His Phoenix

This is a challenge that I made with Carlo to see which of us knows more about the movie Serenity. This will stay at the top of the blog until, well, whenever!. Please check in every once in a while to see who knows more… Me or Carlo.

Please, everyone, if you haven’t seen the movie, it is very much worth seeing. If you are REALLY curious, see the television show “Firefly” first (it’s only half of a season) then see the movie. -Carlo

The challenge to him is this. I will start with a line quote from the movie. His response is to give as much information as he can from that scene. Who said it… what is happening and perhaps the next line spoken. Good luck Carlo!

Note: Carlo’s answers will be in normal type and mine will be in italics.

Starting out with an easy one…

1. “Bright ‘n shiny, Cap’n. Not to fret.”

“Kaylee, what in the sphincter of Hell are you playin’ at?” and the reply is, “Everything’s shiny, Cap’n, not to fret.” All this happens right after the Primary buffer panel from the front of the ship flies off and could cause Serenity to crash or explode.

When you meet the crew, you meet them all in one long shot, one or two at a time, with no cuts.

Note: I thought she said Bright ‘n shiny but Carlo is correct. I guess with my non-surround sound TV that I am not catching words correctly. lol

2. “Jayne, we’re robbing the place, not occupying it.”

Good slip in Carlo! I almost missed this and I had to go back and check that is was what I thought. This is a side conversation from the main dialogue. This is the main crew and ship introduction sequence as Carlo listed above. This is said by Zoe to Jayne right after Mal tells Jayne “No grenades!”. Mal is walking away into another section of the ship and, like I said, this is a side conversation.

3. “Mal. That guy killed me, Mal. He killed me with a sword. How weird is that?”

Mr. Universe had to program his “Love Bot” to say this line. The agent killed Mr. Universe, then had the Alliance soldiers trash the transmitter. Mal needed the transmitter to inform the Alliance about… Well, that’s giving away the movie. The love bot goes on to say that there is a backup transmitter down over the generator that is “Hard to get to.”

4. “It’s love, in point of fact.”

The whole line is “Have you looked at this scan carefully, Doctor? At his face? It’s love, in point of fact. Something a good deal more dangerous.”

My favorite line from this sequence is where the operative has taken out his sword and holds it our at arms length with the blade pointing at his back, the length of the sword lying along his arm. He looks at Dr. Mathias and asks him: “Would you be killed in your sleep like an ailing pet?” Then in two very fluid moves kills the two security guards, catching them completely unaware.

5. “What? And risk my ship?”

Mal gives command of the ship to Zoe as he is getting ready to go meet Inara in the trap that the Operative has set. He tells Zoe, “If I’m not back in an hour, come and get me.” She replies, “What? And risk my ship?” and she glances at her husband Hoban “Wash” Washburn.

6. “I aim to misbehave.”

This is actually the ending to a wonderful speech by Mal, just after seeing the horrors of the planet Miranda. I particulary like this sequence because the crew comes back to being a family after being torn apart over different opinions of what should happen to River Tam. They are all sitting around the galley table, drinking from a jug of spirits, and just absorbing what they have seen. The whole speech goes like this… (After I saw Carlo’s challenge I had to go copy down the speech so I could share it with you)

“This record here’s about twelve years old. Parliament buried it and it stayed buried until River here dug it up. This is what they were afraid she knew. And they were right to fear. There’s a universe of folk who’re gonna know it, too. Someone has to speak for these people. Y’all got on this boat for different reasons, but y’all come to the same place. So now I’m asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this… they will try again. Maybe on another world. Maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now? Ten? They’ll swing back to the belief that they can make people better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin’. I aim to misbehave.”

7. “What’re we expectin’ to find here that equals the worth of a turd?”

Jayne Cobb (the hired muscle on the crew) asks this when the crew pulls into the town that Mal Reynolds has gotten information about the job that they are getting paid to do. Mal Reynolds (the Captain) replies with, “Security payroll. Alliance don’t have the manpower to ‘enforce the peace’ on every outer rim planet they hire out to private firms, who’ll not work for credit. They get paid in cashy money, which, once a month, rests HERE.”

Needless to say, this is NOT a lawful job. This scene ends with my favorite quote from “Serenity” Jayne stands up and says, “Shiny, let’s be bad guys.”

8. “Start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a ninety pound girl, ‘cuz I don’t think that’s ever getting old.”

This occurs right after River takes out an entire bar full of patrons after being triggered by subliminal messages hidden within a advertisement on a board above the bar area. The crew is sitting around the breakroom table discussing what just happened and the line is said by Wash. The line before is said by Mal: “What in the hell happened back there?” Jane is literally beaten up and knocked out by River in the melee and it is her brother that “puts her asleep” with a safe word that was given to him before he broke her out of the place she was being kept.

9. “Put a bullet to me. Bullet in the brain pan, squish.”

Phoenix, you are such a BRAT! This was going to be my next quote!!!!!
River Tam says this to her brother Simon, after the fight. She is dealing with a lot of issues, especially trying to deal with what the Alliance governmental lab did to her. Simon’s reply is, “Don’t say that! Never say that!” She has been talking about how he gave up everything to save her.
Phoenix, you really need to check out “Firefly” so that I can include quotes from that

10. *BANG*
“What was that? Did the primary buffer panel just fall off my gorram ship?”

Fade in to a view of the ship rear to front and as you watch a panel comes off the ship. You can see Mal and Wash standing on the bridge from outside the ship. Almost simultaneously they both say something. Wash says “Did you see that?” This is one of my fav scenes… but to be honest they all are. lol. Right after this Wash goes on to say “This landing is going to get pretty interesting.” Mal: “Define interesting.” Wash: “Oh God, Oh God, We’re all gonna die?”

11. “There are a lot of innocent people being killed in the air right now.”

OK, sorry that I have been so slow in responding. I got caught up in the TV series “Firefly” and I refuse to watch “Serenity” until I have watched “Firefly.” The Alliance operative (who has neither rank nor name) says this to Mal when the space battle between the Alliance Navy and the Reavers is going on above the planetoid that they are both on. Mal is trying to transmit a message to all the planets that will explain how the Reavers were created, and the Operative is trying to stop him. The Operative is referring to the “innocent” Alliance Navy personnel, and Mal is referring to both the Navy and the Reavers being innocent.

12. “Like a downy feather, sir. No one can fly like my mister.”