Firefly: The Official Companion: Volume One | 
 enlarge | Author: Joss Whedon
Publisher: Titan Books
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $6.50
You Save: $13.45 (67%)
New (32) Used (14) from $6.41
Rating:  49 reviews
Sales Rank: 14430
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 176
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 10.6 x 8.5 x 0.2
ISBN: 1845763149
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.4572
EAN: 9781845763145
ASIN: 1845763149
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Before the smash hit movie Serenity came Firefly, the cult TV series which started it all and became a DVD phenomenon, selling almost half a million copies. Set 500 years in the future, Firefly centres around Mal Reynolds, captain of the ship-for-hire Serenity and its eclectic crew of galactic misfits. When he takes on two passengers, a young doctor and his mysterious, telepathic sister, he gets much more than he bargained for This official companion is just what the show s fervent fans, the Browncoats , have been waiting for, with unseen photos, scripts, behind the scenes secrets, and exclusive input from the cast and crew, including of course creator Joss Whedon.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 44 more reviews...
Superb supplement to a reviewing of the DVDs December 2, 2008
Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA)
Probably like a lot of people, I buy a lot of books that I don't read right away. I got both volumes of FIREFLY: THE OFFICIAL COMPANION, when they came out, but never read them. Recently, however, the series came out on Blu-ray. I decided to do my fourth or fifth viewing of the series (I forget how many times) by also reading the FIREFLY/SERENITY books that I've bought but not read.
The great news is that this is a really good book. It really has three components. First, it contains the shooting scripts for the individual episodes. These are distinct from the transcripts of what finally appeared onscreen. There are two different poles in the writing of scripts and then their shooting. The difference can be illustrated by two different writer/producers. Joss Whedon has been extremely vocal that his all time favorite TV series is BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, a show that resembles FIREFLY in many, many ways (not least in that the FIREFLY special effects team was the initial special effects team for BSG -- to the extent that they put Serenity in a brief sequence in the initial miniseries). Ronald D. Moore (the genius behind BSG) is a big believer in serendipity and in spur-of-the-moment contributions on the part of the actors. He encourages spontaneous adlibbing by the actors. For instance, the very famous sequence from the miniseries where Adama repeatedly yells, "So say we all!" was something added by Edward James Olmos (my understanding is that the script had "So say we all" once, with no repetitions). Moore not only tolerates creativity on the part of actors, but encourages it. Not so with Joss Whedon. Though he has a reputation for being easy to work with, he wants actors to stick with the words that have been written. Neither approach is wrong and clearly two amazingly great series have emerged from very different philosophies.
My point is that when watching a Joss Whedon series, the words in the script carry more weight than it would in a BSG script, if we were lucky enough to see a shooting script. (I've argued at several places the identity of the final Cylon -- and if I could see an original shooting script for "The Eye of Jupiter" from Season Three, I could state definitively if I'm right in saying that it is Billy -- if Edward James Olmos interrupted lines spoken by Mary McDonnell precisely as laid out in the script, I'm pretty sure I'm right.) So, on a Whedon show, the shooting script carries a lot of weight in understanding what each episode is about.
The scripts are not exact equivalences. Sometimes Whedon or a director or the studio will make last second changes. If you follow an episode as broadcast while reading the script, you'll note lots of differences. But there is no question that the scripts add a lot to an understanding of the show. For instance, in the episode "Shindig," where River rips the labels off the food cans, I was at a loss as to why she did that. In the shooting script, it is noted that she sees in a nonemphasized way the Blue Sun logo on one of the cans. It helps a lot in explicating why she did what she did.
The second component to the book is many asides or commentaries on the scripts. These can take the form of comments on one part of a particular episode or an explication of the philosophy of the series as a whole. A third component is brief introductions to the major characters. All of this is nicely supplemented with excellent screen shots from the finished episodes.
If you are a fan of FIREFLY (and if you are not, why not?), you will definitely enjoy the two volumes making up the OFFICIAL COMPANION series. You'll get a heightened understanding of the goal of the series. Plus you'll get a key as to what all those Chinese phrases mean.
Great info for Firefly Fans October 16, 2008
Brent A. Wahl
I of course love Firefly and if you do you will like the details in Vol 1
Great read with fascinating behind the scene information October 6, 2008
Mac Man (Maryland USA)
In the spirit of Volume 1, this volume has extensive behind the scenes information and interviews. A MUST for any Firefly fan.
Another warm fuzzy for any Firefly fan March 7, 2008
Toby Minton (Lexington, KY USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you're reading this review, then you must not own volume one of Firefly: The Official Companion. If you did, then you wouldn't need a review to sell you on this one. So I have a piece of advice for you: buy both books. If you have a place in your heart for Firefly, then make a place on your coffee table for these books. Each one is overflowing with behind-the-scenes information about every episode of Firefly. There's sure to be something to interest every fan. I particularly enjoy all the prop info. You get detailed views of props and weapons, along with insight from the prop team as to how they made or modified each item. Fascinating stuff, and indispensable if you're a gamer.
Treat yourself to these books. You won't regret it.
A warm fuzzy for any Firefly fan March 7, 2008
Toby Minton (Lexington, KY USA)
If you watched Firefly, then odds are you loved Firefly. And if that's the case, then you need the Firefly: The Official Companion books. When I first opened this book (on Valentine's Day night...it was a present from my wife), I couldn't stop turning pages. I flipped through the whole thing, oohing and aahhing over all the images an extras. This book is packed with bonus material any Firefly lover will adore. You get prop details, cast and crew reminiscing, insight on the making of the first half of the episodes on the Firefly DVDs, and enough shiny memories to make you want to pop in an episode or three. Needless to say, a chunk of my romantic Valentine's Day dinner was lost to this book. Don't make the same mistake; order your copy well before the next romantic holiday.
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