So you think you're a fan of Firefly?





As both a fan of the short-lived TV show Firefly and an obsessive sci-fi geek, I’ve been trying find Firefly/Serenity merchandise to fill my cravings for the series. There isn’t much out there, but here’s what I’ve found.

Firefly: The Complete Series – The TV series on DVD, with many audio commentaries and some short documentaries.

Serenity: The Official Visual Companion – This book is the script to upcoming movie, plus interviews and background material from Joss Whedon. I bought it, but I haven’t looked at the second half on the grounds of spoilage. Serenity will also have a novelization.

Serenity Action Figures – The good news is that Diamond Direct has made action figures of Mal and Jayne from the movie. The bad news they don’t look anything like Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin. There’s also a Reaver figure.

Serenity from Dark Horse Comics – This three issue series by Joss Whedon (story), Brett Matthews (script), and Will Conrad (art) takes place after the TV series but before the movie. The story has two Blue Hand Agents recruit Dobson (the fed agent from the Firefly pilot) to go after Malcolm Reynolds again. Each individual issue had three covers, each cover featuring a different character drawn by A-list comic artists. Normally I don’t go for variant covers, but these were really nice. A collected edition is coming in January.

Amazon.com also lists a Serenity soundtrack.

That’s all the official stuff. Here’s a list of some other Firefly items that reflect the more do-it-yourself side of fandom.

Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly – This unofficial (if professional) book represents just about the sum total of Firefly criticism that exists in printed form. Essays cover subjects like the nature of the Reavers, the representation of women, and Jewel Staite’s favorite scenes.

Done the Impossible: The Fans' Tale of Firefly and Serenity – This documentary hasn’t come out yet, but if you pre-order it in the next few days you get bonus DVDs with convention panel footage. They say those will include the Dragon*Con 2004 panels, which were hilarious.

The Signal – Finally, something free! This weekly podcast covers all aspects of Firefly/Serenity. The most recent installment has an essay responding to an essay in Finding Serenity (yes, the incest has started already), a piece on the science of Firefly, a lesson in Chinese, and more.

There is also a role-playing game (not really my bag) and if you dig around you can find t-shirts and Jayne hats.

Posted: Wed - September 14, 2005 at      

©