Hee. I haven't read the whole thread yet. But I got as far as your summary of River/Mal in Safe. And I have to honestly say, I started shipping them after Objects In Space, then watched the DVDs and found every other River/Mal moment I missed for some stupid reason.

The movie made me so unbelievably happy because it was pure River/Mal, and I honestly thought it would have to be and I'm glad Joss didn't let me down -- they are totally my Firefly OTP.