Serenity

On September 30, 2005, Joss Whedon made his feature-film directorial debut with Serenity (2005), the much anticipated follow-up to his cancelled Fox TV series Firefly (2002). Despite a number of positive reviews and a groundswell of fan support, Fox pulled the plug on Firefly after airing only 10 of the original 14 episodes produced. Cast, crew, and fans alike were devastated that a show so beloved could be taken so quickly away from them, and Joss Whedon, the show’s creator and producer, vowed to find it a new home. With the help of Universal executive Mary Parent, Firefly was re-launched three years later as the film Serenity.

Serenity follows the story that Whedon had initially mapped out for Season 2 of the show, but was never able to air because of Fox’s decision to cancel it before its time. Although the storyline was obviously condensed to fit a two-hour film, Whedon’s vision of how the story would unfold remained intact.

Taking place approximately six months after the events of Firefly, Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his crew are still flying and still making their way by finding jobs that keep them on the fringe of civilized society. The differences between the show and the film are few, but one that fans are quick to notice is the absence of two crew members who are no longer on board Serenity: Shepherd Book (Ron Glass) has left to carry on a life preaching to those that need it, while Inara (Morena Baccarin) has left to become an instructor at a companion training house, something she had hinted at doing in the unaired episode “Heart of Gold”.

But unbeknownst to the crew, forces are at work to track down and capture the young and seemingly innocuous River Tam (Summer Glau). An Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor), one of the Alliance’s most lethal assets, has been tasked with finding River and bringing her in. It’s from the Operative that the audience learns River’s importance to the Alliance and what she was put through at their hands. As had been strongly suggested during the show, River is psychic (or in Malcolm Reynold’s words, “A Seer”), and as such has been experimented on by the Alliance in an effort to turn her into a living weapon. But the Alliance fears she may have learned a dangerous secret, one that could bring the Alliance to its knees. But before the Alliance is able to do anything about it, River’s brother, Simon (Sean Maher), orchestrates her escape from an Alliance facility, which shortly leads them to their inevitable convergence with Serenity’s crew.

The film also brings back from the series one of the most frightening and gruesome villains Whedon has created thus far: Reavers. Savages on the edge of space, Reavers serve as ghost stories for some and nightmares for those who encounter them. Zombie-like in both appearance and demeanor, Reavers sail across the ‘verse in scavenged ships looking for victims to, as Zoe (Gina Torres) describes it in the pilot episode of Firefly, “rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we’re very, very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.”

With these elements in place, the film tells the story of the crew’s attempt to prevent the Alliance from capturing Simon and River, while also uncovering the secret that makes River so valuable. Determined to learn the truth, the crew navigates through the heart of Reaver territory to find Miranda, a planet whose past contains an unspeakable evil perpetrated by the Alliance, an evil that the Alliance has gone to great lengths to keep hidden. Armed with these new revelations and with the intent to end this conflict once and for all, Mal and his crew navigate their way through a maze of Alliance and Reaver ships with catastrophic results, including the destruction of Serenity herself. In desperate straits and with little choice, the crew mounts a last stand against a horde of attacking Reavers in order to buy time for Mal to have a final, bloody showdown with the Operative and reveal to the entire ‘verse Miranda’s secret.

But for all the inspired adversaries Whedon included to antagonize the crew, this film (even more so than the preceding series) is the story of River Tam. It is ultimately through River’s story that we understand how her fate and the fate of the crew are tied to what she knows, and precisely how far the Alliance is willing to go to stop her. The connection between River, the Alliance, and the Reavers ties the series and film together in a way that leaves fans with a better understanding of the overall story Whedon set out to tell.

As much as the film serves to tie up some lingering questions left by the series, fans were disappointed when Whedon failed to answer some of the most intriguing mysteries left unexplained during the show’s short run. In more than one instance, mention had been made of Book’s past and more than once it was suggested that despite his current station in life, he wasn’t always a man of the cloth. Ultimately, the film ends with only more speculation on Book’s secret life. In a move suggesting that future sequels may not be coming, Whedon decided to reveal Book’s back-story in the Dark Horse graphic novel A Shepherd’s Tale, released in November 2010.

Another mystery left unanswered by the film is Inara’s illness. Casual watchers of the show may not be aware, but serious fans of Firefly (also known as Browncoats) are probably familiar with the prospective plot detail leaked by Morena Baccarin (the actress who played Inara). Hinted at originally in the series’ pilot, Inara is seen opening a box containing a syringe that she considers using when Reavers appear and the crew fears they will be captured. While many originally thought Inara’s motivation was suicide to escape torture at the hands of the Reavers, it has since been suggested that Inara is actually dying. The cause and severity of her illness are never revealed, but fans hold out hope that this too will eventually be revealed in some format.

As with any tale Whedon tells, death plays an intricate role in moving the story forward and inciting the characters to take action they might otherwise rationally avoid. While many fans were initially heartbroken over the loss of some of their beloved crew members, the finality of their deaths serves the story in more ways than one. But perhaps most importantly, it gives the film more emotional weight to know that the characters operate in actual danger, unlike the danger faced by primary characters in other film franchises. While many enjoy watching Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew battle foes and face no-win scenarios, the audience understands that their lives are too vital to the franchise to lose. Even when Spock’s life was sacrificed in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, it wasn’t long into the next film before he was back on screen with his crew mates. Whedon has the more realistic approach to his storytelling: To bring a believable character to life on the screen, they must deal with pain and loss like everyone else, regardless of whether they are a teenage vampire hunter or the captain of a spaceship. The constant threat of losing a character who is loved by the fans makes watching the space battles and shoot-outs much more intense and emotional.

Despite the tragedy and loss suffered by the crew, Whedon does offer some hope at the end of the film that things may be looking better for the crew. River, no longer burdened by the secret she’s been keeping, appears to have regained a degree of sanity and has found her place within the crew. Serenity is rebuilt and returned to her original glory. Inara decides not to return to the companion training house, but instead stay aboard the ship, subtly hinting that her unresolved feelings for the captain might be a strong motivating factor. And in a moment Browncoats knew was inevitable, Simon and Kaylee (Jewel Staite) finally shared a kiss and consummated a relationship that had been building since the show began.

Shortly after its release, Whedon continued his grassroots approach to marketing by calling on fans to go out and promote the film to people who hadn’t seen it. As incentive, he teased that a possible sequel to Serenity might feature the return of Jubal Early, the antagonist portrayed by Richard Brooks in the Firefly episode “Objects in Space.” But for now, with no sequel on the horizon and Whedon having moved on to The Avengers, fans must be grateful that a show, cancelled after completing only fourteen episodes, made it to the big screen. By creating the demand for this film the Browncoats can truly hold claim that they have done the impossible.