Scene Anatomy 101 09.10.08: Serenity

Posted by George H. Sirois on 09.10.2008

Either my fellow writers were anxious for me to cover this film, or they’re all following Frank Costanza’s method to calm themselves…


ISSUE #183 – 17 TO GO

In the year 2002, Fox gave writer/director Joss Whedon the green light to move ahead with his new baby, a sci-fi series set in a distant future that had a western edge to it. Very much in the style echoing John Carpenter's stories of Snake Plissken, but way more futuristic since Plissken's stories took place only several years from now. This show would take place over 500 years into the future, and like the Star Trek franchise, it would take us as far away from Earth as possible.

While the show – "Firefly" – was not the ratings smash that Fox had hoped for since the creator of the show gave us "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," it did quickly earn a legion of fans that gave the show its automatic cult status. I was never a big watcher of the show, but I was aware of it and made a point to watch a couple episodes years later when they began airing on the Sci-Fi Network. What I saw really amused and entertained me; everything was handled in such a matter-of-fact and sarcastic tone that one would think Han Solo was given a series of his own. (It was also a bittersweet reminder of what the Star Wars prequels were missing; they needed someone who took on the voice of an outsider.)

Anyway, the show was unfortunately cancelled, which broke Whedon's heart. But the fanbase was still going strong and they made themselves known by turning the DVD release of the complete series into a strong seller for Fox. However, instead of Fox following the success that they had with "Family Guy" when that was released on DVD, Universal Pictures stepped in and gave Whedon the opportunity to close the book on the "Firefly" series and – if it would be successful enough – possibly kickstart a new film franchise with the characters on the big screen.

In 2005, this attempt to take this group of smugglers from the television sets to the movie theaters took flight in Joss Whedon's cult sci-fi film…



Now, while I was familiar with the show and enjoyed the episodes I've seen, I cannot in any way claim to be an expert on it. And I know how close fans can hold certain shows to their hearts, so I will not attempt to anger or upset them by getting any details wrong. As soon as I told the Movies Zone writers I was covering Serenity, several veteran writers jumped onboard offering any help I needed. Since I wanted to make this SA 101 column as good as possible, I accepted their offers and they sent me their thoughts on the overall show and the various characters we'll be meeting.

Jeremy Thomas: I have a deep, dark confession to make…I was not an original Browncoat. When Firefly first aired on Fox during its famously sabotaged run, I quite vividly remember reading a preview for it and thinking "Wow, that's interesting, and Joss is behind it? Huh, I'll have to check it out." And then…I never did. Largely, it was because Fox aired it on the doomed spot for television shows of Friday night, and I had other things to do then. I remember catching one episode, "Our Mrs. Reynolds," and being thoroughly intrigued yet confused by it. Then my Fridays became busy again and it passed me by.

It wasn't until the show was released on DVD that I watched it, and became transfixed. Firefly was a show that took Star Trek's original concept, that of a western in space, and made it reality. Featuring Whedon's signature elements—witty dialogue, deep characterizations of realistic and flawed individuals, strong women roles and a powerful mix of humor and drama, the show has an undeniably bizarre concept and yet an ability to hook you in with likable characters.

After years of sterile, neat and orderly science fiction as seen on Star Trek, sci-fi television had become stale, and Firefly kicked that concept right in the teeth with its gritty, dirty western feel. This was no proper French captain or clean-cut crew; the melding of American old west with Eastern sensibilities in a dirty yet beautiful ship was unlike anything we'd seen in a long time.


As an outsider, I feel I was the perfect person to sit down and watch Serenity, mainly because I had such small knowledge about the ins-and-outs of the characters and the backstory. So since Whedon needed to open up his universe and let the un-assimilated in, he had to walk a very fine line and introduce his main characters, his backstory and the Firefly-class ship called the Serenity without being too redundant for his fans. (Believe me, I know when the filmmaker tries too hard to cater to non-fans, having seen various sequels or television adaptations in theaters.)

Thankfully, Whedon is talented enough to know how to walk that fine line and so he gives non-fans a very brief but useful chunk of exposition right at the beginning in the form of a class of children being lectured by their teacher. We get the quick run-down of what the Alliance is, how it came to be, and we even get a less-than-flattering opinion of it to show that all is not well between humanity and the Alliance.

After that, we get a quick burst of action as Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Mayer) rescues his sister River (Summer Glau) from a group of scientists who were busy studying her psychic abilities. And with Alliance members in hot pursuit, Simon and River find sanctuary onboard the Serenity. From there, we get the title of the film and a glorious shot of the Serenity, which suddenly begins undergoing some technical malfunctions.

As the ship starts to shake, we go inside the cockpit and meet Hoban "Wash" Washburne (Alan Tudyk), the pilot of the ship, and Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds (Nathan Fillion).


