Affably Evil: The Operative, who praises his enemies, apologizes for his evil deeds, is perfectly willing to negotiate, and spares and helps the crew once he believes killing them would not serve any useful purpose.
"This is a good death. There is no shame in this."
Air Vent Passageway: Played straight with Mal, played for laughs later with River.
And the Adventure Continues: The truth about the Alliance's actions on Miranda has been transmitted all over the Verse, and the Operative reports that it will weaken the current regime, but likely won't bring it down completely. Meanwhile, the crew of Serenity stays on the run (with River now serving as pilot full-time), with the future of the Verse anything but certain...
Anti-Hero: Jayne Cobb, naturally. Most of the crew qualifies for this as well.
According to the commentary, this is precisely whythose two died, to heighten tension and make that final fight scene, in which nearly everyone else is hurt all the more scary. Well, thanks.
Apocalyptic Log: Given by the female scientist on the planet Miranda.
Apologetic Attacker: 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.
Ascetic Aesthetic: The planet Miranda. To drive it home, everyone there is either dead or went crazy.
Asshole Victim: The Operative's first kill in the movie was a scientist who vivisected and abused children without either their consent or that of their parents, and without the knowledge of the latter, to turn them into human weapons.
Ax Crazy: River, though it turns out she has a reason for it. She absorbed a number of the Alliance's dirtiest secrets, including Miranda. Knowing that your benevolent government was behind the Reavers would be enough to drive anyone crazy, let alone reliving the events leading up to it.
Badass Preacher: Book. He is not going to tell you who or what he was before he was a Shepherd. But they did release a comic, "A Shepherd's Tale," that did just that.
"I want to resolve this like civilized men. I'm not threatening you. I'm unarmed. [Mal shoots him, but he gets back up and jumps Mal] I am, of course, wearing full body armor. I am not a moron."
Mal, Jayne and Zoe share this view. When a bystander is captured, Mal shoots him dead before the Reavers can cut into him, an act later described by Zoe as "a piece of mercy". When Jayne looks like he is going to be captured, he asks Mal to do the same to him.
Cruelly subverted with the Miranda recording, in which the scientist tries to shoot herself after it becomes clear that she is not going to escape the Reavers. She does not do it quickly enough.
"Blind Idiot" Translation: Although (according to the DVD) a translator worked hard to get Chinese slang correct, and the actors studied tape recorders, apparently it was still mangled in the pronunciation.
Chemical Messiah: The Alliance wants its populations to be docile and peaceful, so it develops the drug Pax (G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate) and tests it on the planet Miranda, causing most of the population to lie down and die and the rest to turn into the Reavers.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: Mal suffers a vicious case of it. It's mostly under control at the start of the film, then has a flare-up about half-way after it's been irritated by exposure to the truth about Miranda.
Cold Open: The movie opens with a narration that turns out to be a school lesson that turns out to be a hallucination; then River is rescued, which turns out to be security footage being played back, then we fade into the title sequence and Serenity.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Alliance wears primarily blue and grey to match all their shiny tech. The Browncoats wear, um, brown, red, yellow, and orange, which goes with the Wild West setting. This symbolizes the Alliance's cold modernism versus the Browncoats' heart. The Reavers wear... red. Lots and lots of red. And what isn't red, is, well... skin tone.
Combat Pragmatist: A number of characters are willing to fight dirty.
Mal shoots not one, not two, but three unarmed men over the course of the two hour film. Take that, Boba Fett. This is also the only reason he holds his own against the Operative, who is much more skilled a fighter but doesn't resort to such tricks.
And other characters, like the Operative, who are not morons.
Jayne: Hell, I'll kill a man in a fair fight — or if I think he's going to start a fair fight....
Coming In Hot: Serenity crash-landing after being disabled by an EMP weapon.
Continuity Nod: During Mal's Shirtless Scene, you can see the scar where he got stabbed in "The Train Job," and another from Niska's torture device in "War Stories." Speaking of which, the "Mule II" hovercar is the official replacement for the "Mule" ATV that was destroyed in that episode.
A subtle nod to "Objects in Space":
Simon: Am I talking to Miranda now?
Further, the barrels ejected from Serenity as they escape the Training House look and function just like the pilot's "Crybaby".
The second Reaver ship to appear in the climax is the one from the pilot episode.
