Big Damn Heroes – Joss Whedon’s Firefly
by JimTheFish
When I was a lot younger I used to have a big thing for lovable rogues. This is probably true of most of the geekily inclined of a certain age — Han Solo was big brother we never had, but desperately wanted. But I also loved James Garner in the late reboot of Maverick, as well as the slightly more grounded Richard Carpenter series Smuggler — tales of 18th century swashbuckling derring-do on the Cornish coast.
If Firefly had been around then, I would have been mad for it.
Firefly is by now as famous for its troubled production history as it is for the show itself. It’s become a textbook case of how studio interference can wreck a show, as well as how the climate of US TV drama changed from the 1990s into the 2000s. Shows had to hit the ground running, grabbing an audience almost from the off, or running the risk of not even making it to the sweeps. Look at the first season of shows like Buffy, or Angel, or the X-Files. Would they have stood a chance of being the influential shows they went on to become if they’d been created in such an unforgiving climate?
Not that Firefly is particularly sluggish. I’d say that the 14 episodes we do have are remarkably strong. I’d argue it’s a far stronger set of stories than, say, the first season of Buffy.
To briefly reiterate, Serenity, the pilot, was commissioned but Fox wasn’t crazy about it, their chief criticisms being it’s slow-burning nature, the lack of action and the closed-off nature of Mal’s character. Whedon and Tim Minear were asked to come up with a new one, which they duly did. The Train Job was apparently written over the space of a weekend and I’d say largely successfully addressed those concerns.
It’s probably worth noting that Fox might actually have had a point. Witness @purofilion’s reservations about the pilot. They largely mirror those of the studio. Personally, I prefer The Train Job as an episode but do find the speedy exposition at the beginning a bit perfunctory. I prefer the more capery, action bent and think that this version of Mal’s character works better but the episode works well in conjunction with Serenity, not as a replacement. However, this is exactly what happened, with The Train Job becoming the opening episode of the season and Serenity itself not did not air until after the show was cancelled, the final episode of the original run. It should also be noted that three episodes did not even make it to air in the show’s first run. Nor did it receive a regular slot while it was on air.
But leaving the off-screen traumas aside, within the space of 14 episodes, it created a lasting legacy and enough fan loyalty to ensure that the show got a big-screen outing. As Mal says in the pilot:
We have done the impossible. And that makes us mighty.
Legend has it that the original pitch for Star Trek was Wagon Train to the stars. I never felt that it really fulfilled that brief, its reference points being more military in basis, as well as more philosophical, and all the better for it. But Firefly is very much this pitch. It’s the most literal welding of the SF and Western genres that’s ever been done.
Rather than Trek, Star Wars is probably the most obvious reference point. Mal is clearly modelled on Han Solo and Serenity on the Millennium Falcon, right down to the smuggling hatches and the design of the cockpit. However, I mentioned Maverick at the outset of this blog because I see a definite antecedent of Mal’s character in this series. (For the whippersnappers out there, Brett Maverick was a wily, snappily dressed /gambler conman in the old West who got in and out of scrapes on his wits rather than his gun. There were also his brothers Bart and Beau (played by Roger Moore) but Brett was the main man. Brett was played by James Garner and while the show has all but vanished into the ether by now, you can still get a flavour of it in Garner’s Support Your Local Gunfighter/Sheriff movies.
It’s a real shame that there was just that bit too much distance in time between Firefly and Garner’s prime as he’d have been a great and natural shoo-in for a cameo in the show. What a Shepherd Book he would have made.
Not that there’s anything wrong in the slightest with Ron Glass, who puts in a sterling performance. As does everyone. In the ‘making of’ featurette I posted a few weeks back, one of the things that was clear that the ‘success’ of the show was in no small way down to the chemistry created by the cast. It positively shines out of every line and imbues even the weaker episodes with high rewatchability value.
