Summer Glau is going to be in SciFi's Mammoth.

And now it was just announced she will be in a ABC family movie next fall.

I'm cautiously hopeful about a Xanadu musical. Could be genius, could be disastrous.

I watched Serenity last night, second viewing, and I still can't figure out why Wash dies. I can't even figure out how a Reaver ship got there - the "exterior" shots showed them all alone. But story-wise, symbolism-wise, anything, I just can't figure it out.

story-wise, symbolism-wise, anything, I just can't figure it out.

To heighten the level of jeopardy?

Why Wash dies, I don't know. But the Reaver ship was following them down the whole way, it seemed to me. As the Serenity landed, the camera was pretty much on the side, so we didn't see where the Reaver ship went, but I always assumed they were still following, rather than giving up and wandering about. Since they didn't lose power, they could just glide into the same hanger that Serenity was sort of crashing through... and then Serenity crashed tail-first, its bow pointed directly toward the following Reaver ship.

All of that made sense to me. Then comes the Wash dying, which not so much.

There's a scene when the crew is fleeing Serenity where you can see several ships landing behind Serenity (but since Serenity got turned around they're at the front, IIRC).

I'm trying to picture the scene in my head, as I haven't seen Serenity for a few months... so I might not be remembering it exactly. But there were Reaver ships right behind Serenity....

Joss' stated reasoning for killing Wash was to show what the stakes were and ratchet up the tension for the finale. For me I think it ratcheted the tension up too high, to the point where I lost my emotional involvement completely, but YTMV.

I think it ratcheted the tension up too high, to the point where I lost my emotional involvement completely

The same thing happened to me. It threw me completely out of the story. I didn't care what happened to anybody else because it was just flickers on a screen, it didn't mean anything, I was no longer involved in the outcome.

I've heard it was Tudyk who suggested it, when it was realized that somebody the audience was invested in and cared about needed to die, as a way of hammering home the randomness of death and racheting the jeopardy of everyone else's lives. From a filmmaking standpoint I suppose it did work. For me personally, it ruined the whole film.

I made myself see it again in the theatre, and I bought the dvd the day of release. I think it still has the cellophane on it. I'll watch the extras. I don't think I'll ever watch the film again. I've been going through the series dvds, and I've got my affection and investment in the characters back. I don't want to mess with that by seeing the film again.

I didn't like the retcon of Simon's character. I didn't like the marginalizing and relegating every character to thumbnail stereotype but River and Mal. I do realize it was a movie, an encapsuled version of the story Joss always had in mind, the main thread of which was little girl in jeopardy is stronger than anybody (it's his theme), but I missed the threads of the others, which were always more important to me than River.

To me, River was only interesting as one of an ensemble, not as the jewel for whom the rest of the cast was merely the setting.

Erm. Sorry. Yeah, I have issues.

I've heard it was Tudyk who suggested it, when it was realized that somebody the audience was invested in and cared about needed to die, as a way of hammering home the randomness of death and racheting the jeopardy of everyone else's lives. From a filmmaking standpoint I suppose it did work. For me personally, it ruined the whole film.

Yeah. For me, the death of someone in whom I was invested--that happened when Book died.

To me, River was only interesting as one of an ensemble, not as the jewel for whom the rest of the cast was merely the setting.

Erm. Sorry. Yeah, I have issues.