Have You Seen….Serenity?

Release Date: September 30, 2005

Director: Joss Whedon

Starring: Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Gina Torres, Sean Maher, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Morena Baccarin

Favorite quote: “Goin’ on a year now I ain’t had nothin’ twixt my nethers weren’t run on batteries!” – Kaylee Frye

I love writing about video games, especially classic video games. Nothing pleases me more than talking about the “good ol’ days” about gaming. I’m talking about the days when the controller had 4 buttons or less. But there is one thing that I love more than video games: good movies!

I have been watching movies since before video games grew an actual pair of balls. I have tons of memories attached to video games; I have tons more attached to movies. I have so many movie memories, in fact, that I get irritated when my friends – including my Digital Crack mates – don’t know what I know about movies.

This series – “Have You Seen…” – grew from one simple, horrible fact: Punisher, my podcast mate and my brother from another mother, never saw Serenity. I didn’t kill him outright because he was not next to me, and because he is my brother from another mother. In that order.

I am aware that nerds like me consider Serenity – and the TV series that spawned the movie, Firefly – to be holy writ. I also kinda realize that people like me are just a bit fanboyish about the movie and the series. So I feel it’s best to chill and explain things. For those people who are not as fanboyish, here’s a quick primer.

Firefly debuted on Fox in 2002. It is a Western-style space drama set in the year 2517 that was directed by a then-unknown Joss Whedon. It followed the exploits of a ragtag group of outlaws who reside in a spaceship named Serenity. They are essentially space pirates who live on the fringes of that era’s society. The ship’s captain, Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), is this universe’s version of Han Solo, except his crewmates aren’t as hairy as Chewbacca.

Firefly was unceremoniously cancelled because Fox seemed unsure about the series and Whedon forced them to decide on the series’ life. Fox blanched, Firefly was cancelled, and my fellow nerds and I have railed against them ever since.

Whedon and Co. did get one last chance to live in the series’ universe: 2005’s eponymous movie Serenity. For those who love space operas, the movie is a geek-cred must-see!

The movie takes place immediately after the events of the last Firefly episode. Humanity has left Earth because of overpopulation and colonized a new solar system. The colonists have formed an alliance named – spoiler alert – the Alliance, and are at war with outer colonies, called Independents – who refuse to join the Alliance.

Enter River Tam (Summer Glau), a psychic that the Alliance has captured and conditioned to be an assassin for their cause. The movie begins with her eventually rescued by her brother, Simon (Sean Maher), and brought aboard the Serenity, whose crew he hired for this rescue. The crew of the Serenity is the same as they were in the TV series: Fillion’s Mal, first mate Zoe Washburne (Gina Torres), pilot Hoban “Wash” Washburne (Alan Tudyk), mercenary Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin), and mechanic Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite). The crew is at odds about the mission to rescue River from the Alliance, but play along because Simon promises them payment…and they are, after all, outlaws in this reality.

River, however, has become a liability to the Alliance. As a psychic, she has potentially scanned the minds of several high-ranking Alliance officers and learned their secrets. Therefore, the Alliance tasks their top agent, known only as The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to retrieve River Tam at all costs.

After rescuing River, the crew continues as before, pulling a heist for a client, only to run afoul of the Reavers, this universe’s version of rabid zombies. They return to their client at the next port to cash in, only for River to be triggered by a commercial and rip through the entire port’s bar before being subdued by her brother Simon. Only then do the movie’s layers really peel off.

(One small note about River Tam’s fight scene at the bar: HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT IS THAT SCENE AWESOME!!! Not only does a 105-pound woman totally HOUSE an entire bar, she gets to crush Adam Baldwin’s nuts! HARD! If that doesn’t satisfy you, you might not be alive. No, seriously, watch!!!)

[arve url=”https://youtu.be/MoMpau_B2Io” autoplay=”no”]

Mal’s contact with Mr. Universe (David Krumholtz) is what uncovers the source of River’s rage at the bar: a subliminal message that triggers a memory of a planet named Miranda. A meeting with former crewmate Inara Serra (Morena Baccarin) leads the crew of the Serenity to the Operative, who tries unsuccessfully to stop them. The Serenity eventually heads to Miranda and manages to unravel a conspiracy involving the Alliance and the cannibalistic Reavers.

From beginning to end, the movie is some of the best Western-pirate spacefaring ever captured on the big screen. Whedon’s ability to handle an ensemble cast shines in this movie, giving every member of Serenity’s crew a personality that does not require knowledge of the Firefly series to grab. Everyone and everything is fully fleshed out, from Simon’s worry for sister River to Mal’s worry for his crew and his ship. Every single frame seems to have meaning in this movie, either to advance the plot or describe the feelings of the people embroiled in it. You will feel for every person here, even the Operative, who is just “trying to do his job.”

Sci-Fi fans who have not seen Serenity absolutely owe it to themselves to see it. Fans of the anime series Outlaw Star will find enough here to please them. And anyone who just loves a great ensemble movie will love this one. Serenity is a movie that a geek like me can recommend to a non-geek and not feel bad for doing it.

NOW WATCH IT, PUNISHER!!!