Serenity Now/Equality Now screening recap

I took my friend Jen to this with me tonight because she'd never seen the movie and I knew she would really like it. What I didn't anticipate or adequately prepare her for was, well, the TYPE of people who really really REALLY like this movie. See, I didn't know there would be a costume contest, for example. I gave her the 5 minute background on the TV show so she would know who all the characters are, but I didn't also explain the high likelihood of total immersion freak and geek nation for an evening.

So we get there and there are free commemorative cards (OK) and raffle tickets for fabulous prizes, and T-shirts that even I didn't understand (and I own the movie on DVD and saw every episode of the TV show), and people are dressed up like Kaylee and Jayne hats abound, and one girl with a sarong decided she was dressed like Inara, and I just realized I have no way to explain to Jen what I have dragged her into.

The Lafont Plaza theater is old. Some would say decrepit, but there is some charm. I hadn't eaten dinner so I decided to get popcorn and a soda--and they had to pour the soda from bottles because their fountain was down. The popcorn tasted like buttered cardboard. The seats in the theater rock and creak and you can't really tell if they were made to do that or if they're just really, really "used." The air conditioner did not appear to be working. These were all questionable omens.

So they start with the world's most interminable raffle. Like 15 T-shirts were given away, and the boisterous reaction from each winner made us resolve that we would not go up and select our prize (if we won) unless it was something really, really good. Like a few times we got scared when the ticket number was really close to ours. I mean there was Serenity-inspired jewelry. We did decide we would go up and take a copy of the series DVD box set if it was one of the prizes. Alas it was not. There was a $50 gift card to Hooters and a T-shirt as the "grand prize" but we did not win that. Then they finally started the movie.

Jen really, really liked the movie and I loved seeing it in a theater again. But at the crucial fight between the good guy and the bad guy at the very end, suddenly the frame froze and made a horrible clicking noise. And then, you know that thing you've seen in older movies? Where the frame distorts and melts? THAT HAPPENED. Right on Mal's face. So everyone starts booing and I make promises to Jen that we can go watch the end on my DVD if they can't somehow restore it. I go to the bathroom and hear several girls stating that Joss simply HAS to come to DragonCon now, to make up for not being there last year and for having them send us a bad print. (They said this TO me as though I would clearly a) know he skipped DragonCon last year and b) totally agree. I nodded, washed my hands and slowly backed away from the superfans.)

But then! The theater operator managed to splice the film back together and only lose about one second of screen time. We watched the end in peace. And then we got the hell out of there. It was hot and I could tell Jen was at her geek threshhold. On our way out we were offered some sort of Odi bar? (Something like that). We declined. We did not stick around for the post-film festivities. But I'm really glad I went. I'm glad she liked the movie, I'm glad we supported a great cause, and I'm totally not looking forward to DragonCon this year. Because, oh yes, I promised someone that I would go. (I'm pretty sure I was drunk at the time.)

God help me.