Serenity Review

My night started with a visit to a friend's end-of summer barbecue in Loveland, where I showed up in my Jayne costume. I was basically doing the token fly-through, small talk and glass of wine before driving the hour to Louisville for the Serenity midnight premiere.

Upon my arrival at 8:30, I find I am one of the first to arrive. What, three and a half hours early and NO one else is there yet? Amateurs!!

Anyway, I decide to nap in my van until a few friends arrive. I got about 20 minutes of sleep before my phone started ringing, and my friends Russ, Jen and Matt were nearly there. We ended up at the Outback across the street, needing some drink and vittles before the show. Apparently, Carraba's had to deal with over 50 Firefly Fans. I think it was just the few of us at Outback, but the staff was pretty wary of us, as we were wearing our Jayne hats and taking photos.

We traveled back across the street to the theater, to find a few people had shown up. As we came up the steps, there were two men standing at the inside counter wearing suits. And they had blue hands!! The costume factor was increasing...

Car by car, fans trickled in for the next half an hour. Then it was like the gates of Hell opened and the crowd seemed to double, triple and quadruple in size!! Some of my friends were still on their way, so I spent most of my time outside (also because the lobby was as hot as the backside of a Firefly's engine room) with other folks who were pretty much tailgating until the theater was ready.

One awesome thing I should tell about that happened was that Talan managed to walk all the way from the car, into the theater, sit for the whole movie and walk all the way back out to the car. Without crutches. He'll be fencing before we know it.

But I digress...

The exodus inside began, and still I'm waiting for a friend, to give him his pass. Fortunately, he arrived just in time. If Russ hadn't saved a seat for me, I would've had a pretty poor spot - the theater was nearly full!

The noise level was high - we were all clearly very excited. People were quoting lines from the TV show, throwing popcorn and basically acting like kids at Christmas. I looked around the room, to see where my other friends ended up, and I counted at least 4 other Jayne hats besides ours.

Then, Carrick and Max (the two guys who put all this together for us) took the head of the room and made some announcements. Carrick read the letter that Joss Whedon wrote for the fans. We cheered a birthday, the woman who first got most of us hooked on the series, and the two men themselves for organizing this private premiere.

Then, the screen flickered...And we CHEERED!! Oh, wait. It's just the previews.

Finally, the Universal Logo appeared on the screen, and we were about to take a ride on Serenity. And she was falling apart, so it was pretty bumpy.

The crew was bickering (as usual) and dropping one-liners like a rain of spent shells. If anything, the situation was more intense, with the Alliance now SERIOUSLY after River, and Mal under a lot of pressure from the crew. The Reavers finally get to make their appearance, and you even get to learn the true origins of them. Great plot twist there.

The assassin that the Alliance sends after River (and subsequently Mal and anyone who has ever sheltered the crew) is completely brutal. Mr. Universe is a great new character, who taps into the media of the universe and pretty much lives off the signal. The backgrounds are lush, the big space battles (and the fight scenes!) are intense and the whole two hours went by way too fast.

Some of the romantic directions that the TV show looked to be taking are resolved, but then, this movie does some twists and turns that I never expected, either. The cast hasn't lost a drop of their chemistry. Their love for this story clear. Lucas, you got some competition.

Now, you would think that that would be the end of my review, but you'd be wrong. You see, I had to drive all the way home to Loveland after this let out around 2:30. That, and being jazzed from the vat of Dr. Pepper I drank, I didn't get to sleep until after 4am.

I dragged my sleepy self into work around 10. The first thing I did was pound another Dr. Pepper and eat a burrito with the hottest sauce I could find. I HAD to wake up. It wouldn't do to be making a bunch of mistakes on billboards. A typo that is 20 feet tall makes you look really stupid.

Somehow I managed not to break anything, or miss anything important. However, upon leaving at 4, I noticed that strange queasy feeling you get when you are really too sleepy to drive. Going north on Main Street through Longmont, I drove past a restaurant that I see everyday. They've always got some special plate or deal advertised on their sign with those black plastic letters that slide onto the tracks.

This time I could SWEAR it read "Create a Mexican Sauron."

Wow. I am way more tired than I think. Dyslexia usually doesn't set until I've gone a full 24 hours without sleep.

I spent the whole drive home talking to my friend Mazzy in Pennsylvania because I needed someone to keep me awake, but mostly to giggle about Sauron in a sombrero.

God I need a nap. I fear I'll have some crazy dreams....