It’s such a tight cast that it’s hard to single any one performance out. But Nathan Fillion definitely deserves some kudos. I’d seen him as Caleb in Buffy before seeing Firefly and I wasn’t sure that he’d convince in the more heroic role but he absolutely does. The move to lighten up Mal’s character was the correct one as let him play to his strengths as the charming rogue. Similarly, Gina Torres brings a great badass strength to Zoe. To me, both could easily have made the transition to big-screen action roles if the breaks had been with them.
Finally, Summer Glau deserves a mention for the absolute fragility she brings to River. It always struck me that she managed to convey a more realistic sense of the fractured illogic of mental illness far more accurately in many more lauded films/shows (I’m looking at you, Girl Interrupted).
But a special mention also has to go to Serenity itself. I think it’s an often overlooked aspect that SF shows stand or perish by the strength of the craft in the show. Part of the appeal of Who is that the TARDIS, both inside and out, is so memorable. Ditto the Enterprise. When we think of Blake’s 7, we remember the Liberator but seldom the Scorpio. Same with the Millennium Falcon. Same with the Galactica. Serenity too fits the bill. Not only is the slightly chunky, insectoid ‘glowing arse’ (™ @Phaseshift 2015) exterior a memorable design, the decision to create the interior as two continuous sets pays off dividends, creating a sense of reality to the ship. It never feels like a set and you very quickly get a sense of the ship’s layout.
As there are so few episodes, I thought I’d use the same format as the Buffy s1 blog and go briefly through each episode.
SERENITY — A feature-length pilot (that could be divided in two with the River reveal being the cliffhanger). I like this a lot. It has a lot to get through — a whole new world to introduce and nine characters, all with complex back stories. But I think it does so with a great deal of elegance. But by necessity, not a whole lot really happens, which is possibly why it’s considered a bit ‘boring’ and languorous by some. Personally, I think it’s notable for its introduction of the Reavers, which I think is done really well. They’re truly terrifying because we never see them. It’s all down to suggestion and the viewer’s imagination. And it should have, in my opinion, stayed that way.
THE TRAIN JOB — The second pilot and much more of a kinetic, action-packed one. I like this a lot. We see a much lighter version of Mal here. We also get semi-regular villain Adelai Niska — Michael Fairman clearly channeling Larry Olivier in Marathon Man.
BUSHWACKED — This one returns to the darker tones of the pilot. We get more insight into the Reavers as we see the aftermath of one of their attacks. In many ways, it’s a bit of classic SF horror a la Alien. It’s probably the first time we get a clear look at the Alliance. They’re not the enlightened philosopher/explorers of the Star Trek universe but neither are they the ‘space Nazis’ of Star Wars. They’re something in between. Lumbering, bureaucratic, petty. They’re not malicious but their unable to avoid people becoming expendable or callously disregarded under the impersonal weight of their administration. More on this when we get to Serenity, the movie.
SHINDIG — A lighter one again, courtesy of old Buffy regular Jane Espenson. There’s lots to love here. Kayleigh in that dress, Mal and Inara’s verbal sparring, the return of Badger (a role Joss had originally intended to play himself before bottling out at the last minute), the great Larry Drake as Harrow, and, my favourite, Mal’s unnecessary wounding of Atherton at the end of the duel.
SAFE — Another slightly more serious one again, that dwells on another two of the many plot strands of the show — Book’s mysterious past and River’s disjointed mental state and powers. It’s not a bad episode and has lots of great moments — many courtesy of Jayne. And it’s worth it for the whole “big damn heroes” exchange.
OUR MRS REYNOLDS — A personal favourite of mine. It’s one of Joss’s most sparkling scripts from any of his shows. There’s so many great lines here — Book’s ‘special hell’ speech, Zoe’s ‘remember that sex we were planning to have ever again’, Mal’s ‘my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle’. And then there’s also Christina Hendricks as Saffron who I thought a great addition to the Firefly ‘verse. Hendricks has gone on to become the highest paid actress on US TV so we’re unlikely to ever see her in anything Firefly related again but I can’t help but wonder whether Saffron would have ended up being a regular addition to the Serenity crew if the show had continued on its way.
