Serenity | Canadians First Time Watching | Movie Reaction | Movie Review | Movie Commentary 

I honestly love that the Operative is self aware enough to know he won't be able to live in the world he thinks he's creating because he's a monster.

Met Summer Glau at a ComicCon. She signed my DVD set of "Firefly" and added, "I swallowed a fly." Nice.

Wash was killed (and Book) specifically to get the reaction you both had to his death: You were immediately concerned about all the other characters because now *no one has plot armor* any more and anyone could be next... and it worked.

"Where's Wash?" "He ain't comin'." Gets me every time. 17 years later, still gets me.

Nathan Fillion: "How do Reavers clean their spears? They run them through the wash." Too soon?

"If I start fighting a war, I guarantee you'll see something new." Possibly my favorite line in the movie - leading to us seeing what Mal is like when he starts to fight a war.

The Operative is the type of villian that I absolutely love to watch. Driven, dangerous, confident but you can understand their motives and see how they got to where they are. Not some mustache twirling badguy who's being bad for the sake of it and in fact once the Operative sees the truth, he drops his cause because he's capable of thinking logically.

Fun fact: Chiwetel Ejiofor was about 24 years old when he played the villain of this movie. Absolutely remarkable performance from someone so young.

"Target the Reavers. Target the Reavers! Target everyone! SOMEBODY FIRE!!" Man I just love watching the calm, confident antagonists just lose their cool.

My favourite fact about this movie is River's theme was played on a piano with water damage. That's why it's such a strange, slightly-off key sound, and intended to illustrate that something that's been damaged can still be beautiful.

Sean Maher (Simon) kills me *every* time with that bit when he's apologizing to River near the end. Even just watching a reaction like this, he *still* gets to me. On the commentary, they mention that they had to shoot that a lot of times, because he kept making Summer (River) cry too hard during the takes. SO much emotion in that scene.

That opening long-take through the ship was meant to be a crash course in who's who, what they do and their relationship with each other for people that hadn't watched Firefly. I honestly never get sick of watching this movie.

Mal's first line of dialogue in the movie: "What was that?" Mal's last line of dialogue in the movie: "What was that?"

I love Summer Glau so much. She shines in both Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

According to the commentary, the Operative was difficult to write until he'd written the sword scene. Him speaking kind words to the guy he was killing just made it all click

My girlfriend and I loved this soundtrack so much, parts played during our wedding. 10 years ago this month!!!

The operative was one of my favorite things about this movie. His line delivery and demeanor are just amazing. Movies are always more fun when you can love and hate the villain like this guy.

Shepard Book backstory was told in three comic book flashback stories while he was dying. Hands of blue was finished in a comic book

"I swallowed a bug" is one of my favorite lines from any movie I've seen.

21:36 - There's a take of this scene from the blooper / outtakes reel, with Nathan Fillion improvising his dialogue, and it's the funniest shit I have ever heard in my life. Mal - "Get these bodies together!" Zoe - "We have time for grave diggin'?" Mal - "Zoe, you and Simon are going to rope them together, five or six at a time. I want them laid out on the nose of our ship--" Simon - "Are you insane?" Mal - "Put Book front and center, he's our friend and we should honor him. Kaylee, find that kid who was taking a dirt nap with baby Jesus, we need a hood ornament. Jayne! Try not to steal too much of their shit!" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nPMfEPPSfhQ.html

The opening is genius. Four nested intros before the title sequence. Full exposition download.

I love that opening shot, reintroducing all the characters on board: Mal, Wash, Zoe, Jane, Kalee, Simon, River but just as importantly Serenity.

"I wanna see some reavers." - George Monkey's Paw finger curls. But yeah, Simone shouldn't be surprised at how it played out for some of the characters. She loves Joss Whedon shows, so she should know he has a HUUUUGE fetish for offing main characters in the final seasons.

It was revealed many years later that Universal wanted the actors to sign contracts for two potential sequels. Ron (because of his illness) and Alan (because of other contractual commitments at the time) couldn't do so, which gave added motivation for effectively writing them out of the show. Although Joss did use this need to his best advantage. After all if he was willing to just kill of Wash it meant that none of the crew's survival could be assured. Sadly the movie didn't do well enough in it's theatrical release for a sequel to get green-lighted. I do so like that Zoe got to finally wear the slinky dress that Wash almost certainly bought for her. Although not so much for the circumstances in which she did.

I saw this in theaters without having seen the show and I loved it. Then I found the show and immediately bought the DVDs

One of my favorite moments in anything is when Mal says that eventually they'll come back around to the idea that they can make people better, and then without a word he looks at River and seems to realize that they've already done it. Another fantastic and subtle moment is when the operative says there are a lot of innocent people dying right now and Mal says, more than you know. Because of course, as much as the reavers are monsters they are also in many ways innocent.

Great reaction! I'd forgotten how good this movie was! The reason they didn't (or couldn't) have Firefly in the title, was because this was produced by Universal, which was a rival studio to Firefly's 20th Century Fox at the time. This even meant that the entire Serenity set which had been destroyed by Fox after the series finished, had to be completely rebuilt from scratch for the movie using frozen images from the Firefly DVD set. They did a damn good job!

I saw the movie first and then found out there was a show. I was CRUSHED that the show was canceled after just a few episodes. I also got to meet Summer Glau in person! She's awesome!

When this was shown in the cinemas people freaked out because he really wanted you to feel that they are the underdog and could die. He also wanted you to feel like the characters who have no time to mourn their friends. This movie ripped my heart out. It's not as good as the show but it's a miracle it even exists.

Quick note: shooting someone in the head off of a quick draw is a LOT harder than you would think (or movies and tv show portray). At that speed and range, center of mass is the only sure shot. And if body armor was not involved would likely be lethal.

OMG 12:40 "Summer Soldier" THIS GUY LOL freaking perfect, George!

Summer Glau also does a great job in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

I originally saw Serenity first and didn't even know about the show until I saw the DVD extras. Still, one of my all time favourite TV shows. It ages surprisingly well. I'm happy when anybody discovers this masterpiece of a franchise.

"Oh god, I can't know that." Jeyne: "I could stand to hear a little more" lol I'm with Jeyne.

That long single-take with Mal moving through the ship was actually two takes stitched together. This is because they had to rebuild the Serenity set for the film, and it was built over two sound stages. The break between the two shots comes during the whip-pan as Mal and Simon are going down the stairs. The camera is on Mal, then whip-pans to Simon. The whip-pan hides the cut as they moved from one set to the other. Timewise, the movie takes place about six months after Objects In Space. You can see how River is much more active and accepted by the crew in the beginning. That's cause they all got to know each other better. There's a comic called The Shepherd's Tale which shows that yes, Book was indeed an Operative. Summer Glau is trained in ballet, as well as other forms of dance, so they integrated that ability into her fighting. Go back and watch how she fights - she's basically dancing the whole time.

Serenity had the tone that Joss Whedon wanted for the show particularly with Mal being so grumpy, the more lighthearted feel of the show was the result of notes from focus groups and studio execs want more of a fun Buffyesque show. As a side note there was a graphic novel that kind of filled in what happened between firefly and serenity where they pull another bank job which let them buy the hover mule and pissed off Book which led to him leaving the ship. Serenity is set 6months to a year after the end of firefly.

Whedon killed Wash for the same reason he kills off beloved funny characters in all his projects. It instantly ups the stakes. There's a natural feeling of "our heroes have plot armor" that undercuts the drama. Had Wash not died, we probably wouldnt have been too nervous during the next scenes. With Wash dead it feels like ANYONE could die... maybe everyone.

Wash's death will always be one of my absolute favorite (but depressing) fictional character death's ever. I hate using this phrase, but it actually does subvert expectations in a meaningful way. It's set up to catch you off guard: We already witnessed the "standard" cinematic on-screen death...that being Book. He gets the normal, cinematic, wonderfully-acted dramatic death. And that makes us feel safe. Wash's death, then, is brutal and painful and upsetting...how death REALLY is. No dramatic speech. No uplifting, motivating dialogue. Just sudden shock and he's gone. I hate it. And that's why I love it. But I will NEVER be over it lol.

Summer Glau is a professional dancer, so that's why her choreography is so good

I've rarely seen such a truly heartfelt look of shock and horror as I saw on Simone's face after "I am a leaf on the wind. See how I -". When I saw this in the theater, we figured it was basically a series finale for a Whedon show... and we all knew what happens in series finales for Whedon shows when it comes to major characters. Like you, we honestly thought that the majority of the characters were getting killed so that Mal could finish the quest.

One of my favorite lines ever is River's "I swallowed a bug."

