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Okay, I have no desire to spoil anybody. However, not having seen the show, I am not sure how much of what I'm going to say is spoilery or not. For now I am just going to lj-cut the entire post, just in case, and when Chrysta responds (as I'm sure she will) perhaps she will tell me how much of the entry is ok to post openly. Because I do want The Amy and The Alli and anyone else staying unspoiled to be able to read my reactions to the movie.
So. I want to record for posterity everything I thought about the movie, since I'm sure after I watch the dvds my impressions of everything and everyone will change. So here goes:
Characters:
Mal: They really spent the most time on him, so I found I was able to relate to him best. I really liked Mal. I liked his strugglesbetween doing what's right and feeding his crew, and the injustice of him having to make those decisions. I like this guy way better as Mal than as Caleb. Although I am unsure how someone can get stabbed in the stomach and have the sword come out the other side and still be just fine to continue the battle and not die and stuff.
Jayne: Okay, I get why you all freakin' love Jayne. He's hilarious. Though maybe that macho attitude is because he has such a girly name.
Kaylee: I think I *could* really like Kaylee. I mean, she's the hot chick working on the engine. She's cool. But I didn't get enough of a sense of her in this movie to really like her. Also, the dialect/language seemed most stilted coming out of her. She sounded like she was reciting Shakespeare sometimes (the "'twixt my nethers" conversation is what I'm thinking of in particular). People don't talk like that really, and usually Joss's writing is so excellent that I'm betting it's just her. The dialect was believable coming out of, say, Mal. And she seemed kind of shallow.
Simon: boringly handsome and kind of a prig. His coolest stuff was in the first five minutes of the movie and after that I kept wanting him to do something cool and he never did until the end when he got down with Kaylee. Eh.
River: Next to Mal she had the most character development, I thought. I was really interested by her. Also I thought her fight scenes were incredibly well-done. Simon says at the beginning that she always loved to dance, and her fighting was very beautiful, very dancelike. I think the shock of seeing what she could do in a fight was, I think, very much muted for me, not having seen the show. Others around me were very shocked. And I got the impression, at the end, that she had kind of come through the craziness and out the other side, that she was going to be okay and be able to live. That the combination of finding out about Miranda, telling the 'verse the truth about it, and having to save Simon had been a chain of events that made her deal with her shit and not be crazy anymore. I liked that the movie represented that journey for her, and I would be really interested to see what they do with her character in future stuff, assuming there is future stuff.
Inara: Like Kaylee, I just don't think her character got enough development in this movie for me to really be into her. Going to pick her up seemed less a plot point than a way to work her into the movie. I wanted there to be more interaction with her and Mal, because clearly there's stuff going on there. As it was, all that stuff stayed under the surface and made a lovely tension, but on the whole there wasn't a lot of reason for her to be in the movie.
Zoe: I didn't really care.
Wash: He seemed like a nice guy. He seemed funny. The entire theater was heartbroken when he died. He seems like a Xander kind of character, that he's kind of unnecessary and funny and you don't really notice him for episodes and episodes until something happens and all of a sudden the amazing character he is is brought into focus. I just didn't have that connection with him.
The Reavers were really terrifying. The scene in the beginning, where they're robbing the vault and the Reavers are about to show up, was incredibly well done. We hardly saw them but everyone was *so scared*, you knew they had to be terrifying. And they were.
Anyway, I was hooked into the story from the first five minutes of the movie. I liked it a lot, a whole lot. I almost wish, though, that I didn't know there was ever a show--because for the things that didn't have much impact for me I was able to say, well I'm sure I'll get more backstory on that when I watch the show. And I wanted to be able to take the movie at face value. For most of it I was able to do that, because I didn't know anything about the world or the characters, but just knowing that there was a show allowed me to excuse any moments that didn't carry enough emotional weight. But don't let those little disappointments fool you--I loved this movie. I left the theater totally hyped up. I can't wait to watch the show, because I am thoroughly intrigued. Good stuff.
