Serenity (movie)

***Serenity*** is a 2005 science fiction space western movie. It was written and directed by Joss Whedon. The movie takes place in the fictional universe of the cancelled FOX science fiction television series *Firefly*. It takes place about two months after the final episode, *Objects in Space*. That is 500 years in the future.

*Serenity* is the story of the captain and crew of a transport and cargo spacecraft. The captain and first mate fought together on the losing side of the Unification War. Their lives of small crime are interrupted by a passenger with mental abilities who has a  secret.

The movie was released in North America on September 30, 2005 by Universal Pictures. It received good reviews. It made $10.1 million during its first weekend. The movie made $25.5 million in the United States and $13.3 million in other countries.

Fans call the movie the "Big Damn Movie" ("BDM"). This is a reference to a line from the *Firefly* episode "Safe" in which Mal and Zoe call themselves "big damn heroes" after rescuing River and Simon.

## Awards 
* *Film 2005* - movie of the year award  and *FilmFocus*.
* IGN Film- Best Sci-Fi, Best Story and Best Trailer awards and was runner up for the Overall Best Movie.
* Nebula Award - Best Script for 2005
* Rotten Tomatoes - the 7th annual 'User Tomato Awards' for best Sci-Fi movie of 2005
* Spacey Award - the 2006 viewers choice for favorite movie
* 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
* the 2006 Prometheus Special Award.

## Production 
The movie is based on *Firefly*, a television series that was cancelled by Fox in December 2002. Fox stopped the show after 11 of its 14 episodes had been shown. After trying to get another network to show the series, creator Joss Whedon tried to sell it as a movie. He was introduced to Mary Parent with Universal Pictures, who agreed to make the movie after watching the episodes on DVD. On March 3, 2004, the movie was greenlighted to start being made. It was shown to have budget of only $40 million.

They started filming the movie on June 3, 2004. Joss Whedon said that the movie would be called *Serenity* to keep it separate from the TV series. The most technically challenging scene was the mule skiff chase.

## Synopsis 
Five hundred years into the future, mankind has left Earth. All the people moved to a new large star system. The system is controlled by the Alliance. Away from the "core planets" people like the crew of the cargo ship *Serenity* can make a living if they stay away from Alliance ships and the Reavers - space-faring cannibals who raid the planets of "the Rim." One of the Alliance's projects is the creation of a group of warriors with mental powers. The star of this project is teenager River Tam. After her older brother Simon rescues her, the Alliance Parliament sends "The Operative", a man with no name, rank or official existence after them.

About eight months after River and Simon have joined ''Serenity's'' crew, the ship's captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds takes River with him to rob a bank. While they are robbing the bank, Reavers . After they escape back to *Serenity*, Simon argues with Mal. Mal decides to leave Simon and River at their next stop. While at their next stop, River starts a fight that is started by a subliminal message broadcast by the Alliance in a commercial. Mal lets Simon and River keep traveling on *Serenity* while the crew talks to a techno-geek known as Mr. Universe. Mr. Universe lives on a planet inside a giant cloud of objects in space that does not let people see there is a planet there. Mr. Universe watches a video of the fight and finds the subliminal message. He also sees that River said the name "Miranda." Mal gets a call from Inara, a former passenger. He knows it is a trap, but also knows that she must be in danger. Mal goes to her. He is confronted by the Operative. The Operative tells Mal that he will let him go if Mal turns River over to him. Mal refuses and they escape from the Operative and go back to *Serenity*. The crew finds out that "Miranda" is an unknown planet near the edge of the solar system. To get to Miranda, they would have to cross into Reaver territory. They think this is too dangerous. *Serenity* instead goes to Haven which is home to another former passenger, Shepherd Book. When they get to Haven, the crew sees that it has been attacked by the Alliance. They also see that Shepherd Book was hurt very bad and dying. The Operative sends a message saying he did it. He said he will keep doing things like it until River is given to him.

