I was glad to see some advanced technology on the rim worlds. Windmills generating electiricty, or perhaps pumping water with modern vanes. Video tombstones, although that seems pretty silly. I’d add audio to mine. “Don’t I look like myself?”
A cannon that doesn’t need air to fire! 
Questions:
What was the uniform shirt that Jayne was wearing?
What is the origin of the phrase “Can’t stop the signal”?
WhyNot, I like your analysis of the Operative as a Lockian philosopher. It didn’t work for me in the movie, but it’s an interesting perspective.
Here are Simon’s own words:
This, in addition to the implication upon opening River’s box that it was the first time Simon had seen River in a long time, shows that the rescue was rewritten. Which I actually don’t have a big problem with, except for the changes it creates in Simon’s character. While we clearly differ in out assessment of his character, I don’t think my critique is wrong. Throughout the show, Simon is shown to be not-so-good at interacting with people; he gets nervous and says the wrong things. In Jayne’s Town, just about anyone could have been a better mud buyer than Simon. And in Ariel, he made a plan based on his knowledge of hospitals (which I’d guess are very different from secret Alliance research facilities) and his only interaction with people is when he saves someone’s life…which isn’t exactly acting, because Simon is a doctor. I also disagree with your statement that in the movie Simon was posing as an Alliance medical person; it looked to me like he was posing as a military person. (But, yeah, it wasn’t really a “disguise” so much as a costume) I personally think it really changed the portrayal of Simon, but both sides of this issue are more matters of opinion than fact.
Oh, and no worries about getting my name wrong, Otto; everyone does it.
Um, it’s a little silly to argue with things I didn’t say. Nor would I say. I thought there was plenty of danger; these are reavers after all.
I thought that was very Bookish advice, but hardly necessary. Still, it suited the character to say it, so it worked for me.
However, exploring Book’s backstory without Book actually there sounds less fun than with him there to face up to the the crew’s reactions.
Well, I think your rationalization is twice as silly as my objection, so there.
I can understand why she might not have the little gun; she did have to flee her home on short notice. And it absolutely seems in character for Inara to know how to use one; she probably learned that right along with her swordsmanship at the Whore Academy. But history has shown us that bullets are better than arrows in actual combat situations, so I still think the bow and arrows were goofy.
Very likely true. And the sound was disappointing to me, but it wasn’t actually bad moviemaking, it was just a minor bummer.
As Sam Stone pointed out, the electrical cloud wasn’t a nebula; nebulae aren’t like that. It was more of a…space thingie.
There was a good reason for the Alliance to want her back: She was a reader and had been in a room with members of Parliament. She may have used her Mothership Connection to learn some the of the secret lyrics to Flashlight or P-Funk. Err, wait, she may have learned about secret things, like how the Alliance was responsible for 30 million deaths on Miranda. That pretty clearly shows how she’s dangerous to the Alliance without her having to become a super fighter.
(Don’t get me wrong here, the martial arts sequences were nifty…I just thought they had no place in this movie nor performed by that character)
By the time she’d enrolled in the special government program (at age 14; from the pilot episode) Miranda had already been toast for nine years. I can’t imagine they’d be making any reference to Miranda or using it as any sort of code word; that seems like a bad idea. So I still don’t get it. I think the writer just needed some way to plant the Miranda clue, and got lazy and wrote something that didn’t make a lot of sense.
I guess, given how good Firefly was, I was hoping they’d try to convert non-fans to Firefly fans, rather than convert Firefly to mainstream tastes.
No worries, I’m not taking offense. It’s easy for me to be magnanimous given that I’m right and you’re wrong.
Firearms have not needed air to fire for about 150 years now. I’m pretty sure they would retain that technology going forward from 2004 A.D.
You obviously do not follow the Firefly threads on the boards, or at least my rants.
I believe the episode in question is Our Mrs. Reynolds.
And it’s 2005 C.E.
That’s actually an in-joke from an episode of the series, Our Mrs. Reynolds. In it, a big deal is made of how one of Jayne’s guns needs air to fire. Turns out that they got the technical details wrong about that (i.e. the gun definitely didn’t need air), something they 'fessed to in the commentary.
Once again, I’m gonna make my oft-made statement that an air-cooled weapon would have some severe problems when used in a vacuum (nothing to cool the weapon with).
That, or Jayne just didn’t know what he was talking about. 
Anyway, after noting that the time it took me to read the entire third page mean that carnivorousplant got the drop on me regarding the Firefly reference, it’s time to offer my take on the movie.
I loved it. In fact, the more I think about the movie, the more I like it. I wish they had had more time to develop the characters, but corners must be cut when you’re talking a two-hour movie instead of a 13 episode season. But I definitely laughed and cried and all the rest.
First, things I didn’t like: I prefer the (apparently studio-mandated) lighter captain from the series to the one in the movie. As a standalone character, his hard edges would be fine, but when compared to the captain who said in Safe (paraphrasing):
[to Simon]: You’re on my crew. Why are we still discussing this?
it seemed kind of weird for him to suddenly have so many problems with Simon (and flat out say to him that he’s not part of the crew).