Crapsaccharine World: On the surface, the Alliance is a highly advanced democratic civilization. Start digging deeper and you have oppression and abuse perpetrated in the name of making them all Better Worlds. Such abuse includes kidnapping a teenage girl and screwing with her brain to make her into a weapon and a behavioral modification experiment that results in the unintentional extermination of an entire planetary population and the creation of the Reavers.
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 said pulse beacon. He also preps six decoys for nav sat tracking, (Serenity being signal #7).
Inara lighting a flashbomb disguised as an incense stick unbeknownst to Mal or The Operative probably counts.
The Operative might arguably qualify near the end, bringing in the entire fleet just to deal with one ship. Turned out to be extremely useful when Mal brought his own fleet of crazy cannibals as backup.
Cruel Mercy: Mal does this to the Operative near the end.
Mal: Hell, I'm gonna grant your greatest wish. I'm gonna show you a world without sin.
Curb-Stomp Battle: River, completely, totally, utterly obliterating the Reavers by herself.
Not to mention the Bar Brawl earlier, where she kicks the asses of every single person in the bar.
Curse of The Ancients: All the swearing that isn't done in "Mandarin"(-ish) has an Old West feel to it. Gorramit.
Danger Deadpan: Wash is a completely different character when flying the ship: normally he's loud and panicky, but at the helm, he is completely calm and collected, no matter what imminent doom might be following him.
Wash: This landing is gonna get pretty interesting.
Mal: Define "interesting."
Wash:[deadpan] "Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die"?
Determinator: Mal, who does not let little things like swords in his stomach get in the way.
Despair Event Horizon: River's dialogue indicates that she crossed it at some point during her time at the Academy. The Operative crosses when he learns the Alliance made the Reavers. The R. Tam Sessions used to promote the movie sees the entire Break the Cutie process in action. Poor River...
Do Not Adjust Your Set: A rare heroic example when Mr. Universe broadcasts the Miranda file and everyone in the universe finds out the truth about the Alliance and the Reavers.
Double Meaning Title: Serenity is (obviously) the name of the spaceship, but the title also alludes to the Alliance's plan to control the people of the Verse by using drugs to make them naturally peaceful and docile. Historically, the title refers to the Battle of Serenity Valley and more broadly the struggle between "civilisation" (The Alliance) and independence (The, erm, Independents) that forms the undercurrent of the film. Thematically, The Operative, Mal, and River are all looking for peace of mind.
Dramatic Irony: The audience and Mal know what the Reavers are, but The Operative does not, and boy is he in for a surprise...
The Operative: There are a lot of innocent people in the air being killed right now.
Dressing as the Enemy: Mal tries to disguise their ship as Reavers. They painted their spaceships with blood and tied whole corpses to the front. He used his murdered friends as those corpses.
Driving Into A Truck: The Mule escapes the Reavers by driving up the ramp into Serenity.
Epic Tracking Shot: After 10 minutes of schizophrenic, Smash Cut-ridden intro, we get the title card, and then a 4-minute-long Oner that brings us home to the ship and her crew. (Movie Magic Tidbit: the sets for Serenity are divided between top and bottom levels. The cut was disguised with a whip pan on one of the stairwells so that it looks like a single take.)
Escape Pod: Used by the Operative to escape his flagship as it was being destroyed.
The Operative: In older, more...civilized cultures, when a man failed as utterly as you have, he would throw himself upon his sword.
Director: [sarcastically] Well, unfortunately I don't have a—
[the Operative pulls out a sword]
The first scene aboard Serenity is a continuous take which highlights each member of the crew, as Mal walks through the ship and talks to each one of them.
Fake in the Hole: Seen in the deleted scenes, when Mal and Inara escape from the Operative. Mal throws a real, but not armed, grenade, making the Feds near his shuttle dive off for cover... then Mal picks the grenade back up and goes on his way.
Could also count as a Establishing Character Moment for Mal - cunning, pragmatic, frugal, and ultimately preferring the non-violent path.
Fan Nickname: The movie has one: the Big Damn Movie.
Fan of the Past: In a sci-fi western with gunslingers galore, The Operative uses a sword to great effect. Lampshaded by one of his victims post-moterm.
Fanservice: Unsurprisingly large amounts of it, too...
Kaylee: I didn't plan on going out like this. Simon: I never planned anything. I just wanted to keep River safe. Spent so much time on Serenity ignoring anything I wanted for myself. My one regret in all of this... is never being with you. Kaylee: You mean to say... Sex? Simon: ...I mean to say. Kaylee:Hell with this. (cocks her gun) I'm gonna live!
