He was "on the take" as they say.

Clearly.

And groovy. We KNOW the shepherd was once groovy.

Last night, I found myself willing Serenity to not hit the pillars in the docking bay, to not lose an engine, and to not spin round so that the cockpit was facing the Reavers. And then willing Wash to bend down to tie his shoelaces up.

But it was still all the same. I was totally surprised how much impact it still had on second viewing - I had to fight off that allergy Daniel mentioned.

I'm with Kalshane on The Operative being calm all movie 'til the Reavers arrived, and then he absolutely bricked it. Very well done.

I'm with Kalshane on The Operative being calm all movie 'til the Reavers arrived, and then he absolutely bricked it. Very well done.

Well, yeah, wouldn't you? "Holy CRAP! There's four gajillion cannibal vampire space pirates in giant ugly ships that leak radiation! THEY'RE HEADED RIGHT FOR US!"

I, personally, would probably have crapped my pants, my shirt, my shoes and the pants, shirts and shoes of all the people on the bridge with me. We would be entirely crappified. Up to our chins.

On the take, groovy, and a special relationship with a local brothel, methinks - a "I'll scratch your back if you rub your well-oiled body on mine" kinda thing.

Ahem. GalaxyQuest reference. I'm only slightly embarrassed.

Dude. No need for even slight embarrassment in this crowd.

What JZ said.

"Somebody shoot something," is right up there among my favorite line deliveries in the movie.

(I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm not remembering the words exactly right)

I loved how the Operative was totally unflappable throughout the film and then he was suddenly OMGWTFREAVERS!

I thought of the Slate article about Joss [link]

Whedon has some sort of preternatural feel for TV-making. When you listen to his DVD commentaries, you hear him effortlessly cataloging the narrative devices at work, the shortcut gimmicks that establish character and advance a plot, the genealogy of the jokes. He explains that a kindly, pure-hearted character can serve as the audience's guidepost—whenever she speaks up, we know she's speaking truths. Want to make a villain scary? Show the toughest character getting a little freaked out. It's like these rules are in Whedon's DNA.

Want to make a villain scary? Show the toughest character getting a little freaked out. It's like these rules are in Whedon's DNA.

And that's how he did it with the first introduction of Reavers, using Jayne.

Just so many great moments in the flick.

"No, no, no! It's okay! I'm a leaf on the wind!"

"What does that mean?"

or

"I don't wanna explode."

"Bet you wish we'd brought those grenades now."

Hee hee hee.

Is it tonight that Sean Maher is on The Ghost Whisperer?