What Fay said about the cinematography. The overhead shot of River picking up the branch surrounded by leaves was just breathtaking. And I love the way the FX shots cutting through the ship were so well-used, they weren't just a visual gimmick.
Summer Glau was just fabulous in this too. Aw, so was everyone. I'm having trouble concentrating on just Objects in Space. I feel like I should be thinking about the series as a whole. Or not, as it were.
Like Fay, I want to hug the show. I want to hug the show, sit it down and make it a cup of tea, and tell it how much I appreciate it. And then I want to jump up and down on the Fox execs' big fat heads until I feel better. It might take a while.
I loved, beyond the telling of it, the part where River is standing in leaves in the hold holding the stick then BANG big fucking gun! It was such a fantastic jump, like Anya pinned to the wall in Selfless.
The poignancy of the last shot we ever get to see of Serenity as it sailing off into the black fair had me welling up in a manly way.
And as Fay says, hats off to Jewel for the being scared in the engine room. And also loved the "Are you Alliance?", "A lion?" scene, it was not funny and added to the off kilterness that was Juble.
Oh, yes, Jubal scared the living bejeesus out of me. "Have you ever been raped?" That's was just plain creepy.
The Kaylee and Simon scenes were adorable. Not as adorable as the Simon and his lack-of-shirt scenes though.
This I love -- "My sister is a ship. We had a complicated childhood." Heh. Ooh! And "He takes a lot of looking after." The scene with Mal and River on the outside of the ship was just brimming with lovely.
And also loved the "Are you Alliance?", "A lion?" scene, it was not funny and added to the off kilterness that was Juble.
Wasn't that bemusing? And the "You're a bounty hunter." "No. I'm a bounty hunter" (I'm paraphrasing, forgive me.) Mr Early was one scary piece of work, and no mistake.
"My sister is a ship. We had a complicated childhood." Heh. Ooh! And "He takes a lot of looking after." The scene with Mal and River on the outside of the ship was just brimming with lovely
YES.
Oh, damn, yes. I loved those bits. I so love the Tams. Simon's just -- dude, he's like Sam Gamgee-level devoted. I mean, just breaks your heart. As does Kaylee, though -- really, Jewel was so wonderfully, unsappily
yearning,
bless her, with the whole trying-to-get-him-to-say-he-likes-her.
I fear I haven't said enough good things about Summer. She's fabulous. Her performance throughout the series has been top-notch -- she wasn't often the focus, but she was always giving 100% and her acting was fabulously physical and sincere -- I mean, she broke my heart at times, she really did, but she could also be thoroughly eerie. It was a very well judged performance, one that felt entirely unforced. She knocked my socks off.
It's heart breaking that the show was cancelled, and that Fox failed to promote it as it should have been promoted, but it really is exceptionally good work and the quality speaks for itself. I feel inappropriately proud and possessive of the show -- kind of tender, if you see what I mean? Because it's a beautiful thing, it really is. And so little television is startling, or challenging, or beautiful. I'm not saying it was flawless, because the quality of
Objects in Space
throws the pedestrian-ness of
Heart of Gold
into sharp relief, but overall
Firefly
is really a hell of an acheivement. If it were mine, I'd be painfully proud of it. Hell, I already am, and it's nothing to do with me.
I loved Simon's line, "I have a hard time keeping track of her even when she's not incorporeally possessing a spaceship."
That, and "Yes, he's very...gentle. And fuzzy. We're becoming fast friends!"
I think that one of my favorite images from the entire series is the shot of River standing on the cargo bay's railing, her ear tilted up to listen to the crew's conversation going on in the kitchen above her. It exemplified her grace, her ability to hear things that she really shouldn't be able to, and her unusual approach to problems (most people would have hauled a box up and stood on it).
I didn't so much take it that River needed to be perched that close to the ceiling to hear things, as that just happened to be the position she was in when the conversation was going on.
I liked the through-the-bulkhead shots. Although I was a little dissapointed to not see hidden treasure or a lost dinosaur toy in between.
I was thinking that, but I think it would have been too obvious.