Famous movie spaceships can have a rough time once the camera stops rolling. For instance, the Nostromo from Alien was discovered with a dead possum inside. The eponymous spaceship from Serenity had been consigned to a similarly undistinguished fate...until recently.



The replica builders at Quantum Mechanix recently had the chance to photograph this massive model upon unearthing it in the Universal Archives. Explains QMx of this discovery:

About three months ago, while getting a very rare tour of the Universal archives, we came across something tucked into a corner and covered in plastic that made our hearts skip a beat: a highly-detailed 12-foot-long filming model of the Reaverized Serenity. We could hardly believe what we were seeing! As many Browncoats know, there has been a rumor around for years that a filming miniature used for the crash scene on Mr. Universe's planet. But that rumor was either denied as either being totally false, or that the miniature used was a simple styrofoam model. As you can see from the picture below, it does exist and is about as far from a "simple" model as you could imagine.

You can see the detail on the ship's gun above, many more photos below (and here), and here's a video of the crashdown sequence filmed against a green screen.





Hat tip to Cljohnston108 and Shana!

[Via Firefly Fans]