Joss Whedon’s Big Dam Movie
Essays on Serenity
edited by Frederick Blichert
PN1997.2.S465 J67 2018
New Arrivals Island, 2nd floor
You have to admit–if you’re me at least–that Firefly (2002) is the best television series that didn’t last a season. It may even be the best television series ever. If you are a fan of scifi, westerns, or Civil War stories and haven’t seen the series yet, I highly recommend it. Like Star Trek, the series has a space cowboy base upon which the story lines are built. Should you care to watch it, Firefly: The Complete Series is in our Browsing Collection, DVD Feature Film collection on the 2nd floor, under call number Fir. It can be checked out for 2 weeks.
Heroic efforts were made by the fans to continue the TV series, but that endeavor failed. However, it did spawn the movie Serenity and Serenity was good. It wrapped up some hanging story lines for fans, but also had broad appeal for those as yet uninitiated to the story and so could stand alone. The week it debuted in theaters it was number two on the charts. Should you care to watch it, Serenity is normally in our Browsing Collection, DVD Feature Film collection on the 2nd floor, under call number Ser. However, right now it is on Reserve, so you would want to borrow a copy from another UW System library using UW Request.
There has been some published Firefly/Serenity scholarship over the years, including the Winter 2008 issue (vol. 7, no. 1) of Slayage. What makes this book different is that Blichert has collected 15 essays related to some of the unique aspects of Serenity. These essays are not reruns of Firefly research. Chapter titles provide insight into the topics they cover. Some particularly interesting ones are “Death in the ‘Verse,” “The Miranda Job: Serenity as Crime Film,” and “Unspeakable Darkness: Truth, Power and the Taboo of Race.” If you are a browncoat you need to check this book out.
