when he was gonna go down to "check" on his "personal effects" - what was the deal there?

Plus, I think that after what had happened, he wanted to be close to his sister, even if she wasn't aware he was there.

Exactly. The person who means the most to you in this entire 'verse is in a box in the cargo bay, you'd most likely find it hard to stay away, cover or no cover. Notice how intently he looks at the box during the Dobson is Clumsy sequence; I don't see him checking readouts. I see him staring at all he has in the world, and staring at it exactly like you would stare at the only thing you have in the world.

The thing I'm wondering about is - when he was gonna go down to "check" on his "personal effects" - what was the deal there? Did the box have a vital signs readout or something?

That was always my assumption.

I got the sense from the episode Serenity that he knew it was her, he was anxious about the effect defrosting her too early would have, and he was terrified he'd be turned in.

Okay. I’ve put a lot of thought into this, and this is how it’s going to go down. Certain plot points distress me, and my course of action is clear.

I shall access the time-space-art continuum by channeling the indominitable spirit of Scotty and re-routing the tachyon flow through the hoominafrabitzer (blah blah blah plausible fake science for the nerds blah blah blah). Just after the landing, I’ll step into the frame from the left. I’ll lean over, grab Wash’s right hand, and pull him out of his seat just before the beam comes crashing through the windshield (vacuum shield?). While the crew is busy goggling at all the destruction, I’ll step back out of frame. If all goes well, I’ll have just enough time to give Captain Tightpants a pat on his back canvas as I flash a big shit-eating grin. Alert viewers who pause their DVDs will forever wonder about my “Outlaw Plot Repair” T-shirt. The rest of the Big Damn Movie can continue as scripted. (Sorry Book. Hope there will be more backstory someday). Everyone will be too busy to worry about WTF?! during the rest of the scene anyway. They can thank me later. Sorry Joss, hate to rap you on the knuckles here, but killing Wash too soon was a big damn mistake. I’m still mad at you. Sure, I watch your stuff just to fall in love with your characters and then let you rip my heart out, but we haven’t gotten enough dinosaur jokes and loud Hawaaian shirts yet. Try it again after giving me the Wash n’Zoe Hot!Married!Sex!!! on Vacation scene, preferably during Season 7 or so.

Check my tagline if you’re wondering why posting this seemed appropriate…

Long charming spoiler-ful Joss interview in Australia:

[link]

From Betsy's link -- Weirdest. Typo. Ever. (unless it's some alternate Australian spelling in which case -- Weirdest. Unamerican Spelling. Ever.)

He noted that Alan works the most and was the first to get work after the series ended. Joss at this point began to get nervous that the cast was moving on and that his movie wasn’t going to happen. At this stage he asked Tim Minear, "At what point does this stop being CPR and start being Negrophilia".

What? He likes black people.

Unlike George Bush.

That is an amazing typo. Ohmygoodness.