So. I want to record for posterity everything I thought about the movie, since I'm sure after I watch the dvds my impressions of everything and everyone will change. So here goes:
Characters:
Mal: They really spent the most time on him, so I found I was able to relate to him best. I really liked Mal. I liked his strugglesbetween doing what's right and feeding his crew, and the injustice of him having to make those decisions. I like this guy way better as Mal than as Caleb. Although I am unsure how someone can get stabbed in the stomach and have the sword come out the other side and still be just fine to continue the battle and not die and stuff.
Jayne: Okay, I get why you all freakin' love Jayne. He's hilarious. Though maybe that macho attitude is because he has such a girly name.
Kaylee: I think I *could* really like Kaylee. I mean, she's the hot chick working on the engine. She's cool. But I didn't get enough of a sense of her in this movie to really like her. Also, the dialect/language seemed most stilted coming out of her. She sounded like she was reciting Shakespeare sometimes (the "'twixt my nethers" conversation is what I'm thinking of in particular). People don't talk like that really, and usually Joss's writing is so excellent that I'm betting it's just her. The dialect was believable coming out of, say, Mal. And she seemed kind of shallow.
Simon: boringly handsome and kind of a prig. His coolest stuff was in the first five minutes of the movie and after that I kept wanting him to do something cool and he never did until the end when he got down with Kaylee. Eh.
River: Next to Mal she had the most character development, I thought. I was really interested by her. Also I thought her fight scenes were incredibly well-done. Simon says at the beginning that she always loved to dance, and her fighting was very beautiful, very dancelike. I think the shock of seeing what she could do in a fight was, I think, very much muted for me, not having seen the show. Others around me were very shocked. And I got the impression, at the end, that she had kind of come through the craziness and out the other side, that she was going to be okay and be able to live. That the combination of finding out about Miranda, telling the 'verse the truth about it, and having to save Simon had been a chain of events that made her deal with her shit and not be crazy anymore. I liked that the movie represented that journey for her, and I would be really interested to see what they do with her character in future stuff, assuming there is future stuff.
Inara: Like Kaylee, I just don't think her character got enough development in this movie for me to really be into her. Going to pick her up seemed less a plot point than a way to work her into the movie. I wanted there to be more interaction with her and Mal, because clearly there's stuff going on there. As it was, all that stuff stayed under the surface and made a lovely tension, but on the whole there wasn't a lot of reason for her to be in the movie.
Zoe: I didn't really care.
Wash: He seemed like a nice guy. He seemed funny. The entire theater was heartbroken when he died. He seems like a Xander kind of character, that he's kind of unnecessary and funny and you don't really notice him for episodes and episodes until something happens and all of a sudden the amazing character he is is brought into focus. I just didn't have that connection with him.
The Reavers were really terrifying. The scene in the beginning, where they're robbing the vault and the Reavers are about to show up, was incredibly well done. We hardly saw them but everyone was *so scared*, you knew they had to be terrifying. And they were.
Anyway, I was hooked into the story from the first five minutes of the movie. I liked it a lot, a whole lot. I almost wish, though, that I didn't know there was ever a show--because for the things that didn't have much impact for me I was able to say, well I'm sure I'll get more backstory on that when I watch the show. And I wanted to be able to take the movie at face value. For most of it I was able to do that, because I didn't know anything about the world or the characters, but just knowing that there was a show allowed me to excuse any moments that didn't carry enough emotional weight. But don't let those little disappointments fool you--I loved this movie. I left the theater totally hyped up. I can't wait to watch the show, because I am thoroughly intrigued. Good stuff.
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no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 02:58 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 03:06 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 03:44 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 03:05 pm (UTC)From:A few characters were sacrificed in the movie, namely Kaylee, Simon, Inara, Book and Zoe. These characters REALLY shine in the series but Joss decided to focus on Mal and River mainly in the movie. I can promise you ALL of the characters are great and Kaylee is completely endearing and sweet and well rounded in the series. I was actually thinking last night that the Kaylee of the movie is such a small part of Kaylee of the show. In the show she is bubbly and cute and smart. But all that came out in the movie was her being shocked/angry and then making her out to be overly horny. ha! Kaylee is my favorite character so please excuse my focusing on her. :)
The actress who played River, Summer Glau, was on Angel. She was the prima ballerina in 'Waiting in the Wings'. So, so good! I guess Joss fell in love with her making that episode and included her in Firefly. I'm pretty sure he wrote the part with Summer in mind. She's so good as River.
