Morning,
some of the feedback I got on my abridged Serenity script was that it was very difficult to understand if you didn't know the film. And they were right, dagnabbit. It was annoying me so I've put back all the stuff I took out for being clunky and obvious (in retrospect this wasn't actually the case...) and tweaked.
Hopefully it now makes it a lot clearer.
Enjoy!
JmC They call me the gangster of Love
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SERENITY; THE ABRIDGED SCRIPT- REVISED!
FADE IN: INT. SPACE CLASSROOM .TEACHER When we left Earth-That-Was-Fucked for the stars we, The Alliance, set about creating a fascist utopia. Did I say fascist? I meant funnest. But some people who had watched too much Bravestarr as children rebelled. They wanted to live as Space-Cowboys with cool bionic arms and adaptive-morphing and all that nonsense.
YOUNG SUMMER GLAU You’re thinking of the Galaxy Rangers there. Bravestarr was the one with that creepy Man-Horse.
TEACHER Silence! How dare you show independence! To the slave-lab with you!
INT. SPACE MEDICAL SLAVE LAB CHIWETEL EJIOFOR is in MICHAEL HITCHCOCK’S office studying a hologram of now-adult SUMMER GLAU being rescued by her brother SEAN MAHER.
. CHIWETEL EJIOFOR Greetings, Michael. I am the Alliance's polite British harbinger of a Universe of peace. And tea. I am Britishly annoyed that you let Summer Glau escape. Her secret-filled psychic head is the most precious in the Galaxy.
MICHAEL HITCHCOCK Well, I’d probably give it a 8.9…
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR Distasteful. (slaughters him with a sword.) Cultured. Where are you hiding, little Terminator? . INT. SPACE SHIP SERENITY NATHAN FILLLION and his RAGTAG BAND of SPACE-COWBOY OUTLAWS; tough ADAM BALDWIN, sexy engineer JEWEL STAITE, goofy pilot ADAM TUDYK and militaristic GINA TORRES are loading up a hovercar. Passengers SUMMER GLAU and Doctor SEAN MAHER watch from the side.
. NATHAN FILLION Well, golly-shucks. Time to go a-robbin, gee howdy. Summer darlin’, get your off-centre self up here.
SUMMER GLAU All shiny. I feel the fans. I feel their hope, so much hope.
SEAN MAHER Nathan, my one defining character trait makes me insist that you leave my sister here.
JEWEL STAITE (stripping) I’ll show you MY one defining character trait! Sean? SEAN? LOOK AT ME, GORAM IT! I’m gash frothing for you, you incesty freak ! Get twixt my nethers, damn you!
NATHAN FILLION Woah. Say what? Him?! (punches Sean out) Listen up, GQ, I do the sexy round here.
JEWEL STAITE I used to have an actual personality in the TV series, y’know.
GINA TORRES (salutes) We all did, honey. ADAM BALDWIN I like guns! . INT. WESTERN SPACE-TOWN BANK NATHAN and his crew go to THE OLD DEADWOOD SET to rob the payroll. But it’s an Alliance payroll so that’s ok. .NATHAN FILLION Howdy dagnammit, townsfolk. You just rest on the floor a spell whilst my associates and I waltz easily into this here Governmental hi-techy-safe. What’s that, Sum?
SUMMER GLAU Why won’t they pay full-price? Hurts us all! Not shiny!
ADAM BALDWIN Chinese expletive, she’s right, Nath! Reavers is coming! Their anarchic mainly hand-to-hand attacks make thems the most terrifying thing in a galaxy full o’firepower!
GINA TORRES Cap’n. We best help some of these folk to establish we’re not all bad before hightailing like cowards!
NATHAN FILLION Welp, that’s why they called us the brown trousers, rasafragin-fragon! Let’s run the hell away! . They run the hell away.
INT. SPACE-BAR NATHAN, ADAM and GINA conduct nefarious dealings when Summer wanders in to watch TV. Seeing an weird advert SUMMER goes TOTALLY FUCKING CRAZY and kicks the hell out of the bar-patrons.
. SUMMER GLAU Advertising! I wan’ it, I wan’ it, I wan’ it! Extended edition, director’s commentary! Gimmie, gimmie! Hi-YA! CHOP! POW! HA!
ADAM BALDWIN I’ll deal with this. Don’t mess with me, girly. I was born to kill! . ADAM gets beaten the fuck up.
. SEAN MAHER Summer! Klaatu barada nikto!
SUMMER GLAU It’s better to burn out than to fade… oh, uh… go… to… Planet Mir-anda. (passes out)
NATHAN FILLION You roofied your own sister? Twisted, Sean. . INT. SPACE-BASE CHIWETEL EJIOFOR is studying the video footage of the bar fight.
.