Gone Horribly Right/Gone Horribly Wrong: What happened on Miranda. On the one hand, the drug did work as advertised: people were rendered calm by it, so much so that they neglected their own well-being out of apathy. On the other hand, as with any drug, a small segment of the population proved to have an adverse reaction, creating the hyper-violent Reavers. They also wanted to create an unstoppable psychic spy/assassin in the form of River, and in the process, they got exactly what they wanted - only said psychic spy/assassin turned against them and blew the whole Miranda scandal wide open.
Good Old Fisticuffs: The Operative is a trained and skilled martial artists, Mal just hits things.
Gory Discretion Shot: Sarah Paulson's recording ends with her being attacked by the Reavers. She's moved out of the frame, but the sound leaves no doubt about her fate.
Government Drug Enforcement: The G-23 Paxilon hydrochlorate introduced into the air processors of Miranda, to keep the populace quiet and non-violent. It ended up causing apathy and lethargy so extreme that the majority of people just laid down and died while the remainder were rendered hyper-aggressive and became the Reavers.
Gratuitous Foreign Language: The Mandarin-ish and Cantonese-oid phrases scattered through the dialogue, often as family-friendly swearwords. Doubles as a Bilingual Bonus. As the DVD set shows, they used actual Mandarin phrases, although as mentioned above, the pronunciation is so atrocious that even native speakers will have trouble deciphering them, and some of them are absolutely hilarious in English.
The trigger phrase that Simon uses to put River to sleep after she clears out the bar is Russian, "Это курам насмех", meaning literally "This is hilarious to chickens", an old Russian saying used to denote something ridiculous.
Another Bilingual Bonus for the name of the chemical used on Miranda. Pax is Latin for "Peace".
Groin Attack: When River is triggered in the bar on Beaumonde, in the middle of trashing the place and beating the crap out of everyone within reach, she grabs Jayne's package and squeezes. Hard. Jayne is icing it down in the next scene. This is probably a subtle Brick Joke to an episode of the series when River insulted Jayne by stating that his is a girl's name, to which he angrily replied, "I'll show her good and all I got man parts."
Hand Signals: While the crew is exploring the planet Miranda Zoe takes the point position and uses gestures to guide the movements of the rest of the team.
Mal: Think she'll hold together? Zoe: She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true.
Hate Plague: A small portion of Miranda's population had an extremely violent reaction to the Pax, becoming the first Reavers.
Heel Realization: The Operative upon seeing the evidence of what happened on Miranda.
Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted by River; see the main page for details. Played straight with Simon in what amounts to a lingering Heroic Sacrifice through the entire series and movie when he gives up status and fortune and lives with outlaws, so he can rescue and comfort his sister.
Hidden Depths: You wouldn't count on Mal having reada poem, or River being a death machine. The Alliance didn't expect Simon to be a criminal mastermind.
Shepherd Book knows an awful lot about Operatives for some reason he flatly refuses to elaborate on.
"TRAPPPP!" "I will turn this spaceship around! Do you want to fly? Fuckin' fly! I'll be in my bunk!" "What aren't you doing?" "Crap!" "SUMMER!!!" "Put Book front and center; he's our friend, we should honor him. Kaylee, find that kid who's taking a dirt-nap with Baby Jesus; we need a hood ornament. Jayne, try not to steal too much of their shit!" "Start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a ninety-year-old... man. With man-boobs. Oh, man..."
Humans Are Flawed: Joss states in the commentary that the point he wanted to make with this film is that while the Seven Deadly Sins are bad, they're also inseparable from human nature. This is demonstrated with Miranda, a world where everyone is either dead or completely inhuman.
Humans Are White: For a universe which is heavily Asian inspired and merged completely with Chinese culture, none of the main cast members even have Asian features; Tam is likely a Chinese surname, but Simon and River don't look at all Chinese.
I'm a Humanitarian: One of threethings the Reavers do to their victims. And if you're very, very lucky, they kill you first. From the Mercy Kill scene, it's clear they prefer their dinners alive and screaming.
Instant Expert: River being capable of flying Serenity at the end, though lampshaded in that she's psychic and a genius.
Instant Sedation: Averted when Kaylee is shot with three tranquilizer darts.