Jeremy Thomas: As introduced in this early scene of the movie, Malcolm Reynolds is the man in charge of Serenity… well, as much as anyone is in charge of it. Malcolm has always been a man who's consistently just a little bit in over his head, trying to keep the ship and his crew afloat. As we see here, where he's preparing for a big heist, there are a dozen things or more that are ready to go wrong at a moment's notice—personality conflicts, keeping Jayne in check, the minor fact that they might crash-land—but Mal makes his way through with the same sort of confidence that he always carries, more or less sure that in the end, everything's going to work out. Of course, it won't, but he doesn't know that yet. Malcolm displays an incredible trust in his crew—more to the point, his family—to handle what needs to be handled while he juggles the big picture. He can very much be looked at as the father of this little family, and the majority of the crew treats him as such, dynamics you can easily see throughout.

Where Malcolm is the father of the Serenity family, Wash is like that fun-loving uncle who never quite grew up, but always has a little common sense to inject into things. When we see him here in the opening sequence, he's in a bit of a crisis—primary buffer panel having fallen off and all. So he's a little distracted by the need to keep his ship from falling right out of the sky. Even so, you can see the man's nature as the goofy, nervous guy who gets some of the best jokes in his brief exchange with Mal.


Instead of having them be introduced in a more traditional manner, like a door opening and Captain Reynolds walking into a room, we see both characters frantic over Wash's attempt to regain control over the ship. And in a very wise move, Whedon makes sure to get the audience acquainted with the style of humor that the characters have.

MAL: What was that?

WASH: Did you see that?

Mal walks over to Wash's monitor and points at it.

MAL: Was that the primary buffer panel?

WASH: It seems that…

MAL: Did the primary buffer panel just fall of my ship for no apparent reason?

WASH: Looks like.

Just by this exchange, we can see that these two characters are very familiar with each other and have a very relaxed form of conversation, no matter how extreme the danger to their lives may be.

MAL: I thought Kaylee just checked the entry couplings.

WASH: I've a clear memory of it. If she doesn't get us extra flow from the engine room to offset the burn-through, this landing is going to get pretty interesting.

MAL: Define interesting.

The only way Wash can define the word in this situation is by saying in a very mater-of-fact tone of voice what everyone would be saying if they saw the ground getting closer and closer to their faces at hundreds of miles per hour.

WASH: "Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die?"

Mal grabs the radio in the cockpit and sends the "good news" to his crew. Once again, we see that Mal is the type of person who doesn't appear to take a single thing seriously. Not even imminent death.

MAL: This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then… explode.

Mal puts down the radio and prepares to make his way through his ship to make sure his crew is prepared for their mission.

MAL: Can you shave the vector?

WASH: I'm doing that. It's not enough.

MAL: Then just get us on the ground.

WASH: That part'll happen pretty definitely.

Mal walks out of the cockpit and makes his way through the ship. One of the crewmen, Jayne (Adam Baldwin), walks out into the hallway.


Jeremy Thomas: Jayne's brief intro establishes him in the role Firefly fans love him as…the rough-and-tumble, gun-happy older brother of the ship. When we first meet him in Serenity, he's got an immediate adversarial position with Mal, sardonically pointing out the fact that Mal's plans never quite work out. This is something we'll see throughout the movie, as Jayne is the man who points things out and asks the questions that no one else wants to. He's the macho bruiser of the crew, always looking for a fight and very capable in one.


JAYNE: We're gonna explode? I don't want to explode.

Mal stops and looks at Jayne up and down. He has various weapons hanging off his shoulders, and this catches Mal's attention.

MAL: Jayne, how many weapons you plan on taking? You only have two arms!

JAYNE: I just get excitable as to choice. I like to have my options open.

MAL: I don't plan on having any shooting taking place during this job.

JAYNE: Well, what you plan and what takes place ain't ever exactly been similar.

This is the classic example of showing, not telling, when it comes to introducing traits of various characters. Someone could have mentioned Jayne as being the weapons specialist of the group, but instead, we get to see just how much of a fan of various firepower as soon as he walks into the frame.

Mal points an authoritative finger at Jayne, then turns and walks back down the hallway.

MAL: No grenades.

JAYNE: Awwww.

Mal yells out his order one more time as he walks away.

MAL: No grenades!

Now we see another crew member, Zoe Washburne (Gina Torres), who is only somewhat worried. In her eyes, everything that's going on is old news.


Jeremy Thomas: If Mal is the father and Wash is the uncle, Zoe is most definitely the mother of the crew. A long-time war friend of Mal's, she's confident, cool under pressure, and unshakable in her loyalty to Malcolm and her love for her husband, Wash. In her brief presence in this opening scene, we see how, despite the shaky descent of Serenity, she's going about her job, trusting in her captain and her husband to get them safely where they need to go.