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR Ha! It looks like my brilliant plan for using a subliminal message in the advert to unlock Summer’s psychic brain in order to track her down so she can never unlock her psychic brain has worked. She’s with that Space-Cowboy Nathan Fillion. And how does one lure a Space-Cowboy… . INT. SPACE-WHOREHOUSE NATHAN FILLION Hey, space-whore.
MORENA BACCARIN Nathan! What are you doing here? Our complicated relationship will only confuse the casual viewer. And it’s Cum-panion, thank you.
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR (appearing) Distasteful. . CHIWETEL casually batters hell out of NATHAN FILLION. .
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR Give me the psychic. I feel I have demonstrated that I am more awesome than you in every way.
NATHAN FILLION Maybe so, pardner but you reckoned without my ability to… run the hell away! Nathan and Morena run the hell away! CHIWETEL EJIOFOR Blast. If only I’d had even the slightest back-up. No matter- there are only four or five places they can go. I shall order those places razed to the ground but not leave any troops there despite the massive army
at my disposal. That should irritate them into action. . EXT. SPACE-PLANET SURFACE NATHAN and crew are picking over the corpses of their friends.
.
NATHAN FILLION Well shucks-fuck, I ain’t dispossessed no more. In fact I’m pretty gawdamn pissed. That’s it, I aim to bring down the hammer.
SUMMER GLAU Illegal downloads, illegal downloads! Kills me, squish!
NATHAN FILLION You said it, Summer. Lets us do this ship up like a Reavers’ one and Alan can fly us through their space to that planet Miranda. Clearly if Chiwetel is trying this hard to stop us going then we needs to go.
ALAN TUDYK What? But surely if it was that easy then the alliance would have just flown explosive drones done up like Reaver Ships long ago? And can’t we just go round? Space? Infinite?
NATHAN FILLION Look. The hammer is my penis.
ALAN TUDYK That makes no sense.
NATHAN FILLION Neither does this entire plan, relying as it does on purely visual identification in deep space. Now git painting before I shoot you square in the face, hoss! . NATHAN blows away some half-shattered under-paid soldier to illustrate his point. .
ALAN TUDYK You’re still the hero, right? INT. PLANET MIRANDA, SPACE-LAB NATHAN FILLION Well, that wasn’t such a chore. This is inexplicably the only power source on the planet. There must be some answers here. . JEWEL fiddles around. .
HOLOGRAM SARAH PAULSON (appears) Hello, if you’re seeing this then I’m dead. I was going to draw an H on my forehead to illustrate but there is no time. Our experiment to pacify the people went horribly wrong. To calm them we pumped out insipid sit-coms, episode after episode of Two and A Half Men. It worked… too well.
GINA TORRES So that’s why that show has been around so long…
HOLOGRAM SARAH PAULSON But a small minority became angry. They demanded quality programming and after Arrested Development was cancelled they went on a rapey cannibal rampage. Oh no! They’re coming!
MORENA BACCARIN Reavers! The Alliance created the Reavers! Sorry, I know that was obvious but I just wanted to remind everyone that I matter. Anyone? Hellooo?
HOLOGRAM SARAH PAULSON You must get this information out. Yes, it was an honest mistake but I’m about to be raped and eaten so some motherfucker has to pay! Aieee!
GINA TORRES Turn it off.
ADAM BALDWIN Hold up. Let’s just watch the first bit.
NATHAN FILLION Adam! That’s Goram sick. Now how can we transmit this gore-snuff-porn to every single home in the ‘verse?
JEWEL STAITE Noticemeandfuckmesean,noticemeandfuckmesean. Oh! Wait! David Krumholtz! That creepy motherfucker has l33t skillz!
NATHAN FILLION Hmmm. But the Alliance is sure to be watching him, dagnabbit. Don’t worry, I have another plumb brilliant plan! Lets poke at the Reavers’ ships with a stick and then… run the hell away! They’ll follow us into what is, best guess, another army.
GINA TORRES And ultra-feminists say I shouldn’t take orders from a white man. . EXT. SPACE CHIWETEL and his MASSIVE SPACESHIP ARMY wait by DAVID KRUMHOLTZ’s SPACE BASE .
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR Ha. Foolish Nathan Fillion. Bringing a spaceship to a sword
fight. Wait! Reavers! Cocking cumfucking loads of Reavers! Everyone shoot at them! I don’t want a single ship firing on our primary target! NO ONE FIRE AT SERENITY! TEA AND CRUMPETS!!! Oh, fuck this I’m off to the surface. . INT. DAVID KRUMHOLTZ’S SPACE BASE SERENITY crashes roughly into the hanger, hotly pursued by REAVER SHIPS. NATHAN FILLION Holy Hong Kong shit, that was close. Good thing that everyone that matters is still shucks-dandy.
