Serenity thoughts...
Oct. 1st, 2005 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akashiverShort version: I liked it.
Good film. Tied up a lot of loose ends. And we finally got to see Reavers!
Now, about Book and Wash. I liked both those characters, damnit! Still, if tragic deaths are needed it made sense to kill of those two characters: both of them were, in their own way, stabilizing influences on the other crew members. Without them, there's more room for previously rock-solid characters like Zoe to go off the deep end. (Yay drama! Yay sequels!)
I'm more bummed about Book's death than Wash's, because it leaves the who-is-Shepherd-Book mystery apparently unresolved. I mean, we know he was formerly highly placed within the Alliance, but we don't know what he did for them, and we never saw him face any dramatic consequences for his former actions (at least as far as I'm aware). His character didn't really need any though - I think his second-to-last conversation with Mal was supposed to demonstrate that Book had already come to terms with whatever was in his past, and unlike Mal, his war was over.
For the record, my pet theory is that Book was a former Operative for the Alliance (which is how he knew how the Alliance would go after River). So although Book died off in the movie, the Miranda plotline actually restaged an earlier part of his story - the part where the deadly Operative realizes the futility of the Alliance's project and turns against them.
Part 2 of my theory is that this is a literal restaging: the Operatives are clones, so the nameless assassin trying to kill River was a younger version of Shepherd Book. (I don't have any evidence for this other than the fact that the Alliance seems to hire exclusively black assassins to go after River; and that the bounty hunter sent after River on the series seemed to know on sight that Book wasn't a Shepherd.)
So anyway. Cool movie. Bring on the sequels!
Good film. Tied up a lot of loose ends. And we finally got to see Reavers!
Now, about Book and Wash. I liked both those characters, damnit! Still, if tragic deaths are needed it made sense to kill of those two characters: both of them were, in their own way, stabilizing influences on the other crew members. Without them, there's more room for previously rock-solid characters like Zoe to go off the deep end. (Yay drama! Yay sequels!)
I'm more bummed about Book's death than Wash's, because it leaves the who-is-Shepherd-Book mystery apparently unresolved. I mean, we know he was formerly highly placed within the Alliance, but we don't know what he did for them, and we never saw him face any dramatic consequences for his former actions (at least as far as I'm aware). His character didn't really need any though - I think his second-to-last conversation with Mal was supposed to demonstrate that Book had already come to terms with whatever was in his past, and unlike Mal, his war was over.
For the record, my pet theory is that Book was a former Operative for the Alliance (which is how he knew how the Alliance would go after River). So although Book died off in the movie, the Miranda plotline actually restaged an earlier part of his story - the part where the deadly Operative realizes the futility of the Alliance's project and turns against them.
Part 2 of my theory is that this is a literal restaging: the Operatives are clones, so the nameless assassin trying to kill River was a younger version of Shepherd Book. (I don't have any evidence for this other than the fact that the Alliance seems to hire exclusively black assassins to go after River; and that the bounty hunter sent after River on the series seemed to know on sight that Book wasn't a Shepherd.)
So anyway. Cool movie. Bring on the sequels!
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-02 04:15 am (UTC)we might be seeing a "going through Book's effect' in the next movie that has a message explaining such.
i'll trust that more shall be told.
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Date: 2005-10-02 04:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-02 07:11 pm (UTC)I don't think they could have stated Book's former Operative status any plainer if they had Book turn to Mal and shout "What are you, Retarded? I'm a goddamn Operative!"*
The way that was handled was one of the few things I really liked about the movie.
*Remind me to explain this Batman in-joke for you if you don't know the ref.
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Date: 2005-10-03 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-03 05:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 05:06 pm (UTC)i'm actually curious about this firefly-induced color blindness; all of us at Castle N's Firefly party did it, and i'm wondering what it means (if anything).