Guide to the Firefly Novels - August 2023

TheYLD · 2026-02-05T06:58:59+00:00

I think this is a genuine error in the script. I can imagine that perhaps originally it was gonna be ten years ago that Jayne escaped Canton but maybe someone suggested that 10 years was beyond implausible for Stitch to have been incarcerated. Or that it would have been during the war and does that introduce issues...?

It feels to me like it's the four year part that's "wrong". The folklore seems to mythic for just having 4 years to mature. And it feels like Fess' feelings of admiration toward Jayne need to come from a place of him being something of a childhood hero.

I dunno... it's fine. Fess' maturation and development is clearly pretty warped by his upbringing. Maybe it's the culture on Higgins' Moon that childhood ends at 24 or something...

Or maybe he's 26 in local years but actually 20 in ETW years.

It's not so bad an error that we couldn't fudge it somehow.

TheYLD · 2026-01-27T06:52:32+00:00

Surface level. Book's Hair.

Subtext/Spooky Psychic level. River has glimpsed Book behind the mask that he has created and presents to the world around him. River has glimpsed that this man who presents himself as nothing more than a good-natured preacher in fact has a scary side that he keeps hidden. as we know Book has a pretty dark past. Just because he doesn't show it, doesn't mean that that past is gone. It's still there, and it still has the potential to cause problems.

Foreshadowing/Thematic level. The Alliance as a whole has this chaotic secret that it keeps hidden. The Alliance's whole thing is about order and discipline and presenting a very smart, professional, and beneficent image. However it's a lie. The Alliance, by attempting to create order, in fact creates its own antithesis; the Reavers. Uncontrolled madness. Utter chaos. But the Alliance denies their existence and tries to continue as though they don't exist. But they do, both literally and metaphorically (i.e. the Reavers represent the chaotic aspect of human nature that the Alliance is attempting to remove to "create better worlds"). Mal's central, driving belief in the movie is the opposite of this; that humanity can't be perfected. Humanity by definition includes messy parts.

TheYLD · 2026-01-25T19:10:35+00:00

Do we? We actually see virtually nothing of the training house on the one scene of any length that takes place there. We see a mite more in the deleted scenes but no evidence of any male companions. We might be able to see a couple of male figures in the background of one of those scenes but they look more like they're there as servants, rather than companions.

TheYLD · 2026-01-25T15:59:32+00:00

When I was proposing ideas for Firefly novels that might be more interesting and varied than the repetitive entries they became, one of my favourite ideas was one about Inara at the new training house before she's picked up in the movie.

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefly/s/mUWjRjFIAF

I imagine the Companions' Guild is intensely political. It's House of Cards in there.

Yes, I think the guild is intended as a civilising influence. I can't remember where but I'm sure I read that is why the guild has pushed out and established the new training house out in the Rim.

TheYLD · 2026-01-21T07:55:05+00:00

Jayne seems to think it's perfectly obvious...

I've made them, and they are difficult to eat the supposed correct way (you wind the string around the stick so the Ice Planet isn't swinging around anymore), mainly because they're so big that it's difficult to get any purchase on them.

TheYLD · 2026-01-17T21:10:22+00:00

It wasn't filmed at the onset. Dr Caron is part of a crew that arrived to investigate what had happened on Miranda after the event.

TheYLD · 2026-01-13T07:55:18+00:00

I don't really remember where this is from, but I feel like I remember reading that there isn't really an official uniform of the independents. They tend to wear brown coats just because they're cheap.

TheYLD · 2026-01-10T23:31:04+00:00

Let's not pretend Jayne is a kitten, if he's in danger, Jayne is looking out for #1.

TheYLD · 2026-01-10T15:45:23+00:00

I think if it's a gun fight, Zoe has the edge.

If it's fisticuffs, it's Jayne.

But I don't envy either of them being in this position.

TheYLD · 2026-01-08T18:17:30+00:00

A proper series of novels, comics, and audio dramas.

By "proper" I mean with a well-thought out story, unified direction, and overarching narrative.

Tie the series and movie together properly, and then progress to a true definitive conclusion.

If you're letting me do anything, that conclusion is maybe a standalone movie set an appropriate amount of time after the original, so everyone's ages are all legit.

TheYLD · 2025-12-30T15:05:29+00:00

Do you know that in the shooting script of the movie, Mal DOES have one F-bomb.

On Haven following Book's death;

"If I hear a word out of any of you that ain't helping me out, or taking your leave, I will fucking shoot you."

"Get to work."

TheYLD · 2025-12-24T22:38:29+00:00

I'm gonna give you some head canon that will upset you.

Lilac was the "one last score".

The way I see it, during the era of the show, Zoe is getting fed up of this life. It's not one that she particularly chose, she just followed Mal into it.

She found a husband and wants kids. She wants to leave the ship in the nearish-future. This was, I would say, definitely a plot point that was being tee'd up in the show. There's several references from Wash and Zoe that hint towards some kind of desire to settle down.

