Serenity 2: The Search for Book

Sounds good, doesn't it? I finally made the switch to Firefox, which had the unexpected (though I shoulda figured) benefit of clearing up a hiccup that had infected my Internet Explorer and made downloads of a number of podcasts impossible. Among the podcasts I've been doing without is the very shiny show The Signal, a professional-sounding fan production that began life as an effort to promote the film Serenity and is now devoted to driving the bandwagon for a Serenity sequel.

I didn't realize how much delight the I.E. hiccup had stolen from me until I started listening again to my fellow browncoats obsess about the characters created by Joss Whedon and the nine talented actors who portrayed them in the short-lived series Firefly and the film that should have been the biggest blockbuster of 2005. Now I've got the fever again.

I would love to see a second Firefly film, one where the mystery of Shepherd Book's past must be unraveled as part of the plot. After River, whose mystery was resolved in the first film, Book is the most intriguing member of the Serenity crew, and focusing on him would accomplish two things: First, it would give us some answers to questions that keep Firefly fans buzzing, and second, the inevitable flashbacks would give Whedon a reason to insert actor Ron Glass into the film, Book having gone the way of all flesh in a memorable scene in Serenity.

The film inexplicably made barely enough at the box office to cover the expense of making it, but I have to believe DVD sales and rentals have more than made up for that disappointment - there must be a reason Serenity was chosen as the first Universal Pictures release on HD-DVD. Malcolm Reynolds and his crew are just too pretty to stay up there on the shelf. I'm glad The Signal crew is banging the drum for a sequel - because these characters are screaming for more adventures.