JAYNESTOWN — Another of the lighter episodes and gives Adam Baldwin to stretch his comedy muscles. It’s a great script and it actually serves the important purpose of deepening Jayne’s character, making him a little more than the comedy thug. He’s by no means a thinker but there is some depth to Jayne and there is a slowly evolving albeit twisted moral code there too. I wonder if the show had continued if we would have seen that moral code being put into action.
OUT OF GAS — A pivotal episode and one of the season’s high points. It’s a nice use of the flashback, fragmented narrative (not unlike Angel’s The Shroud of Rahmon) and it fills in some of the gaps in the crew’s backstories. I like that Zoe doesn’t like Wash to begin with — it speaks volumes about the ambivalence and contradictions of their marriage. And notice that many incidental characters are named after famed SF authors (here the original Serenity mechanic being named after Alfred Bester).
ARIEL — Another pivotal one with lots of great moments. We see the creepy blue-handed operatives in action. Jayne’s betrayal is clearly going to have repercussions and see the starkest illustration of Mal’s own moral code.
WAR STORIES — The return of Niska and an examination of Mal and Zoe’s relationship. Gina Torres, to me, owns this episode, being truly badass, although Alan Tudyk, finally getting out the pilot’s chair, is no slouch either. We also get a glimpse of River’s scary-assed powers, something that will be central to Serenity, the movie.
TRASH — The return of Saffron — Yay! And Hendricks is great again, this time cunningly ‘stealing a man’s beard’. It’s also a great caper episode, with some great character moments.
THE MESSAGE — Jonathan ‘Knox’ Woodward does the Whedon triple in a fine episode that lets us see a little more of what the independence war was like. It’s also genuinely moving at the end.
HEART OF GOLD — Probably the weakest of all the episodes, veering dangerously close to recycling the Western cliches without really doing anything new with them. But it has some nice moments and has a nice A-Team vibe to the preparations before the siege.
OBJECTS IN SPACE — Probably the show’s finest episode and an illustration that had it continued, it wouldn’t have been just a caper-of-the-week romp kind of show. Jubal Early is a great villain who we surely would have seen again. Truly, genuinely evil, but not hackneyed with it. It also helps cement River as part of the crew. It’s also one of Joss’s finest hours as a director. Compare the real elegance of his work here with some of the more workmanlike, ‘I’m still learning as a go along’ nature of his early Buffy directorial work.
SERENITY THE MOVIE — As mentioned above, after being royally screwed over, Firefly didn’t even make it to the end of one season. But it became a massive hit on DVD and continuing fan pressure was such that Joss finally managed to get a cinema-release movie out of it.
Now, I know of people who love Serenity but personally I’m not massively keen. It’s a fine romp and by no means a bad way to spend an hour and a half but I think it does pale somewhat compared to the series. Here, in short, are my objections.
MAL — Mal’s character was essentially rebooted again here, I think, with Joss taking the opportunity to return to the darker, more uncompromising figure we see in the pilot. I feel it was a mistake and ‘undid’ all the humanising work that had been done over the course of the show. I also suspect it contributed to the movie’s poor reception. We would have more likely had a Serenity 2, if Fillion had been allowed to do his full Han Solo.
THE REAVERS — As mentioned above, I think the Reavers worked because they were a shadowy, terrifying threat. To bring them into the light like this, while the obvious thing to do, immediately diminishes their power. Similarly, the whole Government conspiracy angle struck me as just too pat, too neat. I far preferred the existential bleakness of men who randomly went mad on the edge of space.
WASH — While if Wash had been killed a la Jenny Calendar in the series, it would have been a really powerful moment, for it happen in the movie just didn’t work. Wash didn’t have that much to do in Serenity and to kill him off in this way seemed to me to just throw the character away. It should have meant more.
