Firefly: A Celebration Review: The Perfect Companion to the Show

By David Molofsky /

Ten years ago, the Firefly-class spaceship known as Serenity set off on its first flight, introducing the world to Joss Whedon€™s sci-fi western series Firefly. Unfortunately, that flight was cut short by the inhuman Reavers known as the Fox Broadcasting Network, who aired the show out of order and never gave it a fighting chance to survive even to the end of one season. However, over the intervening decade, the fanbase of Browncoats has swelled, with fan rallying and high DVD sales earning the sequel film Serenity. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Firefly, Whedon and company have released a brilliant companion book, titled simply Firefly: A Celebration. The book contains the three previous companion books released by Titan Books: Firefly: The Illustrated Companion Volume I and Volume II, as well as Still Flying. However, that doesn€™t even begin to describe what€™s in store in this leather-bound volume. Much of the book is comprised of the original shooting scripts for all 14 episodes of the series. While non-film nerds might not care about that as much, there€™s still much more: every page includes little details about particular scenes or props or costumes from the cast and crew. For instance, there is a whole page discussing how River€™s blue box from the (original) pilot episode Serenity was constructed, as well as a quote from Summer Glau about what it was like to do her first scene completely naked. And if you don€™t care about any of that, then you€™ll at least be able to appreciate the fact that all of the Chinese expressions are finally translated. In addition to the scripts, the book has information on just about everything you could possibly want to know about the life of Firefly: profiles on all nine main actors/characters, in-depth discussions of various props, sets, and costumes, interviews with Joss Whedon. Want to know how Jayne€™s prize gun, Vera, was constructed? Or what it was like for Nathan Fillion to audition? Or what the editor€™s favorite moment on the gag reel is? It€™s all in there. The book even includes a few stories from the writers that never made it to the screen. Despite it€™s short life, Firefly is certainly a show to be celebrated. With Joss Whedon finally reaching the mega-star status every Browncoat knows he always deserved with The Avengers, this book couldn€™t have come out at a better time. Whether you€™ve been with Firefly from the start or are just seeing it for the first time, this book is the perfect companion.