Great!
Hoping for a sequel... ( )

This book is a must-have for any Firefly/Serenity fan. It contains the complete shooting script for the film, a long interview with Joss, notes on production issues, brief commentaries from the nine major cast members, storyboards, tons of film stills, preproduction concept art, a history of the Firefly universe... just about everything you could want, really. I only wish there'd been more of it.

The book is put together very nicely, and in such a way that there are no major spoilers. You'll definitely get more out of it if you've seen the movie already, but I think you could safely read the interview and early behind-the scenes stuff ahead of time, then return to the script after watching the film.

These behind-the-scenes bits really are good. I was most interested in what Joss has to say about the adjustments he made to present this story as a movie instead of a television show. It was a fascinating look inside the process.

Overall: great stuff. Definitely find yourself a copy of this if you like the TV show/movie! ( )

Beautiful pictures and sketches accompany the screenplay. ( )

If you love(d) Joss Whedon’s Firefly or Serenity, this book is a must have. It features production stills, preproduction sketches, storyboards, and background material, along with the complete shooting script. Not sure what the Chinese the crew used meant? This book will tell you.

The images provide you with plenty of easy-to-use reference material if you’re planning to build a model of Serenity, do drawings of the characters or ships, or do other fannish crafty things.

There’s also a nice interview with Joss, complete with Joss’s standard witty responses. ( )

I will admit it now: I am a huge Firefly/Serenity fan.

That being said: The Official Visual Companion was a little disappointing and very satisfying at the same time. Being a "visual" companion, it had plenty of shiny photographs. Most of the text was made up of the original shooting script (the final release of the movie remained very close to the original script), and an interview with Joss Whedon, the creator and writer. (If you happen to watch the movie with commentary, you will recognize some of the same material.) Also included was a handful of vignettes about lighting, music, costuming, etc. I found the book to be very interesting, and gorgeous to look at, however, I wish there were more vignettes covered in greater detail.

Experiments in Reading ( )