RIVER — To repeat, I find the whole Pandora thing a little pat. Summer Glau gets to do some cool badass stuff here but I think the reveal of her story was just a bit ‘meh, just another Government conspiracy’. It’s something Joss seems to keep coming back to (The Initiative, Dollshouse, SHIELD etc) but it’s something I find kinda dull.
It also highlights something that slightly troubles me about Firefly/Serenity in general. There’s an almost Ayn Rand-like condemnation of the Government — any Government, no matter how well-meaning, as something that shouldn’t be allowed to stymie the power and freedom of the individual. I often stop to wonder if Firefly is possibly the most right-wing view of the future that we’re presented with, outside possibly, the Battlestar Galactica reboot.
I suspect that the plot of Serenity was what would have been the s1 finale if it had got that far (or maybe even the s2 or s3 one if a long game had been planned) and that Joss just leaped on the opportunity to get that story told, just in case he never got another chance. However, I would have preferred a more crowd-pleasing caper movie that kept all the Reaver/River stuff on the backburner — maybe an Oceans 11 in space style thing. Something that played to the show’s established strengths and leaving the River/Reaver stuff for a darker ‘Dark Knight’ stylee sequel. It is, I feel, a missed opportunity. Although, as Joss is now a big cheese in Hollywood circles, it’s by no means impossible that we may yet see another Firefly movie, although it’s looking increasingly unlikely.
And this ends the marathon Whedon blog marathon. Please leave your thoughts on anything ‘verse-related below. It’s been mighty fun and thanks for reading.
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@Jimthefish
Thanking you! What a joy to read.
And a great reminder of my favourite elements of this superb little show that was BIG: a big ship with a (TM) ‘glowing arse’ -thanks @PhaseShift; fab characters who made sense & had a role -I think of many cop shows in the States and even, sadly, some in the UK, where characters sit around and tap on computers and look busy without saying very much at all.
I miss the heroes in this programme already: Big Mal & Zoe’s Big Damn Heroes speech which appeared at the end of Safe. Must say, other than the last 15 mins of Safe I wasn’t enamoured. And I did have a problem with the Pilot -probably due to my lack of comprehension as to what was going on! But 15-20 before the end (did they do a Crazy Ivan and did I hear that in Top Gun?) I was back on board. Found The Train Job hard to like -at first. But on 2nd viewing I was captivated. I suppose this is the place to admit I don’t like Westerns? (shit starts falling….) <**> Or ‘didn’t’. Didn’t is better.
I think it was Niska and his ‘brother’ (in-law) who, hanging upside down & merrily being tortured, made my stomach dance unpleasantly. I wasn’t sure I saw the same humour in that which then appeared during War Stories.
Thank Gorram you put the names of the episodes in -I’m as likely to call No.1 “Train Heist” (and it did remind me of Doctor Who and no, it wasn’t a fav -in the Doctor S8, I mean to say) and Shindig, “hoot’n’nanny”!
I loved the middle set -Jaynestown saw, as you say, Baldwin act his ass off and frankly, I saw him almost too one-notey. Had it not been for the straight faced uncompromising fella in Angel, I might have been put off. But he’s devastatingly funny. I recall a bar they visit on Alliance Day and whilst Mal is itching for a fight (as he does every year) Jayne’s feet are up on the table (if you can call them feet -boats are more like it) and he’s drunk- muttering: “what day is it? Month?”
Of course I love how Zoe is so perfectly kick ass here and I remember @CathAnnabel stating something to that effect on the Angel thread -with respect to her ‘incarnation’ as the crazy alien baby of Connor’s and Cordelia’s. Here, she blooms to her full potential. I love that Wash is her husband and in Out of Gas we finally get to meet the beginnings of the characters’ lives on board. Very few shows do this type of flashback well. Some just leave it out. But here and in The West Wing Season 2, it’s superb and I too like Zoe’s repetition of “he makes me uncomfortable” (not the exact words I’m afraid) which happily, and predictably, lead to their marriage. I like how you commented on Zoe’s reception of Mal’s ear. Only Zoe and Simon cope calmly.
