Posts Tagged ‘review’

Oh, you gotta get this.

I really liked "Finding Serenity," BenBella Books' first collection of Firefly/Serenity essays edited by Jane Espenson. Lots of fun, lots of new insights, even some new facts a diehard Browncoat like me hadn't heard yet. So, yeah, we've seen the movie since then, but how much new stuff could they write about?

You're thinking I'm going to say "quite a bit, actually," aren't you? Damn. You guys are good. Here's what you'll find in "Serenity Found":

Jane's intro. Jane Espenson's memories of the 'verse and what it's like working with Joss.

"Not every writer does this. They assume that there is a chance that the viewer is distracted, or very young, or unsophisticated. They try to accomodate. Joss doesn't give you an inch."

Catching Up with the Future. Science fiction master Orson Scott Card runs through the history of science fiction in films to explain with unrelenting honesty how movies dumbed sci-fi down, how that worked against print sci-fi, and how "Firefly" brought the bar back up where it should be.

The story of "Serenity" was smart, hard science fiction. Not only were the regular cast still good strong characters, the new characters – Mr. Universe and the assassin – were fascinating, surprising, quirky. The plot actually hinged on a moral decision made by the bad guy. Who does that?

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