ZOE: Are we crashing again?

Mal points towards the cockpit.

MAL: Talk to your husband. Mule prepped?

ZOE: Good to go, sir. Just loading her up.

Another quick reference that's useful for non-fans. We wouldn't know that Zoe is the wife of Wash without that little throwaway line. Remember, while the crew is trying to land their ship without it falling apart on them, Whedon is trying to acquaint non-fans with the world he had created and the characters that inhabit it.

Mal continues to walk down the hallway, looking for his mechanic Kaylee. Every several seconds, the ship shakes and almost knocks Mal off his feet.

MAL: Kaylee? Kaylee what in the sphincter of hell are you playing at? We got the primary buffer panel coming right off!

A young girl – Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite) – pokes her head into view. She's hard at work trying to keep the instruments in the engine room from blowing up, and yet she's still doing her best to put Mal's mind at ease.


Jeremy Thomas: When Mal gets to the engine room of the ship, we meet the heart of the ship and of the crew. Our first image of Kaylee is perfect for her, smiling brightly while smudged and running around the engine room, both assuring Mal that everything's fine while pointing out that she warned him about the buffer panel six months ago. Kaylee is the teenage daughter of the Serenity family, wholesome and sweet, and you can't help but love her. She is very much the soul of the ship; if she believes something to be the case, it's true. And here, even though she's surrounded by shooting sparks and things look bad for the crew's chances of making it out, she's supremely confident in what she's doing, and as Mal tells her "If she crashes, you crashed it," you can tell that it's not going to happen, because she's on the job.


KAYLEE: Everything's shiny, Captain. Not to fret.

Kaylee turns her back on Mal to check her systems.

MAL: You told me those entry couplings would hold for another week.

KAYLEE: That was six months ago, Captain.

Mal is dumbfounded, but the only thing he can do is send out an idle threat. He points an accusing finger at Kaylee.

MAL: My ship don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!

As Mal turns away from Kaylee, he almost runs right into Dr. Simon Tam, one of the few characters we're already familiar with. However, we don't know what his position is on the ship; we only know him through the rescue of his sister from the earlier sequence.


Jeremy Thomas: Simon and his sister are the two parts of the crew who aren't yet family at the beginning of the movie; they're like the houseguests, and we immediately see the tension between Simon and Mal. Simon is, unlike the rest of the crew, very clean and proper, and as we immediately see his life is defined by the needs of his sister. There are not many people on Serenity that would get in Mal's face like Simon does—even Jayne doesn't do it until much later in the movie. But in order to make sure his sister is safe, there's little that Simon wouldn't do (as we saw in the very first scene), and standing up to Malcolm certainly isn't off-limits. He doesn't trust Mal, because Mal isn't part of his family and he isn't part of Mal's—he comments that Mal's guiding star is simply "what's of use" to him. Both men have had to make sacrifices to protect what they care about, and in doing so, it's left them not quite able to trust each other yet. Simon does his job, and ultimately in this scene he bows to Mal's decision, but even in that, he's doing it only because it's the best way to protect his sister. At this point in the movie, it seems that's all that's important to him—his own family, not Serenity's.


MAL: Doctor, guess who needs to get inoc'd before we hit planet-side.

Once again, the ship starts to shake as Simon keeps his gaze locked on Mal.

MAL: Bit of a rockety ride, nothing to get worried about.

Simon responds with a very deadpanned tone.

SIMON: I'm not worried.

Mal nods. Apparently he can't figure out Simon. Not yet, anyway.

MAL: Fear's nothing to be ashamed of, Doctor.

SIMON: This isn't fear. This is anger.

Mal shrugs his shoulders.

MAL: Well, kinda hard to tell one from the other, face like yours.

SIMON: Well, I'd imagine if it were fear, my eyes would be wider.

MAL: I'll keep a lookout for that next time.

Simon immediately shifts the subject, and even though this is the first time non-fans have seen them have a conversation, we know who they are talking about based on the previous sequence.

SIMON: You're not taking her.

MAL: No. No! This is not something I'm interested in talking about.

Mal walks away from Simon, but Simon follows him, continuing the conversation.

Here's another great move that Whedon did in this sequence. The Serenity is just as much of a character in the film as any member of the crew, so it's not enough that non-fans get acquainted with the characters; they have to get acquainted with the ship too. So instead of having this conversation in an office or just standing still in the hallway, we're seeing both Mal trying to get away from Simon and a helpful tour of the ship at the same time.

SIMON: She's not going with you, and that's final!

Mal turns back towards Simon and drops his aloof manner, becoming – at least for a moment – more authoritative. You know, like a captain.

