Serenity spoiler thread

[ClydeJr]

How much does it take to create a movie such as this??  It seems to me that if a creator/director has vision then the movie would not need to gross as much as say, something like Alien 13 or Terminator 9.  What I mean is since he is shouldering his creation and not some suits, wouldn't the chances of a sequel be greater (I would use The Matrix as an example but they made a gazillion dollars then fucked it up with the sequels.  But I digress). 

Also I would assume word of mouth would help boost the movie in the long run.

According to this review, the movie cost about $50 million to make. Unfortunately I don't think the suits are completely gone in this. The Universal suits took a chance on Serenity because they saw it had a pretty good cult following. In a sense, you can think of it as a sequel and you know movie execs can't pass up a chance on a sequel.

To be honest, I hope there aren't any sequels to the movie. They told a good story, had some things go boom, made people laugh, and yanked a few heartstrings. I'd rather see Joss go create something new than try extend the story. It won't feel like Firefly/Serenity with Wash gone. I especially hope that someone else besides Joss tries to make a Serenity sequel.

I wish they had something in the movie about the men with "hands of blue". When my wife and I were getting ready to go to the movie, I saw she was bringing along her jacket which just happens to be brown. I said if she got to be a browncoat, I could wear some blue dishwashing gloves. She didn't like that idea...

[Samwise]

Maybe special security data storage system that you need an expert hacker to retrieve the data from? 

Except that Mal was able to play the recording just by popping it into a slot on what looked like a standard playback device; I didn't see him providing any sort of key or doing anything like that to "unlock" the data.

And even if the data was encrypted (yet somehow decryptable by any common VCR), they could have sent it to Mr. Universe in its encrypted form for him to crack, or in the absolute worst case scenario they could have "cracked" it themselves by using the player in the Miranda lab and taking an analog recording off that, like a bootleg movie - we know they have recording equipment on board because Mal was watching home movies of Inara earlier.

There's no filling in this plot hole, I tell you. 

[Samwise]

I wish they had something in the movie about the men with "hands of blue".

They had a cameo, I think.  During the opening scene when Simon broke River out, she said "they know you're here" and then we saw a shot of two scary-looking suits at a control panel.  I'm fairly sure those were the blue hand guys.

[Polysorbate80]

There's no filling in this plot hole, I tell you. 

Dude, did you read my post?  Walk down to your local radio station, then try to plug in your iPod and try to simulcast to the entire world.  See how far you get...

You need A) the equipment, B) the technical expertise, and c) the access to get into the system.  They may have been able to find A (doubtful, too many channels to cover) & B (dunno about their l33t skillz), but there's no way they could get C) without help.

*edit - let me try to make the scope of this plain.  We're talking about hijacking every single broadcast media outlet (tv, radio, internet, whatever the hell it is they use), secure or unsecure, at the same time.  This is not a job for a bunch of petty criminals flying around in an old transport, this is a job for specialists.

[schild]

Sounds like they should have gotten help from Razor and Blade.

[Samwise]

Dude, did you read my post?  Walk down to your local radio station, then try to plug in your iPod and try to simulcast to the entire world.  See how far you get...

Dude, did you read mine?  I'm talking about getting the data to Mr. Universe, not them necessarily broadwaving it all over the universe from Miranda (I'm willing to accept for the sake of argument that some dork living in an ion cloud has greater transmitting power than an entire planet).

Suppose you have a picture you want me to host on my website.  Do you put the picture on a disk, get in your car, and drive to my house so you can deliver it by hand?  Or do you just email it to me?

Again, keep in mind that Serenity obviously was able to transmit data to and from Mr. Universe, because we saw them talking to him on a video phone, without even any noticeable signal loss (even if there was, that's very easy to deal with, and it doesn't take a l33t h4xx0r to do it).  If everyone was operating under the pretense/assumption that Mr. Universe was willing and able to help them, why did nobody suggest just using that data link to send him the file, rather than flying there in person?

It's like the floppy disk full of evidence in that shitty movie The Net.  Or the Death Star plans in ANH.  Magical data that can't be copied.

[Zetleft]

Maybe special security data storage system that you need an expert hacker to retrieve the data from? 

Except that Mal was able to play the recording just by popping it into a slot on what looked like a standard playback device; I didn't see him providing any sort of key or doing anything like that to "unlock" the data.