Instant-Win Condition: The Operative's mission is to eliminate River Tam before any of the big state secrets she has in her mind can be let out. He's willing to kill huge amounts of people, the protagonists included, to pursue this mission. Once the broadcast of Miranda goes out, that mission is a failure, so he has his men stand down, as the damage is done, and killing Mal and the others is no longer "necessary" to him.
Intro Dump: For viewers who haven't seen Firefly, the intro has explain that Earth has been abandoned and humanity now occupies another star system, the backstory elements of the Alliance/Independents war, River's treatment at the Academy and Simon's rescue, and introduce us to Serenity and seven characters who already know each other. All done in ten minutes with admirable deftness. (Book and Inara are introduced later.)
Ironic Echo: When Mal shows the Miranda recording to the Operative, he forces the latter to eat his words about how he was building "a world without sin" by showing him what such a world would actually look like.
Kick the Dog: After the Serenity crew prevent the Operative from tracking them down twice - he takes it out on every settlement that's harbored Serenity in the past.
Kick the Son of a Bitch: It's safe to say that there was no sympathy for Dr. Mathias when the Operative killed him at the beginning. Likewise, the pilot of the Alliance vessel Mal rather ruthlessly murders had just slaughtered a ton of innocent people.
Inara: We have every reason to be afraid. Jayne: Why? Cause this guy beat up Mal? That ain't so hard. Mal: Whoa! He didn't beat me up. Nobody said that. Inara: Because he's a believer. He's intelligent, methodical, and devout in his belief that killing River is the right thing to do.
Leader Wannabe: Jayne gets disgusted with Mal's leadership and asks to be the leader at one point.
Operative:(stabs Mal) Do you know what your sin is, Mal? Mal: Aw hell, I'm a fan of all seven. (pulls sword back out) But right now, I'm gonna have to go with Wrath.
Make It Look Like a Struggle: Mal has an exchange with a guard early in the film about doing this so it doesn't look like the guard just rolled over and let them take the cash.
Jayne: I won't get eaten! You shoot me if they take me!
Mal:[aims pistol at Jayne]
Jayne: Well, don't shoot me first!
A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Simply being put in a room with Key Members Of Parliament was enough to drive River completely monkey-shit. It is expanded on in the Novelization - she was writing coherent secret messages to Simon right up until that point, upon which they immediately degraded to hash.
Mind Rape: Whatever the Academy did to River, she didn't turn out very well.
Misfit Mobilization Moment: Mal, to his crew after finding the video on Miranda: "No more running. I aim to misbehave."
The Operative: I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin. Mal: So me and mine gotta lay down so you can live in your better world? The Operative: I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there, any more than there is for you. Malcolm, I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.
Simon: River, I'm sorry. River: No... Simon: River, I hate to leave. River: No, you won't! You take care of me, Simon. You've always taken care of me. (stands up and faces the unclosed blast doors) My turn.
Operative: Target the Reavers! Target the Reavers! Target everything!SOMEBODY FIRE!
When Inara meets the Operative. She's very good at reading and controlling body language, so the way her smile fades before he even said anything speaks volumes.
The head scientist gets an understated one when Simon says, "She always did love to dance." He has just enough time to realize that this isn't a government official he's been escorting into Top Secret research areas before he is knocked out by the stun grenade.
Only a Flesh Wound: When Mal gets stabbed during his fight with the Operative, though having Alliance medical care available soon after may make it somewhat less applicable. In all other cases, averted.
Mal: You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say. River: I do. But I like to hear you say it. Mal: Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down, tells you she's hurting before she keels, makes her a home.
"Ah, hell. I'm a fan of all seven... But right now... I'm going to go with WRATH."
Precision F-Strike: "Eight months. Eight months you had her on my boat knowing full well she could go monkeyshit at the wrong word and you never said a thing." It's easy to miss it, but this is a cuss word they couldn't drop on Fox, but could in a Big Damn Movie.
In the movie's novelization by Keith R.A. DeCandido, a version of the scene on Haven where Mal announces his plan to use the corpses of the murdered settlers as part of a disguise for Serenity to cross Reaver space is featured where Mal drops the F-bomb to emphasize his point. Pretty sure the same scene is featured in the early draft of the film's script floating around the 'Net, the version where Wash and Book don't die.
And subverted by Mal in his final fight with The Operative when he pretends to fall victim to this technique. In truth that particular pressure point was rendered invalid from a war wound, and he just played along so he could catch The Operative off-guard.
