History Film / Serenity

* ForcedFriendlyFire: During River's BarBrawl, someone pulls a gun with the intent to shoot her. She simply grabs his arm and forces him to aim past her, shooting one of the fighters on her other side.

* ChemicalMessiah: The Alliance wants its populations to be docile and peaceful, so it develops the drug Pax (G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate) and [[spoiler:tests it on the planet Miranda]]. It doesn't go well, so officially, [[spoiler:there never was a colony on Miranda]].

* ApologeticAttacker: River beats up Simon to get to the bridge. Afterward, she explains that she didn't know if he was going to make her sleep, whereupon Simon wryly says, "you could have asked." Simon of course, always forgives his dear little sister. Also [[spoiler:the Operative, who apologizes to Mal for killing all the crew's contacts (including an entire settlement with children and noncombatants), acknowledging that it was an evil deed.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: Two major characters whom the audience know and love die in the movie. [[spoiler:Book and Wash.]] According to the commentary, this is precisely ''why'' those two died, to heighten tension and make that final fight scene, in which [[spoiler:nearly everyone else is hurt]], all the more scary.

-->'''The Operative:''' This is a good death. There is no shame in this.

-->'''Kaylee:''' It's been going on a year now [[ADateWithRosiePalms I ain't had nothin' 'twixt my nethers that weren't run on batteries!]]\\
'''Mal:''' Oh ''god''! '''[[LikeBrotherAndSister I can't know that!]]'''

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Kaylee is getting rather tired of her exclusive relationship with Rosie, which is just one of the reasons she's unhappy Simon (her crush) is leaving the ship.
-->'''Kaylee:''' It's been going on a year now I ain't had nothin' 'twixt my nethers that weren't run on batteries!

* TooMuchInformation: Mal, when Kaylee talks about ADateWithRosiePalms. Jayne disagrees.
-->'''Kaylee''': It’s been on a year now since I had anything twixt my nethers wasn’t run on a battery
-->'''Mal''' :oh God I can’t know that!
-->'''Jayne''': I could stand to hear a little more.

* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:The DisabilityImmunity moment with Mal fending off the Operative's PressurePoint attack was not foreshadowed in any way.]]

** When Simon mistakenly thinks that River might have multiple personalities, he asks if he is speaking to [[ArcWords Miranda]] now. River's reply is a WhatAnIdiot glance at her brother.

* AdaptationalVillainy/AdaptationalHeroism: While not necessarily ''more'' villainous than the show, the Alliance in the film is certainly a different ''kind'' of villain. The film goes out of its way to show that the Alliance is composed of a group of well-meaning bureaucrats who are willing to trample all over individual freedoms and potentially commit atrocities in the name of the greater good. The Alliance in the show doesn't have anything remotely like a benevolent streak, with the nicest of the Alliance officials simply being apathetic jerkasses barely motivated to do anything more than their basic jobs, while most others are corrupt and willing to lie, cheat, and abuse their positions for personal gain. The setting for the show supports this with life under the Alliance being shown to typically be a wide gulf of Haves and Have-nots fostered by robber-barons and powerfully connected kleptocrats.

* AdaptationalVillainy: While not necessarily ''more'' villainous than the show, the Alliance in the film is certainly a different ''kind'' of villain. The film goes out of its way to show that the Alliance is composed of a group of well-meaning bureaucrats who are willing to trample all over individual freedoms and potentially commit atrocities in the name of the greater good. The Alliance in the show doesn't have anything remotely like a benevolent streak, with the nicest of the Alliance officials simply being apathetic jerkasses barely motivated to do anything more than their basic jobs, while most others are corrupt and willing to lie, cheat, and abuse their positions for personal gain. The setting for the show supports this with life under the Alliance being shown to typically be a wide gulf of Haves and Have-nots fostered by robber-barons and powerfully connected kleptocrats.

-->'''Zoe:''' In the time of war, we'd have never left a man stranded.
-->'''Mal:''' Maybe that's why we ''lost''.

Shortly after the end of the series, the crew of the ''Firefly''-class ship ''Serenity'' is still getting into trouble. The presence of River Tam, who escaped from a military BlackSite facility that was turning her into a programmed assassin, has brought the fist of [[TheEmpire The Alliance]] down on her, [[TheGoodCaptain Captain Malcolm Reynolds]], River's brother [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Simon]], [[WrenchWench Kaylee]], [[ActionGirl Zoe]], [[NonActionGuy Wash]], [[TokenEvilTeammate Jayne]], [[BadassPreacher Shepherd Book]], and [[HighClassCallGirl Inara]].