And even if the data was encrypted (yet somehow decryptable by any common VCR), they could have sent it to Mr. Universe in its encrypted form for him to crack, or in the absolute worst case scenario they could have "cracked" it themselves by using the player in the Miranda lab and taking an analog recording off that, like a bootleg movie - we know they have recording equipment on board because Mal was watching home movies of Inara earlier.

There's no filling in this plot hole, I tell you. 

That unit on the planet was running VHS their old busted ship only supported BetaMax, FUCKING SOLVED :D

[Fargull]

I wish they had something in the movie about the men with "hands of blue". When my wife and I were getting ready to go to the movie, I saw she was bringing along her jacket which just happens to be brown. I said if she got to be a browncoat, I could wear some blue dishwashing gloves. She didn't like that idea...

The two guys with the blue hands got whacked in the comic, which took place before the movie.

[WindupAtheist]

A $10 million opening weekend.  Ruh-roh.  You'd better all go see it three or four more times.

[Cheddar]

A $10 million opening weekend.  Ruh-roh.  You'd better all go see it three or four more times.

Exactly.  Glad to see you are utilizing common sense!  What a trooper.

[WindupAtheist]

I just really like it when the plucky underdog gets his ass kicked.  Speaking of which, business for this flick actually declined from Friday to Saturday.  The rabid fanbase shot it's load, and nobody else cared.

[Teleku]

It was mentioned in the thread on corpnews that the 80 million figure also includes DVD sales.  Not sure how accurate this is, since its all word of mouth hearsay, but thats a big help if true.  And hell, movie studios are basically relying on DVD sales to make them the actual money for movies now a days, so I can believe that.

[Cheddar]

I just really like it when the plucky underdog gets his ass kicked.  Speaking of which, business for this flick actually declined from Friday to Saturday.  The rabid fanbase shot it's load, and nobody else cared.

Sometimes I get the idea that you are jaded, or unhappy.  Whats wrong guy?  Need a hug? [hug][/hug]

[Comstar]

Of course, magical data that can't be copied off its physical storage medium and/or transmitted to a remote location has been a sci-fi plot staple ever since A New Hope, so I can't blame Joss too much for using it here.

The answer is obvious. The disk has copy righted material on it and was CDM'd to not allow you to copy information off it. That's hardly a SF thing, mearly a product of the early 21st Century.

Proof: I bought the music for the series off FoxMusic. Same problem.

[Margalis]

The movie was marketed horribly.

From what I can tell, this is what it is about: Some goons in space find some skinny chick who looks 12 but for whatever bogus reason can totally kick ass in a completely contrived, utterly fake looking way.

That shit got old on Buffy. I have no problems with chicks kicking ass, as long as they seem like they could actually kick some ass. Gellar looks like she would have her hands full with an 8-year-old boy, and if they ever got her any sort of martial arts training it doesn't show at all. Same problem here. My suspension of disbelief has limits.

[Samwise]

Summer Glau is much more believable at kicking ass than Sarah Michelle Gellar.  She's got ballet legs.

[WindupAtheist]

Does anyone remember that movie The Great White Hype?  Throughout the entire movie they show Damon Wayans smoking cigarettes and eating like a pig, until he finally shows up for the weigh-in looking like he's in his third trimester.  Meanwhile, Peter Berg has done his training and is there to win.  So he runs confidently toward the ring as the crowd, and one little boy in a wheelchair, cheer him on.  Damon Wayons, for his part, drags his fat disinterested ass into the ring to a chorus of boos.  Everything is set up for the "uplifting" Rocky-type ending.

The bell rings, and Damon Wayans promptly knocks Peter Berg out in the first round.  As his unconscious head plummets toward the unforgiving canvas, they cut to a shot of the wheelchair boy, looking down in shock and heartbreak as he drops his little flag.

That little boy is you, Browncoats.  Suck it down.  Your tears of anguish are sweet nectar to me.

[Teleku]

What exactly are you smoking?  The movie was great, that’s all that matters.  If they had fucked it up, that would be a horrible let down, but that’s not what happened.  Everybody in this thread is thrilled, not crying.  Besides, the movie will probably sell a shitton of DVD's, which will help the prospects for a sequel.  Your analogy better fits the Star Wars franchise, horrible let down as that was.  I'm sorry nobody likes Episode 3, UO, or all the other horrible things your the sole fan of, but trolling this thread isn't going to change that.

[Ironwood]

The new Star Wars movies sucked.  All of them.

SWG sucked too.  Hugely.

Sorry, just thought I'd mosey my now Star Wars hating head in for a second....

Looking forward to seeing Serenity when I can.

