Ebook reader in SciFi series Firefly
By Paul Biba
So I’m watching the wonderful, if short lived, series Firefly and in episode 6 the Preacher calls for an encyclopedia. Lo and behold, it’s an ebook reader. Thanks to the marvels of the Mac OS, with its built in screen capture, I can bring you a blurry picture of the unit.
We can clearly see that the screen, on the right of the unit, is backlit, so it’s not epaper. The ereader folds closed like a book, but I can’t quite figure out what is on the left hand side. Not text, certainly, but some sort of index, or maybe controls. As far as I know this is the only instance of a dedicated ereader in a scifi series. In all the other series I’ve seen the readers are all multi-purpose units.
According to Wikipedia, Firefly takes place 510 years in the future, after the Unification Wars. I wonder who won – Sony or Amazon?
August 26th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Not to nitpick but…
The series was called “Firefly” (basically ‘cowboys in space’ seen from the losing side of a war) and the movie that concluded the series (with a short graphic novel between the two that provides a connection between the events at the end of the series to the movie) was called “Serenity”.
Gritty realism.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Not to nitpick but…
The series was called “Firefly” (basically ‘cowboys in space’ seen from the losing side of a war) and the movie that concluded the series (with a short graphic novel between the two that provides a connection between the events at the end of the series to the movie) was called “Serenity”.
Gritty realism.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
You’re right. Corrected. Keep mixing the name up with the movie.
August 27th, 2009 at 6:25 am
On the newer Star Trek series (ST:NG, DS9, Voyager…) ebook readers are common and dirt cheap; so cheap, each one stores a single document until its not needed again, at which point it gets wiped for reuse. They call them PADDs.
On the Series Andromeda, they use Flimsies; large format thin film displays that, again, each holds a single document in full color with high interactivity. Controls afe by touch.
On the series Earth: Final Conflict, they used Globals; essentially super smartphines with a pull-out flexible screen, communications and data access capability; probably what will eventually replace the iPhone.
There are other examples but those three are notable because we will very likely see something like them very soon. The Trek Padds in particular were designed in consultation with Parc researchers way back when. (Along with the comm-badges, which already exist and are in use in several hospitals…)
Fun stuff.
And yes, Firefly is a great series; yet another in a long line of quality shows that FOX launched and killed just as they started to find an audience. With Firely, at least, Universal made a small killing; they bought the rights to the series from Fox for almost nothing and then made Serenity which turned a tidy profit. Nothing major, but the DVD and BD sales alone are decent.
Highly recommended, the show and the movie; either together or individually.
August 27th, 2009 at 6:50 am
Check the deleted scenes of the first episode, you’ll see Simon using that same reader much more clearly to look up “Serenity Valley.”
The left hand side is a flap with a series of loops containing small cylinders, which are apparently memory sticks.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Of course, there is also the Original Star Trek; Kirk collects bound print books and Spock, like any rational ebook reader, finds this excentric. And In the Court Martial episode, they feature a lawyer of renown who constantly harps about the virtues of ink on paper vs electronic books.
I guess it means luddites will always be with us…
August 27th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Neither: They were both absorbed by the companies that would eventually be known as the Blue Sun corporation, who finally imposed a common e-book format on everyone, and let whoever wanted to sell readers for it.
August 27th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Paul,
Your end comment gave me a hearty morning chuckle. But if we’re lucky, no one wins out and we’ll have a breadth of readers to choose from. It’ll be the formats that’ll get whittled down.
BTW, I guess I’m rational *and* eccentric. Because I read from a Sony yet still collect print books.
August 27th, 2009 at 8:49 am
There is a Firefly novel that is only available as a free e-book.
My Own Kind Of Freedom by Steven Brust. e.g. on feedbooks
http://feedbooks.com/book/2217
Definitely worth reading if you are a Firefly fan.
August 27th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Thank you Mr Wallcraft.
More Firefly is always a good thing…
October 1st, 2009 at 12:58 am
Yes, there is a deleted scene on the last Firefly DVD (disc 4) that shows this reader in detail. Simon uses the voice command “Read” to get it to read a history article to him in a synthesized voice that is similar to the voice used on the Kindle. It has a touch screen and an animated display. Very interesting.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Yes, on the last DVD of the series (DVD #4) there is a deleted scene that shows the reader in great detail. It has compartments for content “sticks” on the left and an animated color screen on the right. Simon uses a voice command to get the device to read him an encyclopedia entry on the Battle of Serenity, if I’m not mistaken. The device reads the article in a synthesized female voice that is similar to that of Amazon’s Kindle. Very interesting.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
What’s more, Google has said they chose the name “Wave” for their new collaboration system because of Firefly—people in Firefly don’t send emails, they send “waves”.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Thanks to Felix Torres for the review of ebooks in SF. So, “Firefly takes place 510 years in the future” and the ebook-like device “reads the article in a synthesized female voice that is similar to that of Amazon’s Kindle.” The device must be an ancient museum piece or an extreme retro-fashion statement.
The original Star Trek series contains many anachronistic devices, e.g., Top 10 Inventions That Star Trek Failed to Foresee. Screens use tubes instead of flat panels and numerical displays flip or roll.