There were a couple of extended Chinese bits but they seemed less integrated with the surrounding dialog than the Chinese in the series.
The Fed armor from the series was Starship Troopers armor.
I too thought for a moment it would’ve been a perfect SMG cameo but upon another moment’s reflection I decided that it would’ve been too distracting.
Actually, it did. I saw it in one of the engine room shots in the beginning (it was on the left side of the screen, IIRC).
As far as killing off characters, Book and Wash were the most expendable. While Book was mysterious and there was probably more to him, he wasn’t really essential. Wasn’t he even missing from a few of the episodes?
As for Wash (and don’t get me wrong, I was very shocked and sad that he was killed), he’s always seemed like he was an accessory to Zoe. If Mal and the ship are the main characters, closely followed by Simon and River, then you have Zoe whose primary association is that she was a soldier with Mal. And then there’s Wash, whose primary association was that he was Zoe’s husband. His other functions, as pilot and comic relief, can be replaced by future characters.
Did anyone think that The Operative might join the crew? When Mal was going on about how the Alliance wouldn’t be too thrilled with The Operative, I thought it would lead to another misfit/Alliance enemy joining the crew of Serenity.
Because if he’d died during descent, there’s no one to land the ship.
So, your complaint is that he should have died about three seconds sooner than he did?
I wasn’t aware that being impaled by a grappling hook after crash-landing a spaceship was a cliche. Anyway, I thought it worked dramatically, because at that point I was so caught up in the action of the landing itself that I’d almost forgotten why they were crashing. There was this brief moment of “Whew, they made it!” and then they go and skewer one of the main characters. A textbook reversal.
easy e: I agree, Wash and Book were great characters, but there really wasn’t any more room for them to develop. Everyone else is still in the middle of their character arcs, but they were pretty much at the end of theirs. Sad, because they were so cool, but also the most disposable.
I forgot to add that one of the benefits of being a psychic assasin is that you know when people (or Reavers) are going to shoot before they even fire. Makes it hard for a bullet to actually hit you (as Mal found out).
By the time they were bouncing on the ground, which is part of the descent, actually landing the ship was a little moot. Dying in the crash itself would have been a better death.
Or thirty. And without a spike through his chest.
I’m glad it worked for you but it didn’t for me. That they crashed and that someone might die at any instant never left my mind which only made the death cheaper.
In other words, a cliche.
A sidekick whose raison d’être to that point had been solely that of a spouse and man of god whose past is obviously not what it appears to be don’t have any more growth left in them? I agree that as pilot and preacher, they were the most easily disposed of but the former was mostly a blank slate that they could have done anything with and the other had a fertile backstory just waiting to be exploited
The TV series (specifically “Safe”) made it clear she was psychic. She read the minds of two people - the mute child, and the Patron, in both cases revealing information she had no other way of learning.
OTOH, there’s no evidence that she can kill people with her brain.
No, not even remotely. No more than a textbook tracking shot would be a cliche. Reversals are a bedrock element of good screenwriting.
Speaking of good camera work, how about that unbroken take at the beginning of the movie, starting from outside Serenity, through the cockpit, and through the entire ship? How cool was that?
Oh, yeah, you see that everywhere. Even car commercials have started using it.
Which might be amusing if that wasn’t a total misrepresentation of what I typed. It was the sudden reversal of fortune “out of nowhere” that bothered me, not the impaling itself.
I don’t mind if it didn’t bother you but it’s the only thing in the entire movie that I seriously dislike.
By the way, after talking to a friend, we’re both curious as to why the Reavers harpooned Serenity when she was already grounded and not going anywhere. And wasn’t the canopy the spike came through forward facing? Was the boat turned completely around during the crash? That’s the only way the angle of entry makes sense.
Killing him off annoyed me; I thought the “out of nowhere” to be normal movie drama. It seemed like using a lot of capitol for a dramatic moment, though.
I mentioned to Mrs. Plant on the way to the theatre that the movie may be an effort to revive the series or end it. It appears, sadly, to have been the latter.
Were they harpoons or grappels? I thought it was debris from the building they crashed into.
I think it spun around as it crashed, so that the canopy was facing the way they came in. As to why they fired on it, when it wasn’t moving anymore… they’re Reavers. It’s what they do.
Killing him off saddened me and was analogous to getting a bloody but mostly superficial gash but the manner in which he was killed was like getting cut with a rusty case knife and having salt rubbed into the wound. It made a minor annoyance so much worse.
As for the spike, I assume it was a harpoon meant for grappling. Something pointy to pierce the hull and designed to stay there once it did.
I see your point, but if he wanted dramatic effect, he got it from you.
The best example I can think of is Tess of the D’urbervilles.
I can’t believe I’m putting this in a spoiler box…Tess is hanged at the end of the novel for murdering her abusive asshole husband. At least I think he was her husband…not Angel, but the other guy. Boy did that piss me off! 
Yeah, he got a reaction but not a good one. I fully intended to watch it again next weekend with another friend but am not sure I want to now. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I become.
Just got back from seeing the movie, and have been reading through this thread. I wanted to offer a little correction here.
Kaylee’s hammock was visible in at least one shot during the movie. IIRC, it was during that long unbroken tracking shot that followed Mal throughout the ship.
I do not wish to make light of your opinion, but I wonder if anyone boycotted Thomas Hardy.
It’s weenies who don’t like seeing main characters die that have caused the American comic book superheros to be such a running joke. I’m glad Whedon has the stones to put his characters in genuine peril.
Chose your own adventure: