Did the movie do the Characters Justice?

[Beck]

Title is fairly self explanatory. I've heard some complaints from some other firefly fans that Serenity did not do justice to many of the characters. One person complained that Mal's attitude towrds River and Simon had changed too much, that it seemed at the start that he still did not consider them real crew, even though he does in the movie. And that Simon only seemed to care about River and Kaylee.

I personally had no problems with the way the characters interacted. My only beef is that Book and Inara weren't explained very well, but there is only so much character development you can have for 9 characters in 2 hours imo. What does everyone think?

[evo]

more explination behind book... there is a whole story gone in his death... who was he?... why did was he cleared in the alliance cruiser... all could have been explained but didn't

jayne's attitude got to me... we know he didn't like them at all but i think he got too much air time on saying it

inara was a let down... big sigh she is the love interest for mal and yet she isn't in alot of the movie... it was a shame

[aperson]

I had no issues with anything. Or I haven't really thought about it enough...

A lot of people seem to have issues with Book, but the more I think about it, the more I kind of like the mystery that surrounds him... Although I do think it's disappointing for non-firefly fans, because they won't understand who he is and why you are suppose to be sad when he dies...

[Lizzie]

I haven't read them, so I believe that anything like that is explained in the comic books. Can anyone comment on that?

[aperson]

I've only read the first one *punishes self with too much pepsi drinking for being a bad fan* because I've been waiting for the 3 issues together to come out, but I don't think they go into too much. I think Book's past will be explained a little with flashbacks and the sort, but I believe for the most we will be in the dark. Ditto all other issues. Because they were made as they are to make the movie alone better, not Firefly.

[Bre]

I agree with pretty much everything beck said. Yeah Book was explained, which I guess upset me a little and was probably confusing for new viewers, but that means there's a better chance at a sequal. And I was a bit upset that Inara and Mal didn't really get it on like they should have, but again.. sequal. Even if there isn't another movie I guess I wouldn't be too upset with how the characters were. I think they stayed pretty close.

One person complained that Mal's attitude towrds River and Simon had changed too much, that it seemed at the start that he still did not consider them real crew, even though he does in the movie.

Well we don't really know (or do we?) how much time has passed since the last episode of Firefly and the movie. They could have grown close in that time period. And I liked the fact that he was more fond of them then he was in Firefly.

[evo]

i was waiting for a 'mal and inara' make out scene to come and yet it didn't... haha funny if it had

book reealy is strange and yeah i guess know that it has been mentioned it added to his character

[Beck]

Ah no, the complaint was just the opposite. I miswrote that sorry. I meant that Mal didn't see River and Simon as part of his crew at the beginning of the movie, where as he did on Firefly. And Simon's comment that its ok for River to leave the others to die, actually does seem OOC to me, considering they were the ones helping him out. Wasn't a huge issue to me - but some other fans I know weren't happy about it.

They also made it seem that Inara was Mal's ex girlfriend which I did find weird, but I guess unavoidable. It would be way too hard to sum up their relationship in a 2 hour movie lol!

[Beck]

evo said:

i was waiting for a 'mal and inara' make out scene to come and yet it didn't... haha funny if it had

I didn't expect them to hook up. Joss likes to keep people hanging far too much (evil Joss!)

book reealy is strange and yeah i guess know that it has been mentioned it added to his character

I have theories on Book... well speculation that just randomly pops into my head, and very vague... but I really can't be bothered typing it all out again so here are my views
You should all know which ones ar my posts by the signature and avatar that strangely match these ones...

Bernie disagrees with my theory. He thinks that Book was one of those assassins like the black guy after River in the movie, but he realised they were evil or something and left them.

[buffymanic]

Yeh I'd agree with Bernie, I got trhat feeling when I was watching the movie that Book had been an Operative but had sort of reformed, he knew way too much about them not to be.