There's a theory that the reason that 0.1% percentage of the population of Miranda went mad and became the Reavers is that they were those with latent psychic ability. Something about the gas woke their talents up, and exposure to all the dying thoughts around them drove them all mad, kept them from sleeping like the others. This is why they can still work together, they're bound by this psychic, empathic bond that means they are still able to cohabit. They recognise who else shares their pain; they only want to share it with everyone else. This is, so the theory goes, why the one crewman in the episode 'Bushwhacked' was spared - he was a latent psychic. The Reavers don't hurt their own. But exposure to them, and the painful deaths of his shipmates at their hands, drove him mad too. It's also possible that the Alliance got the idea of psychic assassins from the fate of Miranda, and River is an 'artificial' Reaver in a sense (hey, her name even sounds like 'reaver'). The surgery and brainwashing on her was an attempt to perfect the process that happened by accident on Miranda, keep her still functional. Perhaps the G-Pax gas used on Miranda made the amygdala too overbearing, resulting in all feelings and impulses being dampened. But with the Reavers, they were so frantic and desperate at all the death around them, they stayed awake; and this is why River's amygdala had to be removed for the process to work, as we find out it was in the episode 'Ariel'. So the Reavers recognise her as one of their own, in a way, and this is why they don't kill her. But because of the brainwashing and artificial process she went through, River doesn't feel the same way towards them. The idea is that had the show gone on for a few seasons, this would all have been expanded on and linked up.

Simone is all like, "I'm good without them, thank you very much..." regarding George wanting to see the reavers, and I'm over here all like, "Oh, my sweet summer child..." LOL

Love this movie, it made me fall in love with Chiwetel as an actor. I really want to see him to play the Doctor at some point, I think he'd be amazing at that. I think this movie was only made possible due to the fan movement calling for it after Firefly ended prematurely. It's definitely the best space opera/western since Star Wars and better than the prequel and sequel trilogies combined.

A reference to a movie you need to watch but not sure if you have yet, for the climactic space scene "And what you fail to realize is my ship is dragging Reavers!" 😈

Now that you’ve reached the end, here’s a fun thing to think about. We had a question pop up in a writing group about two things can be similar, but also be unique. My example was: You have a ship that is a basically a character, which belongs to a roguish smuggler who plays at being heartless but is really an honorable person in his own way. His longtime partner is a tall warrior with a lot of brown hair. They have a hotshot pilot, a spiritual old man, and lovely young woman who is often referred to as an ambassador but is really something quite different, and who has a love-hate thing going on with the captain. There is also an annoying, overly-proper character with a smaller sidekick. The sidekick communicates in a way that makes it hard for most people to understand and holds a secret authoritarian government would go to any lengths to keep hidden. Was this Star Wars, or Firefly? Also, the villain didn’t let them go because he changed his mind. He let them go because his entire existence was devoted to keeping that information secret. With the secret out, there was no longer a threat to the Alliance.

I think Mal's "popped blood vessel eye makeup" was an accident. As I recall, Nathan got some fake blood in his eye, which pooled around his contact. They thought it looked so cool, they left it like that. He also did so many takes of slamming his face into the plexiglass floor in the showdown with the Operative, that his face got legitimately swollen, which they also used.

The opening sequence of this movie is a PhD in how to do opening exposition dumps! Seriously I think it may be the best in cinema history. What I love about is how it keeps jupming through narrative frameworks that give us info and do an amazing job and world, character and story building in one go; it's an exposition dump, no its a classroom, not its a memory, not its a hologram, whoa the whole time we were in a room with this guy, and POW the movie starts and we are up to speed on everything.

I always enjoyed thinking that the Reavers and the film, ‘Event Horizon’ were part of the same universe.

I love this movie, and the series. It is a shame that we did not get to see all this happen over several seasons, but I do appreciate this movie. I love the call back to when Mal and the operative first meet and the operative say "You can't make me angry.", then at the end when the operative shoots Mal in the back and Mal says "I haven't made you angry have I?"

One of the things I remember for the marketing of this movie was that it was leaked (likely on purpose) that one of the main crew would die. When we see Book dying after the Alliance attack, everyone in the theater was thinking that was it, Book was the one. You can imagine the gasps of sure horror when Wash got speared and the mood noticeably shifted as the stakes went from 0 to 100!

One thing I love about this movie and it goes missing alot when the “Parliament guy” says “You’re not a reaver Mal” it is the first time any government official in the show actually admitted reavers were real and IMO it is what convinced Mal to go to the planet in the first place

Please watch the STAR TREK movies! 🙏🖖

My dad and I saw this in the theatre without even knowing about the series... we were a little lost, but I loved it. I finally saw the series a couple years later. : )

So, on Shepherd Book - They did a graphic novel a few years after the movie explaining his backstory. In a nutshell, he was a criminal that joined the Browncoats, becoming a deep cover agent in the Alliance military. He eventually commanded one of the huge warships and sabotaged it tactically during one of the big battles. He got 'retired', but was still looked at as a hero by the Alliance. After being disgusted by all the death on both sides, he found faith and became a shepherd... Another amusing note about the movie itself- the actor who played Simon admitted later to flubbing the scene of him kissing Kaylee a couple of times just so they could do it over again.

