Meggin Watches Serenity

WARNING: For those who haven't seen the TV show Firefly, then Serenity probably won't make much sense.

So in this film version based off of the Firefly series, we actually get to find out the importance of River Tam and who the Reavers actually are. However, we still don't know who Shepherd Book truly is, although there has always been great speculation and countless theories about him in Firefly forums and such.

In Earth's future, the humans overpopulate and leave the planet in search for more planets like Earth. Seeing hardly any, the humans terra-form the surface of planets to make these planets habitable for humans. Then a war breaks out between the Alliance, a strict government of sorts controlling the stars and planets, and the Independents, nicknamed the Browncoats for their well-known attire of brown trenchcoats. The Independents' final battle happens at Serenity, where Mal Reynolds and Zoe Washburne fight for the Independent Army. The Indpendents lose, and Mal and Zoe look for a way to recover from the war. And so Mal finds the Firefly.

The Firefly is a type of spaceship, and when Mal finds a scrappy one for sale, he falls in love with it. He names it Serenity, after the battle the Indpendents lost. Joining him and Zoe are Wash (Zoe's husband and the pilot), Kaylee (mechanic), Jayne (hired muscle, who only cares for the money), Inara (companion, or modern-day courtesan), and some passengers: Simon Tam (a doctor) and his sister River (a strangely gifted and intelligent person who discovered a secret about the Alliance), and Shepherd Book, although he leaves Serenity's company in this film.

Serenity puts on a certain finality to the Firefly series; while the last episode of Firefly could make a good ending to a TV show, there are still some unanswered questions, and Serenity answers most of them.

Upon discovering the truth about the Reavers, an extremely hostile, cannibalistic version of the human race, my jaw literally dropped. Usually only Steven Moffat can make me do that, with his crazily outrageously brilliant Doctor Who ideas, but Joss Whedon certainly takes the cake for this.

Something technical that I've noticed about the ship Serenity is that it's got a certain bluish hue about it on the inside. In Firefly, it was a warm brown with lighter touches of gold, but in Serenity, the corridors look like they have a blue tint to it. It makes the ship seem almost colder, like it's just a ship and not something familiarly connected to everyone inhabiting it like in Firefly. To be frank, it reminds me of the idea of spaceships as merely transports like in Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars (of course, omitting the Millienium Falcon). This also partially takes away the idea that Serenity isn't just a ship, and this idea only briefly shows up when Mal decides to disguise Serenity as a Reaver ship, and everyone's faces went whoosh at his decision. Yeah, exactly like that.

The dining room of Serenity is warm with light brown and gold colours.

Whereas the corridors have a slight change in colour scheme.

As a side note, the Reavers kind of remind me of zombies, except they aren't exactly brain-dead (or undead, as the case may be). Although, I have to be reminded that they can actually pilot spaceships.

Serenity has definitely rekindled my love for Firefly. The movie has certain elements of fun and humour and yet it displays the heavy amounts of impending danger at the same time, as seen in many adventure films. Serenity also tackles some of the troubling concepts our own world is currently facing. It seems that history keeps repeating itself, even in the future.

I'm really sad that Firefly had to go. I guess some people don't know a good thing until it's gone.