I’m enjoying not knowing who or what the Reavers are . Whilst I haven’t as yet seen the film, some spoiler happy colleague gleefully mentioned Wash dies and the Reavers appear. Whether that event happens together or separately, I’ve as yet to determine. A shame we even have to see them at all! Like you, I believe it’s in the mystery, in the not-knowing that makes them all the more terrifying. Once we saw what the Alien was in Alien, it became less exciting, IMO.
Now, Objects in Space…Mmm. at the beginning knowing it was Joss directing and writing I was very happy and continued to be for a lot of it but then it just …..stopped. I’m not sure what I was expecting? That Early is captured or saved? That we move on to a different resolution with River? That Simon and Kaylee have a ‘better understanding’ (I know, @pedant will think “damn shipper”) -because, really, would Simon, in the real world of medical ambitions and ‘breeding’ want a person like Kaylee? I’m not saying he’s thick or unable to see her gorgeous qualities: her intelligence, her innate abilities with machines, her stunning courage and contagious optimism…Yeah, OK, I see I’m blowing this argument out of my own ass – as for those very reasons he’d adore her! ‘Nuff said.
But on the episode, whilst I loved the ‘resolution’ of River ‘being Serenity’ and everyone seemingly believing it, thus exposing their own confusion as to River’s mental capacities and her own awareness of their knowledge, I was looking for some verbal resolution to that and I found it just …..ended. I’m assuming that once I get the film (*) her story will round out. Happily I hope??
*I just called JB Hi-Fi where they have Serenity. They have S1-3 Farscape and the Peacekeeper Wars which I’ll purchase now. Funny though, they have S4 in BluRay only and so I may have to do the BluRay thing -everyone tells me it’s better anyway? Is it? @JimTheFish, what do you think?
Back to OiS: Early was a fabulously put together sociopath. The way he quickly, and with finesse (he’s like Spiderman, but mean!), disarms the main characters -Zoe wouldn’t normally be easy to put down. He has a visual charm (like a lot of sociopaths -and in my job I meet an awful lot of ’em) and a terrific way with words which almost hypnotises the characters and the audience as well. The tight camera angles and the use of light and shade emphasise the ship’s personality -she is as much a character as anyone. I think this is implied when Bester (yes, I know! -my brother is a Sci-fan and recognised the name) is having a ‘fine time’ near the engine with Kaylee, who during a distracted moment, notices the missing part and works out just what Serenity needs to get flying again. So thank gorram for Bester in the end.
The set of Serenity the ship is marvellous and when you think back to Buffy and the Spike/Angel set where Spike first arrives with his nutty bride & her puppies and coffins, this is far superior and looks so incredibly filmic (is that a word?). In fact every episode is ‘turned out’ superbly: Inara is a beautiful woman (notice no teeth whitening!) with glorious costumes and makeup-very different for each episode. The attention to the tea ceremony and how her room/shack/shuttle is outfitted shows talent and commitment and as you said, Jim, each person is interesting and filled out from the get-go. They’re all intriguing enough to be instantly part of this team; this is due to the dynamic of the actors themselves as well as the writing. The fact that Kaylee seems inexperienced with men is undone in Out of Gas and her adoration of the ship which is copied by Mal proves she’s no nut -just an engine lover.
I like how the stereotypes are turned upside down everywhere. I expected Kaylee to be the one grabbing a gun and going for it, but instead she cowers and it’s River who comes to her rescue. I fully expected River to be the one terrified & in the corner. Book too, is a mystery…Ariel was one of my favourites. I liked how this was foreshadowed with “two by two hands of blue”? I enjoyed seeing them re-do a shuttle into an ambulance and listening to them practise how to say various paramedic phrases: and Jayne absolutely having to recall what he’s ‘damn well practised’. Brilliant.