Mal is the bestest Captain ever. I adore him so much. I'm glad that he came through like he did to the uninitiated in the movie.
Wash is definitely the Xander of the crew. He's the funny one liner guy and yes, he is likely largely unnoticed, although he really does have a lot of good stuff in the series. I think part of the shock of his death is that he's not a fighter. He's the pilot so you especially don't see it coming. He's also the Xander/Joss character. It must have been hard for Joss to kill him.
Book had such a small part in the movie and he's also a great character. I really hope that when *prays* they make more movies, we get Book backstory even though he's dead. RIP Book.
Jayne is just... well Jayne is just great. So funny. &hearts Adam Baldwin.
Oh Rox, I can't wait for you to watch the show! It will be interesting to read your thoughts watching the show after seeing the movie.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 03:51 pm (UTC)From:Thanks! And that's what I thought, too, after I typed it all out.
I remember her on Angel now! She was so beautiful. And her dancing is excellent. The fight scenes were so good.
I was thinking that Wash was the Joss-like character! But I don't think it's hard for Joss to kill anyone. Jorn hates Joss at this point because he thinks Joss hates us. I don't know about that, but I don't know that I could kill off characters the way he does.
I heard in the car on the way home much lamenting that now we'd never get to hear the story behind Book. It was clear even to me watching the movie that there *is* story behind Book, but I didn't know how much of it had been revealed on the show. I guess not much.
I can't wait to watch the show, either!
no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 04:07 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 03:40 pm (UTC)From:-Simon's intensity mostly comes through in the way he's deeply hurt by what happened to his sister. You might not change your mind much about him, but you'll get to understand him better.
-The show rarely really focused on Zoe, but she's very cool. And teh hott.
-Inara shines when she's fighting with Mal, or trying to get through to his heart. She didn't get to do that in this movie.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 03:52 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 03:55 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 04:02 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 04:18 pm (UTC)From:Cut To: Jayne is flossing his teeth. He's really digging in there. He stops, and spits a bit of bloody saliva into a bowl.
Simon is gazing across the dinner table at him in polite horror. "While I appreciate your dedication to dental hygeine, I beg you — beg you — to do it in private."
Jayne grins. "Got to get it out while it's fresh, doc. Don't do to let things fester."
River suddenly speaks up. "23% of all members of spaceship crews lose more teeth to scurvy than cavities."
Everyone pauses to see if she's going to follow that with anything, but she goes back to drawing sine waves in her potatoes. Jayne is about to put the floss back in his mouth when Mal says, "Jayne. Let it fester. Things that come out of your mouth at this table should be kept to a minimum."
Jayne looks petulant, and tosses the floss onto the table. It lands an inch from Inara's plate, but she pretends not to notice.
Fade to black.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 04:28 pm (UTC)From:Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 05:13 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-05-27 08:03 pm (UTC)From:-As to this bit, I'm not a doctor, but my understanding is this: If the sword only cuts bits of the digestive system, apart from pain it doesn't cause much short-term problem. You're at a huge risk of infection, but infections take time, and those 25th-century drugs can presumably kill just about anything. Basically, you just need to survive the battle and get everything glued back together again.
-Plus, Mal has a will of iron. The way he survives is by refusing to lie down.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-31 07:09 pm (UTC)From:Yes. In 17th century France, when scarf swords were in vogue (about as close to the pseudo Japanese thing that guy was using as I can think of in Europe), a bit more than half of all recorded duels ended with both parties dying within the month, and a bit more than half of those concluded with both parties walking away from the duel under their own power.
On a slightly less fatal note, people occasionally get punctured fencing these days. For the most part an observer is the first one to even notice. The one such person that I've talked to said that she couldn't figure out why someone on the sidelines was pointing at her and yelling.
People are tough.