Useless Movie Trivia
Serenity
Memorable Quotes
Jayne Cobb: Boy, it sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't you think?
The Operative: Secrets... are not my concern. Keeping them... is.
The Operative: That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it.
Shepherd Book: I killed... the ship... that killed us. Not very... Christian of me.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: But it ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is? Well I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say.
River Tam: I do. But I like to hear you say it.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens. Makes her home.
River Tam: I swallowed a bug.
Young River: People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.
Hoban 'Wash' Washburn: I am a leaf on the wind - watch how I soar.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: [on the ship's intercom] This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then - explode.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: 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.
Hoban 'Wash' Washburn: Can I make a suggestion that doesn't involve violence, or is this the wrong crowd for that?
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: What in the hell happened back there?
Hoban 'Wash' Washburn: Start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a 90 pound girl cuz... I don't think that's ever getting old.
Jayne Cobb: Shepherd Book once said to me, "If you can't do something smart, do something right."
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Doctor, I'm takin' your sister under my protection here. If anything happens to her, anything at all, I swear to you, I will get very choked up. Honestly, there could be tears.
Trivia
Universal Studios took the unusual step of allowing early previews of the unfinished film. The first early preview was in November 2004 in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles CA, when the release date for the film was still early 2005. The 5 May 2005 previews were held in 10 cities, the 26 May 2005 previews were held in 20 cities, and the 23 June 2005 previews were held in 35 cities. An early preview was also held on the Gold Coast, Qld, Australia on Friday 22 July 2005
Two wrecked ships are shown with the registration numbers C57D, a reference to Forbidden Planet (1956). Jayne points out the first one as they explore. The second is the rescue ship, the source of the beacon. Writer/Director Joss Whedon says in the DVD commentary that the name of the world, Miranda, was taken from William Shakespeare's The Tempest, where it is the name of a character who says, "Brave new world that has such people in it." Forbidden Planet was loosely based on The Tempest.
This is the first film to be produced by Universal on HD-DVD (High Definition DVD)
The futuristic-looking handcuffs used on River are in fact Clejuso Number 13s, the second heaviest handcuffs currently in production.
Malcolm's Social Control number is 099,836,5,4112.
The cannon the crew mounts to Serenity is a WW2 German 20mm Flak 38.
The key phrase, that Dr. Simon Tam uttered to put River to sleep, "Eta Kooram Nah Smech!" in Russian means literally "this is for hens to laugh", meaning "this is very ridiculous".
Concept art for the film reveals that many of the weapons are based on the design of paintball markers. They include such paintball-specific touches as the propellant tank mount point at the bottom of the rear grip, and an "expansion chamber"-style fore grip.
The poem Mal refers to is "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the poem the Mariner shoots down an albatross which causes the death of his crew and the destruction of his ship.
Mal's drink of choice, Ng Ka Py, is a Chinese brandy. (It is available in the San Francisco Bay Area, particularly in the Li Po bar in SF's Chinatown and some liquor stores in SF and Oakland's Chinatown.) It is seen in the film in his quarters, and it is also the drink he calls for in the bar in the first scene of "The Train Job".
Zoe, Mal, and Jayne's guns from Firefly are in a private collection so it became necessary for everyone to have new weapons for the film. The only weapon carried over from the series is Jayne's bowie knife.
During the funeral scene, Kaylee wears a medallion with the Chinese symbol for joy/happiness/cheer, a symbol often used in weddings.
According to the Q&A with Joss Whedon and the cast after the premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, there were at least 20 separate takes of the final make-out scene between Simon and Kaylee in the engine room, with take #20 being the one used in the final cut.
Goofs
When the Operative is reviewing Mal's file, Mal's first name is first shown spelled "Malcom", then "Malcolm".
In the very last scene when River and the Captain are flying the ship, Mal presses a button causing it to light up. In the next shot the light is off, and in the next shot it is back on again.
When the wall is blasted after River kills all the Reavers, you can see a dead Reaver flinch from the explosion in the bottom left-hand of the screen
After River is put to sleep in the bar, unconscious/dead bodies around her change position.
Throughout the series and subsequent movie, Zoe is right handed. In the promotional poster for Serenity, Zoe is holding her gun with her left hand and her holster is on her left thigh.
When Kaylee comes across the body of a 'presumably' killed boy - look near the gun shot to his tummy and you'll see that he's breathing.
Box Office Info for the USA
Budget: $40,000,000
Opening Weekend: $10,086,680
Gross: $25,335,935
Filming Dates: June 3, 2004 thru August 26, 2004.
Filming Location
Backlot, Universal Studios, Universal City, California, USA
Diamond Ranch High School, Pomona, California, USA
Santa Clarita, California, USA