SUMMER GLAU Great disturbance in the force! Thousands of fan-boys crying out in pain. But they didn’t come. The cinema seats they were empty…
NATHAN FILLION What that you hollerin’ about? Oh, woefully underused Alan Tudyk is dead. Huh. And David Krumholtz too. This is all getting a bit John Constantine with my friends.
DAVID KRUMHOLTZ’S FUCK DOLL (with DAVID KRUMHOLTZ’s voice) He Britished me, Nath. He Britished me with a sword.
NATHAN FILLION Well, golly. Hellooo there.
DAVID KRUMHOLTZ’S FUCK DOLL Nathan! Focus. And really, who’s your voice coach- Yosemite Sam? Ahem. He Britished me, Nath. You have to get to the secret transmitter platform. Remember to hit A and the jump button.
GINA TORRES Hot damn! Let’s go.
NATHAN FILLION No. you stay here to get raped and eaten. I have to do this… Solo.
GINA TORRES Shhh! Don’t make it so obvious!
NATHAN FILLION I MEANT this time I shall be running the hell away… alone.
ADAM BALDWIN Well, thanks a fuck.
. INT. DAVID KRUMHOLTZ’S SPACE-BASE BUNKER The crew sans Nathan wait to be killed by Reavers. .
MORENA BACCARIN Look everyone, I’m dressed as Xena! And I have a bow! I matter, damn it. Hello? I’m a prostitute y’know. STOP LOOKING AT JEWEL AND SUMMER, ASSHOLES!!!
SEAN MAHER I’m just upset I never got to pound on Jewel’s lovehole. If only she had given me some sort of sign.
JEWEL STAITE You sonnovabitch. (slaughters several Reavers)
ADAM BALDWIN Shit, is that all it takes? I ain’t been laid in weeks! And Gina, your husband and meatpole is dead, not that the audience noticed. No sex fer you! Wooo! Frustration! Let’s kill some motherfuckers!
SUMMER GLAU Well, everyone. This has been all sorts of fun but frankly it’s time for me to Buffy my way into a future. See you in the Dollhouse! Wait , that’s Alan… Oh well, um, bye! . SUMMER dives through the door and kills the holy fuck out of a bunch of Reavers.
.
ADAM BALDWIN Wow. that’s some serious flustration right there. Good thing you never worked up the courage to bang her either, Sean.
INT. DAVID KRUMHOLTZ’S SPACE-BASE SECRET SPACE-TRANSMITTER PLATFORM
NATHAN FILLION So the doll has Krumholtz’s voice. I guess I still would…
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR Distasteful. (leaps onto walkway) Now, Nathan. You must stop. That disk will reveal that despite Joss Whedon being famous for juggling a large cast only you have anything resembling a character arc.
NATHAN FILLION (leaps onto walkway) No. No, that’s not true. That’s IMPOSSIBLE!
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR Look into yourself. You know it to be true. Only you develop.# Even Summer just jarringly changes.
NATHAN FILLION Noooo! Noooo!!! . They fight. Nathan manages to get his ass kicked slightly less than before. . NATHAN FILLION Man, you think one of us would bring a spare gun. Particularly you.
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR You would. But despite being portrayed as coldly all about the job I have an egotistical need to kill people in a nuanced way with my deathblow. Like this!
NATHAN FILLION Nuance? NUANCE? I’m Nathan ye-fucking-ha Fillion, son. I HATE nuance. Yippee Kye Oriental EY, Motherfucker! . Nathan shrugs off Chiwetel’s deathblow with the power of cowboy ruggedness and pounds him down. . NATHAN FILLION And that’s how we do, pard. Now, watch this. (uploads video) Huh? Huh? See it there?
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR My God. All those people. Killed in an accident during a genuine attempt to make a happy docile population like I always wanted. This totally puts my slaughter of entire
settlements of men, women and children just to smoke you out in perspective, Nathan. Thank you. Alliance bad. They nasty men. Me change ways.
NATHAN FILLION Ha! You changed! That’s an arc right there!
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR Well not rea….
NATHAN FILLION ARC! INT. SPACESHIP SERENITY
NATHAN FILLION …and that’s how I reprogrammed the fuckbot and got a Big Damn Blowjob. What’s up, little one?
SUMMER GLAU Now I’m sane I was just thinking, we’ve plunged the ‘verse into chaos. Do you think it will all work out?
NATHAN FILLION Looking at the ticket sales no one will ever know.
SUMMER GLAU Unless the fans buy hundreds and hundreds of copies of the DVD each that is. (stares directly at the camera) Which I’m sure they will if they really cared.
NATHAN FILLION Damn, girl. You’re cruel when you’re not crazy. Looks like you an me gonna git right along! YEEEEEE HAW!!!!! END
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