Anyone else notice if they were there at the end when Mal and River take Serenity out?

My son noticed that, and was very pleased.

On the way out, my (Firefly virgin) friend said she couldn't believe I was so shocked at Wash's death.

How did she feel about the movie? I'm curious for virgin reports.

The more I think about it, the more I love the movie, I think. Most of my qualms are incredibly niggling. I admit that I personally very rarely get so attached to TV characters that their deaths cause me enough pain to overcome my appreciation if their death is done well. And I think Wash's was done well, though it could have been done a bit better. So that's okay.

And just about everything else works perfectly for me. As a movie. Not necessarily as an extension of Firefly the series (whirling blades of death and Mr. Universe being particularly striking as movie-like fabrications, necessary for the storyline compression), but as a movie.

How did she feel about the movie? I'm curious for virgin reports.

She seemed to enjoy it, if she was a little less enthusiastic than I was. (She works in film now, and I think I've seen a little of the old joy be replaced by a touch of cynicism.) The things I thought might have been explained or shown a little less than they should have been (Zoe and Mal's connection, their story in the war, Zoe and Wash's marriage, etc.) , she thought she got a fair impression of, at least enough to get her by. She was sitting on her seat waiting for River to bring it at the end, and clapped with everyone else when she finally did. (She thought the fight at the end went a little long before that, though.) Overall, good impression.

While she's a Firefly virgin, we go WAY back to high school as Buffy fanatics, so she's well versed in Whedonism.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssshhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

So, was I the only one who thought, "gee, Joss turned River into Buffy, or maybe Dana"?

No.

Not that I minded.

Honestly, I knew he was going to turn River into Buffy when I saw War Stories. Crazy psychic Buffy. So I was ready. It was cool.

Looking back the next day, the only thing I didn't think was pretty much excellent was the Simon/Kaylee. And that very rarely did anything for me in the series, either. Still, that scene is REALLY bad dialogue until Kaylee's all "You mean to say... sex?"

I didn't mind it, honestly. Maybe I will on rewatch. At that point, I was in dire need of some schmoop. Also, I know upthread someone said they didn't quite buy shirtless and confident Simon, but I liked it. (Not to say whether I found it credible one way or the other, but I did enjoy it. In a bunk-worthy sort of way.)

In many ways, I'm not concerned about "buying" things. I thought several of the characters acted enough different from the series that I could have been annoyed if this were another episode, or even a season finale.

But those don't have to be accessible to newcomers. Most of the OOCness was necessary for a fully accessible film, I think.

Also? Still really, really mourning Wash. I think that all of the air was sucked out of the theater for a minute afterwards. I still kept thinking "He'll be ok." for a minute or so after. As if he wasn't so very, very impaled.

Cries again.

ETA: Anyone else keep quadruple checking the thread title before posting anything? I feel like I shouldn't be writing anything at all about it!

Still, that scene is REALLY bad dialogue until Kaylee's all "You mean to say... sex?"

See, the unworkingness of it worked fine for me... Simon is possibly the awkwardest man in the 'verse, and it made perfect sense that he would be stumbly and ineloquent in an oddly formal way; then Kaylee cut right through it with "You're meanin' to say... sex?", and he blinked a sort of deer-caught-in-the-headlights blink that turned into a small "See, this is why I adore her" smile.

My one character-related bitch is the lack of scenes showing Kaylee's mechanical wizardry. That first landing was so rough and Mal was so shouty that Kaylee just looked flustered and panicky, and if we hadn't already known she was the greasemonkey who dove into junkpiles looking for salvageable parts and who patted the engine core and murmured, "That's my girl, that's my good girl," we might not have gotten anything from that sole scene of her working on the ship but Little girl, big ship, in over her head.

But that's really the only major bitch I have.