I'm a Whedon fan, of course, but I missed the Firefly boat the first time around. Since the movie was coming out, Jenny and I zipped our way through the series and finally saw the film. Whoo. I have a few thoughts, but they're below the fold because they're spoiler-tastic.

For those of you who'd rather not venture there, I'll offer the first of my thoughts about the film here:

1. Reavers = space zombies. We all know zombies are cool. But how can you have zombies in space? They're sort of like 28 Days Later fellas, only able to fly spaceships. They have an unquenchable blood rage and they do things like eat people and defile bodies. Very zombie-like. I dub them zombies. From space.

2. Proof positive of Stephen Johnson's suggestion that longer media allows for more complex narratives. In Everything Bad is Good For You, S.J. suggests that recent TV has been able to weave more complex narratives that stimulate us to "lean forward" and engage. He says that part of the reason these texts do so is because they can build larger, more complex stories than a 2 hour film can hold.
   
   Serenity's two layers demonstrate this idea beautifully. While the film probably carries a normal level of interesting hullaballo, the TV viewers will have a more nuanced idea that: a) the doctor and Mel know each other fairly well; b) Jane isn't quite the ass he appears to be; c) Wash and Zoe's relationship demonstrated the possibilities of love in the 'verse.
   
   Hence, the death of Wash, while not unreasonable for an action film, was heartbreaking for people who know the show.
3. The fine art of balanced narrative. Whedon did a great job building a narrative that newbies could follow without re-shooting huge swaths of the series. The only major concession was the stilted dialogue between Mel and the Doc in the first few minutes.
4. Shepard Book got the short end of the stick.
5. Whedonities: robot lover (ala Buffy's three doofuses); kickass girl troubled by otherworldly powers (ala Buffy); crew of renegade space pirates who're much more empathetic than we'd expect (ala Alien Resurrection)