Yeah, definitely thinner and the character was retconned to a degree; i.e., she's not so much of a tomboy this time, more sensitive and weepy. Not that I'm complaining, it just felt that I was looking at an alternate universe Kaylee.

Except for the thinner part, I couldn't disagree more. Kaylee-Firefly and Kaylee-Serenity were one in the same in my mind. Weird.

But Zoe being sad =Zoe in the dress.

This is true. BUT STILL SAD.

Yes, and no more HotMarried.

Sigh.

That makes me sad, too.

The audience where I saw it were quite thrilled. Lots of stay-to-end-of-credits types tonight.

I liked New, Improved River. Didn't care for Action Simon. Thought everyone but Mal and River got sort of dulled down in translation--Zoe didn't feel entirely like Zoe until after Wash died, Wash didn't feel as Washy, Kaylee felt reduced to more of an awe-shucks chorus, and Inara felt kind of like the Katie Holmes character in Batman Begins. Jayne and Book felt closest to right of the characters neither River nor Mal.

Damned wireless connection failed and ate my post.

I liked the movie. I will see it, again. Agree that a number of characterizations did not carry over from the series. Within the sphere of the movie, though, the characterization did remain consistent, so I'm not going to bitch, too much.

I already miss Book, because I wanted to know more about him and now we may never know. And Wash, ah Wash, we will miss you and your dinosaurs in This Land. Still, it brought the pain and made the movie that much more real to me. I can live with it, although it will make me cry every time I see Zoe being all stoic when Kaylee asks where Wash is. Good thing I had napkins with my popcorn or I would have been sunk, because I completely forgot I had a pack of tissues in my purse.

Overall, it was an enjoyable movie for me. It brought the fun, the fights, the wit and snark, the pain; it broke me up like Serenity and then put me back together again. Definitely a winner in my mind.

I was sitting in the middle of the first row of the stadium seating (not the front section of seating).

I was like two rows behind you and just didn't see you, I guess. Huh.

eta: What was the last line?

An echo of Mal's first: "What was that?"

I was all 'WTF?' that they had copied the "first person shooter' aspect of it, down to the the gun being in the frame of the shooter POV shots.

I might have to see it just for the chainsaw bit, because in the game, easiest way to kill those demon dog things was to shove the chainsaw down their throats.

Except for the thinner part, I couldn't disagree more. Kaylee-Firefly and Kaylee-Serenity were one in the same in my mind. Weird.

This is me. She felt very much like TV!Kaylee, though more sexually frustrated.

She felt very much like TV!Kaylee, though more sexually frustrated.

Yes. She was a lot more WarStories!Kaylee, because this was a long battle with her in the middle. She was more insulated on the show, but when she wasn't I think it was behaviour consistent with what we saw here.

I have a question -- when they first reaver up and head for Miranda, they show an exterior of the ship that shows the cannon, and what looks like a suited person moving at its controls -- did anyone notice that? We don't get such a clear CGI shot on the way back, when we know that Jayne is there.

Also, why in hell do they all stand in the cockpit where reavers could see them?

I think the characters and the 'verse were heavily rewritten to appeal to the segment of the movie going market that sees opening night shows, and who go to movies a lot--the youth market. I think the emphasis was necessarily shifted to the younger characters: River, Simon, to appeal to that market. I think the Mal & Inara was traditionaled-up and simplified to make it more easily understood by the movie market. Simon became a superhero rather than a human who lacked the knowledge and ability of how to fight, personally, to free his sister, and River became the pivotal focus of the movie, again, as a superhero appeal to the youth market.

As there's only so much time in a movie, that time had to be spent on the forefront characters. Older and less-appealing to young moviegoers characters got little story time, and when character death was needed to drive home the plot points, Book was a ready sacrifice. I understand the logic, and as much as I mourned his onscreen death, I saw the purpose.

I was tugged, as others have mentioned, by Serenity's loss, a piece at a time, of herself--it was painful to see her violated and torn. At the same time, watching Wash keep her intact enough to protect her crew was grand. I've never loved him more, even as I mourned Serenity's apparent death.

The instant of death removed the movie Serenity from any frame of reference it had for me. I was numb, and I watched Zoe deal by shutting down to soldier mode, watched the others cope as they could, watched Joss try to leaven the doom with a Jayne joke, and I feared for them, through the fog of numb. As each of them was hit and wounded, I got angrier as it looked like all of them, but River and Mal, were going to fall. I had no fear for River going into the chamber with the Reavers. I figured that was the weapon she'd been designed as, and was the only thing that would stop Reavers in that sort of scenario. I was too numb to care much about Mal's fight and foregone victory over The Operative, or really, about how the movie went after that. I teared up at Zoe in the beautiful dress, because how not? I hated the headstones with the pebbles left as tribute/tokens, and their animated headshots.

I gasped and really teared up at the shot of the pilot's chair and console with the dinosaurs and palm trees. I'd waited to see whose butt sat in that chair, and started a slow burn when it was Mal. The burn accelerated when it turned out River was flying the ship from the previously non-existant copilot's chair, and that angered me to the point that I stopped feeling sad.

I stopped feeling angry, I stopped feeling at all, except for a little regret.

It was a shiny movie, and I'm glad lots of people enjoyed it. I'm glad Joss got to make it, and I hope it sells lots of tickets and earns lots of money. It's not my movie--they weren't my characters, it wasn't my 'verse. I won't see it again. And they'll have to work awfully hard to convince me to see any other "Firefly" movie they may make.

I'm breaking out the dvds in about a week, when I've managed to put some distance between me and tonight.

And Wash, ah Wash, we will miss you and your dinosaurs in This Land.

I just realized that newbies probably won't know the meaning of the dinosaurs on the console at the end, and I find this terribly sad.

I know Joss won't bring characters back from the dead in this show, but I'm ready for some serious prequeling. I want to know more about Book. I want to see Wash and Zoe fall in love. I could wait for tastes in flashbacks before, but mostly I really don't want either of them to be dead.

Damn, that was a big stake.

For the people here who feel betrayed -- have you felt betrayed by fiction before? Did you know, before you saw Serenity that you could feel betrayed by it? Is there other fiction that can make you feel that way about its 'verse or characters?