16 replies on “Firefly is back on, wait, is it?”

  1. Sigh.
    Yep, let’s restart telling the Firefly tale on TV again after taking a detour that wiped out 2/9 of the characters. It is encouraging that SciFiChannel is behind the referenced article – they are of course owned by Universal, the studio that did Serenity.

    • Re: Sigh.

      Yep, let’s restart telling the Firefly tale on TV again after taking a detour that wiped out 2/9 of the characters. It is encouraging that SciFiChannel is behind the referenced article – they are of course owned by Universal, the studio that did Serenity.

      I have faith that Joss can create two more compelling characters for the show. Plus you can safely assume that one more character will be joining the cast.

      A strange thought I had about the movie was that if they had killed Jayne instead of Wash, Mal could have ended up taking on the agent into the crew. As it would be Jayne’s position on the crew that he’d have the most talent for. But, oh well.

      • Re: Sigh.

        Yep, let’s restart telling the Firefly tale on TV again after taking a detour that wiped out 2/9 of the characters. It is encouraging that SciFiChannel is behind the referenced article – they are of course owned by Universal, the studio that did Serenity.

        I have faith that Joss can create two more compelling characters for the show. Plus you can safely assume that one more character will be joining the cast.

        A strange thought I had about the movie was that if they had killed Jayne instead of Wash, Mal could have ended up taking on the agent into the crew. As it would be Jayne’s position on the crew that he’d have the most talent for. But, oh well.

        OTOH, The Operative’s character arc most closely resembles Shepherd Book’s (based on hints about Book’s past). Wouldn’t that be freaky?!

      • Re: Sigh.

        Logically, Firefly / Serenity must end with Mal’s death. Given the opening scenes and dialogue in Serenity Valley, the theme of the whole epic arc is established from the outset as a study in survivor guilt and living a life on borrowed time after losing a worth and noble cause.

        That being the case, what are we left with? Before the Serenity movie I’ve always thought that Wash and Kaylee would eventually end up with Serenity when the warrior types (Mal, Zoe and Jayne) didn’t make it back from one of their jobs – as would one day inevitably happen. In fact, I believe that the backstory for this was deliberately being set up during Heart of Gold.

        Not anymore. Now that we’ve seen the Shepard as an, er, “open” book” and Wash as a leaf in the wind, look what Joss is setting up for with the eventual death of Mal. River is the brains, Zoe is the muscle, Inara is the face and Kaylee is the heart of the ship. Jayne is nothing more than comic relief and Simon is eye candy. The girls rule the hellmouth, er, ship. Forget Firefly Season 2 – Buffy Season X, anyone?

        • Re: Sigh.

          and Simon is eye candy.

          Yes, but what eye candy he is! ;-)

          He actually has a lot of room for story, as he’s regularly underestimated by the others, and at the same time, he’s a newbie in this environment and learning his way in it. It makes him an interesting character in his own right.

      • Re: Sigh.

        I have faith that Joss can create two more compelling characters for the show. Plus you can safely assume that one more character will be joining the cast.

        Saffron joins the crew of Serenity. Calling it now.

        • Re: Sigh.

          Saffron joins the crew of Serenity. Calling it now.

          Hadn’t thought of this, but it is of course the perfect roundout – she becomes the "hands" of the ship. Good call.

        • Re: Sigh.
          I’ve had another thought on Firefly regarding the inevitability of Mal’s Death. Consider the relationships and interplay explored between Mal, others and death. Firefly explicitly states that the definition of a hero is one who arrives in the nick of time to save the lives of others (and Mal does). Serenity explicitly states that the the definition of a hero is one who gets other people killed (and Mal does). When Round Three gets here, what’s the only explicit definition of a hero that’s left?

          I’m tellin ya, this franchise is ultimately gonna be fun, fun fun in space once Daddy gives the T-Bird away….

        • Re: Sigh.

          I have faith that Joss can create two more compelling characters for the show. Plus you can safely assume that one more character will be joining the cast.

          Saffron joins the crew of Serenity. Calling it now.

          Saffron and Inara on the same boat? No way. Mrs. Reynolds might pop in for an episode or two, but I think we’d find out pretty quickly just how long Inara’s claws *really* are.

          :)

          Mal is not free game. Listen to Whedon’s commentary on Serenity, although it would be like him to challenge himself and his audience to find a way to bring Saffron on the boat and make it believable. :)

          -Joe

      • Re: Sigh.

