I'm surprised to see all the negativity. I thought the movie rocked and I wasn't a big fan of the series. Now, however, I'm heading back through the DVDs and enjoying it. When you have so many characters, you have to focus in on a few for a 2 hour movie. They can't all be main characters. The movie was fast-paced, intelligently written, funny, sad, and exciting all at the same time. That's a rarity these days, especially for a sci-fi movie. The GF and I give it 5 out of 5 stars. Yay Joss!

My definition of 'betrayal' applied when I read the end of Ann Rice's The Body Thief. I remember literally gasping in shock and a sense of waste.

With Wash's death, I was deeply saddened that mature/happy/healthy relationships simply can't seem to survive in popular media. Makes me nuts, really.

I love the idea of the avatar taking a stake in the heart, but the gleam of that cleverness dims rapidly when I think of the 'fly 'verse moving forward, unbalanced--lacking the heart Wash's character brought to the proceedings.

Not to mention the deep undercurrent of faith lost/found/tested losing its central organizing character with Book's passing.

Where do we go from here, indeed.

eta: Oh, and I meant to mention that through all the saddness (that really did take me out of the story for pretty much the whole Reaver/Operative fight sequence), the moment that broke me was when Mal sat in Wash's chair and reached up to flip 'the three switches.'

That kind of call back does me every time. I was even looking for the big red button (tho we know it was pinched by a certain cast member).

I think it's impossible for anyone to write the characters with 13 hours of backstory immediately accessible and rewarding for newbies and thoroughly consistent with their backstory.

So...changes. In situations like Simon's retcon, it doesn't bother me, since I'm not attached, and I can write it off as a casualty of war. It's not rational, since when I'm attached, it can be a crime.

But it did have to happen. I believe that compromise was necessary, and that the existence of other movies where characters are built in the time allotted and made sympathetic, etc has little or no bearing -- this is more like a book adaptation, except the moviemaker isn't retelling, but extrapolating.

Discussing the fact that an important and beloved character had to die to make the battle worthwhile, "you buy your redemption in the blood of your kin" --shorthand, not an actual quote--made me realize that I expected Simon to die. It made logical sense to me.

I'm not wishing for that. I don't second-guess people for writing certain stories--their stories, they get to tell them. I get to read or watch and relate or not, as I can. Simon's death would have made logical sense to me, since he was most invested in River's survival. It makes perfect sense, following on that thought, that Joss would make a quarter-turn just to prove that bitch Fate is random and fickle, and smash someone else.

I don't "wish" things had turned out differently. It is what it is. I resent that River wound up flying the ship, but that was inevitable, too, given Joss' agenda.

I have Firefly. I can be content with that. Whoever loves the movie will love it, and I hope their numbers will be many.

I thought the movie rocked and I wasn't a big fan of the series.

Not being a big fan of the series myself, I liked the movie way more than I thought I would, though I felt it needed a tighter plot.

I was totally spoiled when I saw the movie, so since I knew Wash was going to die, I didn't react to it emotionally, but I *did* react to it intellectually. It was a very WTF moment, almost horror-movie-like. Because movies -- IN GENERAL, obviously, so people don't need to pull out citations to prove me wrong, okay? -- don't normally kill off a character who isn't in immediate danger.

Granted, the point was that, even though they *seemed* safe after landing, they *weren't* actually safe. I get that. But still. If they crashed and Wash got killed in the impact, or if he got killed in the big fight afterwards, it would have made sense. Those are situations in which people are in mortal danger. But not after landing and breathing a sigh of relief. Doing it that way is kind of an unfair emotional bitchslap. But then maybe that was the point.

The last thing that affected me that way was reading The World According to Garp and "I mith him" which almost made me blackout in the hallway between classes as I read it.

Oh, my god. I read Garp when I was 14 or 15, and that part -- yes. Jesus, just -- yes. Gutted me.

I resent that River wound up flying the ship, but that was inevitable, too, given Joss' agenda.

What is Joss's agenda?

But then maybe that was the point.

That's what I felt.

Also?

With Wash's death, I was deeply saddened that mature/happy/healthy relationships simply can't seem to survive in popular media. Makes me nuts, really.

This.

My definition of 'betrayal' applied when I read the end of Ann Rice's The Body Thief. I remember literally gasping in shock and a sense of waste.

Oh -- that's right! I was blown away at that. Not betrayed, but just -- good HSQ (and probably her last effective HSQ, IMO).

But then maybe that was the point.

That's what I felt.

But then -- why? Why was the point to deal an emotional bitchslap? I don't actually get that.

It's like -- Wesley's death made sense, but it upset me. *That* was effective enough -- why make it a bitchslap? I just don't get that. It doesn't make the death any more effective. (To me, obviously, so again -- no one needs to cite scenes that disprove me.)

Joss' proclivities, I should have said: upending the trope, sending the little girl down the dark alley to her doom, only to end the scene with her standing in the middle of the room stacked high with bodies, blood dripping off her weapons.

He's a proponent of the unsuspected strength of the woman, of the weak or youthful character, and I love that about his work.

Except this time--and it's my personal proclivities that override my appreciation of his.

I'm not abandoning the argument, but I have hungry women glaring at me, so I need to leave NOW. Back later.