Serenity is a 2005 science-fiction film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is set in the universe of the canceled Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place a few months after the events of the final episode. Like the television series that spawned it, Serenity is a science fiction Western, using elements of both genres. The film was released in the US on September 30, 2005.



Five hundred years into the future Earth's resources have been depleted. Humanity has moved to a new solar system and has been terraformed many of the planets. All the planets are controlled by a peace-loving, but really dictatorial, Alliance the border country far from the "core planets" is still not controlled by the Alliance Forces. It is here that the crew of bandits on Serenity manages to get along if they can stay out of Alliance forces and the so-called. "Reavers", barbaric and cannibalistic people who live beyond the outer planets and ravaging the Alliance planets In the border region.

To earn his continued passage on Serenity the telepathic River Tam (Summer Glau) a fugitive from the Alliance, follows Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), Jayne (Adam Baldwin) and Zoe (Gina Torres) on a mission to steal wages from the outer planets security forces. The crew barely avoids being caught in raids by the Reavers, River telepathically know that they are coming.

River's brother Simon (Sean Maher), crew doctor, reacting angrily to the captain's willingness to expose his younger sister for such a serious danger. Captain Reynolds responds by proposing that they should leave the ship on the next planet they land on, Beaumond, where the crew is planning to sell their loot. Simon agrees. Tam siblings go ashore on Beaumond, but reunited with the crew of a bar where Captain haggle with their clients. River suddenly attack the bar's guests. Despite its small 41 kg she manages to beat everyone, including Jayne, unconscious, and is just about to shoot Captain Reynolds when Simon arrives and shouts out a phrase in Russian that make River fall asleep.

Simon explains to the captain that she was trained to become an assassin during the time in captivity of the Alliance. The only thing (except death) that will stop her when that state is active, it is the"safeword" he used. Despite knowing about this new threat and their anger at not being informed about the possibility that he was carrying a potentially deadly weapon, the captain lets Simon and River continue their journey on Serenity.

The crew will contact Mr.. Universe (David Krumholtz), a hermit to teknofreak who lives with his cyborg wife . After watching the film from the surveillance camera at Mr. Beaumond mr universe discover. that Rivers outbreak triggered by a subliminal message in a seemingly harmless animated advertisement that sent all over the Alliance in recent weeks. He tells the crew that River whispered the name "Miranda" before the attack.

The fear of being persecuted by the Alliance the crew takes refuge in the mining colony Fristad, led by Shepherd Book (Ron Glass), a priest who once traveled with the Serenity crew. Book warns Mal that agent from the Alliance that hunts River probably is an "operational" and hence very dangerous. Shortly afterwards the captain gets a call from Inara (Morena Baccarin), a former passengers on Serenity. Their conversation is pleasant enough but uncomfortable which leads Mal and Zoe to the conclusion that it is a trap, but they still choose to make a visit to Inara. Mal's fears are confirmed, Inara has been taken hostage by a ruthless and unnamed "operative" . The agent offers free passage if he leaves River to him, with thanks to Inara fast thinking she and the Captain manages to escape from the agent and return to Serenity.

Another outburst of Rivers reveals to the crew what Miranda is. It is the name of a planet which was once inhabited but is believed to have been obliterated in an accident River had subconsciously learned something mystical about the planet when she was in telepathic contact with an Alliance member of Parliament during her training. A trip to Miranda to find out more the crew need to cross the territory of the Reavers, the crew realizes something that would be suicide. Serenity returns to Shepherd Book Haven instead.

Over the crew's protests, Mal orders that Serenity be modified to look like a Reaver ship so they can reach Miranda. After sailing unnoticed through a fleet of Reaver vessels, the crew finally reaches the other side and discovers a normal, terraformed planet with a completely habitable environment but the sprawling cities are empty, except for decomposed corpses, with no apparent cause of death. The crew discover a log recorded by an Alliance research and rescue team after the disaster. According to the log, the Alliance administered a chemical substance designed to suppress aggression and thus render the planet free of violence. An unfortunate side effect was that the populace had stopped working, eating, or indeed caring about anything and let themselves die. However, approximately a tenth of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction to the drug, becoming extremely aggressive and mentally unstable. They eventually left the planet and became the Reavers.

The R. Tam Sessions

The R. Tam Sessions that was leaked to the Internet to promote the movie Serenity. Summer Glau reprises her role as River Tam while creator Joss Whedon plays the interviewer.

See River Tam Sessions for the story behind the making.