Serenity-Post Release(Spoilers) - Page 5

And are you a huge Halo fan, halofan1?

Also, have you seen more than ten movies?

Personally, I'd prefer Whedon stick to TV. I think his style is more suited to that format, with long-developing storylines, dialogue-heavy scripts, and no reliance on huge budgets or massive effects. The action, visual effects, and directorial style were always the weakest parts of his shows (except Angel, which Whedon was least involved in), while they are far more important in film. Serenity was a good film, but it failed to look like a 40+ million dollar production. It really looked more like a big TV finale, and I'm sure it could have been made on a TV budget, if required.

And selfishly, I find I prefer TV to film these days. My favorite stories are being told on television, and it seems that the best TV dramas explore their worlds and topics in far greater depth than most films ever attempt. There has been a simultaneous creative slump in film and surge of creativity in television. You just need a shirpa (usually named Tivo) to guide you to the good stuff.

Whedon making Wonder Woman? Meh. Whedon making a new TV series for FX or HBO? Now THAT would be exciting.

Mostly because most films have two hours at best to explore things.

That doesn't make him a bad filmmaker on his first film out the gate. (Although, like Sky, I'd prefer him to do TV rather than films.)


Andre, discounting Halo's opinion because his name is like discounting DeadchickRfun's because of the implied necrophilia, the R instead of Are, and the use of a pluralized verb with a singular noun.

Love you, man! Um, in a very brotherly heterosexual way, of course!

Thanks Andy! It took a mere 6 posts for you to prove me right! Your post had nothing to do with the subject and is here just to be inflammitory.

I'd agree with that. It's one of the things that kind of kind of bummed me out about the flick. The establishing steadicam shot of the interior of Serenity is supercool, but we've seen it before.

You're right about that. I think I would have prefered to get the "Farscape" treatment and had a couple of hours on Sci-Fi to wrap up things. They could have gotten some good numbers, then a reasonable profit off of DVD.

Saw the movie... really enjoyed it... one question...


What the hell is a Training School?

Inara is a "companion"...essentially a high class geisha/courtesan/prostitute, trained in various social niceties. It appears that she left the ship to work at a training school for other "companions."

1) I've seen the film, I think it sucks.
2) #1 noted, my post had little to nothing to do with the film. You're mad at me for being a dick to someone you agree with.
3) I was not a dick to the movie. For the most part, I haven't really trashed the film here, though I have talked about the box office, which may sound negative, but I talk box office here often, it's something I like talking about. And in this case I find the box office and fallout more interesting to talk about than the film itself because see #1
4) If someone who'd been here for a couple of years entered this thread and said what halofan1 said, I'd give them a bit of shit too, especially at this point of the discussion.
5) Because I don't know the person, instead I'm mocking that halofan1 has his name and ten posts. Am I being inflamitory? Yes, but to a person named halofan1 who's got ten posts, and who said nothing about the film other than unqualified hyperbole. I might do the same thing in another thread about another movie that recieved such unqualified love.
6) the prefered abbreviation of Andre is Dre. Andre is not a derivative of Andrew, though this seems like splitting hairs.

Yes.

I have more of a background in games than movies, but the things apply to both.

People on online message boards say that System Shock II was a super-great game.
System Shock II was a complete and utter failure.

People on online message boards say that Planescape: Torment was a ultra-great game.
Planescape: Torment was a monumental failure.

People on online message boards say that Black & White was a hyped piece of crap.
Black & White was a tremendous success.

People on online message boards say that the myriad of Sims expansions were pointless and dumb.
Sims expansions made plenty of moolah for the designers.

People on online message boards say that Firefly was an amazing TV show.
Firefly was the ruins in which Durandal danced and laughed around.

People on online message board say that Serenity is an amazing film.
Serenity experienced what can only be described as "anti-rampancy".

Be it movies or games, the internet gives people around the globe to get together and talk. This isn't a problem, but this nature can convince those people that there's more people like them out there than there really is. There's 10,000 people on a forum saying Serenity is really awesome, but those 10,000 people assume they are part of 100,000 or a million.

And when the box office numbers come out - shock - those 10,000 people saw it, but not many other people.

Basically, what I'm trying to say, is that Firefly and Serenity suffered from the same thing that many games have: a passionate, devoated fanbase that doesn't have the mainstream attractiveness that they assume they have.

