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.
I walked out of the theater saying, "But Simon kept saying he had no idea what they did to River. That doctor told him what they did to River." So yeah, some retconning there.
and heterosexuality.
That blew my fucking mind.
Just back from the movie. I was totally unspoiled, although I had an idea River would kick some ass. Overall, I liked it. There were, however, maybe 15 people in the theater, but I don't think Sanford, NC is representative of the nation as a whole.
I was sad about Wash dying. I had sort of forgotten this was *Joss* we were dealing with. Bond:Simon bugged me a lot - I had the impression from the pilot that River was smuggled out to him, not him smuggling.
There were lots of indivudal moments I liked and I'm glad to know where the Reavers came from.
I just went with the retcon, even though I had more of a problem after my first viewing than this time around.
Slate has a fun review of the movie--he saw the film first, then got the DVD and became a Firefly fanatic.
What a show: like Star Wars if it was just the stuff on the Millennium Falcon minus the fast-food Zen plus hipper quips and knottier relationships; or like Star Trek and its spinoffs if the characters had been on coffee and cigarettes (and bourbon) instead of Valium; or like Stagecoach if the Indians had spaceships and ate people.