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Something for the bookshelf of every Firefly fan out there, the full story behind the beloved Cult TV favourite!

Firefly: The Official Companion: Volume One

Before last year’s release of feature film Serenity reaped a whirlwind of critical praise, there was Firefly, much misunderstood - by network executives at least – they moved it’s moody pilot episode into second place and cancelled it midway through it’s first season - Firefly is the cult TV series that began saga continued in the feature. A strange success story Firefly became a DVD box-set phenomenon — selling over 500,000 copies, despite the lack of faith shown by the studio that made it, in part perhaps due to the impact of the feature film. To give an idea of just how successful this series has been post-cancellation it was still in the Amazon.co.uk ‘Top 20’ three years after its initial release!

Firefly: The Official Companion: Volume One from Titan Books may be just what the show’s fans - both new and old - have been waiting for, with unseen photos, scripts, behind the scenes secrets, and exclusive input from the cast and crew, including, of course, from series creator Joss Whedon. The Emmy-nominated creator/writer behind the phenomenal success of hit TV series’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel is also the man behind Firefly. He has since gone on to make his feature film directorial debut on the Serenity movie.

“[Joss Whedon] is a damned fine writer.” — The Guardian

Set five hundred years in the future, the series follows the adventures of the captain and rag-tag crew of the 'Firefly' class starship 'Serenity'. Mal Reynolds (played by Nathan Fillion) captain of this ship-for-hire, ekes out a living flying under the radar, just looking for enough money to fuel his ship, put food on the table, and keep flying. For the captain and crew of course – this being a rollicking space ‘western’ series, set against the backdrop of newly lost galactic civil war amongst the struggling frontier folk on often lawless worlds, life is never so straightforward. The small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family – squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

Wanton Destruction

When Mal takes on two passengers: a young doctor (Sean Maher as Dr. Simon Tam) and his mysterious, fragile seeming sister (Summer Glau as River Tam), he soon finds himself caught between his promise to offer these apparent fugitives protection from the authorities (who also represent the winning side in the civil war he himself had fought on the losing side of) and the safety of himself, his ship and crew. A far cry from the traditional high technology end of science fiction features and television (perhaps best epitomised by the Star Trek franchise – all routine faster than light travel, matter transmission, energy weapons, aliens and artificial intelligence) these are – by comparison – low tech down and dirty frontier tales. In many ways – somewhat ironically – this makes Firefly as a show more closely akin to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s original idea for his show – a ‘wagon train to the stars’ as he famously put it to TV executives in the ‘60s – that that show ever was!

Whedon conceived the television series Firefly after reading Michael Shaara’s much-noted American Civil War novel, The Killer Angels. The appeal of post-war survivors scraping by on the outskirts of society - in a science-fiction context - struck a chord with Whedon. “I was taken with the idea of a civil war and rebuilding from the point of view of people who had lost the war,” he says. “There were people after the war who internalized it so terribly that it completely destroyed them.”

Whedon’s ability to create a self-contained universe stocked with compelling characters, unexpected humour and imaginative stories has resulted in a myriad of projects during his career. In addition to creating and executive producing the television series Buffy’ and Angel - as well as writing and directing multiple episodes of each - he has brought his trademark wit and compassion as a screen writer on films including Speed, Alien: Resurrection and Toy Story, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He also wrote a comic book series for Dark Horse based on the concept of a Vampire Slayer of the future – Fray – based on a character who picks up the ongoing ‘Slayer birthright in a dystopian future Earth populated by alien threats as well as by the still present creatures of the night. His next big-screen project is rumoured to be a feature film version of DC Comics’ Wonder Woman title.

Crew-Annotated Scripts

A labour of love for it’s authors – as the series seems to have been for Joss Whedon - this book is the first volume of a promised two-volume set from Titan, which covers the principal six episodes of the Firefly saga: original series feature length pilot, The Train Job through to Bushwhacked and Our Mrs. Reynolds, the hilarious Jaynestown and concluding with the space opera of Out of Gas. Detailed episode guides for these episodes are accompanied by new commentaries, all-new prop and costume photographs and interesting facts.

Built around the crew-annotated shooting scripts of the series and all-new retrospective interviews with the entire cast of the show, Firefly: The Official Companion also delves into the process behind the show’s unique storylines, talking in-depth with Executive Producer Tim Minear and the writing staff about the evolution of the show – including the stories that were never filmed!

“The most fun sci-fi of the year.” - Empire

For further reading, there’s a wealth of behind-the-scenes information on the blockbuster sci-fi ‘sequel’ to Firefly from Whedon himself in Serenity: The Official Visual Companion - which was released last September, also from Titan. This official companion to Serenity contains a lengthy preface from Joss Whedon himself, outlining his vision of the film and his concept of the future, his production memos, and an in-depth interview with Whedon about the making of the film.

Illustrated throughout with stills, storyboards and production art, the Serenity book also features Whedon’s must-have fan resource: his full screenplay, including scenes cut from the final edit! This deluxe book offers readers an unmissable chance to get the inside track on every aspect of the films production, with the added bonus of a complete Whedon script – always (and quite rightly) fabled for their humour, emotion and unmatched vision!

The Serenity Companion won the SFX, magazine ‘Reader Award for Best Non-fiction’, 2005, as voted for by SFX readers.

As stylish, witty and captivating as the series it celebrates, this full-colour companion is the perfect bookshelf accompaniment to Titan’s best-selling and award-winning Serenity: The Official Visual Companion — and, of course, the Firefly DVD box-set!

Firefly: The Official Companion: Volume One is available now from Titan Books. For further reading the accompanying volume: Serenity: The Official Visual Companion is also still available, again from Titan, as is a slim Dark Horse Firefly comics adventure - scripted by Whedon himself and linking the end of the series with the start of the movie - entitled Those Left Behind.

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