And they killed Wash! I think that stuck with everyone in the theater when I saw it. The movie ended, and I sat for about a minute, then just yelled: “They killed Wash!” Someone sitting a few rows ahead of me turned around and said “I know! It sucks!”
Things I liked: The one-liners are still there full-force. The bad guy was so well done (I liked him better than Jubal Early, in fact). The explanation for the Reavers seemed pretty well done (definiely makes more sense than "They went crazy on the edge of space). River’s kicking Reaver ass was also awesome. The score was great - really served to heighten the mood. Jewel Staite and Morena Baccarin are hot. The dinosaurs on the bridge of Serenity. Anything and everything Jayne does. There’s plenty more. Perhaps I need to see the movie again.
I really hope it does well and that we may be treated to sequels!
Well no, he’s not-so-good at interacting with people who are light-years outside his comfort zone. When we see him on his “home turf,” the hospital on Ariel, he’s calm, composed and in control. He not only saves the patient’s life and upbraids the doctor, he stands up to the Alliance security guy. Simon’s 'verse simply doesn’t contain people like Mal, or Jayne, or Kaylee. He operates on different frequencies, which results in the awkwardness.
Couldn’t disagree more. The buyer had to have the right look, and Simon was the only one with the right look. The supervisor simply wouldn’t have bought anyone else of the crew (with the possible exception of Book) as being of the merchant class.
Did he really have to know that much about the Alliance facility for his plan to succeed? For all we know, the facility is a hospital or uses a similar layout. His master escape plan seemed to be “locate River, set off wavy bomb, get River to elevator shaft, hitch ride.” As long as he can get his wavy bomb through Security and can get himself escorted to River, all he needs to know is where the elevators are.
Split the difference. A military doctor/scientist.
As for the differences between the scenario as described in the pilot and the scenario as it played out in the movie, I tend to give pilots a little more slack on matters of continuity just because of the newness of everyone involved. It’s also not unreasonable to think that Simon didn’t tell the entire story in the pilot.
I couldn’t disagree more. He was an idiot.
And once again, I’m going to point out that Joss owned up to his mistake on the DVD.
To quote Kahn: “It is very cold in space.”
Which, actually, I think tended to lend to his credibility as a rich off-world buyer. I saw the scenario as him being a wealthy enterprising young lad who, lacking in the kind of experience he would need to deal on the Rim worlds, hires on a guide of sorts, ie: the knowledgable, confident rougish fellow making suggestions of what he should do. One has the financial capital to do the job, the other has the know-how and confidence.
Right, but a Thermos, filled with a tiny bit of space, still manages to keep hot coffee hot (and cold kool-aid cold. HOW DOES IT KNOW?!)
Anyhow, depending on how you made the gun, the whole “siezing up from overheating” might not be as much of an issue 500 years in the future. That said, I’m not even sure how much of an issue it is now. Does NASA have any plans to test-fire an AK-47 in space?
Regarding the way the Foreman regards him, you may have a point.
“This guy is an IDIOT! He’ll buy anything”
But not as hot as they were. Jewel definitely lost the twenty pounds Joss made her gain and it looks like Morena slimmed down between the ending of the series and the shooting of the movie as well. Also, it seems you’re forgetting Summer Glau. And Nathan Fillion and Sean Maher if you like the boys, which I do.
Hell, who’m I kidding… I think everyone but Ron Glass is gorgeous.
It only did $3.9M and premiered at number two, being beaten by Flightplan in its second week. Not bad, per se, but not so great either.
Just saw it tonight. It was awesome, although I can see that it might not be as entertaining for non-fans of the series. But frankly the hell with them…IMHO this movie was for US.
He who, Simon or the supervisor? Simon was thrown into the role with no time to prepare and no real knowledge of how a mud buyer would operate. And really, he only said about two sentences before Mal stepped in to make the suggestion of wandering a bit.
If it hadn’t been Simon, which of the crew would you suggest have played the part?
Question that’s largely unrelated to the movie. There’s an entry on IMDB that talks about the leather cord necklace Zoe wears, saying it’s like a wedding ring. Where in the series is that established?
I guess I’m shallow - I like the thin version of Jewel Staite too. (Just rented and watched Wonderfalls last week - damn you Fox for cancelling yet another show that I enjoyed - and she was quite attractive - and quite, uh, amorous - in that one, too)
Yeah, I hit up boxofficemojo right after I posted that and saw those numbers. Not promising 
Like the series (on dvd) itself this strikes me as the kind of movie where a huge opening weekend and a massive dropoff aren’t going to be in store. It seems like a great word of mouth movie as people who wouldn’t see it normally get told by friends they needn’t have seen the series. Besides, there’s always dvd sales 
She tells you why in the very beginning of the movie… “They want us alive when they eat us.”
