Jane Espenson

Who writes essays about a short-lived television series that hardly anyone ever watched? Who reads these essays? Answer to both questions: people who "get it".

That is, people who understand that there was more to Joss Whedon's Firefly than "Gunsmoke in Space". Well, maybe not Gunsmoke; the law was black and white in Gunsmoke, and Firefly contains multiple shades of gray. More like, um, maybe "The Wild Wild West in Space"? Jim West saw shades of gray -- utilized shades of gray in his show more apprehension of criminals. Malcolm Reynolds saw shades of gray in his flouting of the law. Two sides of the same coin? Maybe.

This collection of essays examines the multiple layers of meaning in Firefly's 'verse. Authors ranging from Mercedes Lackey to Tanya Huff to Jewel Staite ("Kaylee") discourse on the topics of freedom, sex, marriage, equality, crime, war, friendship, and many others, with the occasional glimpse behind the scenes thrown in for good measure. It's a rollicking, eye-opening, thought-provoking collection about a TV show "they" thought had no staying power.

Boy, howdy, were "they" wrong. Because "they" didn't get it. show less

The Book Report: Eighteen more essays about the moral, political, and ethical underpinnings, implications, and effects of the late, lamented "Firefly" TV series.

My Review: Last collection had yummy-yummy Jewel Staite, aka Kaylee, writing about her favorite things in each episode; this collection has the slurpsome Nathan Fillion reflecting on being the Captain! For that alone, it's worth the price of admission!

But wait! There's more! Loni Peristere (also a beauteous hunk of man-flesh, maybe show more Joss is a switch-hitter? All the men in the 'verse are so toothsome!), the f/x wizard behind the whole Whedonesque world, talks about the amazing and exacting Creator in terms of inspiring the best work from Loni and his minions, an essay that made me even angrier at the business-sound-but-aesthetically-idiotic cancellation of "Firefly". Then one Geoff Klock pulls apart and analyzes the brilliant, brilliant episode "Out of Gas", in search of storytelling genius and its telltale markers; there are many, and they are important for anyone interested in storytelling craft to study in depth. This essay makes that process almost easy, which is in itself a feat of storytelling.

Bruce Bethke's essay, "Cut 'Em Off At The Horsehead Nebula!", goes into the whys and wherefores of the SFnal aversion to Western tropes invading "its" territory, rooted in the pulp origins of SF, and its early competition with Western pulps for writers and readers. One can still hear nasty, condescending echoes of the war, which SF **won** and could and should drop, in the covert critical reception of "Firefly" as a damned Bat Durston story. Read the essay, I ain't explainin' that one. Too long, and also it pisses me the hell off.

My personal favorite essay is "The Bonnie Brown Flag", relating the "Firefly" underpinnings to the American Civil War's myth of the Noble Losers, the Gentleman Planters following the Bonnie Blue Flag. It's poignant, it's well crafted, and it's quite nicely argued.

The only essay that's a real flop is "The Virtual 'Verse", which was a waaay premature ad for the dead-in-the-water MMORPG of "Firefly" that was, at that time, being touted as forthcoming. Well, it never forthcame, and the essay looks like what it was: Blatant product placement. Ptui.

But then comes what I think is the most important essay: "The Alliance's War on Science" by Ken Wharton. Ten pages of keen observation on the nature of political propaganda masquerading as science. Again, if all you read is this one essay, your purchase price will be fully amortized. The subject is ever-more important, and this essay will sensitize you to the issue like never before.

Just like "Firefly" would have, had it survived intact to this good day. Next best thing is buying BenBella Books's essay collections. And, of course, reading them with the starved passion of a jilted lover. Or is it just me...? show less

The Book Report: Twenty-one essays on Firefly and its underlying assumptions, pre-Serenity-the-movie, by a motley crew of writers, philosophers, actors, and bon vivants, edited by Whedonesque Goddess Jane Espenson, creatrix of the fine, fine episode "Shindig."

My Review: Unless you're already familiar with "Firefly," none of this will make one whit of sense. If you've drunk the Kool-Aid, it's a balm in this age to re-immerse yourself in the 'verse. So much richness and challenging freshness show more were lost when the series was amputated after 14 episodes! A wild-assed solar system, per Joss's insistence, with a zillion and seven terraformable planets and moons. A society made up of solely human inhabitants that still manages to feel alien as all hell and still contains people...oh dear, oh dear, I *meant* characters!...that I know, some well, some not well, some I'd cross the street to avoid. Just like my block. A crew of thieves and whores, plus one bona-fide Companion/geisha/hetaeara as a nod to respectability(!).

Essays treat all, well most, facets of this fascinating and deeply textured fictional reality, from deep philosophical musings that, frankly, I found impenetrably dull and in spite of four separate runs at it have never finished, to Jewel Staite (Kaylee!) musing on her top-five moments of joy making or watching or both each of the 14 episodes. Mercedes Lackey, a favorite author of mine some of the time and a keen observer of humanity all of the time, wrote an excellent meditation on the libertarian overtones of the series, whether that was her stated aim I know not. David Gerrold (he wrote "The Trouble with Tribbles" for ST:TOS, and if any part of that sentence doesn't scan for you, I can't help you) meditates elegantly, since he can't write any other way, on subtext and its many traps and rewards.

But no one takes on some of the cringe-inducing tech flubs, like the universally-accessible Cortex, "waves" that allow real-time conversation, and the explicit **lack** of relativity-bending FTL drives still allowing us to go from place to place in a reasonable facsimile of a blink! EEEUUU But well, what a geeky fan-boy am I, over in fan-fiction-land, I wrote stories treating these very subjects: This is indeed a system, just part of a system in a star cluster (Google it) that's held together by dark matter, which is what the gravity drives on space ships use to get to near-relativistic speeds so get from planet to planet in less than the months it'd take otherwise...wait, this isn't *my* essay in the book! It's a review!

*sigh*

Anyway, I turned to this essay collection because I miss with a starved passion the fixes of the 'verse that I've come to need like I need single-malt Scotch whisky. I truly, passionately, deeply love this vision of humanity's probable future, and wish that I could win one of those super-ultra-mega-big lottery jackpots. I'd put some of it, like Nathan Fillion said, to use buying "Firefly" back from the gorram Reavers at FOX and make as many more episodes as I could afford, netcasting them to my fellow Browncoats. A fine bunch, may I add. I chould know. They helped me get through the lowest ebb of my independent adult life, generously and without making a fuss about it.

But I can't recommend it to any and all comers. It truly is just for the initiates, so I can't rate it higher than I have here. For Browncoats, though, I give it full star marks! If you don't have it already, get it. show less

Various factions plot to gain political control over a fantasy world.

I'm reluctantly giving it an A instead of an A plus. I loved watching it, but there are a few major problems. Some key plot points are unexplained. Martin's obsession with incest is off-putting. Some of the villains are senselessly evil just for the sake of being villains (huge pet peeve of mine). Oddly, the biggest problem is that there is a ridiculous amount of gratuitous sex and nudity, to the point where it becomes show more funny. The general rule seems to be that if there's no good reason for characters to not be having sex during their scene, then what are their clothes still on for goddamnit? HBO viewers demand titties! Fantasy is always treading a fine line between immersing and silly, so a show like this that takes itself Very Seriously couldn't do much worse than give you a reason to laugh at it.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: A
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: D

Enjoyment: A

GPA: 2.8/4 show less