Saturday, September 8, 2007

Firefly, The Official Companion, Vol 1, Joss Whedon

Title: Firefly, The Official Companion, Vol 1
Author: Joss Whedon
Rating: Good

This review could make me look like a total fan-boy, but I hope to avoid that.

When I acquired the DVDs of Firefly, it was because I'd seen them once and wanted to be able to watch them on occasion again without waiting for Netflix to get then to me.

When I ordered the DVDs from Amazon I did the search in all products instead of just in the DVD section. I was surprised to discover several books related to the series. They all wound up on my wish list - just for a place to put them - and a recent birthday wound up with two of them appearing as gifts. I really didn't know what to expect from this book as a result, but I enjoyed reading it.

It mostly contains the original shooting scripts for half the episodes of Firefly. I've enjoyed that kind of material in the past as it helps illuminate dialog I couldn't make out the final release, and it shows how things changed between the original writing and the final cut of the program or movie. In that regard, at least, this is a good read.

There are a few other things tossed in here just for kicks. Blurbs about each of the major characters, half an interview with Joss Whedon, and some odds and ends about specific props and what not. Most of that isn't as interesting to me as the actual scripts, but it's certainly not terrible or anything like that.

So if you liked the series, you might find this book interesting. I'm going to have to order volume two just to complete the set, and there are a couple of other things floating around out there that may have to come my way as well over time. So perhaps it is a fan-boy thing after all. Oh well.