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What is browncoat? And what was so great about the spikee, being the lamented leaf he was?

Browncoats are the name for the rebel army from the Firefly/Serenity background, and the term has come to be used for fans of Firefly and Serenity, sort of like Trekker for Star Trek fans. The spikee (lovely adjective) was a much-loved member of the crew for many fans, and per the movie and TV-series background was one of the best independent pilots around. Luck is a finite resource. And really one of the two major elements of this movie is that luck has finally run out for the Serenity.

Also why no kids in movie? No families. Just burning swing-set. Sort of Brave New World sex and relationship-wise -- bunkum for that. "Reapers" or whatever they were called (rippers? reefers?) really dumb. How could they fly ships for being so out-of-grountrol nigh-of-living dead-ish? No personality, no character. Dumb.

There were kids and families in the film, just not in the ship (of course, Simon and River are a family, but that's a little different I suppose). Pay attention to the backgrounds on the world where the robbery occurs, and on Haven; lots of families there. The Reavers are a dramatic construct; remember, this is science fiction!. As for the views pro- and con- on sex in the Firefly universe I refer to another Freep thread currently going on: Bloggers are Browncoats

Also space is B.I.G H..U..G..E. Yet the passage to one planet is blocked by a five acre junkyard of ships. Very non real.

The Reaver fleet was occuplying a bit more than a few acres, but again, dramatic construct is what you have here. Whedon is more a story guy than a science guy (how else can you explain a single star system with 50+ planets and hundreds of moons, all of which can be terraformed and are close enough to the star to not freeze?)

Also 83 pound 17 year old girl is physically incapable -- I mean by plain simple physics of being the super-warrior she is made out to be. Especially as anemic as that one looks. Very non real. This one I very much need to disagree with. I have studied jiu-jitsu, tae-kwondo and karate, and I can promise you that small students regularly kick ass against much larger opponents. The important thing is focus and reaction time, and River was programmed to excel in both. They did a very good thing in picking a dancer (Summer Glau) to play that part - she moves like a well-trained student.

Compared to what? Lightsabers? Phasers? Black powder and flah-bangs have been around a long time - no reason to think they would have forgotten all about them by 2500 AD.

Don't get angry with me. No reason to be - its a movie. One man's entertainment is another man's crap. Me, I still cannot get why anyone liked Napoleon Dynamite..

Napoleon Dynamite

That was a movie?

The spikee (lovely adjective) was a much-loved member of the crew for many fans, and per the movie and TV-series background was one of the best independent pilots around. Luck is a finite resource. And really one of the two major elements of this movie is that luck has finally run out for the Serenity.

That event served the dramatic purpose of making the audience (well, me, and I've heard others say they had the same reaction) believe that, yes, really, any or all of these people might really die. It dispelled the notion that (another spoiler -- highlight to read) killing off Book took care of Joss' need for "willingness to kill of a regular character" cred(end spoiler).

The one thing everyone needs to remember vis a vis River being a super fighter is that she is psychic (suspend disbelief here). Imagine if you were both trained/programmed to be a killer and also knew what your opponents were going to do before they did it. This is the only way you'd get the type of martial arts results seen in all the kung fu movies, and that's usually not part of the story line.

Any word on how it is doing? Well enough to expect a sequel?