[Lum]

Wow, anti-Browncoat backlash! That didn't take long at all!

I suspect we'll see another Serenity movie; it garnered good reviews and will no doubt do far better in DVDs, because, well, grownups are starting to avoid theatres now what with all you kids jamming up the works. Tysons Corner here in DC was just a madhouse.

Other points:

Wash was written out because the actor's been busy. He's got a nice Broadway career going (one of the leads in "Spamalot" I believe). Plus it did have an impact.

Book was an Operative. It's stated pretty plainly in the parallel conversations with Book and the Operative about the nature of belief with Mal, and supposedly a scene in the book which was cut from the movie (a moment of recognition between Operative and Book when Haven is laid waste) makes the connection explicit.

George Lucas wishes he could make a movie this good. Good special effects.... AND fight scenes! AND actual character development! NO WAY! See what happens when you use actual directing and acting instead of throwing more CGI mascots at people?

[Roac]

George Lucas wishes he could make a movie this good. Good special effects.... AND fight scenes! AND actual character development!

Yep, Serenity kicked ass.  If you haven't seen it, get off your ass and go. 

[Ironwood]

will no doubt do far better in DVDs, because, well, grownups are starting to avoid theatres now what with all you kids jamming up the works.

So very, very true.

[Signe]

grownups are starting to avoid theatres now what with all you kids jamming up the works

Kids still go to the movie theater?  I thought they were way over-priced for kids!  What else has happened in the world since I became a recluse?

Anyway... I'll wait for it to hit the DvD store.  I'm a recluse, you know.  But I really do want to see it... and that last Indiana Jones film, too.

[Fargull]

Don't worry about WUA, UO keeps touching him in a bad place and he like to share the pain.

"That shit got old on Buffy. I have no problems with chicks kicking ass, as long as they seem like they could actually kick some ass. Gellar looks like she would have her hands full with an 8-year-old boy, and if they ever got her any sort of martial arts training it doesn't show at all. Same problem here. My suspension of disbelief has limits."

Ha!  Well, I do know that Summer got training for Serenity.  Unknown about Gellar, but she improved as the series went along.  Guess my suspension of belief is not as limited as yours Mar.

[Surlyboi]

Summer Glau was prima ballerina. Speaking as someone with some dance training and a lot of martial arts training, the principles are sometimes very very similar.

I'd trust her to kick a helluva lot more ass than I'd ever trust SMG.

[Merusk]

Wow, anti-Browncoat backlash! That didn't take long at all!

I suspect we'll see another Serenity movie; it garnered good reviews and will no doubt do far better in DVDs, because, well, grownups are starting to avoid theatres now what with all you kids jamming up the works. Tysons Corner here in DC was just a madhouse.

Damned skippy.  Us adults also have in-home theaters or close approximations of, can drink alchohol while watching and hit 'pause' when nature calls.  There's really no reason to go to a theater except as an excuse to get out of the house for a few hours and blow $60+ on the family.

[MrHat]

Going to watch it again tomorrow afternoon.  I loved it so damn much.  Bittersweet it is.

I want to hug Fox and then shoot it in the stomach with my pistol.

[Fargull]

I suspect we'll see another Serenity movie; it garnered good reviews and will no doubt do far better in DVDs, because, well, grownups are starting to avoid theatres now what with all you kids jamming up the works. Tysons Corner here in DC was just a madhouse.

Next time your in Austin, check out the Draft House goodness for your movie viewing pleasure.

Draft House Plug

[ClydeJr]

Next time your in Austin, check out the Draft House goodness for your movie viewing pleasure.

What's the Draft House like up there in Austin? The one down here in Houston (West Oaks) is kinda crappy. Its an old mall movie theater so the seating, projection system, and sound system aren't that great.The last time I went they were also out of Shiner Bock which is mortal sin in Texas. I do like the old 70s-80s commercials they were showing before the movie started.

I'm just curious as to how crazy the reavers really are. They're psycho killer cannibals yet they seem to be able to maintain their ships decently well. Hell, some of those reaver ships were damn huge.

[Polysorbate80]

Dude, did you read my post?  Walk down to your local radio station, then try to plug in your iPod and try to simulcast to the entire world.  See how far you get...

Dude, did you read mine?  I'm talking about getting the data to Mr. Universe, not them necessarily broadwaving it all over the universe from Miranda (I'm willing to accept for the sake of argument that some dork living in an ion cloud has greater transmitting power than an entire planet).