If Joss reads this, I mean no office. Me, I'm 100% neutral to both Firefly and Serenity. Didn't hate 'em, didn't love 'em.

Um, did you read the post you're quoting? Because you completely missed my point.

Oh I know you were trying to make a different point. I wanted to make a point about how its a good thing to assume the opposite of what a large group of Internet Peoples think, since odds are they are a lot smaller than they think they are.

I loved "PLanescape: Torment" but admit it was a finiancial failure.
Fact is a lot of good stuff fails at the box office and a lot of crap is finiancially sucessful.
But what irritates me is when people ignore reality because of their fanboy blinders.
Hey, I liked both "Firefly" and "Serenity" but both have flopped with all but a small fanbase. I have no problems with people being big fans of the franchise, but quite a bit of problem when it blinds them to reality.

1. Not as big as I used to be. The name just stuck.

2. I've seen it plenty so far.

3. I would highly recommend you go out and get some pie. And hey, if that doesn't suit your fancy go get some strudel.

Halofan1,
I wouldn't bother responding to andy, sorry.. ANDRE. He seems to exist on these boards to make life miserable for others. I've seen him do it before. He seems like an intelligent person, unfortunately he epitomizes the "15 year old swaggering belligerent chip-wearing ignoramous" I alluded to earlier.

It's best to just not reply to him.

Dre's great, he's just in that demographic that's into loathing the irrationally exuberant of the sub-culture he's tertiarily connected to.

Hell, one way or another we all pick on, or marginalize the weak/people we consider enemies. Kinda like me and Objectivists.

We're fans a movie that's tanking at the BO, that posesses an extremely vocal portion of its fanbase that's currently going monkeyshit because of the movie's current financial state. Hate to say it, but we're fair game.

Hell, El Topo makes Andre look like an amateur in that department.

Ah true and thanks for the advice. I just posted a quick blurb so I could get my thoughts in on this marvel. Didn't expect anyone under the age of 15 to ridicule me for it. I was wrong.

Didn't really like the movie (I think I actually liked the TV episodes better, and I wasn't a big fan of the show), but I did want to say that I liked Chiwetel Ejiofor in this. I thought his character was the best thing about the film.

The Digital Bits is already reporting the swift release of Serenity on DVD for December [!]

Here's the thing...

You're making a pretty wild statement about a movie that most of us saw as "pretty good." I realize there's a difference between saying it's one of the best movies ever made and one of your favorites, but why don't you at least tell us WHY you liked it so much. You'll get a lot less hassle.

Knowing that there was another way this story was going to be told, that would've served it far, far better is a blessing and a curse. It mitigates some of the clunky, unwieldy plot elements, at the same time it draws attention to them.

On the other hand it took two viewings to really get the fact that Book's story was fully told. We don't know the specifics, but Operative's journey through the film mirrors whatever events brought Book out of his own service to the Alliance. I'm quite satisfied by this, and I consider it to be a one of the great victories for the flick. On the other hand, it means dick for the uninitiated.

Paying off Simon and Kayee's relationship means the world for us Browncoats, but it more than likely has a element of contrivance for everybody else.

Knowing Whedon, and his edict of characters only being interesting when they're in pain, Wash was on the list of potential casualties, including Zoe, Kaylee, Simon, and much less so, River. The possiblities surrounding everyone else carrying on in the event of any of those folks dying are still extremely tantalyzing possiblilities. My girlfriend's convinced had these events unfolded on the show, Zoe'd have found she was pregnant sometime after Wash's death.

I'll be damned if say I didn't love this movie despite its flaws, but the flap concerning its success has really taken a toll on my fervency.

My review here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/09/2...5_review.shtml

Serenity is a crackling little flick, but poorly titled, and poorly promoted. Devin's idea that the more rabid Browncoats turned the core genre audience against it may have a grain of truth in it, but certainly not $5m worth of truth. I'm hoping for a slow grower state-side, but reckon it will run out of screens before the word-of-mouth can do the trick. Pity.

Here in the UK it has had great coverage, though - Jonathan Ross was glowing on Film 2005, which always helps - and I think there's a more natural market for Joss here in any case. Fingers crossed; the film - the property generally, really - deserves success.

The shit-flinging in this thread is just pathetic, by the way. I won't name names. Not because you know who you are - the required self-awareness seems insufficient - but because I'm polite.

