Firefly 4: Also, we can kill you with our brains
Discussion of the Mutant Enemy series, Firefly, the ensuing movie Serenity, and other projects in that universe. Like the other show threads, anything broadcast in the US is fine; spoilers are verboten and will be deleted if found.
I ADORED this movie, so I'm surprised about the mixed reaction, although I see where people are coming from.
Anyway, my take when the Wash thing happened was that it felt right, because the stakes of a movie are completely different from a series where you have to keep a core of people around for 100 episodes. If everyone had survived that final massacre I think I would have felt betrayed, like I was lied to about how this was much higher stakes than anything that had happened during
Firefly.
I agree, bon bon. It's all about the stakes. And like others, once Wash bit it, I was just sure Joss would continue killing off anyone else who was remotely in harm's way. It made the danger that much more real.
I feel outside of canon with every utterance, and would be royally pissed (and robbed, which I guess is the key) if Joss reveals anything that'd make me not be able to feel that way about her anymore.
Like say Zoe's been having an affair with Mal, the whole time?
# The thing with Miranda and the people drugging = most of the viewing audience was not taken with Firefly as presented, and thus fell asleep. The remaining 13% became Reavers. Err. Browncoats. Rabid frothing fans. Whatev.
ahhhhhh ahahahhhhhhhh! LOVE. THIS!
I'm the queen Reaver!
Or maybe Kristen is. We're co-queens.
ita, I've felt betrayed by fiction, most definately. Clarice Starling in the SotL sequel, Buffy after season 5, and a little bit by Cordelia (you're a champion) in Angel.
I don't feel irrational about it, though Buffy season six made me angry at first because I guess I didn't realize just how much I adored Buffy until she changed into that morose, self-destructive, boring 12-stepper.
I don't feel betrayed by Serenity. There was enough time in between the series was I was drunk with a sense of protectiveness (irrational protectiveness) and this.
Works of fiction can definitely piss me off. I hadn't really considered betrayal until reading a lot of the reactions here -- which I think is a testament, not to the movie, but certainly to the series.
I think I would generally say a work of fiction has "pissed me off" or "disappointed" rather than that is has made me feel betrayed. Betrayal is close enough, but it's more of a "you made this great thing and then messed it up/didn't do it justice and why ya gotta be that way?" sort of feeling.
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?
yep, noticed it the first time but it didn't quite register. The second viewing--yeah, we decided to do the 220km round-trip again--I was watching for it and Jayne is there in a suit.
I was watching for it and Jayne is there in a suit.
Yet, also in the cockpit clutching Vera.
Sloppy!
I'm not saying I didn't enjoy Sean Maher's new and improved body, but I'm still annoyed that Simon was essentially an entirely different character with a different backstory and everything.
Yeah. I can't say that it was badly done in absolute terms, because to someone coming in unfamiliar with the TV show—which hopefully most ticket buyers will be—the character may have made perfect sense and been well done. But every time he was onscreen my reaction was "WTF? Who are you and what have you done with Simon?!?" Only the devotion to River (well, and the prettiness, but it's not like they're gonna change that) remained the same from the series.
Several other characters I wished we'd seen more of, or deeper scenes with, but that's just the contraints of filmmaking. No one else seemed wrong.
I just feel a needless need to point out that the co-pilot's chair was always there. Jayne is sitting in it Bushwhacked as they scope out the ghost ship, and Book is in it in The Message, during the snow canyon flight. Just to name two examples that I recall clearly, since I directed them. You don't need a co-pilot when you have a Wash.
Can't really stop to chat, but yes, I do feel betrayed by Wash's death. As mentioned before, I accept it was very effective and really made me believe we might lose more characters which really heightened the drama of the last act.
But in an age when he can just drop a dvd into the player and watch it for the umpteenth time, having that scare the first time just isn't worth it compared to the loss of Wash to the Firefly universe.
So, why do I feel betrayed? I think it may be proportionate to my hopes. I really really hoped that the movie could be made, then maybe more movies, or better yet, a new series. But even if that all comes to pass, it'll be Firefly without Wash and that doesn't remotely resemble the show I loved.
I've had time to sleep on it, and while I still enjoyed the movie, I can't shake the wish that it'd never been made rather than see Wash torn from us (and Zoe) in such a cruel manner.
Out.