* CrapsaccharineWorld: On the surface, the Alliance is a highly advanced parliamentary democracy. Start digging deeper and you have oppression and abuse perpetrated in the name of [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans making them better]]. From relatively minor atrocities like involuntary surgery and brainwashing on children, all the way up to annihilating entire colonies and covering it up to avoid public censure. We know from the series that the free market reigns, with everything from indebted slaves to corporations withholding vital medicines for a profit to terraforming hackjobs apparently performed by the lowest bidders...

** The Operative informs Mal that his ship has locked onto ''Serenity's'' pulse beacon and will fire with a single command. Mal responds by handing him that pulse beacon. He also preps six decoys for nav sat tracking, ''Serenity'' being signal #7.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Kaylee is getting rather tired of her exclusive relationship with Rosie, which is just one of the reasons she's unhappy Simon is leaving the ship.

* DaydreamSurprise: The outdoor classroom at the beginning is not just a {{Flashback}}, but a hallucination of River's while she's StrappedToAnOperatingTable.

* DerelictGraveyard: Reaver Territory... including the Reaver ships.

* TheDreaded: The Reavers. [[HorrifyingTheHorror They even scare the Operative]].
* DreamIntro: The opening classroom scene is really a dream/memory that River experiences while being "treated" in the Academy.
* DressingAsTheEnemy: In the ActionPrologue, Simon impersonates an Alliance officer to gain entrance to the Academy.

* EmergencyCargoDump: DiscussedTrope. Zoe wonders why Mal refused to let a civilian tag along with them to escape a Reaver attack (Mal subsequently {{Mercy Kill}}ed him), and he says their hovercraft won't carry five. Zoe says they could've dumped the cargo, but Mal says they couldn't afford to fail the job.

** The Operative gets a fantastic one.

'''Director:''' ''[sarcastically]'' Well, unfortunately I forgot to bring a swor--\\

After ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork cancelled partway through its first season]], a massive letter-writing campaign was launched to bring it back. Years later, [[TheMovie a movie]] was released to provide closure to some of the [[AbortedArc unanswered questions]] of the show and accompany the comic series and other ExpandedUniverse materials.

Shortly after the end of the series, the crew of the ''Firefly''-class ship ''Serenity'' is still getting into trouble. The presence of River Tam, who escaped from a miltary BlackSite research facility that was turning her into a programmed assassin, has brought the fist of [[TheEmpire The Alliance]] down on her, [[TheGoodCaptain Captain Malcolm Reynolds]], River's brother [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Simon]], [[WrenchWench Kaylee]], [[ActionGirl Zoe]], [[NonActionGuy Wash]], [[TokenEvilTeammate Jayne]], [[BadassPreacher Shepherd Book]], and [[HighClassCallGirl Inara]].

Shortly after the end of the series, the crew of the ''Firefly''-class ship ''Serenity'' is still getting into trouble. The presence of River Tam, who escaped from a miltary BlackOps research facility that was turning her into a programmed assassin, has brought the fist of [[TheEmpire The Alliance]] down on her, [[TheGoodCaptain Captain Malcolm Reynolds]], River's brother [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Simon]], [[WrenchWench Kaylee]], [[ActionGirl Zoe]], [[NonActionGuy Wash]], [[TokenEvilTeammate Jayne]], [[BadassPreacher Shepherd Book]], and [[HighClassCallGirl Inara]].

Shortly after the end of the series, the crew of the ''Firefly''-class ship ''Serenity'' is still getting into trouble. The presence of government experiment River Tam has brought the fist of [[TheEmpire The Alliance]] down on her, [[TheGoodCaptain Captain Malcolm Reynolds]], River's brother [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Simon]], [[WrenchWench Kaylee]], [[ActionGirl Zoe]], [[NonActionGuy Wash]], [[TokenEvilTeammate Jayne]], [[BadassPreacher Shepherd Book]], and [[HighClassCallGirl Inara]].

** The Fruity Oaty Bar commercial is full of them. Picutre the strangest Japanese TV commercial you've ver seen, then take it up to eleven. And that's before River starts hallucinating.

** The Fruity Oaty Bar commercial is full of them. Picutre the strangest Japanese TV commercial you've ver seen, then take it UpToEleven. And that's before River starts hallucinating.

Shortly after the end of the series, the crew of the ''Firefly''-class ship ''Serenity'' is still getting into trouble. The presence of IllGirl and government experiment River Tam has brought the fist of [[TheEmpire The Alliance]] down on her, [[TheGoodCaptain Captain Malcolm Reynolds]], River's brother [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Simon]], [[WrenchWench Kaylee]], [[ActionGirl Zoe]], [[NonActionGuy Wash]], [[TokenEvilTeammate Jayne]], [[BadassPreacher Shepherd Book]], and [[HighClassCallGirl Inara]].

* IllGirl: River, of course. The experiments performed on her at the Academy, specifically [[spoiler:the knowledge of what the Alliance did on Miranda gleaned through her {{telepathy}}]], have driven her quite insane.