Well, I agree with all of it. The platform, with the server, it was hilarious. A friend pointed out to me that Mal is the guy who kicked a random guy into an engine on a whim. But he leaves the trained assasin strapped to a railing by his belt which, you know, take off your pants and take Mal's head off, operative dude.

When Mal left him there, he was pretty fucked up. I don't think he was going anywhere, regardless. To me, Mal was more strapping him down to make sure he watched the thing than to prevent him from following or attacking again.

And I've found that few fans have made a peep about the retcon with Simon, the ridiculously stupid plot, lack of theme, and crap character development.

I've griped several times about the Simon retcon. (Joss explained it an interview that he originally stayed true to the series, but it wasn't very engaging to have a bunch of people rescue River and then we never see them again, so he changed it. I'm still not happy with it, but it makes sense and I understand some concessions had to be made to open the film up to a first-time audience.)

I have no issues with the plot and I thought the theme of the importance of believing in something was pretty clearly stated, especially since I picked up on it and I suck at identifying themes.

As for character development, I can't judge that because I can't separate my knowledge of the characters from the show from those in the movie.

You got what you expected, though, right? I mean, you don't like Joss's writing, IIRC.

I guess what sticks is variable. Like that's a revelation. Still, The Operative killing the doctor at the start drove it home for me that the mindreading River might have done made her a liability. It wasn't that she knew about Miranda. They didn't know what. She was just too high risk.

It wasn't that she knew about Miranda. They didn't know what. She was just too high risk.

Right. The Alliance had no idea what she knew. All they knew was they had an escaped psychic who had been in the presence of numerous government bigshots with lots of hush-hush information in their brains.

I just don't think I'm as sure of my opinions as you are Allyson. I was massively conflicted leaving the cinema. There were parts that I really enjoyed, and parts that I didn't so much, but I was worried that the only reason I didn't like those parts was because I loved the show so much and they weren't like the show at all.

I didn't think it was a 'ridiculously stupid plot' either, though again I had problems with it. I thought it was a lot more sci-fi than the show had ever dared to be. So it didn't fit in my head with my vision of the show, which I wasn't happy about (along with the whole sci-fi blue lighting thing). I think I'll have to watch it again to try and get a better sense of it as a movie, entirely seperate from what preceded it, but I'd trust the opinions of people who hadn't ever seen the show a lot more on that one.

I disliked Serenity more than I thought I would. I expected to have issues with it but was surprised by how many issues I had. Especially the dialogue. There was some funny lines, yes, but there were a lot of clunkers. Far more than I expected from Joss. Because, while he sometimes likes to throw out the story for the sake of a better story, he usually brings the good talky.

I do think that Serenity could have been trimmed down and made into a much better one hour episode.

I did want to sign it "Dear Joss, please stop believing your own press," but I didn't want to harsh anyone's mellow.

HA. That ship, my friend, has already sailed.

I mean, you don't like Joss's writing, IIRC.

That's Strega. I did have some low expectations going in, as you know, I didn't expect to be appalled at the quality of the storytelling.

I remember feeling like I wished I hadn't gone. I realized that I wanted to be there purely for ridiculously lame ego reasons, weeks ago, and I shouldn't have gone.

That's Strega

Aha. Do you feel Joss wrote like Joss, as in for TV, or Joss wrote like Joss, for film, or Joss wrote like some pod person whose writing isn't what you'd come to look like from him?

I remember feeling like I wished I hadn't gone.

Really? I don't even feel that way about Spiceworld.

Pod person. Lazy.

It was lovely to see you, though!

I just should have gone in to see Transporter II and met you afterward.

It was lovely to see you, though!

See? Not a total loss.

I just should have gone in to see Transporter II and met you afterward.

Well, you'd have had less invested, but it was a much stupider film. I mean, if you're looking for plot or characters or obeisance to the laws of physics. Fun, though.

Fun, though.

Exactly.