Some of you guys spend too much time on the internet and care way too much about other peoples opinions. The thread is pretty amusing though. I never heard of Browncoats and Losties before I read this. I picked up the Firefly season a month ago after hearing good things about it. Not a Buffy fan at all so I was hesitant. It sat around for a few days before I sat down and watched it and man once I started I couldn't stop. Amazing show. I love every one of the characters although River being a babbling idiot got old towards the end. I put this show, what little there is of it, right up there with the best sci-fi TV shows like Star Trek TOS, NG and the new Battlestar Galactica which is kicking my ass I love it to death.

Anyway I got the series done before Serenity came out and I absolutely loved the movie. Definitely one of the better sci-fi films made. Star Wars went to shit and most of the Star Trek movies were crap but Firefly had every angle covered. I love the Sci-fi/western theme. Phenominal. I don't blame anyone for making this movie do poorly except the marketing team. What little marketing there was was horrible. Now I see they've changed the TV spot and it looks much more interesting but still this is a movie based on a TV show that got canceled after its first season. I don't expect many newcomers will go check it out but I'm going to go see it again this weekend. I also started watching the series again after I saw the movie. The final five episodes are some of the best TV there is. They were really firing on all cylinders in every department.

Oh and Kaylee is hot in the show but damn did she look good in the movie after losing a couple of pounds.

On another note. Devin is a cocksucker no doubt but he's got a good opinion and is a talented writer. I didn't see anything wrong with what he wrote in either of his writeups.

Peace.

I don't care for Devin either, but the guy is doing his job and expressing his opinion.

"The shit-flinging in this thread is just pathetic, by the way. I won't name names. Not because you know who you are - the required self-awareness seems insufficient - but because I'm polite."This is, unfortunately, a constant on CHUD. The sad thing is, even at this level, CHUD is still one of the better behaved message boards.

Serenity is in a word…fantastic. I just saw it tonight in a theatre with maybe a dozen other people. However before I spout my love for the movie I should add an overlong caveat.

I love the show Firefly. I was not that much of a fan of Buffy. I liked the concept and ancillary characters but found myself utterly despising Buffy herself. I liked Angel a great deal. But in general I went into Firefly not expecting much. Luckily I was able to watch it on the Sci-Fi channel in Britain where it got the respect it deserved and was shown in a good time slot in the correct order.

I loved the concept of the show but didn’t warm too it until the third story, the Reaver’s in space episode. From that point I was hooked, I became enraptured by the characters, by the dialogue and by the sense of place. River annoyed the hell out of me but everybody else on the cast made up for it. I began watching the show knowing that it had been cancelled and I think that made it the more precious really. I knew that I would only have 13 episodes and as such I just made an effort to look past the silly mistakes I would pull a show apart for and just enjoyed the experience.

I enjoyed it so much that when I got bought the boxset last Xmas I watched if from start to finish over 1 weekend. I then did the same with a friend and got them hooked.

I have never been one to get into a television show like this but there was something about this series that captured, rather sadly, my heart.

So I went into this movie expecting it to be great and my expectations were surpassed. I am not going to bullshit and say it was the greatest movie I had ever seen or even seen this year, that honour goes to Me and You and Everyone We Know, but for 2 hours I was enraptured by a movie. I laughed at the jokes, thrilled at the actions scenes and actually got really worried in the last scenes. I am not so much of a geek that I would say I was up in arms over what happened later on, but I have to admit that I did feel a slight tinge of sadness.

However despite my love for the original cast what really interested me was the Operative who is perhaps one of the better villains from cinematic history. Noble and yet utterly despicable. In the end I was expecting a fun frolic with the cast and what I got was an interesting, tub thumping and anthemic farewell which was both sad and uplifting.

The movie on the whole is doomed. Nothing is going to save it, but I am glad that this movie was made. It is not perfect but if it is the end then it is a good end.

Saw it again tonight in a packed theater here in Manhattan.

The audience loved it, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around.

I really don't see what the fuss is about. The movie I saw was the very definition of "OK". It's a neat little spaceship movie with some cute character beats, some clever ideas and some not-bad action stuff. But I'm no more likely to become obsessed with it than I am Battle Beyond The Stars or Starchaser: The Legend of Orin.

Of course, I've never seen a single episode of Firefly.

