Oh, I've been wanting to read the Hamilton book. Must remember to check for it next time I'm in a bookstore.

But we don't know how extensive her psychic gifts really are - after 8 months on Serenity in Wash's presence, how much of his piloting knowledge and skill mightn't she have picked up by osmosis?

From the show, more than the movie, she isn't just a psychic. With everything that may or may not have been done to her, and with whatever training she was given to turn her into this incredible weapon, her piloting didn't surprise me a bit. Also, as someone mentioned, she'd earlier shown some real technical knowledge of the ship.

I'm glad to hear the speculation about Book - I hadn't thought about in those terms, but it makes a lot of sense, and makes me feel a bit better about the loss.

Wash was a total shock the first time round, but - don't hate me - it was almost worth it to see the real Zoe. I think Zoe was my biggest beef with how any of the characters were portrayed. I really think she got kind of lost in the shuffle, and what there was of her didn't really bring out her utterly unflappable badass, or her bond with Mal.

I was no more surprised that River could fly, than that the Operative could.

In the Pilot!Serenity, Simon says of River, "There is nothing that didn't come to her as naturally as breathing does to us." Even considering that this must be an exaggeration, between that innate talent and her observing Wash for 8 months, I had no problem of her piloting the ship, especially with Mal assisting.

Bill Clinton is aging rapidly, too, you partisans.

He’s not evil. Not Dick Cheney Evil, anyway.

I think Clinton aged a lot in office. And sudden thinness ages a person in the short-run. Also, he's less ruddy, which is a by-product of being in better cardiac health, but to the eye, it looks the same as being pale.

I think Clinton misses being president the most – he misses the action. Watching from the sidelines may be particularly hard on him.

Pilot!Serenity actually seemed more cinematic to me than Movie!Serenity.

Maybe me too. I need to see the movie again. I mean, there were spaceships and horses in the TV pilot. What could be more cinematic?

Javier Grillo Marxuach posts a review of Serenity disguised as a review of a sequel to Alien: Resurrection. It's very amusing.

Boxofficemojo.com has Serenity second in the estimates for Friday. The estimate is 3.9mil from 2,188 screens. That's only 500thou less than Flightplan, which is on 3,424 screens, and has Jodie Foster and Sean Bean in the lead roles.

Here's hoping it has the legs to cross the $80 million mark over the next few weeks.

Javier Grillo Marxuach posts a review of Serenity disguised as a review of a sequel to Alien: Resurrection. It's very amusing.

Tim, if Marxuach hasn't already sent this to Joss you MUST call him up and give him the link.

Javier Grillo Marxuach posts a review of Serenity disguised as a review of a sequel to Alien: Resurrection. It's very amusing.

Bwah! Good mapping, and damn that's revelatory in several ways. One, how much of Alien: Resurrection was in the original Firefly concept. Two, that Joss does not let go of a story until he gets to tell it his way. Three, that this maps as perfectly as does the mapping of the story as a big Fuck You to Fox. Layers, baby.

When I watched Alien: Resurrection on cable, I noticed many similarities to Firefly. Joss, however, claims he did not notice the similarities until they were pointed out to him.

this maps as perfectly as does the mapping of the story as a the big Fuck You to Fox.

I hear that in the next Aliens movie, the aliens will infest Fox corporate headquarters.