Imagine if instead of having Book already be off the ship, at the beginning they dropped him at his mission and, somehow, found some kind of abandoned (possibly Alliance) signal complex, either in space or on the missionary world, which Book "mysteriously" understands the workings of. They could even have included the first visit that happened in the movie, and thus given Book a bit more time/backstory, plus he could also be a window into Mal. His death could have had more meaning (which did ping me as gratuitous/cliched), and we could have done without the plot device that was Mr. U's only reason for being.

So, Frank, when do you start as a screenwriter. Because I really like this. A lot.

I know I said I was in denial about Wash's death. And I am. But it still worked for me in the movie, in a way that Book's totally didn't (but would in Frank's scenario). I guess, more than being in denial about Wash's death, I seem to refuse to accept the movie being canon. Because, as others have mentioned, Firefly, with it's amazing ensemble, was where it was at. Rather then The River Show, which was fine, but not what I loved.

Also, the commas are mine, all mine!!

Alan wanted out of Firefly, so I'd imagine would have met a similar fate. Unless the producers wanted to be nice and have him walk into the sunset. Er, fly.

I'd never heard that about AT. I'd read that he volunteered himself to die for the sake of storytelling, or rather that he'd be okay with it if it served the story.

*sticks fingers in ears*

la la la lalalala

Yeah, he's said it in interviews since. When the movie came out an 'Official Serenity Magazine' thing was distributed by Titan in the UK, which included an interview with Alan, saying he didn't want to do more than two series of Firefly.

He's a great, great character actor so all power to him.

Meta does not mix well with . . . other stuff.

Well, and then there's the fan understanding that joss tends to maim or kill the character he believes to be his avatar...so Wash getting a stake through the heart is sort of joss'-psych-profile-meta.

The movie was about River. Mal was great, but the throughline was River. To be about Mal, we would've had to see his Independents background, his loss of faith, and how his character changed as a result of the events in the movie. Other than the deaders, really only River and The Operative changed, with a bit of a shift for Simon.

And I've never been able to watch the bit before "Somebody FIRE!!!" as anything but a GalaxyQuest shoutout.

Galaxy Quest rocks!

Mal doesn't change in the movie? Start of the movie, he's on the run, hiding from the Alliance. He's lost his faith.

He stops running from the Alliance, and life, and goes head first for them -- literally -- and risks his and his crew's life for that. He finds faith again, but not in a god, but in himself. The whole crux of the final Mal/Operative scene -- sadly, mostly removed in the final cut -- is about Mal's changes. (The earlier draft I mailed out a while ago actually includes the the very word 'change', but that sadly went missing).

Galaxy Quest does indeed rock.

I just really didn't like that the momentum wasn't carried forward on it's own, that there was actually a beat in the movie where Wash has to actually say, "we now have to go seek out another character because not a one of us is qualified to do anything with the plot as it stands."

Yes.

Perzactly. They wouldn't have even had to have Book actually cop to his past (although I'd have dearly loved a confrontation between the Operative and Book with at least a hint of recognition, though it would have had a bigtime Vader/Obi-Wan vibe, just to see those two actors square off), and they also could have had him press Mal a bit more like he did during the first visit.

Now see? We rewrote Spiral. We shoulda had a chance at rewriting Serenity. It woulda been great!

Mal didn't change in the way the main character does, but more in the way a minor character does...

But I was awake for about an hour thinking that the movie is actually the story of Mal and River. It's entirely a pas de deux between them. River's survival uses Mal's actions to happen, but more, River's healing, her incorporation, happens because of Mal's actions. At the same time, Mal's healing, his change from on-the-run to taking-it-to-the-enemy, happens because of River's behavior and changes.

Mal is the kinetic force, in a sense the ship, that conveys River to the place she needs to be in order to become a kinetic force in her own right. It's a perfect final chord that the end is the two of them on Serenity's bridge, as equals.

More, including the term "disenfranchised irredentist," but my own Mal is awake now.