In which Justin bitches about Serenity (the Firefly movie)
WARNING: spoilers for Serenity follow.
These are not the characters that I know, and this is not a continuation of the show I love.
my LiveJournal last night - http://www.livejournal.com/users/jclast/55036.html
What makes a good story? It's not a gripping plot or fancy effects or even a great setting. It's characters and their development. Joss Whedon created some terrific characters, and I grew to adore them and their struggle against the Alliance in Firefly. The people on Serenity in the movie weren't the same people. Here are the inconsistencies that I noticed. None of them was for the better.
Mal's clothing - In the series, Mal wore the pants from his old Army uniforn with western looking suspenders. In the film he's got some green pants with black suspenders that look to be made of plastic. His clothes used to mean something to him, and it was powerful to watch him live his day-to-day life in the same clothes he wore to fight the Alliance in Serenity Valley.
The Mule - in Firefly, the Mule is an ATV. In Serenity, it's some sort of hover vehicle. Granted, the Mule got pretty beaten up in "Heart of Gold," but why call the new vehicle "the Mule" as well? It's just sloppy to those of us that remember and appreciate the details of the show.
Mal's attitude toward Simon - In Serenity, Mal tells Simon that he isn't a part of his crew. This is in direct contradiction to Mal telling Simon he's part of the crew at least twice during 14 episodes of Firefly. No reason was given for this change in status.
Shepherd Book's hair - It is expressly stated that Book keeps his hair long in the series because it is one of the rules of his order. Apparently, the rule is either long hair tied back or corn rows. No mention is made of the change; we're just expected to take it.
Serenity's paint job - Mal loved Serenity. He would never make her look like a Reaver ship. There's always another way. You don't defile something you love like that, and Firefly Mal wouldn't have done it. He wouldn't have threatened to leave his entire crew stranded on Haven if they disagreed with his decision either.
Simon's demeanor - Simon is an aristocrat. He doesn't punch people in the mouth — especially people that are hiding him and his sister from the Alliance. I buy that he didn't want River to go on the job, but Simon isn't a violent man. He knows his place, and he's much more prone to back away from a fight than to start one.
Wash's death - Maybe Alan Tudyk didn't want to be in any future Firefly movies, but his death should have meant something. All I saw when some Reaver spear got him was Joss Whedon's pen. You could see Joss's anger. Wash couldn't even say goodbye to his wife. One moment he's there, the next he's gone. Some have said that it's supposed to show us that nobody is safe. We already knew that. Book died to show us that. If you're going to effectively kill a character; it has to mean something to the story, and Wash's death served no purpose.
Serentity is a decent sci-fi, but it's not Firefly. Firefly was a western set in space. Serenity is an action movie set in space. Firefly ends with the episode "Objects in Space." If you haven't seen Firefly and don't plan to, go ahead and see this film. If you've seen the series and loved it, don't go. All it's going to do is make you sad that the characters you love are already dead.