One of the more common worries that one sees about Serenity is that people aren’t sure how well non-Firefly fans are going to be able to follow what’s going on. As I’ve not yet seen the movie, I can’t comment on that, but I think it’s an interesting question for science fiction in general.

Science Fiction (and fantasy, for that matter) is usually set in a universe that the reader is unfamiliar with. Many people consider this a problem, especially if the writer doesn’t fully explain every aspect of this world that he even so much as touches on. For me, though, the unanswered questions, the promise that there are more stories just around the corner, these things make the universes of science fiction novels real.

I saw a comment somewhere that a viewer who wasn’t familiar with the Firefly series wouldn’t have understood why the crew would go to Shepherd Book (who has left the ship by the time the movie takes place, as is shown in the Serenity miniseries comic book). Again, I haven’t seen the movie, but I really can’t imagine that not knowing Book’s backstory hurts the film’s story. At the very worst, I would see it as another question, another symbol that these people have a history, that they don’t just exist in the story we see told.

I love seeing what goes on “behind” the scenes, so I’m a fan of books that provide advice on how to write science fiction or fantasy. Every one of those books that I’ve ever read has emphasized one thing: world-building. They say it is essential that you know more about the world than you’re willing to tell, that you can drop little hints that there is more to the world than just this story, because if you don’t have any idea of the world “outside your windows”, so to speak, then the entire story feels flat. That’s the sense I get from most sci-fi movies and shows, and it’s a sense I never got from Firefly.

Ah, well. There’s no accounting for taste, I suppose.

While we’re talking about unanswered questions, I wonder why I haven’t gotten any comment or trackback spam today. I usually have at least three or four to clean up. Maybe the spammers are being nice and giving me a birthday gift. I prefer the one I get tomorrow, myself: Serenity!