And I think that's the problem. It seems more effort was made on making sure newcomers could follow the story, and not enough and ensuring newcomers would give a shit about the characters. They seem fun. Some of them made me laugh. But the movie gives you no reason to care about any of them - and there are some completely redundant characters that seemed to be crow-barred into the plot for the sake of rounding out the TV show.

I really liked Buffy and Angel (and I honestly have no idea why I've never made the effort to see Firefly) but the one thought that kept coming back to me was - Wow, Whedon has a really limited number of characters he likes to write.

From Willow the engineer to Xander the pilot guy to Evil Fred the psychic weapon chick, these all felt like Whedon archetypes transplanted to a sci-fi setting. Even Mal reminded me of Angel whenever he'd give one of his big rousing speeches. Most of the too-cute quips and one-liners suffered from Whedon's Voice as well, where if you wrote them down for me I couldn't tell you which TV show or which character said them. Everyone has the same snarky sense of humour, and it gets pretty tiring.

And there were weird inconsistencies and lame plot devices that stood out all the more for my lack of connection to these people. Why does Mal shoot The Operator in cold blood at one point, and then leave him very much alive just before attempting to cross to the broadcast equipment at the end? Oh, that's right - he needs to have a big last-minute fist fight with him on the other side.

And the deadly chick who finally unleashes her "save the day" powers at the very last minute...painfully predictable. Which is a shame, as both Buffy and Angel were very good at subverting those sorts of dramatic cliches.

But, you know, it's a fun film. A cute film. I can see why people aren't flocking to it, as it's pretty generic and - if you don't know the show - largely characterless. I can't see why people are getting so fanatical about it.

Maybe a six out of ten. Seven, if you caught me in a good mood.

Very well written and to the point review, Dan. It's good to know that somebody else had a lot of the same problems with the film that I did (but expressed them much more concisely).

While I respect the fact he's had success in the biz (running several TV shows at once must've been taxing), I've never been a Whedon fan. The Whedon Voice would always get in the way of me enjoying the plots/characters. But I would have put aside all that if he'd given me some decent characters to care for. I'm sorry, but the guy's roots as a third-generation sitcom writer (and I don't mean that as a put down) definitely show and, IMHO, are ill-suited for the sci-fi genre.

I'm curious to see what will happen with Wonder Woman because I think it'll be a make or break project for Whedon. He's at a crossroads as an artist. Will he simply take the character and shoehorn her into his Whedonisms to the point where he'll alienate mainstream audiences and genre fans? Or will he use it as an opportunity to get off his crutches and try to expand his parameters as a writer?

It's interesting that you should mention Battle Beyond the Stars and Orin. When I asked a friend of mine (who's also a huge genre fan) why he wasn't going to see Serenity at least just out of curiosity, his reply was "I've already seen this movie - back when it was called Ice Pirates."

Dan missed the point completely imo. I'm no die hard fanatical fan as I just got into Firefly a month ago but the characters are fascinating and all very well written, of course that's if you've gotten attached to them through the show. Giving a review of Serenity without having seen Firefly is somehwat pointless as the movie was definitely not made to stand on its own. Sure it had about 5 minutes of setup for those who didn't have a clue but to not have really gotten to know the characters before the movie is just a waste of time. It's be like trying to give a shit about the X-Files movie without having seen an episode of that and having become attached to Mulder and Scully.

The TV series is only $40 if you can't pony up for that and watch them before seeing Serenity then stay home.

And that's why the movie failed.

Zing!

I suppose this was summed up already but I'd like to add that requiring the audience to fulfill "prerequisites" in order to enjoy a film is stupid in itself.

It's not stupid when the movie was meant as closure for the fans. I doubt Joss anticipated Serenity to be a blockbuster and to get started on a sequel or revive the series right away.

For people who have not seen the series to basically say fans are getting too excited over this movie is what's rediculous. As Firefly brought to the bigscreen and finally an ending to a show that was revered by many it succeeded very well.

Besides this whole argument I don't understand why the show was cancelled and treated so poorly anyway. When I watch the dreck that's on TV like Surface, Invasion, E-Ring and all these fucking reality TV shows it blows my mind that such an amazingly well written and original sci-fi/western with some of the best characters and dialogue I've ever seen on TV didn't make the cut. Even crap sci-fi like Farscape and Babylon 5 enjoyed success not to mention the horrible Star Trek series that came after Next Generation. Aside from the great new Battlestar Galactica there isn't a sci-fi show on now or in the past 5 years that could hold a candle to Firefly. I say this not as a rabid Firefly fanboy but as a sci-fi fan.