Suppose you have a picture you want me to host on my website.  Do you put the picture on a disk, get in your car, and drive to my house so you can deliver it by hand?  Or do you just email it to me?

We covered that.  The alliance was *at* Mr. Universe's pad, pointing things that go 'boom' at him.  Transmitting the data to him would have achieved exactly nothing, since the alliance troops would have just prevented the re-broadcast. 

And Universe's ability to tap into all the existing channels still trumps one broadcast station on one planet.  Sure, you can set up a pirate radio station; a few people might even be listening.  When you take over every cable channel and radio station on the dial, that's a different story.

So, recap time:

Sooper-sekrit message needs to get out to as many people as possible before the Alliance can fuck thngs up.  Heroes on are on a planet in the middle of nowhere, behind Reaver space, wondering how to get said message to the masses.  Where to go, what to do?  Try to beam one little signal out into the Cortex (sp?) which appears to be the combination cable system/internet/phones/whatever and is probably at least somewhat secure, or go to the l33t hacker dude who's already shown he can get the job done with the press of a single button?

Problem:  You call him up, and suspect there's a trap--a reasonable assumption, considering the Operative already seems to know about all of their contacts and that he's killed most of them, and already tried the trap thing with Inara.  So:  can't send him the message, got to go there and rescue him, foolishly not realizing he's as good as dead already.  Lucky for them he has a backup, eh?

How to get through the trap?  Hmm, lots of Reavers around, might as well make them useful for something...

It's not nearly as big a plot contrivance as Mal not being affected by the Operative's magic Ninja paralyze attack thingamabob.

[Bunk]

Summer Glau was prima ballerina. Speaking as someone with some dance training and a lot of martial arts training, the principles are sometimes very very similar.

I'd trust her to kick a helluva lot more ass than I'd ever trust SMG.

To give a parrallel: Zhang Ziyi actually had no formal martial arts training. She was a trained dancer. Worked pretty good for her.

As much as Im sure Windup would like us to jump on his trolling, please don't. Those of us that saw the movie are the lucky ones to have enjoyed it. 10 mil is a bit dissapointing, I was expecting 15. Then agaain, it only opened in 2/3 as many theaters as a typical wide release.

[Samwise]

We covered that.  The alliance was *at* Mr. Universe's pad, pointing things that go 'boom' at him.  Transmitting the data to him would have achieved exactly nothing, since the alliance troops would have just prevented the re-broadcast.

Correct - and that's the only reason not to just transmit it to him directly. 

So how come the Alliance even bothered trying to set it up as a "trap"?  Shouldn't the fact that Mal didn't suggest the obvious thing of "here, I'll just beam this to you" have tipped them off that he knew Mr. Universe had been compromised?  And if Mr. Universe was supposed to be playing along, shouldn't HE have suggested just beaming it over?

Oh, and how come Mal looked surprised when he got to Universe's lair and found him dead with his equipment smashed up?  If he knew that the Alliance was right there pointing things that go boom at him, shouldn't he have expected that?  From the way he was acting, it seemed like he expected the Alliance blockade but not their presence in Mr. Universe's room, in which case, again, he could have just beamed the data to him.

And how come someone like, say, Jayne (someone smart enough to see obvious solutions but not necessarily subtle enough to detect a trap) didn't just suggest the obvious thing of beaming it to him?

All signs point to Joss (like Lucas before him) completely overlooking the fact that if you can communicate between two points, you can transmit any arbitrary data between those two points you want.

[Viin]

You forget, the report was in 1080p-SuperBit3D which takes a special converter to broadcast across common communications laser frequencies, which are in 1080i2D. Obviously, they couldn't afford one of those doo-hickies on Serenity.

The thing is, you can almost always come up with a "reason", if that helps make it more believable.

What's wrong with just enjoying it for what it is?

[HaemishM]

I'm more inclined to think that Mal knew Universe's pad was a trap, just like with Inara, and so did not transmit the data to the place it would be scooped up and buried, i.e. the Alliance trap. Also, I think the surprise Mal showed when he found Universe's body was probably more that Universe was talking through the Lovebot as opposed to the fact that Unvierse was dead and all his shit was smashed.

I'm glad to know Wash got killed because the actor is well-employed.

[Samwise]

Turning trivial technical problems into epic heroic feats is just one of my pet peeves, is all.  (Another one is taking a very difficult technical problem and trivializing it, like the magical cross-platform computer virus in Independence Day.)

I enjoyed the movie, I'm just noting that toward the end the plot started to tear itself a couple of holes.