There's no reason that the Alliance still wanting River means II would have to be about her. It just keeps them out of the light, still on the fringes.

The Operative himself also told Mal he wasn't sure the Alliance would listen, Mr. Broom. Why give that so little weight in comparison?

For entirely deus ex reasons--they've already done that story. If they're still hunting for River, I'm thinking it'll be in more of a taken-as-read fashion, like in "Safe" or "The Train Job," where it may be mentioned but not be nearly the strongest plot thread. Having them hunt her all over again makes it feel like a TV series on film, which is clearly not the feel they're going for.

See my post above.

Yeah, was still writing my post when you posted that. We're thinking along the same lines.

I felt very much like you do after my first viewing. It took me a long time to accept Wash's death in particular, and what that would mean for my concept of the Firefly 'verse. In the end, I did come to accept both Book's and Wash's deaths, and I was able to watch it again this weekend without being totally emotionally undone like I was the first time. I think part of it is that I almost see the movie and the TV show as two separate universes, now. There's a clear divide between the two in my mind, that is helped along by the changes in Mal's and Simon's characterizations in the movie. So I appreciate them each on their own merits, but not as two parts of one continuous story, if that makes sense.

Thank you, Kate. I'm trying to get to that point. DH wants to see it again, and if I'm gonna, I'd like to do it while I can help box office figures, so probably this Friday. Friday does count toward weekend box office, right?

I do hope the next one (if there is one) is sort of light on the River ish. I'm pretty done with River, to tell the truth. I still want Book backstory; almost anybody's backstory, actually, rather than waifweapongurl.

Well, the Operative thought that the reason they were after River (other than that she is the Alliance's weapon) is that the doctor allowed her in the same room as a bunch of very powerful and ambitious people.

I don't think he knew about Pax until he was there.

Objects in Space really made me love River's story, so I was glad to see it addressed in the movie.

I'm probably most curious about Inara's syringe and what that plotline was going to be since I do feel fairly confident that Book was probably an operative, or some similar government cop with a dark history.

Friday does count toward weekend box office, right?

Ayup.

A friend of mine posited a theory last night about Simon and Mal's antagonism in the movie. When River asks "Permission to come aboard" in Objects in Space she ceases to be a passanger and becomes a member of the crew. All of the crew has their jobs, River doesn't have one. It would make sense for Mal in 6 months after OiS to make use of her psychic abilities from time to time on various jobs, with Simon protesting each time.

We all know Mal hates to have his authority questioned and that Simon's number one priority is to keep River safe, so they'd be butting heads on this a lot. Couple that with Mal losing Book and Inara's counsel and a couple jobs going south, putting River in danger, and you've got Mal and Simon stuck in permanent "hackles up" mode. The Mule crash-landing into Serenity with River aboard to escape Reavers is the final straw for Simon.

I don't think he knew about Pax until he was there.

I'm pretty sure he didn't. Otherwise the video wouldn't have broken his faith like it did.