I loved absolutely everything about the movie, I wsa sad to not learn more about Book but, again there's only so much time. I thought all the revelations about River + the Revers made up for it though

I'm suprised nobody's mentioned anything about Wash's death, I thought a lot of fans would have been upset about that. It was just so brutal and unexpected- but pefect at the same time! if that makes any sense

[Bre]

I'm suprised nobody's mentioned anything about Wash's death, I thought a lot of fans would have been upset about that. It was just so brutal and unexpected- but pefect at the same time! if that makes any sense

Two words: Evil Joss. Joss knows that in order for his films (including btvs and angel) to have a realistic approach, someone (usually a main character) has to die. That's one of the only ways to make the story as realistic as possible. If no one died, how fake would that be?

[buffymanic]

yeh but I thought Book's death was upsetting enough, Wash's came out of the blue! then he almost had everybody killed off! that was such a suspense ride, I'm gonna try + see it again today otherwise I'd have to wait untill mid week, I can't wait that long!

Has anybody seen anything about the worldwide box office sales? I can only find the US ones and they aren't very up to date, the higest I've seen is £14 million but thats only in US! no mention of Australia or Europe at all

[Bre]

then he almost had everybody killed off!

Yeah, let me see.. I think I kept track yesterday. Every member of the crew got stabbed or shot at least once, with the exception of Inara and River. I'm suprised Inara wasn't shot or stabbed or anything.

That's something that kind of pissed me off about the film, Inara was barely noticable. She was pretty much in it the whole time, but she got little air time.

[buffymanic]

Well Inara got beat up by the Operative so she did get injured just not mortally. I think 2hrs just wasn't long enough to give such a large cast appropriate air time, for me the parts that she was in were certainly memorable- she even fights against the Revers with that bow + arrow, which I liked.

Also Simon grew a pair!! he was fighting back just the same as Jayne in the end which was great to see

[Bre]

she even fights against the Revers with that bow + arrow, which I liked.

I didn't notice that. I'll have to watch more closely lol.

Also Simon grew a pair!! he was fighting back just the same as Jayne in the end which was great to see

Yeah, that was great. I loved seeing everyone fight together. Maybe now there won't be so much tension between Jayne and Simon.

[buffymanic]

Yeh Simon definately stepped up and he looked really hot!!! Maybe he was fighting so he could be with Kaylee- + save River of course!

Inara kills the Rever that goes after Zoe just after she's been stabbed + then another that comes from above. There's probably more but I can't remember, there's so much going on in that scene

[Bre]

Yeah, and he looked hot with his shirt off too!!

[Deleted]

How am I only just now finding these threads?

I don't think any of the characters were done an injustice in the movie. The movie was set a fair amount beyond when the last episode of FF happened, so it's natural that the characters would have changed/grown a bit. I didn't see any of those changes as OOC.

I was never bothered by Inara's amount of screen time. As she had chosen to leave the ship and crew it would have been much stranger if everything was suddenly hunky dory when they saw each other again.

About Book--It will always be a little annoying that we don't have the answers--especially now that he's dead. But I think that was part of his character. He was never meant to be completely defined. I have my own opinions, and whether they're wrong or right they get me through well enough.

[Allan]

I think the movie did the characters justice. Mal was darker, however that was Joss's original intent (that said, whether a lighter or darker Mal is better is always up for debate).

I think some of the issues with the characterisation in the movie is that it was also set to appeal to non Firefly viewers. That means that the characters had to be reintroduced, and they couldn't play too heavily on their histories.

[Deleted]

Even though it couldn't be assumed that all viewers would be aware of each character's history, I don't think that the reintroductions insulted the seasoned Firefly fan. I never took any issue with it. They were done in such a way to play off what we'd seen in the show, account for some of the time in between, and bridge that gap between the two types of people in the audience. I disagree that they couldn't play on their histories. It was smart of them not to assume that every audience member would be fully aware of their histories, but no character contradicted who he/she had been on the series and some of the more "obvious" histories were used essentially "as is." When Mal received the call from Inara, I don't remember any of the crew's discussion including a full history of their relationship--because even audience members who hadn't seen the series would be able to pick up on the tension and emotions. I think they did a good job of crossing that audience gap.