Firefly: Still Flying: A Celebration of Joss Whedon’s Acclaimed Television Series is another collection of photos, production stills and artworks, collected cast interview excerpts, details on some of the props and available merchandise, a tribute to the die-hard fans who comprise the Browncoats, and more.
Still Flying also includes four new short stories set in the Verse, by writers who gave us some of the original Firefly episodes:
FUN WITH DICK AND JAYNE written and drawn by Ben Edlund
WHAT HOLDS US DOWN, by Jane Espenson
CRYSTAL by Brett Matthews
TAKE THE SKY by Jose Molina
Giving fans more stories, more photos, and more behind-the-scenes details makes Firefly: Still Flying a good addition to the two Official Companion volumes Titan Books published, and like many Browncoats out there, there doesn’t seem to be “enough” for me to explore and discover about the Verse, and I can reread the stories again and again about what went on between the cast and crew when the cameras were off, and smile in wonderment at the flashes of ingenuity and madness that went into creating some of the props.
I can’t wait to see what Titan comes up with next to add more goodies to the Firefly Verse.
Firefly: Still Flying: A Celebration of Joss Whedon’s Acclaimed TV Series
Still Flying is a brand new celebration of all aspects of the show, featuring a wealth of rare and previously unpublished images — including storyboards, production design art and candid behind the scenes photos — memories from the cast and crew, a tribute to the Browncoats, and, as a special bonus:
Publisher: Titan Books; (May 25, 2010)
Paperback: 160 pages
ISBN-10: 1848565062
ISBN-13: 978-1848565067
I was personally a little disappointed, especially in the fiction. Those four stories were far too short (especially the Edlund contribution), and were ultimately more frustrating for what they suggested and hinted than they were satisfying. And since that was the huge draw of the book, at least for me, I felt a bit cheated. I’m happy to continue to support “Firefly”, even after all these years, but that could have been so much more.
I think it’s a Catch-22 situation… for the stories to be longer, some of the other material would have to be cut, or the book would have needed to have been significantly longer, meaning cost of the book would have been higher.
The downside is, if they aren’t planning another volume, it makes sense that they wanted to include as much as they could have, but if there is another volume in the works, it might have made more sense to publish one book for the memorabilia, and one book for all the fiction, with the longer stories. As Firefly fans, is there ever enough?
The photos, drawings, and crew stories make the volume for me (can never get enough photos and behind-the-scenes gems), and the fiction was the sprinkles. Could have been rich, creamy icing, but sprinkles is better than nothin’ 🙂
I hear ya, Summer. I’m just pointing out that a lot of the proumotion was centered on the fiction included in the volume, so my expectations were a bit different from the final product.
But hey, still enjoyed what was there, so it’s a minor complaint!