(originally posted here∞)

Awesome movie, no doubt. Thoughts:

* I thought for sure Jubal Early was too important of a character/device to not return, and when the Operative came onscreen I felt sure he was it -- down to the mannerisms. But he wasn't. I surmised Joss split them when he couldn't get Richard Brooks back, since all other characters were played by their original actors. Any idea? The actor for the Operative was great, but Brooks was goddern magnificent.

* Based on the utter insistence of fans that no spoilers be leaked, and the linked review of Orson Scott Card, I was expecting a bigger plot twist. Not on the level of Usual Suspects / 6th Sense / Fight Club, perhaps, but at least similar to Ender's Game. When it became clear that the scenes after the Miranda broadcast were denouement, I thought is that it? The uber big secret is that the Alliance is run by evil politicians who are willing to experiment on people? We already knew that...the only difference between Miranda and River's "Academy" was scale, and the filming certainly didn't indicate that scale was important. (No panning across a sea of bodies. Millions of voices didn't cry out in terror, then be silenced.) I can't say I'm truly disappointed, much less claim that a bigger "gotcha" would've made a better movie, but this aspect of the hype changed the experience for me.

* Since nobody's pointed out the obvious: the names River and Reaver sounding similar isn't an accident, nor was the continuation of the camera shots from the final episode. (Focusing on how River bends her way through space uniquely, touching things, walking barefoot.) Reavers' depraved perception of "objects" -- their utter physicality -- is the foil of the movie, just as Jubal's twisted philosophy was on TV.

* I don't agree with the criticisms of Wash and Jayne's characterization. Wash didn't grow much in the movie, true, but he did have an episode almost entirely to himself (vs. Niska), not to mention the continuing lovable-dinosaur motif. If he's so shallow, after all, why weep for him? As for Jayne, he may not be emotionally complex, but the question of loyalty that's raised constantly in the series resurfaces very clearly in the movie. Hello open confrontation with Mal? Comic, yes, but not at all pigeonholed.

* No discussion of awards yet? Nathan Fillion deserves a nomination, who else?

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I heard the target figure for making more was $80 million. Not looking good.

I wonder why Universal execs not only believed in Joss' storytelling but in his marketing tactics? Has any blockbuster ever depended entirely on viral marketing? Would it have killed them to run a TV ad or two?

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[several people point out it got some decent TV coverage the last few days before its release...considering I hadn't actually watched any TV in a long time, I couldn't argue]

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Nobody who didn't watch the show is going to know the significance of the battle of Serenity Valley. From that POV, the name on the ship is the only thing that ties the movie together.

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The preview makes some things from the thread clear:

- The Operative doesn't know the secrets, only that his superiors are pissed about them.

- There are only "dozens" of habitable planets, which is not farfetched at all. Remember that there are 100 billion star systems to choose from in our galaxy, and we've only observed a few of them at the level necessary to discern planetary features. There are "hundreds" of moons, true, but we have nearly 100 in our own tiny solar system.

- The Alliance schoolteacher acknowledges that extreme barbarism does exist on the fringes of their system, though she doesn't use the word Reaver herself.

- Simon doesn't necessarily know River is a hand-to-hand badass, as has been claimed by some critics here. Her "doctor" describes her achievements primarily as a psychic. Gifted physically as well, he mentions, but that's old news to Simon; she was a talented dancer. The hiding move (doing the splits on the ceiling) is probably something he saw her do when they played together in childhood. After all, Simon was able to tell her what to do instantly, so they had to have both known she could do it before she did it.

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Don't be, Vampy. Now that I can analyze the preview in the light of having seen the movie, I realize the exposition is simply perfect. I can't wait to see how the rest of it stands the test of scrutiny when I go back this weekend.

Hey geeks of Ars! How many times have you complained about the stupid shit your family & friends forward into your inbox? You have earned the right to return the favor this once. Spam that trailer link like there's no tomorrow :p

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PAX was a chemical drug, I think piped into the air. 12 years is a plausible time for it to dissipate.

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Well duh, it was compressed all to hell. Based on tests I've seen at other bitrates, On2's VP7 is in the same echelon as MPEG's H.264 and Microsoft's VC-1, so I wouldn't go blaming the codec.

The impressive parts of the Vividas stream, in my opinion:
- the Java host (embedded player) is more robust than native WMV/QT/RM plugins; nobody's reported it crashing their browser yet
- the stream started immediately and never paused for buffering
- the CPU usage was quite low for a next-gen codec

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