Or is my internal narrative just getting jossed?

We got punk'd, yeah.

Action Simon bugged because he was very much a different character than Original Simon (and not really interestingly so). The reavers were a fleshing-out of something that had been very much vagued up in the first place.

Yeah, after that undercover, you'd think that the mud buyer would have been easy.

I felt that Wash's death was given such slight attention in the movie; Book's death was given full weight, and any non-fan must wonder why the crew would be getting quite so choked up over that guy on the desert planet. (And dammit, I wanted to learn about Book's backstory.) But with Wash it happened so quickly that as the others were hunkering down I kept thinking 'he's still alive -- just badly hurt' -- until the grenade got tossed. Then I was forced to accept that he was gone. (I KNOW they were in the middle of a battle. I KNOW they couldn't stop and sing dirges. But it still seemed to me as though his death was glossed over.)

And I finally figured out who the evil teacher in River's implanted visions is -- Walt's bitch of a mother from Lost. She's really good at playing that smiling, logical evil.

I think we may learn Book's backstory yet. It would be a great flosh-back cameo opportunity for #2

Maybe it's just knowing the characters, but even just Zoe's way of being for the rest of the movie gave it attention, IMO.

Oh! Her! Thank you. I knew I knew her.

I met two friends from work and their group--out of the eight of us, seven were fans of the series, and one had only caught parts of two eps on FOX, so didn't retain much. He liked the movie loads, but he's an admitted sci-fi geek, so his enjoyment wasn't a big surprise. He has the DVDs on loan, and is excited to watch them in the next month or so.

Since the summer screening that i saw, I don't remember too much added in terms of CGI, but the music was well-done (if a tad forgettable).

The theater was about 90-95% full, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. If there were Browncoats present, they were pretty subdued (no cheering at key moments), but lots of laughter over the quips and other funny bits (River's facial quirks were much appreciated).

I think we may learn Book's backstory yet.

Well, he'll be there all glowing with Yoda and Mal's long lost father, The Operative, when they go to the Ewok moon in Revenge of the Browncoats.

Mal's long lost father, The Operative

I knew I couldn't be the only one to snark that snark.

The Tams were really my biggest qualms about the movie. River was still right character-wise, but this story Buffied her up so much that my suspension of disbelief was seriously strained. And Simon might as well have been a previously unmentioned third Tam sibling, what with the aggressive demeanor, espionage capability, and heterosexuality.

OTOH, he did have nice hair.