        <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="cite">
        Yep, let’s restart telling the Firefly tale on TV again after taking a detour that wiped out 2/9 of the characters. It is encouraging that SciFiChannel is behind the referenced article – they are of course owned by Universal, the studio that did Serenity.
        </BLOCKQUOTE>
        I have faith that Joss can create two more compelling characters for the show. Plus you can safely assume that one more character will be joining the cast.
        <br><br>
        A strange thought I had about the movie was that if they had killed Jayne instead of Wash, Mal could have ended up taking on the agent into the crew. As it would be Jayne’s position on the crew that he’d have the most talent for. But, oh well.

        I could see the Operative ending up as crew, over a story arc … Maybe the Operative turns up as the crew are being pursued by the "two by two, hands of blue" Blue Sun people. I’d still like to see something done with Blue Sun.

        By the way, I just watched Serenity with Whedon’s commentary running in the foreground. He has a lighting fixation. :)

        -Joe

        P.S. Dave, I figgered I’d try out the new super tags, since I saw your test article posted. Sorry for blinding the rest of you. :P

        • Re: Sigh.

          I could see the Operative ending up as crew, over a story arc … Maybe the Operative turns up as the crew are being pursued by the "two by two, hands of blue" Blue Sun people. I’d still like to see something done with Blue Sun.

          By the way, I just watched Serenity with Whedon’s commentary running in the foreground. He has a lighting fixation. :)

          -Joe

          P.S. Dave, I figgered I’d try out the new super tags, since I saw your test article posted. Sorry for blinding the rest of you. :P

          Heh. The colours aren’t new, but I changed around some stuff in the database regarding how they work. I also changed the spoiler tag to use this crazy new innovation known as JavaScript so they’ll be un-spoilt simply with a mouseover, instead of requiring a highlight.

          As shown by your above comment, there are still a couple parsing bugs I need to work out, but since they’ll probably not be a problem in a couple days (they’ll only affect new comments related to old comments) I probably won’t bother.

          Just think, before long there could even be emoticons and cheesy pictures and stuff.

    • Re: Sigh.

      Yep, let’s restart telling the Firefly tale on TV again after taking a detour that wiped out 2/9 of the characters.

      Yes, everyone would have preferred to have more seasons of Firefly, but what’s done is done. I do think trying to return to a series now would be a mistake; however, what they’re talking about here is more movies (possibly straight-to-DVD?). I’m sure Joss can come up with something interesting along those lines.

      It is encouraging that SciFiChannel is behind the referenced article – they are of course owned by Universal, the studio that did Serenity.

      Of course, it could be that Universal is just trying to milk more DVD sales out of the fanboys… “Ooh, if I run out and buy five more copies, we’ll get a sequel!!” ;-)

    • Re: Sigh.

      Yep, let’s restart telling the Firefly tale on TV again after taking a detour that wiped out 2/9 of the characters. It is encouraging that SciFiChannel is behind the referenced article – they are of course owned by Universal, the studio that did Serenity.

      Law & Order and ER have managed to kill off, have people move on, or whatever many characters and stay on TV for years, and that’s with half ass stories.

      I’d be watching with baited breath every week anything that came out in this universe. There is just too much to explore.

      Walsh’s death though was one of the biggest gut punches I’ve had in a movie in a while. Serenity came in the mail today so I get to show my wife it because she was unable to see it in the theaters and I snuck in while travelling on business. Far as I know she has no clue what happens in the movie. This was one of the few sci-fi shows I watch (Besides Farscape & Babylon 5) that she was actually very interested in.

      • Re: Sigh.

        Yep, let’s restart telling the Firefly tale on TV again after taking a detour that wiped out 2/9 of the characters.

        One of the strengths of Firefly is that it took chances. Given the action these characters see, it’s unrealistic to have everyone come back alive, and it’s dramatically meaningless if the only people who die are (1) red shirts or (2) going to be revived. I wouldn’t want every SF series to work this way, but I thought that Serenity was stronger for showing that, yeah, even good people get hit by weapons.

      • Re: Sigh.

        Walsh’s death though was one of the biggest gut punches I’ve had in a movie in a while.

        I only got into Firefly in the run-up to the movie, rented the DVDs and really liked ’em.

        Wash seemed familiar to me, and it was when I saw his "past self" in IIRC, "Out of Gas", that he reminded me of a friend of mine who was killed in a stupid accident in 2004.

        So Wash’s death pretty much made me want to smack Whedon in the head real, real hard.

        But that’s a mark of good storytelling, innit?

  2. funny side note
    The sidebar on the SciFi Wire site reads:

    Because fans have manipulated the SCI FI Wire poll on Joss Whedon’s next project, the editors have deleted it and replaced it with a new poll.

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