I agree...horrible move.

We cannot bring Wash back from the great beyond--but how about adding Christina Hendricks/Saffron as a permanent member of the crew? It would go a long way to restoring Robbo's calm.

Here's my take on why Wash died - if Joss was planning that the followups to Serenity would most likely be movies, there wasn't really anyplace to go with the character. In the series, his long-term plots and arcs were really tied to Zoe - the biggest conflict I saw coming was whether or not they had a baby (and I'm sure they would have.) Everything else with him was little relationship and character bits.

And timing-wise, the baby plot would be hard to make work in a movie or series of movies. It would work much better in a series where you'd have time to play it out over an entire season. So in the movies, Wash would be reduced to relationsip and character bits, which would be the first things to get cut in editing.

Wash's death (like Jenny Calendar's in Buffy) gave the 'Verse a shot of danger and leaves you feeling that no-one is safe. (Incidentally, I've always thought it was a cop-out that Xander survived the Buffy finale. I think his death would have been much more tragic and unexpected than Anya's.)

You know, it bugged me a lot too...but Eric J makes some good points. I thought maybe they were just mad at the actor for being Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball. :)

BTW, the above was really just rationalizations I performed after seeing the move, because I also hated that Wash died, but Joss is G-d, and I believe in a Just and Merciful G-d.

I agree Eric makes some good points.

As to the suggestion of Saffron joining the crew, what are the odds that Zoe, in her berevement, would fall into her arms? That would go a long way to restoring the LMC's calm.

I KNEW that was going to be your objection! It was the first one I had when people began talking about "Will Serenity resurrect Firefly? But I have to agree with Eric J. Wash's death broke my heart, and pissed me off mightily, but that was because it was tragic and sad and I loved the character. I had to admit, while it was unexpected, it was not implausible. It didn't have the contrived, arbitrary feel of say, Tasha Yar's death in ST:TNG. And it did maintain the tension in a way that I don't think could have been done at that point in the movie with a near miss.

God, I'm a nerd.

Damn straight.

Wash's death to me was just the kind of arbitrary tragedy that gave this sci-fi movie the feeling of real life. Wash had just done some amazing flying through an armada of enemy spaceships coming from both sides and he gets killed by a lucky shot while just sitting there presumably safe for the moment. Bad shit happens to good people. Also set up the best scene for me when Mal is talking to Zoe and neither one can actually say what they are really feeling so they talk at it through talking about the ship. Great stuff.

Thank Joss I saw Serenity (finally) last night, or else I'd be out for blood due to your lack of a spoiler warning.

I couldn't frackin' believe they killed Wash so suddenly and -- at least as I initially thought -- gratuitously. I hated that Shepherd Book died, too, but that was not entirely surprising. As much as he was one of my favorite characters in the series, I also saw that his death was required to get Mal to do the "right" thing.

Wash's death, in retrospect, was extremeley effective movie-making; like Spock's death in the Wrath of Khan. From that point on, I couldn't peel my eyes away from the screen. Who's next? If he killed Wash, then nobody was safe from that point forward (and I thought he had killed Simon, too, until the last scene of the movie).

It may detract from future sequels (or series) but made this movie much more captivating.

Yeah, I have to agree with LB Buddy, I should have added that I thought Zoe's reaction(s) to Wash's death proved some of the best acting in the entire movie.

Ummm.... JohnL.... what do you call:

"I like the idea but for one problem that I will stick below the fold for the benefit of anybody who doesn't want spoilage."

if not spoilage?

Having said that, you hit on the nose what I meant when I said that Wash's death maintained tension.

And I knew as soon as River sprang into action that everoyne else, at least, was going to survive.

It's interesting how Joss Whedon managed to write a movie with an ending that felt like not only was it the right ending to this movie, but it was the ending to this movie that every episode of the show was leading up to -- the way the characters reacted in the movie was perrfectly congruent with their development from the very beginning.

Okay, here's the problem - I never understood why Wash had to be gratuitously whacked at the end of Serenity, and I didn't much like it. It had absolutely nothing to do with the plot and didn't lead anywhere. Shepherd Book, I could see, but not Wash.

Eric J is dead on:

Wash's death (like Jenny Calendar's in Buffy) gave the 'Verse a shot of danger and leaves you feeling that no-one is safe.

How do I know he's dead-on? Because Whedon has said as much.

Instead of sitting through the rest of the climax knowing that the folks are going to be ok from the Reaver attack, you're wondering about who else is going to die, and you're awful tense about it.

This is an excellent, underused device. (also seen in the otherwise mediocre remake of Assault on Precinct 13, when the pretty blonde gets it)

Or, in terms maybe even a LLama can understand: it's mildly related to the scourging of the shire, except its place in the story is used for maximum dramatic effct to ratchet up tension before the climax, as well as establish the overall stakes.

er, that should read "if not a spoiler alert?"

Everybody is making great dramatic points here. I guess what really got me about it was that Whedon was breaking the mold - from here on out, even if there were a sequel or the series came magically back to life, it would never be the same. In a way, it almost felt like an admission of defeat, an acceptance that all the bone-headedness and bad luck that had plagued the series had finally won.

Now I may be mistaken in feeling this way, but that's how I felt.

I must be the shallowest movie critic here. I will not linger on plot devices, tension, or anything else. Saffron will fix everything and Robbo, like Jayne, can head to his bunk.

Okay, this Robbo/Saffron meme has got to stop. I've always been a Kayle guy, myself, with Inarra as a strong runner up.

Now I may be mistaken in feeling this way, but that's how I felt.

But at least you felt.

It's a hallmark of Whedon's work. He kills people off. Tough love.

Dude, if you don't want Saffron, I'll take her.

I can't believe I hang with geeks like you guys... Yeah, the pirate took a splinter right through the chest. Zoe is now a free agent, have at it Robbo!

"Ummm.... JohnL.... what do you call:

"I like the idea but for one problem that I will stick below the fold for the benefit of anybody who doesn't want spoilage."

if not spoilage?"

Just so you understand (and luckily it was not spoiled for me) if you are using and RSS feed and go directly to the posts there is no "fold" - you see the whole message...

Ah, this I did not know. I don't use a feed, I do the old school clicky on the bookmarky.

What Steve said. Usually spoiler warnings have a bunch of asterisks and some dead space for links from feed readers (and to protect speed readers).

No harm, no foul here.

And I think I need to rerun the Firefly/Serenity SF Babe poll, having omitted Saffron from the original one.

Oh, yes. Saffron gave the show what it sorely lacked... heck, what too damn many things lack -- a redhead.

A redhead with a certain morally casual attitude.

And a body that would stop a Panzer Division.

A decidedly fake body...

:smirk:

I refuse to entertain such heresy.

I didn't know Jen had green eyes.

Funny, but my eyes really are green. I just call 'em as I see 'em, fellas.