( continues...)

Oh, and just because I said it so many times before, I don't think I can avoid saying it again, I love Mal. That dark, closed-up, butter, lonely, lost, closed-inside-himself, joking-to-throw-attention-off, full-of-emotion Mal. And I believed him, on every step of the way. I don't know how to judge acting, I don't understand anything about it. I only can say whether I believed an actor or not. And I never stopped believing him, all through his journey. It was the same with the others, but since the movie focused on him more, and gave him a deeper journey, I felt it most with him.

Stories about characters making a choice always get to me (being such an important part of my own faith). Just to name a couple of recent examples: it's one of the things I love most about the "Harry Potter" series, one of the things I loved most about LotR. There's that line that Gandalf says in the movie "all we can do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us" (I'm paraphrasing, of course). And that's exactly what this movie - to me, of course - was about. At first they were chased, they were forced. They were cut from their resources, from the jobs, from their shelters. Then, after Book's death, it was their choice. Not just Mal's, too. And when they left the Reavers territory for the second time, after shooting them, facing that fleet, it was all their choice.

And I loved the last shot, of that part falling and that thing they'll have to look for and fix and replace. If all the movie was about letting people make mistakes and have faults and finding the strength to look for the way to correct them, than that little mistake - played for laughs, I guess, because I laughed through my tears - was pretty much what the whole thing was about, in a way.

Yes, but did you like it?

(sorry)

eta: Great post, Nilly!

eta²:

It's not fair to make me laugh while I'm in tears.

NATLBSB

Oh I'ma gonna have to talk with Gus about how we're gonna put that on the Nillysite.

How happy am I that Nilly got to see Serenity?

Nilly, your words are such a gift to all of us. Thank you so, so much.

I have to read your posts about 50 more times, and then run off to the theater and see it again right now.

Nilly, I think that Joss -- and all the cast -- needs to read your thoughts about the movie. I mean it. It must be wonderful for the creator of a movie/show/universe to know when someone really noticed and appreciated all the tiny aspects of the story.

You mentioned things about the movie, connections between the characters, meanings behind the smallest of their actions, that I didn't notice at all. But if I were Joss, I'd want to know -- I'd be *thrilled* to know -- that all the little things didn't go unnoticed.

I have uploaded the text of Nilly's posts for Gus to find a home for it.

It's unedited right now, but it's there. Browser friendly:

[link]

Raw text for Gus (with convenient t br formatting):

[link]

Nilly, you have no idea how thrilling that was for me to read. I'm SO glad you were able to see it!

There was a line that the Operative said to Mal, about saving the world, but not for him, that he is a monster, but he's trying to save the world for others. And in a way it's just like Frodo, who saved his world, but couldn't stay living in it.

Ha--I said almost the same thing, earlier in this thread.

Stories about characters making a choice always get to me (being such an important part of my own faith). Just to name a couple of recent examples: it's one of the things I love most about the "Harry Potter" series, one of the things I loved most about LotR.

I always feel a little silly admitting this, but I think what I get from stories like LotR and Firefly and Buffy is something similar to what many people get from their faith. If I weren't about to go to bed, I would expand on this idea a little more, but it has a lot to do with the choices that people make, like you said, and how they deal with the consequences of those choices, and how--in ways both big and small--their choices have influenced my own. (This is also why I tend to bristle when stories that mean so much to me are dismissed with variations on the "oh, fantasy is all about good vs. evil, it's so boring" theme.) (And suddenly I'm longing for a "What Would Captain Tightpants Do?" t-shirt.)

Anyway, I should have been in bed hours ago, but I just wanted to chime in and say thanks once more, Nilly, for letting us peek inside your head and share your joy. Good night!

Bless you, Nilly. You've added back a little shine to my tarnished view of Serenity. I'm so glad you got to see it, and so happy that you let us see it through your eyes.

I'm often awed by the fact that I got to discuss Firefly with you, a little, in Deb's kitchen. I treasure that memory.

It was probably one of the hardest things he's ever had to do in his life. And he did it. He saved the crew. He saved his ship. He saved his wife. He was proud of himself. That man who knew he wasn't a warrior and in most places would be shot down first. That man who was willing to live openly with his weaknesses, and wasn't afraid to love such a strong powerful woman. He was probably the most fragile of them all, along with Kaylee - good-natured, looking for the non-violent solution. And still, he chose to live there, on that ship, facing those dangers, with those people who in many cases didn't even follow his jokes all the way. And he saved them.

Nilly, you made me sniffle. Bless you, darling one.