Poor Wash was a victim of Joss Whedon's hobby. Killing beloved characters because he loves to see his fans cry. He's kinda known for it. For deeper meaning than 'Joss just likes killing the good guys' (btw I haven't slept properly in days, so I can't promise the following will make sense to anyone but me, lol) I think he was trying to emphasise that this is a dirty battle tougher than they're used to facing and some people are going to die and it's going to be quick, un-heroic and pointless because that's what the real dirty battles are like. I also think he knew it would have more impact than the death of other characters because Wash is always the one on the ship when the adventures take place, he's not really a fighter by nature so he's one of the ones you're less prepared for the death of. I think he wanted the audience to be as shocked and hurt as the crew, and Wash's death was the best one to facilitate that while still enabling the ending.

Wow that was hard for me because I loved Wash so I don't want to justify Joss 'Wash-killer' Whedon (that's actually his middle name, so really I'm surprised we didn't all see Wash's death coming)

I agree the show had much more warmth than the movie. I actually saw the movie first so didn't notice at first, but when I watched the show I noticed the difference in tones right away. Serenity is still my favourite movie, making my opinions on it completely biased, but I will always love the show more (despite River's fight scenes in Serenity being some of my favourite things ever) and the difference in tone probably has something to do with that :)

I totally agree with you, Asvini. In fact, I can't think of anything else to add. Other than Serenity is my favourite movie too.

It's the Babylon 5 problem, writ small: what do you do when you have much less time to tell a story than you'd originally intended? The story of Serenity was the story arc of the entire "Firefly" series, which was likely intended to be four or five seasons, at least. So, conservatively, how do you compress a story intended for 80-odd hours down into around 2 hours? You lose everything that is non-essential. That means that most of the flavor of the show disappears, and all the side stories.

What's interesting is to compare the ratings for "Firefly" with any of Joss' other shows. Because he was working with one of the major networks for the first time, the fact that he was bringing in MILLIONS more viewers than "Buffy" ever got wasn't enough, and the show was canceled about 2/3 of the way through the partial first season. It's a lesson to anyone working in TV, which I'd paraphrase as: "Go to the small networks with your stories if you want to finish them!" "Firefly" had a pretty big campaign by the fans to resuscitate it - convince the network to renew after all - but to no avail. The Big Four networks need to have audience share in the double digits for a show to be deemed certain of renewal.

Having just re-watched "Firefly" a week ago, I've been working on an article for the TV club about the problems with the ratings system (which was originally an extension of my article about how TV works in the US). I should publish it soon.

True, jig, very true. Joss's vision wasn't meant for the big screen and so much had to be condensed and streamlined for that format. Maybe someday, someone will see Serenity and go "That would make a great TV show!" LOL I can dream, can't I?
And I'm looking forward to your article, jig!

germs-- you've seen Dr. Horrible. You know that sometimes Joss just likes to kill people unexpectedly. If he can make you love and lose a character in forty-five minutes, he can do anything. I think it's an unwritten rule that SOMEONE who seems altruistic or inherently good has to die in every Whedon project... I'm waiting for the bombshell to drop on Dollhouse and I'm taking bets.