Serenity: Those Left Behind

When the TV series Firefly was prematurely canceled and began to prepare to make the transition to the big bright silver screen with the film Serenity, the space in between was filled up with a three issue comic book from Dark Horse co-written by Joss Whedon titled, Serenity: Those Left Behind.

One obvious reason for the need for Serenity Those Left Behind was to explain the changes that greeted us in Serenity from the Firefly TV series we thought we know. More than just a name change, Serenity saw Inara and Shepherd Book gone from Serenity and the smaller crew doing its best to fill the gang out with River's participation. While positioning itself to tackle the transition to the film, Serenity Those Left Behind also takes one last look back bringing in a villain from the show's very first episode. Agent Benson.

In Firefly's original pilot, (the actual pilot as opposed to The Train Job which is the pilot FOX insisted on and aired as the pilot instead with the actual pilot airing as Serenity Parts 1 and 2) Agent Benson had been hunting for Simon and River Tam and during a hostage situation on board Serenity, was defeated by Mal. Paralleling the return of Warren, who would return in Joss Whedon's Buffy Season 8, Agent Benson returns hunting for Mal and serves as Serenity Those Left Behind's chief villain. Like Warren, Agent Benson was severely crippled and looking for revenge. Of course with two eyes or only one-- Agent Benson makes for a lame nemesis so he's joined by the mysterious men with hands of blue from "Ariel" who have been hunting River and Tam.

The men with hands of blue prove to have blue all over their bodies and to also be disappointingly ordinary and not even government operatives but freelance contractors. This really does not seem to fit with the way local law enforcement complied with them in "Ariel" and it reduces a cool mystery to something disappointingly mundane-- perhaps foreshadowing the disappointments Serenity the film would inflict on many fans. At the end we learn that the men were hired by the Operative as Serenity Those Left Behind ends moving smoothly into the opening moments of Serenity the movie.

Throughout Serenity Those Left Behind, Shepherd Book is clearly experiencing unease with his role in a gang of thieves. As the story opens, Shepherd has managed to distract the townsfolk by delivering a sermon in their church, preaching that what matters is not what we are born with, but what we contribute in our comings and goings. It is clearly goings that is on his mind as at the end of these three issues, Shepherd Book will have made the decision to part from the crew of Serenity and halfway through Serenity the Motion Picture, he will himself be dead.

The title of Serenity Those Left Behind, itself clearly refers as well to those who are going, namely Inara and Shepherd Book himself, who at one point asks Simon not to call him Shepherd because it makes matters more difficult. His increasing callousness troubles Shepherd Book and on being challenged by Mal on his hypocrisy in stealing a car rather than turning to God, punches him in the face and realizes that he truly belongs elsewhere before he sinks so low, that it no longer bothers him. Meanwhile Kaylee and Simon's developing romance moves haltingly forward. Jayne and Wash remain their usual selves and Badger-- another recurring TV series character makes a return appearance. Inara herself is slowly pressing Mal to let her leave-- even as Mal daydreams inwardly of telling her how he feels about her.

As with Fray, the comic book format gives Joss Whedon to tell some of the Firefly story without the limitations of a special effects budget. Thus Serenity Those Left Behind takes us to the scene of the Battle of Sturges, the first or (according to Mal) second bloodiest battle of the war. The location of the Battle of Sturges is a starship graveyard, destroyed ships and fragments of ships litter the area as Mal and the Firefly crew follow Badger's coordinations to recover the Browncoat money that the battle had been fought over. The massive ships, the echoingly vast interior of the ships and the massive getaway car Book steals and Serenity then concludes an escape by knocking over a water tower would all have slaughtered the Firefly effects budget-- they're also suspiciously similar to some of the set pieces in Serenity, including the pivotal fleet battle that becomes a chaos of fighting whirling ships and the getaway after a robbery that requires disabling a pursuing Reaver ship.

Overall Serenity Those Left Behind plays out like most Firefly episodes, a blown scheme, a new job for a hungry crew and an ambush-- following the classic Western conventions. The artwork for Serenity Those Left Behind by Will Conrad is visually stunning and Laura Martin's colors resonate with richness not even the show's cinematography ever managed. Visually Serenity Those Left Behind is almost as good as the real thing. Storywise it plays out like one of the better Firefly episodes without the limitations of a budget and while it doesn't break any real new ground, it does a good job of filling in the missing space between Firefly the TV series and Serenity the motion picture.