This is having my face slapped hard enough for believing in a rare good onscreen marriage of real characters to knock me completely out of the story, and past caring what happens to the cardboard images that are left.

I'm not quite at that point, but that's close to how I feel.

Mal: "you'll have to tell me about that one day"

Book: "No, I really don't"

I got all pissy about this exchange after the fact, 'cause that line was totally from Joss to me. Fandom says, you have to tell me that great and intriguing backstory. And Joss says, no, I really don't have to tell you.

The changes to Book & to Simon were the most irksome. Definitely the relationship between Book & Mal was weird. And Book became much less interesting as portrayed in the movie. Simon was completely different (and heterosexual!) and I just sort of ignored him throughout.

With everyone else, it just seemed like I got less of them and less of their characters than I wanted. Not that they were inconsistent in their characterization, just that I was unable to see the subtler nuances that I loved in the show.

Wash's death is upsetting, and mostly because of the loss of the wonderfully portrayed relationship.

But, you know, it doesn't necessarily have a payoff because there isn't necessarily a follow-up. If I never see the characters again, then Wash's death is just a part of the narrative, and not a living breathing thing that we have to deal with.

It's interesting to me that if we do get to continue, that the "weakness" given to Zoe isn't an internal flaw, but an external pressure, a happening. No matter what, I will miss that partnership's dynamic.

Zoe being the sole exception to my "cardboard" crack. But only by a narrow, narrow thin line, the residue of the respect and belief I had for their relationship, for each of them as characters, and for Torres' fine, rich, textured underplaying of Zoe's grief.

then Wash's death is just a part of the narrative, and not a living breathing thing that we have to deal with.

To clarify, yes, I do know the difference between fiction and reality. I just mean that if the story stops as it stands, then Wash's death is only significant in its value to the narrative structure. Yes, there is danger. Yes, they live in this world that is almost impossible to deal with. Yes, there is no inherent fictional safety. But if the story is told further, then Wash's death must be dealt with in its other aspects, and frankly, I'm not sure it would be. In the next putative movie, viewers would have to be brought up to speed from this movie, and that would mean Wash would be this sadly mentioned character from the past and Zoe would be the tragic warrior queen with the history of sadness. Which is totally selling short the genuinely detailed characterization that came before.

I saw the movie last night in the East Bay (Emeryville), sold out crowd, a few costumes, a few Jayne hats. There was laughter and gasping and applause. Most of the audience stuck around through the credits, hoping for more I think, some nod to the fans.

I saw it in the previews, and this time Wash's death didn't feel so crushing. Still terrible, and I started to squirm when I knew it was coming, but this time, I was more with ita:

The bitchslap put more life into my fiction, and for me, not in a bad way.

The one thing that annoyed me was I don't feel I got a real reason why River had to go with them on the first heist. The fingerpointing at the man on the floor with the gun didn't justify her being there for me.

Most of the audience stuck around through the credits, hoping for more I think, some nod to the fans.

It's already been noted, but there was a nod to the fans, in the form of a reworking of "The Ballad of Serenity".

a real reason why River had to go with them on the first heist

The way I understood that was, they needed her to identify the guy with the code to the safe that opened the vault. Identifying the guy with the gun was just incidental.

Which reminds me of one thing that bugged me about that scene. The guy with the safe code says something to the effect of "so, you're The Browncoats, huh?" Like they're a club or gang or something, "The Browncoats".

Also, "I swallowed a bug" cracked my shit up.

The line that got the biggest reaction at the screening I went to: "I'm going to LIVE!"

All, I just saw "Serenity" this afternoon. I agree with a lot of what was said above, but I have a quick comment about the retcon of Simon & River. I was confused at the beginning of the film regarding the timeline. I thought River was recaptured by the Alliance and Simon had to get her out again. I realized about 10-20 minutes into the movie that this wasn't the tale they were telling.

But I'm wondering why Joss didn't go down this route. It would have worked well (I think) to have River recaptured and have Simon (and/or the group) liberate her.

I just got back from an afternoon showing, where I took particular care to concentrate on Zoe and Wash. I don't think their relationship was given short shrift, although admittedly there wasn't much screen time devoted to it. Mal refers to "your husband" within seconds of Zoe's onscreen arrival in a way that makes it clear it's Wash he's talking about, they constantly call each other "honey" and "my man" and suchlike, and the two have some very tender moments of physical closeness after Wash scoops them all out of the Reavers' jaws.

Apart from the relationship, Wash had some good Washlike moments when talking with the others over the radio and in the confab scenes, particularly while jokingly snarking at Jayne. Zoe was the most seamlessly her TV self throughout, with every note striking just right. And I dearly loved how Joss made her so intimidating in that argument where Jayne brought up the war. Jayne seemed over his fear of Mal and willing to challenge him, but one warning from Zoe and he backed down and left as fast as he could.

As the credits were rolling, a little girl passing down the aisle next to me turned to her mom and asked "why did they cancel it?" The mother immediately replied "because they're idiots!" Good times.

I bumped into a married duo of friends that I'd unknowingly shared the theater with on the way out, and the wife said she had no trouble connecting with the characters and getting a good feel for them despite being unfamiliar with the series. And overall, that was a very happy near-capacity crowd that was leaving.