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SO ABOUT THAT FIREFLY BOOK.
It contains 4 stories written by 4 of the show's writers, and... wow. Two of them just blew me away. I'll cut this because it contains movie spoilers AND just in case anyone wants to get the book and read it for themselves.
-One is just a two-page spread in the style of a childrens' picture book, featuring Jayne as a child, along with his friend Dick. It's entitled- wait for it- "Fun With Dick and Jayne". Chibi Jayne and his friend kill stray dogs and rats for money from Port Control, then spend it betting on hobo fights, apparently. o_O
-One is called "What Holds Us Down", and is focused on Kaylee and Wash. The two are trapped inside an old Firefly while nondescript Bad Guys search for them- Kaylee is half-conscious due to a concussion and Wash is gravely injured, and the gang had to abandon them or get arrested. Kaylee's desperately trying to get the old ship to fly so they can escape, even though she knows Wash is too hurt to pilot it. She wonders why Zoe loves him so much, and Wash replies that he's a "carrier"- people around him have a tendency to become heroic. The gang eventually does come for them, and Kaylee gets flustered when Simon treats her, heheh.
-The third is called "Crystal", and starts off with Simon injecting River with just the right combination of drugs that makes her powers crystal-clear- so powerful that she can see the future. She tells Jayne that while he'll never captain a ship, he'll be rich, powerful and occasionally even heroic. She tells Book that he's going to die, but he declines when she offers to say where and how. She tells Zoe that she's going to be okay- that something will nearly break her, but she'll be okay. By the time she gets to Kaylee, it's already starting to fade, but she says "thank you" and that her story will be long and beautiful (foreshadowing what happens in the next story) and leaves. It also mentions that River and Kaylee sometimes snuggle in her hammock in the engine room, awww. ♥ River then goes to Wash and just hugs him, tracing the outline on his chest of where he gets impaled. T-T; She goes to Inara next and tells her she's "running out of time"; it's never explicitly stated what Inara wants to ask her, though it's pretty much stated she wonders whether she's going to die soon* and whether she'll get together with Mal. River says "yes and no" before she collapses. Later, River can't pick out what she wanted to tell Mal about his future, and when Simon is tucking her into bed, he realizes that he loves River as she is now just as much as he loved her before she was taken and experimented on.
-The fourth is called "Take The Sky", and takes place far in the future as a sort of "where are they now?". Mal is in his seventies and has essentially become a hermit, living on a remote mesa and shooting at anyone that tries to come near. He gets a package from Zoe (who now owns Serenity; Mal gave it to her when he realized he could no longer be anonymous after the events of the movie), who sends him a simple note ("Jayne stole this. Thought you'd want it back."), a jewelry box and a vid strip. Mal watches the vid strip to find that it's a news report of Jayne being found dead in bed. Jayne was the only one who embraced celebrity and became a billionaire, having his choice of alcohol and women; one night, he fell into bed drunk, cuddled up with Vera and accidentally shot himself. Yeaaah. The jewelry box contains the crucifix Mal wore at the Battle of Serenity Valley. Mal muses that neither he nor Jayne could ever get rid of it because it's a symbol of hope, not necessarily religion, then bitterly reflects that hope kept him going back to Inara over and over, hoping that they could both abandon their lives and be together, and the rug-pull was horrible when it happened.** He then tries to think happy thoughts and imagines the Tam family. ♥ Kaylee and Simon have married and settled on Ariel and have twins, a boy named Caleb that takes after Simon and a girl named Violet that takes after Kaylee. River babysits them all the time. It ends with Mal reflecting that he was alone and lonely, but it was what he'd chosen, so it had to be that way.
*The scene in the pilot episode where Inara looks at the mysterious needle was apparently supposed to develop into a subplot where it was revealed that she's dying, which is why she keeps running away from things- the Companion House, and then Mal.