Seriously if the movie disappointed but you haven't seen the show spend the paltry few bucks it costs and watch it for 14 hours then go back and reevaluate your final opinion of the movie.

Oh and I hated Buffy too.

I will try to explain as simply as possible so you can understand:
Firefly was cancelled because it got low ratings. People were not watching the show.
I hate reality TV too but it gets ratings and therefore stays on the air.
I can't criticise Fox for cancelling Firefly is it was not getting ratings. It was an expensive show to do and that made matters even worse.
And if you expect people to rent and watch 13 hours of television in order to see a movie you are living in another universe.
I liked Firefly. I am sad it got cancelled. But I can't dispute that it was a failure in the ratings. Fox ..and just about every network...is in the business to make money for the stockholders and you do not do that by keeping on shows that cost money and get no ratings.
God, when will some fans start to grasp reality?
And FIrefly got 13 episodes. "Wonderfalls" a show I though was great, only got four episodes. But I am not whining about the unfairness of the world.
Good shows sometimes get cancelled because they get poor ratings.
Bad shows sometimes have long runs because they get good ratings.
That's reality,live with it.
ANd if there is some way to quickly improve people's taste in TV, please let me know.....

Incredibly stupid, and only a fanboy who is living in la la land would think such a thing reasonable.

I think one Reason Fox passed on "Serenity" is their experience with the "X FIles" movie, which not only has a prerequisite, but ended up in the air with a plotline you had to watch the next season to resolve. The failure of the X files film made Fox Really wary of Movies that had to tie in with TV shows.
The X files film failed, and the TV show was a major hit. No wonder Fox declined to try the same concept with a TV show that was a flop.

That was a big waste of fucking time dude. I understand it didn't get ratings hell I didn't watch it because of Joss Whedon. I don't understand why it didn't get higher ratings due to all the Buffy fanboys and girls out there. I figured there must have been enough of them to want to at least give it a shot so others could eventually catch on. Whining I think not. I've got my season and a movie that's cool it's just a shame, as you say, that people have such shitty taste in TV programs.

I liked the film would give it 4/5 overall.

Now back to discussing the film rather than the box office. I had two things bother me, the fact people can't put 2+2 together and the ending.

On the 2+2 I mean we basicly have this scene "now we know river has a sercret that is linked to this planet Miranda it a secret that the goverment want to kill River for. The planet outer layer is completly filled with Revears. Also the planet itself has no records and the reavers are not attacking this planet. Hmmm, wonder what it could mean?" Was I really the only one who was saying "oh its the Revears home world", I know they have to go there for the prove, but do they have to be stupid about it.

Now onto the ending, alot of you may be expect the "why didn't the captain kill the operative or the operative kill the captain". Actually I'm fine with that, the problem was that after the tape is released we get the feeling that this is the end of the alliance. Look folks its suppose to be about 500 years into the future. There will be advantance in many things like space travel, medicine, and yes political bullshit. I'm sure the politicans in the future will be able to explain thing away and get out of stuff that make Bush and Clinton look like primates. Does anyone think thats its very nieve to suggest that the alliance will end just because a tape gets out.

Why did the X-Files movie fail? The fans liked it. It made its money it's not as if it was an FX laden extravaganza or anything.

It's a movie. If it wasn't meant to stand on its own, it should have been sent direct-to-video. The people behind the movie stated that the film does indeed stand on its own...

If it's now a $50 ticket, I can see why so few people went to see it.

He was certainly hoping for a sequel, and the studio definitely didn't dump $60 million into it as a favor to his fans. The movie was meant to make money.

You want people who disliked 2 hours of Firefly to go watch 14 more? Why would they do that?!? Masochism?

I had seen the series, and I still agree with many of the criticisms from the people who never watched it. Many characters were scenery. Some of the plot was contrived. And Mal not killing the Operative was weak. Much like the series, it was entertaining, but flawed.

If you walked into this flick knowing nothing about Firefly, the movie is already working against you, because it's spending part of its energy to get you caught up. It's a flaw inherent to this kind of storytelling. I think the effort is admirable, but in the end, it still dilutes the effectiveness of the film.