Zoe was pregnant when Wash died. It's in the comics. She had a daughter and named her Emma. She, of course, grew up to be a pilot.

Books last moments, reminded of Malone's death in The Untouchables.

They made the movie so that even if you never watched a single episode of Firefly, you still can watch and be immersed and enjoy, and if you watch the show after, that's fine, too, it's all copacetic. Also I think Serenity is the name of their ship, and Firefly is its type of ship it is, since it is kinda insect looking. Wash is my favorite. Depending on the day or the week you ask me, because Kaylee was also my favorite a lot of the time. And sometimes it's Mal. And sometimes it's Zoe. A lot of the times it's River, though. If they killed her too, well, that would've just pissed me off to no end, since they killed off Shepherd and Wash. But I love all the crew, even Jayne.

If you guys want more Firefly, Joss Weadon started a comic series that take place before and after Serenity. They are very fun and shiny. 💙

Re the change in tone: Mal was originally written with more darkness in him. You see it in the pilot episode of Firefly, but Whedon got word from Fox that they wanted the main character to be lighter so Mal had much of his brooding nature removed for the rest of the series. But for the movie, Whedon brought back the Mal he planned from the start.

Sometimes you guys don't pay enough attention to the dialog. In their first visit to the Preacher, he told Mal he should trust the leaf, with his dying words he said almost the same thing. Wash when he is crash landing, I am the leaf watch me soar.

Alan Tudyk (Wash) was doing an appearance at Comic-Con and signed a picture for a fan “I’m a leaf on the wind”. He stated the fan then burst into tears.

There's actually a hidden cut on the stairs in the first Serenity scene.

Wash dying I absolutely hate in that I love the character, but I love for the last part of the story. Because we had Shepard die, and now going into this last stand, he is killed so suddenly, it takes away the "well, they're one of the heroes, they'll be fine"... anyone could get suddenly killed, and there are moments where many heroes nearly are.

Watch the outtakes for this, they're worth it: "You see us fight?" "...No." "TRAAAAAP!"

I remember discovering Firefly 2 years after it originally aired. It was so good! I am mad that they only did 1 season. But The Expense is actually good sci-fi that matches FireFly imo.

"My turn." A good'un this one, a fitting end although I wish the show had been allowed to continue.

"That makes sense. She knows everything, she's intuitive..." She WAS the ship one time.

Absolutely love the Operative as a villain (and Book being a former Operative is a popular theory so good picking up on that) I weirdly love that "I don't murder children/ I do" exchange between Mal and him because that makes him all the more terrifying. He's a smart, capable man who is dedicated to his cause, which is a just one, but has absolutely no limitations on the evil acts he will commit in pursuit of it. You can't even hate him for having the arrogance of thinking he's somehow a "good guy" because he knows he not, and that the better world he wants to bring about has no place for him in it. He was brilliantly acted by Chiwetel Ejiofor and I've loved him in everything I've seen him in since. I also get such a kick out of the Alliance vs Reavers space battle that I re-watch the clip every couple of months just because I love it so much.

Book was a double agent for the brown coats who served as a high ranking officer for the alliance. Despite disclosing intel that saved many lives, he took his fair share as well, hence why he became a shephard after his retirement.

This is a fantastic movie on its own and it is a great love letter to Firefly fans. Regarding Whedon's cancellation, the man made great shows & films that are loved by millions. I hope he makes a comeback someday when sanity returns.

Awesome reaction guys. The Expanse is awesome. Extremely well done in terms of realistic physics. And awesome story and characters.

So I didn’t notice anyone mention it but the helpless man that Mal shoots to show mercy towards the beginning of the film is Dennis from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” ❤

Q: How do Reavers clean their spears? A: They run them through the Wash.