**I personally interpret this as Inara died before she and Mal could enter into anything serious and lasting.
"Crystal" was by far and away my favorite. It seriously sounded in places like something me and my wonderful castmates at edensphere would write; we are doin' it SOOOO right. |D
It contains 4 stories written by 4 of the show's writers, and... wow. Two of them just blew me away. I'll cut this because it contains movie spoilers AND just in case anyone wants to get the book and read it for themselves.
-One is just a two-page spread in the style of a childrens' picture book, featuring Jayne as a child, along with his friend Dick. It's entitled- wait for it- "Fun With Dick and Jayne". Chibi Jayne and his friend kill stray dogs and rats for money from Port Control, then spend it betting on hobo fights, apparently. o_O
-One is called "What Holds Us Down", and is focused on Kaylee and Wash. The two are trapped inside an old Firefly while nondescript Bad Guys search for them- Kaylee is half-conscious due to a concussion and Wash is gravely injured, and the gang had to abandon them or get arrested. Kaylee's desperately trying to get the old ship to fly so they can escape, even though she knows Wash is too hurt to pilot it. She wonders why Zoe loves him so much, and Wash replies that he's a "carrier"- people around him have a tendency to become heroic. The gang eventually does come for them, and Kaylee gets flustered when Simon treats her, heheh.
-The third is called "Crystal", and starts off with Simon injecting River with just the right combination of drugs that makes her powers crystal-clear- so powerful that she can see the future. She tells Jayne that while he'll never captain a ship, he'll be rich, powerful and occasionally even heroic. She tells Book that he's going to die, but he declines when she offers to say where and how. She tells Zoe that she's going to be okay- that something will nearly break her, but she'll be okay. By the time she gets to Kaylee, it's already starting to fade, but she says "thank you" and that her story will be long and beautiful (foreshadowing what happens in the next story) and leaves. It also mentions that River and Kaylee sometimes snuggle in her hammock in the engine room, awww. ♥ River then goes to Wash and just hugs him, tracing the outline on his chest of where he gets impaled. T-T; She goes to Inara next and tells her she's "running out of time"; it's never explicitly stated what Inara wants to ask her, though it's pretty much stated she wonders whether she's going to die soon* and whether she'll get together with Mal. River says "yes and no" before she collapses. Later, River can't pick out what she wanted to tell Mal about his future, and when Simon is tucking her into bed, he realizes that he loves River as she is now just as much as he loved her before she was taken and experimented on.
-The fourth is called "Take The Sky", and takes place far in the future as a sort of "where are they now?". Mal is in his seventies and has essentially become a hermit, living on a remote mesa and shooting at anyone that tries to come near. He gets a package from Zoe (who now owns Serenity; Mal gave it to her when he realized he could no longer be anonymous after the events of the movie), who sends him a simple note ("Jayne stole this. Thought you'd want it back."), a jewelry box and a vid strip. Mal watches the vid strip to find that it's a news report of Jayne being found dead in bed. Jayne was the only one who embraced celebrity and became a billionaire, having his choice of alcohol and women; one night, he fell into bed drunk, cuddled up with Vera and accidentally shot himself. Yeaaah. The jewelry box contains the crucifix Mal wore at the Battle of Serenity Valley. Mal muses that neither he nor Jayne could ever get rid of it because it's a symbol of hope, not necessarily religion, then bitterly reflects that hope kept him going back to Inara over and over, hoping that they could both abandon their lives and be together, and the rug-pull was horrible when it happened.** He then tries to think happy thoughts and imagines the Tam family. ♥ Kaylee and Simon have married and settled on Ariel and have twins, a boy named Caleb that takes after Simon and a girl named Violet that takes after Kaylee. River babysits them all the time. It ends with Mal reflecting that he was alone and lonely, but it was what he'd chosen, so it had to be that way.
*The scene in the pilot episode where Inara looks at the mysterious needle was apparently supposed to develop into a subplot where it was revealed that she's dying, which is why she keeps running away from things- the Companion House, and then Mal.
**I personally interpret this as Inara died before she and Mal could enter into anything serious and lasting.
"Crystal" was by far and away my favorite. It seriously sounded in places like something me and my wonderful castmates at edensphere would write; we are doin' it SOOOO right. |D