But it was Simon who blew me away -seeing a man dying (due to a registrar’s error and realised by River first) he almost manages to meet ER’s Doctor Mark Green Grading Scheme where Green is 10+. Huge applause right there.
Just who the gorrdamn is Book? Some ex-security agent??
Kindest,
PurForFillion (see what I did there? huh?)
<(*\*)> @Whisht see? My faces are as good as yours, dude!
@purofilion — thanks for the feedback. As I just said on the TV thread, I’d investigate Netflix or some other streaming service before forking out on Blu-Ray etc…
On Objects in Space, as an episode in the show it was just keeping the arc ticking over, not intended to resolve it. I suspect we would have seen Jubal Early again, had the show continued. Indeed, The Operative character in the movie is based on Jubal, I suspect. I’d recommend listening to the commentary on this episode. It’s quite an illuminating one.
I’m afraid you’re just never going to find out about Book’s past now. Although there is a graphic novel that explores it.
I suppose Time Heist could be said to have a Firefly-esque angle. I wasn’t crazy about it either but for the reason that it felt far more like a leftover from Matt’s era. I could have well imagined this story with Amy, Rory and River in tow (it’s a story that cries out for River’s presence). And the Doctor’s speech at the end of the episode seems to me to be pure 11 and not like the Capaldi Doc at all. I also think it didn’t go quite caper-ey enough to work. It needed more funny.
@Jimthefish
Gorram it was good!!
OK, so not that brilliant: but Kaylee got her kiss, River turned into Buffy (to the tenth) and the Reavers were the fault of that nasty group of not-so-nasty people …who just stopped…..
Awful. The Reavers. What would it be like to be in Joss’ brain, I wonder? A worry, I rather think.
I have to say that with my kick ass telly hooked up to not 4 but 8 speakers & dragging up the woofer from downstairs and then hooking it all up ensured a 5 star viewing experience and whilst I don’t normally go for the Star Wars-like carry on -battles, and screamy engine noises, it was truly magnificent.
As for the story, I would have liked more Book and some more funnies -but I can see that this might not have made the film a success in some people’s minds. I did understand why we had a darker Mal -I think he had to draw on something deep and ugly to survive -as did Zoey and I don’t quite understand how River became a ninja, but in the end, I really loved F’fly as whole. If it had turned into a 5 season show what marvels could it have achieved?
I wonder.
Does it beat Buffy? Not quite. But it’s gorram close, that’s for damn sure.
Aye Aye.
@PhaseShift I’ve just popped the first disc of Farscape into the player..
Oh, @JimTheFish haven’t seen the commentary on Serenity yet -that I will leave to just me and my lap top. I have to drag the woofer back down to the bowels of the house
“You know that feeling you get before something big is going down?”
“This experiment that important to you?”
Oh yes siree!
So Geronimooooooo
@purofilion — glad you enjoyed it. As I say, there are lots of people who really do love the movie above the series but I’m just not one of them, I’m afraid. I suspect it’s a lot to do with that Joss clearly used it to find closure for this story and I didn’t really want closure. I wanted to see more of these people. By the time we got to the finale, Buffy had overstayed her welcome slightly and Angel felt that it was just about the right time to go, but Firefly, it just wasn’t time yet.
The commentary is a good one and illuminates a number of issues. Joss does make a good argument for the ‘darker’ Mal here to give me a character arc for the movie — as opposed to just going from ‘hero’ to ‘hero’. You can see the point. Probably the only two Star Trek films that stand up as decent movies in their own right — Wrath of Khan and First Contact — have their central characters on a similar kind of arc of one kind or another.
Yes, indeed, what might have been achieved if Firefly had got a bit longer. I think we would have largely seen the events of the movie as a season (or ultimately series) finale, we would have found out more about Book’s past, we would have found out exactly what Inara was running from, Jayne would have found himself fighting for a cause higher than himself, Saffron would possibly have become permanent crew for a while (or maybe that’s wish fulfilment) and Zoe and Wash would have had a kid (possibly with Wash still dead).