Did Simon and Kaylee really have to get together? Did Inara need to be involved in this story? Did Book? To Whedon's credit, the excess of characters is tied pretty well together into the plot, but there's still eight other supporting characters besides to the protagonist that have to be folded in and out of an action movie. Within the confines of cinematic storytelling (i.e. about 2 hours) Serenity is bloated. It's legitimate criticism.

I don't have a problem with Mal not killing the Operative, though.

Missed what point?

Not in this movie they weren't. There were at least four members of the crew that served no purpose in the story, and did nothing but crack wise.

Exactly my point.

It wasn't a "review". It was just my opinion, my gut reaction on coming home from the theater.

Not true. The story was, pretty much, self contained. As far as plot went, I never felt like I needed to have seen the show. As far as characters went, it was painfully apparent that something was missing.


That's a ridiculous requirement to place on a movie - especially one that was supposed to bring a new audience in.


That's assuming that The X-Files movie didn't make the same mistake (it did), and also ignores the fact that The X-Files show was a LOT more successful than Firefly.

Are you serious? It's not enough that I pay for my movie ticket? I have to spend more money on a DVD and 13 hours watching a failed TV show or I'm wasting my time?

If that's the case, then Serenity deserved to fail.

I doubt Universal invested more than $60m in a movie so that a few hundred thousand die-hard fans of a short-lived TV show could get "closure".

I didn't have a problem with him leaving the Operative alive at the end, after he started the broadcast. I did have a problem with the way he wounded him in the quick draw, and then left him while he started the precarious monkey bar swing in order to reach his do-or-die goal. That made NO sense. We'd already seen him shoot the Operative when he said he was unarmed earlier, so why would he even risk the guy stopping him achieving his vital objective at the end?

The only reason it happens is so they can have the Generic Action Movie "time is running out" fight between Hero and Villain. Weak.

I also found the climax of the movie to be a real letdown. He sends a broadcast. We don't get to see the results, but we hear later that the Alliance is damaged by it but not defeated. The End.

That's closure? That's like ending Star Wars with no Death Star battle, just the radar operator on Yavin IV saying "You know those X-Wings we sent to fight the Death Star? They won. But the Empire will probably strike back."

I agree about the lack of closure in the film but it is scremingly plain that Universal and Whedon were expecting to get a "Star Trek/Star Wars' type franchise out of this and were leaving the door wide open for a sequel.
Kreeper a poster who says he works in the industry (I am very sketical about such claims but Kreeper I am inclined to think is the real deal) states that getting a Star Trek type franchise was the main reason that Universal Ok'd the film.
I have to wonder if between what happened with "Riddick" last year and now this the idea that costly sequels based on unsucessful or marginally profitable films or TV shows is not a good idea is finally getting through to people in Hollywood. Maybe a cheap Ten Million buck cheapie with straight to DVD or TV in mind but not a major budget film.
"Farscape" was a much more sucessful show then "Firefly" but the producers were smart enought not to go for a Theatrical movie but for a TV movie when sequel time came around. Whedon should have done the same.
Floydian Trip seems very resistant to reality concerning the film business.

Oh, I won't argue with that at all. For a guy who balances plot, character, thematics, etc exceedingly well, the plot takes a backseat in Serenity. For a guy who's career has been made by subverting genre conventions, outside of his character beats, Serenity plays very faithful to your standard action movie dumbness. It's a bummer. And why did the Operative shoot Mal in the back with some purple energy thing, that apparently just made his back sore?

Regardless of life or death, the Operative has to see the broadcast. Whether or not we have to see his reaction is open to debate. But, for the sake of what I figure is answering the basic question about Book via the Operative, he's got to see that. However, there's not much in the way of a mechanic for how the universe works outside of the plot. That'd be a whole other element that would have to added to the fabric of the movie. You could show some kind of sociopolitical response, but there has to be context for it, and that would have to be established elsewhere in the film, yet one more element to cram into this already cramped narrative. So for me, it's less of a failure of the resolution, in as much as it is a systemic flaw in the whole story. To use your Star Wars analogy Dan, it would be like not showing the Death Star destroy Alderaan/not destroying Alderaan at all. There's no context for the necessity of hitting that small exhaust port right below the main port.

I can only assume the Operative/Book thing is what Joss was driving at. Whether he felt he had to choose between servicing that or servicing the Miranda/Reaver thing, I dunno, but that's how I read it. And if that's the case, he chose to emphasize something that reaches back into the show, rather than the main plot of the movie. Again, the serving two masters, and all that.