grits teeth. continues not to read the whitefont.

Damn.

Theo, I didn't know you were there! Both Jen and I were fairly close to the front of the line. I did try to keep a lookout for other people I knew; sorry I missed you!

Fay, what are you still doing in here?? I almost didn't whitefont, and then realized that you were still reading in here. Not that I mind, since whitefonting isn't a problem for me, but how can you stand NOT reading the whitefont??

edit: I'm off to lunch now, but will be dying to discuss in depth when I get back!

even most of the pressing questions about River aren't really answered; we know part of why she was so crazy, but we still don't know for sure why the Alliance chose her or what they were doing to her

I thought we did know - she was being turned into a telepath who could also kick-ass in combat. Apparantly she was to be controlled à la The Manchurian Candidate .

And from the series we know they chose her because she was a genius - maybe being a genius makes you a better ass-kicking telepath.

I'm not sure I needed to white-font any of that....

Ok, I'm simultaneously amused and squicked that Simon knows River's safe word. That's not going to quiet the hodgeberry crowd down any, is it?

Now I know what to say if someone ever tries to feed me too many hodgeberries....

I thought we did know

Well, I mean, we didn't really learn anything new about her backstory (pre-Alliance) or her abilities from the movie. We already pretty much knew she was being trained to be an assassin of some sort, and that she had psychic abilities. But did she possess psychic abilities before the Alliance took her? What exactly did they do to her to turn her into a psychic assassin? What kind of Evil Plan was she going to be used for?

Kate, thank you so much for clarifying my plot points--I was seriously rattled by the end of the night and I knew I'd be confusing some things. (Also? *Wicked* good to see you last night!)

They went to a lot of different planets and my one gripe with the movie is that it's really, really hard to keep track of where they are and why.

But did she possess psychic abilities before the Alliance took her?

I've always assumed not.

What exactly did they do to her to turn her into a psychic assassin?

Science-y stuff. They probably added some phlebotom (sp?).

What kind of Evil Plan was she going to be used for?

I'm sure a huge government (or a shadowy secret gov't/corporate organization, not necessarily acting in the government's best interests) would have lots of uses for a psychic assassin.

Oh, and wasn't it established during the series that Mal wasn't particularly good at piloting Serenity? Cuz I loved the scene where River pilots the ship - she takes to it like a fish to water. Which is cool, as they don't have to add another crew member to replace Wash.