MAL: I hear the words "that's final" coming out of your mouth again, they truly will be.

Mal then turns back around and walks away.

MAL: This boat is my home. You all are my guests on it.

Simon, of course, walks after him.

SIMON: Guests? I earned my passage, Captain.

MAL: And it's time for your little sister to learn from your fine example.

SIMON: I have earned my passage! Treating bullet holes, knife wounds, laser burns…

MAL: Some of our jobs are more interesting than others.

Once again, we are reminded of Simon's status on the ship and what he has been doing since he has been there. Yes, he's been called "Doctor" and yes, the two men are making their way to Simon's office so he can properly inoculate Mal for the mission, but it's a nice bit of weaving in exposition and none of it feels forced.

SIMON: You want to put my sister in the middle of that.

MAL: Didn't say "want." Said "will." One job, Doc. She'll be fine.

SIMON: She's a 17-year-old girl. A mentally traumatized 17…

MAL: She's a Reader. Sees into the truth of things. Might see trouble before it's coming, which is of use to me.

Another nugget of info for the non-fan. By just saying, "She's a Reader," only fans would be completely onboard with what's going on in the conversation. By adding the extra couple lines, everyone is onboard.

SIMON: And that's your guiding star, isn't it? What's of use?

MAL: Honestly, Doctor, I think we may really crash this time anyway.

Simon makes sure Mal is properly inoculated, and Mal starts walking out of the office.

SIMON: Do you understand what I've gone through to keep River away from the Alliance?

MAL: I do. It's a fact that we've been courteous enough to keep to our own selves.

That one line has Simon worried and more than a little angry at what that meant.

SIMON: Are you threatening…?

Mal turns back around to face Simon and gives the biggest chunk of dialogue in the whole scene. This is the closest thing to exposition that we're going to hear from a character like Mal, someone who prefers to keep his cards close to his vest and handle any situation with a flippant attitude. He's not someone who seems to let a lot of things get to him. At least, that's what I've picked up from him so far in this scene, which is the only scene that non-fans (like myself) have to go by.

MAL: I look out for ME and MINE. That don't include you unless I conjure it does. Now you stuck a thorn in the Alliance's paw. That tickles me a bit. But that also means that I gotta step twice as fast to avoid them, and that means turning down plenty of jobs. Even honest ones. I put this crew together with the promise of work, which the Alliance makes harder every year. Come a day, there won't be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all. This job goes south, there may well not be another. So here's us, on the raggedy edge. Don't push me, and I won't push you.

The conversation is now over, and Mal calls out to Zoe who is preparing for the mission.

MAL: Zoe, the boss gonna straighten this boat out before we get flattened?

ZOE: Like a downy feather, sir. No one flies like my mister.

Simon walks over to his cot, where his sister River is lying down. She's not sleeping; her eyes are open and she has a faraway look on her face, keeping up with everyone else regarding the situation.


Jeremy Thomas: And then, we see River. Of all the people on the ship, River is the person we know the least about initially, and that's exactly how it's intended. As Simon climbs the stars and walks over to her, we see her laying on one of the catwalks, bare feet and in a dark dress; she's clearly a different sort of creature altogether. We know she's a psychic and trained for combat from the scene before this, and that she's got some sort of secret locked in her brain. What that secret is will shape the rest of the movie. For now however, we simply see River, smiling just a little as Simon comes up to her and cutting him off to tell him that she already knows what's about to happen, though she only explains it as "we're going for a ride." It's a nod to her child-like nature and her Cassandra-like status as a prophet driven somewhat mad by her gift. Joss Whedon has called Serenity "story of Mal as told by River," so it's very appropriate that they bookend the introduction to the cast.


SIMON: River?

RIVER: I know. We're going for a ride.

You know what's really great about this scene? It's all one long tracking shot. No cuts. We're literally the fly on the wall during this entire sequence, getting to know the characters, the situations, the backstory and the ship. And it's handled beautifully. Michael Bay would sit there with his trigger in his hand, wondering why there wasn't a cut after 3.4 seconds, but thankfully he's not the director here.

After an opening like this, whatever the movie's story would wind up being, I was looking forward to it since I knew I had a great crew that was going to make sure the ride was going to be as entertaining as possible. And in my opinion, I was right. Serenity wound up being such a good film that I now feel the need to get the original series on the Netflix queue so I can be as involved in the show as my fellow 411Mania writers are.

Thanks to Jeremy Thomas for his contributions. They definitely helped add a little something special to this week's column.

Next week, the countdown to 200 and to the end of an era continues. We'll be breaking down our ABC's and we'll also find out about attention, interest, decision and action.

Until then, Class Dismissed!


-- George H. Sirois