@Jimthefish
Indeed, I assumed that Zoe would be wandering around some terra-formed planet with a pregnant tummy.
btw, I thought “oh the theme for Farscape, this is pretty…oh shit there’s this waa -aa-ing; it’s awful”. Could it be the worst theme in telly history??
Sorry, wrong thread…right yes, Jayne -who was he really? Book? Inara and Mal needed a…something….a little resolution but I was fairly happy. Not sure I feel that way about..eer..Farscape but cripes it’s funny. There’s a burble of laughter every now and then so…that’s good, isn’t it? <*\*>
Footnote and wee celebration at a blog title that is not in ALL CAPS (I thought everyone knew that was shouting).
Anyhoo – The Train Job was written by Whedon and Minear in 48 hours after Fox demanded a new pilot episode (Fox showed the series in a moronic order first time round).
@pedant yes, I noticed from internet searches that Firefly was shown in an odd order -and on another show altogether, Farscape, that seems to be happening too -at least at the mo.
I didn’t know that The Train Job was such a quick ‘write’. And so the initial pilot was then shown at the very end, but before the film was produced? Quite mad but at least the audience (hungry by this stage) was finally given that fulfilling feed.
Still miss F’fly and must do a re-watch in order to remind myself of the best bits -the quirky characters were the greatest part of this series as were their attachment to ‘yokel’ like declamation and the loyalty they had for each other (mostly!).
“I aim to misbehave.”
Lovely (^<>^)
@Jimthefish
finally got around to watching/listening to the commentary of the film, Serenity. Sorry to hear they had a ‘fairly’ limited budget.
I realise that killing off Wash was important -because it did make me feel they’d all be going down. Once Simon and Kaylee are ‘shot’ and Mal looks to be losing to the Operative I could plausibly believe, “OK, it’s one of those films; they’re all kaput” The ‘I’m a leaf on the wind, watch me soar’ was rather black.
It was absolutely fascinating listening to him divulge the secrets of 14 vs 20 inch lenses as well as his DP who absolutely knew what he was doing. The way he lit the various planets, particularly Miranda was fascinating and even the slightly tacky ‘River with bodies of Reavers holding the pose’ had a statement: here’s this 16 year old girl who has won, she’s beaten the demons in her mind and figuratively as well.
I do see that if this was River’s story then it needed to be about this particular odd planet around which the Reavers hover. That being said, though, I agree: the Reavers are better in ones’ imagination although they’re probably the most terrifying monsters I’ve ever encountered and totally nightmarish. I had this sense of broken down faces, stretched mouths -200 times worse than the Humani when the Doctor, Jack and Martha encounter the end of the universe. Tons of editing and River (so Glau’s a dancer and did her own fight scenes: kudos) whirling around meant we couldn’t really pause on an entire Reaver thus allowing a touch of mystery to remain.
The operative’s calm mania was interesting and I don’t recall seeing that particular actor before. He was impressive though he lacked the texture of Early in his vocalising: the score at various points was marvellous; with cadences resolving issues but as the credits rolled it really lacked something powerful, something complete.
I have yet to watch the 8 other extras on the DVD. Excellent. *gleeful*
The Operative was played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a British actor with a quite a few notable roles to his name now, particularly 12 Years a Slave recently. I thought he brought a nice quiet intensity to the role but I agree the barely contained psychosis of Jubal Early was more terrifying.
It’s interesting to wonder if this had indeed roughly mirrored what the s1 arc was going to be, just where the Simon and River would have gone next as characters.
@JimTheFish
“The Operative was played by Chiwetel Ejiofor”
Good heavens yes, 12 Years a Slave. I knew I knew him.
I actually thought it was another actor altogether at the time. Note to self: pay proper attention.