Fleshing out the origins of the Reavers

One thing that I really appreciated about Serenity is the explanation the movie offered concerning the Reavers, a topic that I feel the television series did not touch upon enough. Though I haven't watched every episode of Firefly, the series really didn't present much concerning this dangerous group of cannibalistic humans gone mad in the episodes we watched in class, other than the fact that they are to be avoided at all costs. One thing I really enjoy about any television series is the introduction and thorough explanation of how given groups in a series operate or came to be. It was very satisfying for me to see Serenity integrate the Reavers into the main plot and flesh out a vivid explanation of how a large group of humans managed to lose all sense of civilization and resort to an animalistic state.

Though the Alliance could perhaps be seen as the ideal form of intergalactic unity in the Firefly universe, this movie advances the counter-argument that such a government can lose control and become a problem more so than a solution. The fact that the Alliance conducted a scientific experiment with such disastrous effects on a large population and attempted to cover it up raises quite a few eyebrows, and calls into question the accreditation of such an intergalactic governing force. Allowing a whole population to die or become wild space cannibals in a science experiment is pretty irresponsible, and the attempt of the Alliance to cover it all up is extremely shady.