I aim to misbehave I swallowed a bug 🤣

'one take still going' that was actually the start of a second take on a different set as they weren't able to build the whole ship in a single set, so they did a whip pan to blend the end of one take to the start of another at the second set

TV show was owned by 20th century fox and movie was done by universal studios. This is why it’s called serenity not firefly the movie. Also it was meant to be a trilogy but didn’t make enough at the box office to green light the next movie. Did some comic books though

37:38 Because Firefly the TV Series was owned by Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Television at the time, and even though they cancelled the show, they still owned the rights to the name. That is why the film is produced by Universal Studios. Film and TV rights are considered different things. Also, as most people said, Firefly wasn't universally popular, not because it wasn't good, but partly because back before streaming (remember this is 2002-2003 well before RU-vid, smartphones, Facebook, Social Media, etc) Friday nights were considered the "death knell" of a show as most people wouldn't stay home and watch TV on a Friday night, so by putting Firefly on Friday night, it showed that Fox TV had no faith in the show at all. It also didn't help that the series was broadcast out of order. The 2-parter pilot episode wasn't shown first, they broadcast the 2nd episode first, then the pilot was the last episode to air, being the 11 episode at this point. They didn't even air the final 3 episodes because it was cancelled by this point.

I believe the reason it wasnt called Firefly was the name Firefly was owned by the tv studio.

The code phrase Symon saind to Summer "Eto kuram na smekh" is actually in russian. It means something like "It's for the chikens to laugh" and is a set expression, meaning the ridiculousness of someone's speech or action or plan. If someone does or says something stupid, or proposes some stupid plan of action (any action, from politics to refurnishing), people in Russia might say "Eto kuram na smekh".

If you didn't already know, the original story arc was meant to be over something like 5 seasons but it got cancelled early. This movie was the compression of that 5 series into one movie!

Wash's death still pains me to this day, but damn, it was some amazing storytelling. Because it shook things up. You immediately aren't sure if anyone is going to make it because it was so sudden and out of nowhere. Still a damn shame we didn't get five-six seasons of this amazing cast and universe. But with Hollywood destroying IPs left and right these days, maybe that's a blessing.

Love the series and movie, such a great journey with the crew.

The movie is 8 months since they meet Simon and River in the show, Mal says it after the bar incident when he argues with Simon.

River's fight at the end is reminiscent of the big fight scene in the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episode "Anne." Josh Whedon did both shows.

They were hoping to do more movies. Alan Tudyk had other obligations and of course Ron Glass might not be around. That's why they killed them off. But the movie didn't do well enough at the box office so no more movies were made. Alan Tudyk has a show on Peacock you want to check out. It's called Resident Alien. I have been watching it. The first 2 seasons are done and I am waiting for the 3rd to start. It's really good, you should take a look.

"Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale" is a pretty concise (if all too short) look at Shepherd Book's past.

There was a continuation/prequel comic book and a couple of books. One of the first things the comic book did was confirm that Shepherd Book was indeed an Operative like the villain of this film, who picked up a conscience and stole the name of a man he killed, seeking faith and absolution.

The series finale to the Sci Fi Western we all know and love.

What some people missed was that Mal got the idea of impersonating the reavers from the Operative. When they're speaking on the radio, the last thing the operator says before Mal cuts him off is, "...you're not a monster." Mal realized that the Operative would never suspect him of thinking like a reaver so that's not only how Mal and the crew get past the reavers, but are able to use them to spring a complete surprise on the Alliance.

I stumbled across your channel because of this reaction. I really enjoyed it. The recap at the beginning was to get people who never watched Firefly caught up. The Miranda/Reaver storyline was supposed to be at the end of the second season. Wash and Book wouldn't of died. Book's death help Mal to believe in a cause. Wash's death was to show that the odds were overwhelming and anyone could die. There are comic books and graphic novels continuing the story. They were approved by Joss. A Shepard's Tale tells Book's back story. There are also books (Titans Books) that tell stories between Object in Space and the movie. I am reading them now.

The biggest tip off that Book had been an operative, other than the hospital ID clearance scene in the Firefly episode, was the fact that The Operative decided the best way to deal with Book was to blitz attack him, as opposed to the more strategic ways he dealt with the rest of the crew. He knew he couldn't give Book any kind of opening because he was dangerous AF.

I watched Serenity before the show, because the show was never released in germany, but the movie was. Not confusing at all , but the movie works well as a stand alone

I was at a Con shortly after the movie release and this young fellow won a costume contest as an impaled Wash (nailed the clothes). Got a big groan followed by splitting laughter.

I love that Mal the hero shoots no less than 3 unarmed men during the movie.

I'm someone who's never seen the show because I didn't know it exsisted till about a year ago. But this film is one of my top favourites. I can't even count how many times I've watched it! The characters are great and the way they introduce everything at the start means you're never lost. But is also why I didn't even think there was anything before, because it felt complete to me.

"I'm a monster"...When the villain simply doesn't care. Love the reaction.

The outtakes for this film are great

I do love how nobody has time to react to Wash's scene. The whole crush of reavers are rushing down on them, and you have to run! The audiences are ALL left asking, "what the hell was that? WTF! WTF!?!"