My new employee saw my Serenity poster on the wall of my office (just one of the little 8x11 ones from the previews) and said she'd just seen the movie. Liked it a lot, never seen the show. I told her she has to see the show.

I'm a mean boss.

(Makes note for next employee review: Goal 1: Watch Firefly.)

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

For me too. But I was too close to the series the first time I saw the movie - I watched OiS right before plugging in Serenity. This viewing, Book just seemed an awful lot like the Spiritual Negro. Spiritual Old Negro Who Must Die. And I hated that he somehow lived right until Mal got there, then died. And I hated that the doctor arrived 2 seconds later and was like, "Oh dang, dude's dead." I mean, even today we'd try something. (And yeah, big old hole in Shepard's gut, and no crash cart, but Simon should've tried ).

and had it not been for the background of the series, I'd have seen them both wearing red shirts from the beginning of the movie.

Yep. Maybe Inara also, but she was actually TOO marginal and out-of-focus fuzzy-around-the-edges NPC to be a red shirt.

I also think a lot is being read into what I hear was a practical decision as much as it was a narrative one

This is my concern. I think it was mostly a practical decision.

For me it didn't do anything for the story. Nobody's character arc changed because of Wash's death. The path of the plot didn't change; they still went in to Mr. Universe's place. It did something for most viewer's emotions, either good or bad, but didn't turn the story at all. It would've been fine in a TV series, where the story developments from it could happen later, but I just didn't get it in the movie.

I can also project some interesting future times for a Serenity which has lost both of its moral compasses.

Like this, for example. Maybe Zoe, who is a moral compass, will step up to the plate.

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.

Once again, Beverly speaks for me. I mean, I always got that River was the overall story arc, but I really enjoyed the group dynamic with all nine characters fully realized. If the TV show had been about River, I wouldn't have invested.

OK, next question. Why was The Alliance training teenage assassins anyway? The hegemony normally doesn't have to fall back on tiny sleeper agents - that's a tool of guerilla fighters, resistance fighters. The Alliance either sends an Operative, or a fleet, or both.

I have some ideas, but they are all pretty tenuous midrashes. I might use them for a Serenity game, but I doubt they are the real reason.

And I hated that he somehow lived right until Mal got there, then died. And I hated that the doctor arrived 2 seconds later and was like, "Oh dang, dude's dead."

Yeah, I hated that, too. It was all arbitrary and cliched.

Nobody's character arc changed because of Wash's death.

I certainly agree that they could have handled it better by making it a more integral part of the story, but I think he was the best lamb to slaughter from the crew: likeable but a bit removed from the action.

There's a distinction I make, which I'm not sure I can explain properly. It's the difference between when the manipulation comes from the storytelling, and when the storytelling takes a back seat to the manipulation.

This, for me, is the reason why I adore Tolkien's, and hate Jackson's Lord of the Rings. Tolkien tells the story, and tells it in such a way that I feel so many things, so very deeply. Watching the movie (I walked out of "Fellowship" and never looked back) I could SEE the strings Jackson was using to Try to tug on my emotions, and I could SEE the ways he was pulling. Any movie that is so transparent is a failure to me. After all, for me, Conan the Destroyer was a rolicking good time - not deep, but sufficient to keep me in the moment, and in the seat.

With Serenity, I was in the moment, in the movie, THERE, the whole way - stunned by Book and Wash's deaths, I sobbed for Zoe at their funeral like I did not sob at my own father's funeral (because there I had to keep my shit together).

It was someone on the TWOP boards that made this point long long ago, but they brought up one thing about Wash's death: It was the price the crew paid for Mal's use of the Reavers as a weapon. The Reavers aren't just something you should be able to use willy-nilly. They are a savage, chaotic, unstoppable whirlwind of violence. It was Mal's arrogance which made him believe they could be used without consequences for his own crew.

And this brings me to my recent re-evaluation of Mal's character. I've always loved him, and I always will, but I'm not sure I can see him as a hero any longer. Ultimately he is not, as much as I would like him to be, Sam Vimes, my favorite fictional hero of all time, because of one crucial thing: Vimes believes lives are always more important than causes.

Hrm. Writing this now is making me think about a comparison between pTerryian and Jossian existentialism... I'll spare y'all that though.

So Mal can't be a hero because he puts causes before lives? I don't think I agree with that.

eta: I can buy Mal not being a hero, I just don't think this is a compelling reason.

Refrains from trying to distinguish between 'champion' and 'hero' as that never ends well

I think Mal realized that since the Alliance and the Operative found out he had River, they were pretty much screwed. They could either turn River over (sending her to her death) or gamble on finding a way out of the situation.

Refrains from trying to distinguish between 'champion' and 'hero' as that never ends well

Does it involve jewelry?

It was the price the crew paid for Mal's use of the Reavers as a weapon.

Interesting. So what price for using River as a weapon? Book? Or none, because River chose to become the weapon? Or did The Alliance pay the price for making RiverWeapon with the loss of men and ships and the newswave about Miranda?

As for the other, TV!Mal put lives before causes. It seemed that he had had an epiphany after the battle of Serenity along those lines. Movie!Mal did put the cause before the lives.