Over the last week, Nathan Fillion has been teasing that there is big news coming about the series Firefly. He’s had short videos on Instagram with each of the cast members sayin things like “We’re doing this” and “It’s time”.
Then yesterday morning, the heavens opened up, the clouds parted, and a host of trumpeting angels came down to proclaim the caliwandalous news –
Firefly shall return!
The cast of Firefly was in attendance at Awesome Con, where the announcement was made that Firefly will be returning.
Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with this most fantastic of TV shows (and really, why aren’t you?) let me give you a little background.
It came out in 2002 on the Fox Network. They had me when the first commercial came out with Wash saying “Oh my God. What could it be? We’re doomed! Who’s flying this thing? All right, that would be me.” Joss Whedon created the show, he of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel Fame. He got the idea for it after reading The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, a novel about the American Civil War and the struggles between the North and the South after the war was over.
It was a space western. They had cowboys flying in an old transport ship, hauling cattle between planets, robbing trains, having gunfights. But it was so much more than that. There were bounty hunters, plucky heroes, struggles against a dominating Alliance by scrappy independents who value freedom more than control. There were dastardly villains you loved to hate (with good reason!) There was a motley crew that formed a family. There was a ship that was just as much a part of that family as any of the crew. And still so much more.
It should have run for several seasons, but it didn’t. For whatever unfathomable reason, the execs at Fox didn’t “get it” and did obnoxious things like airing the episodes out of order, pre-empting episodes for sports broadcasts, and canceling the show before all fourteen episodes had a chance to air. It had so much in it that it could have gone on much longer. Ultimately, probably because some bean counter didn’t think there’d be any money made from continuing the show, Fox pulled it off the air, much to the dismay of the small but intensely loyal fan base that had grown up around the show. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the armpits of those responsible for pulling the plug on the show. (No, I don’t hold any resentment or animosity towards those responsible. Why do you ask?)
After the show was pulled, fans clamored for more stories with our favorite crew. Ultimately we got the movie Serenity, which wrapped up several storylines. Nice that we got closure on those stories, but they should have had the time to unfold rather than being rushed and crammed into one movie. We also got some comics and a few novels that were turned into audiobooks. But we Browncoats (as Firefly fans are called) wanted more stories set in the Firefly Universe. And now we have them.
Well mostly. First off, according to the announcement, the show will be animated. That’s not optimal, but it is better than no Firefly at all. I gather this is because they want to tell the stories that should have been told between the end of the TV series and the movie Serenity. As the show was aired twenty-five (25) years ago, and the actors have all aged since then, and trying to make them look younger through digital special effects would cost too much, animation would be the best medium to do it in. All the cast, except Ron Glass who played Shepherd Book (R.I.P.) will return to lend their voices to the project.
Nathan states that he has Joss Whedon’s blessing to move forward with this. (Joss won’t be involved with the project.) Twentieth Century Fox, now owned by Disney, have expressed interest in the show. He’s gotten husband and wife team Marc Guggenheim and Tara Butters to be the showrunners. (They’ve worked on various Marvel and DC TV shows). They’ve got a script for the pilot. They’ve got Shadow Machine to do the animation (the folks behind Robot Chicken). All of which is great.
The problem though, is the show hasn’t actually been produced yet. It seems that Nathan has to go to Disney to pitch the idea to them to move ahead. Then they have to do all the myriad things to record and produce episodes. The project isn’t likely to hit the airwaves until 2027 at the earliest, more likely 2028.
It’s not as a good as an announcement that new episodes will be showing next week. There are ways the whole thing could get canned and never come together. But I’m optimistic. I’m choosing to believe that things will go well and we’ll have new Firefly stories soon.
After all, you can’t stop the signal.
If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum
Caliwandalous indeed! Even Shiny!
Except, I don’t know. I’m skeptical. I’m contrarian. I’m cynical. I hope to God that I’m wrong here.
The little detail about Disney hasn’t yet greenlighted it yet is a Giant Red Flag. Until Disney, or some other network, gives the go, it’s still just speculation, as far as I’m concerned.
Plus, I’m paranoid. I’m smelling a bait-n-switch. I conjure Disney might produce a series with different characters, supposedly set in the Firefly ‘Verse, in which our Big Damn Heroes make an occasional cameo. Nah, Nathan and the rest of the crew would never agree to that.
And did you actually say Firefly Universe? If it were anyone but you, I’d say go check your Browncoat credentials.
>> And did you actually say Firefly Universe? If it were anyone but you, I’d say go check your Browncoat credentials.
Mea culpa. I don’t know what I was thinking. Now I’m stuck with it, to my eternal shame, since you pointed it out ad if I change it now it will confuse anyone reading your comments.
Then again, ‘the ‘Verse’ is within the fictional realm of what we are discussing, whereas the ‘Firefly Universe’ is acceptable usage as it is outside the fiction.
After all, it’s not like Disney doesn’t have a documented history of taking control of someone else’s franchise and really screwing it up.