Serenity: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''[[Let's Get Dangerous|I aim to misbehave.]]''|'''Captain Malcolm Reynolds'''}}

 

 

 

More details are brought to light about the experiments that were done on River [[Super Soldier|by the government]] and the [[Government Conspiracy|Alliance conspiracy]] that she [[He Knows Too Much|learned by accident]] through her [[Psychic Powers|powers]], [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|driving her insane]]. Pursued by a [[Determinator|ruthless]] and [[Utopia Justifies the Means|devoted]] [[Knight Templar|Government Operative]], the crew seek to solve the mystery surrounding River Tam and the Alliance that has caused them so much misery, and perhaps use it to get out from under the thumb of the Alliance once and for all.

* [[Black Dude Dies First]]: {{spoiler|Shepherd Book}}, if we're talking just about the main cast. Otherwise, we've got whole settlements wiped out before him.

* [[Black Screen of Death]]: During the fight between River Tam and the Reavers.

* [[Blind Idiot Translation]]: Although (according to the DVD) a translator worked hard to get Chinese slang correct, and the actors studied tape recorders, apparently it was still mangled in the pronunciation.

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Jayne Cobb

* [[Book Ends]]: *crunch* "What was that?"

* [[Brain Bleach]]:

'''Mal''': Oh ''god''! I CAN'T KNOW THAT! }}

* [[Break the Cutie]]: In this case, comes conveniently pre-broken. There are [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T2mz4JJzEo&feature=related the R. Tam Sessions], and enough flashbacks to see her being broken.

* [[Close Knit Community]]: Haven

* [[Cold Open]]: The movie opens with a narration that turns out to be a school lesson that turns out to be a hallucination; then River is rescued, which turns out to be security footage being played back, ''then'' we fade into the title sequence and ''Serenity''.

* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: A number of characters are willing to fight dirty.

** Mal shoots not one, not two, but three unarmed men over the course of the two hour film. Take that, Boba Fett.

* [[Cultured Badass]]: The Operative

* [[The Cutie]]: Kaylee and River

{{quote| '''Kaylee:''' We're on a year now, and I ain't had nothin' 'twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries!<br />

'''Mal:''' Oh, ''God!'' I can't know that!<br />

* [[The Dreaded]]: The Reavers.

* [[Driving Into a Truck]]: The Mule escapes the Reavers by driving up the ramp into ''Serenity''.

* [[Drop Pod]]: The Alliance escape pods, and possible others.

* [[Dual-Wielding]]: River {{spoiler|uses a sword and axe taken off the Reavers during the big showdown}}.

[''the Operative pulls out a sword''] }}

* [[Evil Versus Evil]]: The Alliance vs the Reavers.

* [[Fan Nickname]]: The movie has one: the Big Damn Movie.

* [[Fan Service]]: Unsurprisingly large amounts of it, too....

* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Especially Mal. Jayne calls him out on it when he gets fed up, but brings it up himself later.

{{quote| "Shepherd Book always said, 'If you can't do somethin' smart, do somethin' right.'"}}

* [[Humans Are Flawed]]: Joss states in the commentary that the point he wanted to make with this film is that while the [[Seven Deadly Sins]] are bad, they're also inseparable from human nature. This is demonstrated with {{spoiler|Miranda,}} a world where everyone is either dead or completely inhuman.

* [[Humans Are White]]: For a universe which is heavily Asian inspired and merged completely with Chinese culture, ''none'' of the main cast members even have Asian features; Tam is likely a Chinese surname, but Simon and River don't look at all Chinese.

* [[Ill Girl]]: River, of course.

* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: One of [[I Love the Dead|three]] [[Nemean Skinning|things]] the Reavers do to their victims. And if you're very, very lucky, [[Complete Monster|they kill you first]]. Of course, from the [[Mercy Kill]] scene, it's clear they prefer their dinners alive and screaming.

* [[Indy Ploy]]

* [[Insane Equals Violent]]: The Reavers.

* [[Karmic Thief]]: Mal Reynolds and crew take a job which involves stealing a [[Law Enforcement, Inc.|private security payroll]]. It's a job hurting [[The Empire|The Alliance]], so they're [[Jerkass Victim|Jerkass Victims]], but Mal has no intentions of handing out his crew's cut to the poor.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: after the Serenity crew prevent the Operative from tracking them down ''twice'' - he takes it out on every settlement that's harbored Serenity in the past.

* [[The Kirk]]: Mal.

* [[Killed Mid-Sentence]]: {{spoiler|Wash}}

'''Mal:''' ''[aims pistol at Jayne]''<br />

'''Jayne:''' Well, don't shoot me first! }}

* [[Mind Rape]]: Whatever the Academy did to River, she didn't turn out very well.

* [[Misfit Mobilization Moment]]: "No more running. I aim to misbehave."

* [[Pass the Popcorn]]: when Inara calls Mal.

* [[Perfect Pacifist People]]: The Alliance tried to create a world like this artificially, {{spoiler|and ended up creating the [[Always Chaotic Evil|Reavers]].}}

* [[Pow Zap Wham Cam]]: Used when River "scans" the occupants of the trader outpost in [[The Movie]].

* [[The Power of Love]]: The core of Simon and River's relationship. [[Big Brother Instinct|Simon's]] [[I Will Protect Her|love]] for [[The Woobie|River]] is practically the only thing holding her [[Mind Rape|fractured psyche]] together. {{spoiler|As a result, this is [[The Power of Love|the force]] that allows her to [[Mama Bear|pull herself together]] at the end of the film and [[Waif Fu|save]] [[You Shall Not Pass|everyone]].}}

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Mal predominantly wears red clothes while the Operative wears Blue.

* [[Retraux]]: Joss specifically asked for old camera lenses to use to add the "[[The Seventies|70's]] [[Western]]" feel.

* [[Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense]]: Averted. Simon's time on the ship has stripped this element from him, replacing it with [[Darker and Edgier|a tired bitterness behind much of his actions.]]

* [[Sacrificial Lion]]: {{spoiler|Book and Wash}}

* [[School for Scheming]]: The Academy

* [[Science Fiction]]

* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: River occasionally. Possibly Simon. Possibly Kaylee, too, via mechanic talk.

* [[Seven Deadly Sins]]: What the Operative seems to be obsessed with. Given that they think they can "make mankind better", the Alliance's chief sin seems to be [[Pride]].

{{quote| '''River''': "I swallowed a bug."}}

* [[Sword Pointing]]: The Operative does this to Captain Mal when he first draws his sword during their fight in Mr. Universe's complex.

* [[Talkative Loon]]: River

* [[This Is Reality]]: The Operative.

* [[There Are No Therapists]]: Not that there's any out there that could help much in River's case, not the very least because she's a fugitive who the Alliance and the Academy want back very badly.

* [[Thicker Than Water]]: Behold, the Power of Brotherhood.

* [[Tired of Running]]: "I aim to misbehave."

* [[Token Evil Teammate]]: Jayne Cobb. (Or at least more amoral than the rest of them anyway)

* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: The Operative and the Alliance's goal.

* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: Happens to the Operative when he sees the Reaver ships following ''Serenity''.

* [[Waif Prophet]]: River.

* [[Waif Fu]]: River, again. Those poor Reavers.

* [[What a Piece of Junk!]]: Serenity, but [[Berserk Button|never tell Kaylee]].

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Zoe points out that Mal could have saved a man's life simply by dumping the loot from a heist.

* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]: River gets one.

* [[Worth Living For]]: Played for laughs when Simon [[Cannot Spit It Out|spits it out]].