Mal orders that *Serenity* be made to look like a Reaver ship. They get the disguised ship through a fleet of Reaver warships. When they get to Miranda, the crew finds everyone that lived there is dead. There are dead bodies everywhere but they can not tell how the people died. The crew finds a video made after the disaster by an Alliance ship. It tells them that the Alliance made a chemical that was susposed to stop aggression and make the planet free of . The chemical worked so well that the people stopped doing everything, including eating, and let themselves die. In a tenth of a percent of the people, the chemical had the opposite effect. It turned them very aggressive and caused mental problems: they became the Reavers. Mal wanted to show this secret to all the worlds by using Mr. Universe's . The Operative figures out where they are going and waits just outside of Reaver space with an Alliance fleet. Knowing that the Operative is likely to be waiting for them, *Serenity* opens fire on one of the Reaver ships while coming back. The other Reaver ships chase after them. *Serenity* leaves Reaver space and pass through the cloud around Mr. Universe's planet while being chased by the entire Reaver fleet. There is a large fight between the Alliance and the Reavers. The fight lets ''Serenity's'' pilot Wash to fly down to the planet. The Operative's ship is destroyed, and he also goes to the planet in an escape pod.

*Serenity* crashes on the planet. While the ship is damaged very badly, the crew has survived. Just as everyone begins to relax, a Reaver harpoon hits Wash, and kills him. The crew leaves *Serenity* and finds a place to fight off the Reavers while Mal goes to get to Mr. Universe and send the message. Mal finds Mr. Universe has been killed and his equipment is destroyed. He finds a message that tells him about a hidden backup transmitter. The Reavers attack the crew, and make them move back. The crew tries to close a blast door, but it will not shut all the way. River dives through the hole in the door and closes it from the other side. This traps her with the Reavers. Mal gets to the other transmitter. The Operative gets there also and they fight. Mal wins but does not kill the Operative. He leaves him to watch the video from Miranda as it is being broadcast. Mal goes back to his crew. As he is told what River did, the blast door opens to reveal River standing unhurt on an large pile of dead Reavers. A group of Alliance soldiers show up but the Operative orders them not to fight because of what he has seen on the video. The crew buried their dead and fixed *Serenity*. *Serenity* leaves the planet with Mal in Wash's seat as the pilot, and River as his copilot.

## Cast 
* **Nathan Fillion as Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds**. A former soldier on the losing side of the Unification War, he live his life outside of the Alliance. Captain Malcolm Reynolds was named #18 in ''TV Guide's'' "25 Greatest Sci-fi legends" list in 2004.
* **Gina Torres as Zoe Washburne (née Alleyne)**. Another veteran who fought alongside Mal in the war. Zoe is Wash's wife. She is very loyal to Mal.
* **Alan Tudyk as Hoban "Wash" Washburne**. The pilot of the ship, and Zoe's husband. He often acts as a voice of  on the ship.
* **Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra**. She is a Companion who once rented one of *Serenity*s shuttles.
* **Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb**. A mercenary who is very good with weapons. Jayne is often the "main gun" for jobs. He is someone who is good in a fight. He seems dumb, but may be smarter than he lets on. As Whedon says many times, he is the person that will ask the questions that no one else wants to.
* **Jewel Staite as Kaywinnit Lee Frye**. Kaylee, the ship's mechanic. She is known for always seeming bright and happy.
* **Sean Maher as Simon Tam**. Simon is River's brother. He rescues her from the Alliance. He and River are taken in by the crew of *Serenity*. A surgeon before the rescue, he is the doctor to the crew. His life is all about his sister's needs. The crew of Serenity, and specifically Mal, show the idea that people should have the right to chose for themselves, even if those choices are bad.

The Operative is all that the Alliance stands for. He is, as Whedon described, the "perfect product of what's wrong with the Alliance". He is someone who is a force for good, who wants to help make his (and the Alliance's) image of a "world without sin." The Operative believes so much in this idea that he do anything to make create that world . Mal is the opposite. At the movie's beginning, he is a man who has lost all . By the end of the movie, however, Mal finally believes in something—freedom of choice—so strongly that he is willing to die to preserve it. Whedon has said that the most important line in the movie is Mal's to the Operative at its end: "I'm going to show you a world without sin." Whedon's point is that a world without sin is a world without choice, and that choice is what defines humanity. The Operative, who does only what he is told to do, and the inhuman Reavers, created by the Alliance's need to control people, are only two examples of this theme.

## Notes 
## References

* DeCandido, Keith R.A. *Serenity*. August 30, 2005. .
* Whedon, Joss. *Serenity: The Visual Companion*. September 1, 2005. .

## Other websites 
* 
* Official website of the film 
* Official Australian website 
* SerenityMovie.com  - A major *Serenity* fan site
* FireflyFans.net - Another major fansite
* *Serenity*  at Whedonesque.com
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