. They thought, given the grassroots nature of the show's popularity, they would try to capitalize on that and not spend a lot on marketing. Those advance screenings were intended to create word-of-mouth advertising, but instead, a substantial portion of the fan base saw the movie before the official launch, and as such, the actual launch was disappointing.
Ryan Dodds
2024-09-19 02:57:45 +0000 UTCOf course both are merely easter eggs, but hell. A girl can dream.
Darjan
2024-09-19 02:46:51 +0000 UTCI don't know why, but my favorite line from this movie is "Fanty's prettier." The thing about Wash's death is it makes you feel like anyone could die past that point, if not EVERYONE. At least, it made me feel like that.
Michael G. Munz
2024-09-19 02:05:30 +0000 UTCNot only was it a theatrical release, but they did several fan scereenings before the official release. The first time I watched it, Alan Tudyk and Gina Torres were in the theater with us and got up to talk afterwards. And I got to sit next to Hunter Ansley Wryn and her brother at the red carpet premiere. Such a nice kid! Also, the fan groups have held annual Can't Stop The Serenity (CSTS) charity screening, to benefit Equality Now, almost every year since it came out. I don't think they've started back up yet after pandemic, but you can join their mailing list to get notified when they do.
Ray (Fanporium)
2024-09-19 02:04:26 +0000 UTCWhat can I say...I'm the monkey and the wrench 😜
Movie Night
2024-09-19 01:29:05 +0000 UTCHappy to oblige! 😄
Movie Night
2024-09-19 01:28:40 +0000 UTCThank you! I'm glad you've enjoyed it 😊
Movie Night
2024-09-19 01:27:05 +0000 UTCIf I'm properly swearing...there's usually a reason for it lol
Movie Night
2024-09-19 01:26:29 +0000 UTCI love how you usually avoid saying the F word, and say "fork" instead, but the ending was too much that you had to say f*ck anyway.
Brandon Pierce
2024-09-19 01:25:35 +0000 UTCAnd here comes the second part of my theory that Firefly happens in the Alien universe. Apart from the Wayland Yutani logo in the HUD of the anti-aircraft gun in the Serenity battle flashback, the "operative" is very liberal with the WY motto. Building Better Worlds. Fite me.
Darjan
2024-09-19 00:59:30 +0000 UTCYESSSSSS. Jacqui has just made this the best Wednesday night ever.
Dude Longcouch
2024-09-19 00:54:07 +0000 UTCLove this! I was an original Buffy fan (7th grade when the television premiered) and part of the heartbroken browncoats when Firefly was cancelled. You pick up on a lot of nuances I missed. Appreciate watching it through your eyes
JMatt
2024-09-19 00:45:46 +0000 UTCI've just managed to binge watch your entire Firefly reaction series after watching the youtube edits and you upload this JUST as I lay my head on my pillow for some well deserved Z's? Rude.
Darjan
2024-09-19 00:43:00 +0000 UTC