Rebuilt Set: Serenity looks a tiny bit different from the version seen in the show; most noticeably, the bridge is much smaller and is missing the storage lockers behind Wash's chair.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Mal predominantly wears red clothes while the Operative wears Blue.
Retraux: Joss specifically asked for old camera lenses to use to add the "70'sWestern" feel.
Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: After Mr. Universe sells out Mal, The Operative instead kills him with a sword. How weird is that? Bonus points for getting it right in the middle of asking for his thirty pieces of silver.
Schizo Tech: The just-settled Outer Planets have no infrastructures or industries built yet, and the Alliance considers anything past terraforming a low priority.
This looks to be how the Alliance controlled the outer planets. "Join us and we'll upgrade your tech. Don't and have fun adapting yourself."
Seven Deadly Sins: What the Operative seems to be obsessed with. Given that they think they can "make mankind better", the Alliance's chief sin seems to be Pride.
Mal is also a fan of all seven, but right now he's going with wrath.
Shirtless Scene: Both Mal and Simon get this. Joss Whedon actually apologizes in the commentary for shooting shirtless!Mal at such a close angle and not allowing a full look at his physique.
Shoot the Rope: Mal needs several shots to sever the mini-harpoon from Jayne's leg. While he's hanging from the back of Mule II at full tilt.
Shrouded in Myth: Reavers, at least until their origin is revealed.
Inara, amongst the other Companions. Rumor has it, she had a torrid affair with a pirate.
Someone to Remember Him By: At the end of Serenity: Float Out, it is revealed that Zoe is pregnant with Wash's daughter.
Sonic Stunner: Simon apparently found one that only works at head level, then uses it to rescue River by setting it off and ducking (she's conveniently seated at the time).
Inara's flashbang-incense is a very crude version.
Space Clouds: The ion cloud around Mr. Universe's planet. Joss Whedon admitted that he knew exactly how unscientific this was, but he needed it there for Rule Of Cool in the battle scene.
Yes, but he's not flying any more. Flying is his super power. His milieu.
Swallowed a Fly: After a horrific encounter with the Reavers, the crew barely makes it back, and crashes the runabout back onto Serenity. Simon (who stayed behind) is frantic over River, who is oddly calm:
River: I swallowed a bug.
Sword Pointing: The Operative does this to Captain Mal when he first draws his sword during their fight in Mr. Universe's complex.
There Are No Therapists: Not that there's any out there that could help much in River's case, not the very least because she's a fugitive who the Alliance and the Academy want back very badly.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The Operative calls in the entire fleet to deal with a single, unarmed, cargo transport. Might double as Crazy-Prepared, because it turned out to be really helpful.
Trigger Phrase: River has one. Played with in that a phrase makes her sleep; what turns her into a violent assassin is a subliminal message hidden within an innocuous advertisement.
Trojan Horse: How Serenity runs the gauntlet through the Reaver ships to and from Miranda.
True Companions: Serenity's crew. Mal will protect everyone on his ship and will punish anyone on his ship for harming anyone else.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: No, it is not your imagination that whenever Mal and Inara get within a foot of each other, electricity shoots out of your screen. It's the UST trying to explode your television/computer.
Unusual Euphemism: Between the Mildly Mandarin swearing, the use of archaic words like "quim", and various other slang such as "gorram" and "shiny", It's hard to find examples of usual euphemisms on this show.
Undying Loyalty: The Operative acknowledges Simon's unwavering instinct to protect River:
The Operative: The boy spent his entire fortune developing the contacts to infiltrate this place. Dr. Matthias: Gave up a brilliant future in medicine as well. It's madness. The Operative: Madness? Have you looked at the scan carefully, Doctor? At his face? It's love, in point of fact. Something a good deal more dangerous.
Villainous Breakdown: Happens to the Operative when he sees the Reaver ships following Serenity.
He has another, much more complete one when he sees the Miranda recording, and realizes everything he told Mal in the quote under This Is Reality is precisely backwards.
Writtenby The Winners: Comes up in the Cold Open; the teacher in River's dream gives a rather biased account of the war. Then there's Miranda...
You Are Already Dead: A variant, the Operative uses a nerve strike, that while not deadly in and of itself, does leave them paralyzed so he can stab them with his sword.
You Shall Not Pass: River, when the only thing standing between the badly injured and exhausted crew and the oncoming Reaver hordes are some broken blast doors.
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