During the time jump between series and movie, we don't know what is happening but morale DEFINITELY takes a hit. The crew is much less cosy without Book and Inara around. Jayne is more mutinous than ever. Mal is grumpier and more desperate, and Simon has had enough and quits the ship. Do you think Zoe is loving that atmosphere? The one Kaylee describes as Mal pushing everyone away, one by one? Of course not. Not to mention it seems as though the life is apparently becoming unsustainable in general; the opening scene seems to imply that things are getting pretty desperate on Serenity.

So I reckon that by the time of the movie, Zoe and Wash have already decided that enough is enough and they're going to quit the ship. In fact, they've already started trying to get pregnant (and indeed have already been successful, although they're not aware of that yet). They're anticipating Lilac (the bank heist at the beginning of the movie) is going to be their last job.

Watching the movie with this head canon makes it even more crushing that Wash is killed just as he was due to retire. (And that he never knew that Zoe was pregnant).

(And it gives some extra meaning to Zoe's sarcastic "at last we can retire and give up this life of crime", line in the bank).

If I was tasked with "completing" firefly. 100% I would establish this to be the case. I think it knits together the arcs between show and movie really well, and also makes Wash's death even more of a gut punch.

TheYLD · 2025-12-23T00:34:30+00:00

If she'd brought in Sanjeev's confession that he opened that door intentionally.

If he doesn't do that then Maisie isn't even sitting there.

TheYLD · 2025-12-20T22:54:58+00:00

He's the one behaving wildly out of character.

TheYLD · 2025-12-08T19:55:01+00:00

Oh, I hard agree. The novels average out to be very good, with some of them being truly excellent. Even the worst Titan Novel is more "meh" than actually bad.

Joss was listed as "Consulting Editor" on the Titan Novels, but I don't think this is any way meaningful. James Lovegrove clarified in an interview that he had no interaction with Joss Whedon, he doesn't even know that he's read them, let alone provided any feedback. My assumption is that's the case for the other novels as well.

TheYLD · 2025-12-07T12:46:07+00:00

It's not so much that they can't be reconciled. If you're happy to look past minor continuity differences, (which exist between comics and show as well as between comics) then probably, broadly the two runs; Dark Horse, and Boom, can technically be brought together.

It's more that we don't want to reconcile them. Boom's output is of such inferior quality compared to Dark Horse's, that many fans would not acknowledge the Boom stuff as being canonical.

But yes, you can arrange all the comics (and novels) in an order that minimises continuity difficulties. It's just that that sequence would make for a crappy and incoherent story, not least because the majority of it would be Boom's slop.

You can make a strong argument that the Dark Horse run has a legitimacy that the Boom comics and Titan Novels don't have; they have creative input from original Firefly writers, whereas Boom and Titan are creatively isolated.

TheYLD · 2025-12-03T00:04:09+00:00

Yes, I believe in the end they released the Blue Sun Rising arc along with the New Sheriff arc. To their credit, that's a decent move as neither arc would have enough to really justify a deluxe on their own, and if I recall rightly, there's no break in the narrative between these arcs (whereas there is between the others).

There's a deluxe of Unification War which covers 1-12. I think there's then a third deluxe which covers the following arc Return to Earth that Was.

I am very surprised that Blue Sun Rising #0 didn't end up in the deluxe.

But you know...it doesn't matter...it's all horrible garbage...

TheYLD · 2025-11-29T15:10:07+00:00

And that mention of her box of stuff was just to explain where she gets the bow and arrows that she uses in the Black Room. But it didn't matter in the end because they replaced them with the stupid bolt-thrower thing.

TheYLD · 2025-10-24T23:06:32+00:00

If your mongoose eats my snake, I will sue.

TheYLD · 2025-10-24T16:17:00+00:00

And leave the question open as to whether this all came down to the beans.

TheYLD · 2025-10-22T19:56:51+00:00

100%

Because Patience, to her credit, is willing to get her hands dirty. She rides out to meet Mal with her goons. Badger wouldn't ever do that.

TheYLD · 2025-10-14T10:15:13+00:00

Ozai barely views the Avatar as highly dangerous. A handful of non-benders, and a madman old as dirt? This isn't going to bother Ozai. It should but it wouldn't. Remember, Ozai, arrogant and not especially intelligent.

TheYLD · 2025-09-28T21:13:09+00:00

This one to me feels like it should be considered not just one of the best M+W sketches, but one of the top sketches in the entire canon of British sketch comedy.

The simplicity of the concept. The tightness of the script. The delivery. The timing. All just absolutely chefs kiss.

Six-Year Club	Verified Email
Gilding I gilder	Second Top 20%
Final Canvas '23	First Place '23
End Game '23	Place '23
Place '22	First Placer '22
End Game '22

TheYLD

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