Firefly given new life

[Jessterw]

Looks like the Sci-Fi channel has picked up the series Firefly in time for the movie Serenity...

http://www.tv.com/story/story.html&story_id=335

[Dr Mordrid]

Doesn't sound like any new episodes other than the 3
un-aired ones

Maybe a good run for Serenity will change that....

Dr. Mordrid

[Jessterw]

Yeah, was sorta hoping that since they made the effort to show the previous episodes, they would possibly take the next step towards renewing it. Would definitely give them another good series.

[Gurm]

You never know with Sci-Fi. They might very well pick it up. They tend to not decide on picking up shows for new seasons until they've seen the returns - case in point is Battlestar: Galactica, they waited to renew that until the first season was almost over. I hope with all my hoper that they'll see good returns from Serenity and pick it back up. None of the actors are doing anything exclusive at the moment, except that Alan Tudyk is filling in for Hank Azaria in Spamalot for a few months.

[High_Jumbllama]

There is something in the deal that including making the movie(s) that they cannot return to the small screen within five years. That would make Fox look bad of course. I heard this in person at DragonCon 2004.

[Claymonkey]

There is something in the deal that including making the movie(s) that they cannot return to the small screen within five years. That would make Fox look bad of course. I heard this in person at DragonCon 2004.

Please NO! I need my Firefly fix.

[xortam]

So what is this "Serenity" and "Firefly"? These apparently are both Sci-Fi series? How about a synopsis? What network do they air on, Sci-Fi channel?

[Jessterw]

Firefly was a futuristic western of sorts, set 500 some-odd years from now, that originally aired on FOX. It was cancelled after a very short run, but has now been picked-up by the Sci-Fi channel (for the original episodes at least). Serenity is the soon-to-be released movie adaptation/continuation of the aforementioned television series.

Here's a brief synopsis:

The series takes place some time in the future, after Earth has been abandoned; there has been a sort of civil war between the colonies, with the Alliance winning, and the Independents taking to the outskirts of society. The captain and his crew are some of these Independents, taking a variety of jobs (usually illegal) in order to get by. They also carry four passengers, several of whom desire to avoid "the Feds;" among these are a Companion (legalized prostitute), a Shepherd (a priest), and a Medic and his sister who was rescued from the Feds' Academy.

It should be noted that the doctor's sister was the subject of experiments that resulted in her being emotional disturbed (which has interesting results when taken with her already high intellect). She is highly wanted by the Alliance and the "blue" men.

[xortam]

Thanks. I never watch Fox. I'm finally watching Mad TV (working towards a complete collection), which originally aired on Fox, since it's now rerun on Comedy Central. I'll have to look for these shows and give them a chance.

[Jessterw]

Ah, I've just been watching the DVD's. Netflix is a wonderful thing

[xortam]

My wife's been threatening to buy me the DVDs because I soak so much time into capturing and dubbing all the Mad TV episodes. That would just take away the fun of collecting them.

[Gurm]

Firefly... ahh, where to start?

Ok, it's a sci-fi western. Yeah, that sounds a little weird, but bear with me.

It's the future. Earth has been stripped of resources, and the burgeoning population has caused astonishing overcrowding. When interstellar travel becomes possible, our last great superpowers combine into the Anglo-Sino (American/Chinese) Alliance, and spread out amongst the stars, terraforming as they go.

Now thing on Earth are SOOOO bad that people are DESPERATE to get to the "new frontier", as it were. So desperate that they'll sell everything they own just for a one-way ticket. They arrive at their new homes, after a near-impossible journey, with nothing but the clothes on their backs... meaning that while there is a fair amount of technology floating around, most people have nothing, or next-to-nothing.

The Alliance's presence in the "outer planets" is sketchy at best, creating a real lawless, wild-west feel.

Something (we're unclear what) causes a large number of the dispossessed to rebel against the Alliance. These rebels (also called Browncoats) lose. Seven years later, our story begins.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds, formerly Sergeant Reynolds of the Browncoats, captains "Serenity", a Firefly-class starship. He is joined by his former squad-mate Zoey, her husband (and the self-proclaimed best pilot in the galaxy) Wash, Uberkind mechanic Kaylee, and mercenary Jayne (who is a guy, and will KILL you if you make fun of his name OR his mom). Also occupying the ship is a "companion" (think geisha - highly trained, highly skilled, very selective whore who is extremely well respected in society) who rents out one of the shuttles.

Over the course of the first episode, they are joined by Shepherd (think itinerant priest) Book - who apparently knows kung-fu and a lot about weapons and may or may not be just a preacher; Doctor Simon Tam, and his sister River - who are fugitives from the Alliance, having sprung River (who is a genius) from a government detention center where they were experimenting on her brain.

The crew will take just about any job to pay the bills. And there we are... oh yes, let's not forget the REAVERS - semi-humans from the edge of space that eat people. Ick.

------------------------------

The appeal of the show is multifold:

1. There's a real appeal to the "bad guys who are actually good" motif. Noble outlaws, not above petty larceny, bar brawling, or wenching... but who have principles and morals.

2. It has the trademark Joss Whedon witty dialogue. Not to say that there aren't a good many serious scenes, but...

3. It has just enough wild-west to be cool, but not so much as to be irritating.

4. The characters break into Chinese in the course of normal speech - this being a natural outflowing of the fact that the settlers to the stars were 50/50 Chinese. It also lets them get away with swearing rather vociferously without offending the censors in any way.

5. The sci-fi is ultra-realistic... well, as ultra-realistic as sci-fi gets. Ships make no noise in space. Air and food are a real concern aboard ship (canned vegetables and tofu-like "protein" make up a large portion of their diet). Guns, although technologically advanced, still shoot projectiles - lasers are available, but uncommon as sidearms due to the tremendous power requirements.

6. The culture is pretty realistic.

7. The actors are all quite good, and between their acting and the writing, it's VERY easy to empathise with the characters very quickly. You find yourself really sucked into the story. I haven't talked with anyone that really hated the show. Just people who loved it and people who were like "well I don't like sci-fi or westerns so it was ... eh". Nobody goes "that show SUCKED".

8. It's a sequential series - meaning that they all remember what happened in previous episodes. None of this Star Trek "oh look ANOTHER wormhole, how will we approach this one - nobody remembers the one from last season, so Geordie will make up a NEW particle to shoot it with".

-------------------------

There's a bunch of sites online that have a list of the stupid crap Fox did to kill the show. Stuff like putting it on Friday night at 9pm (when NOBODY watches TV), pre-empting half the episodes for sports (who pre-empts shows on FRIDAY NIGHT???), putting the shows out of order so that they didn't make any sense (it really is a SEQUENTIAL series), refusing to air the pilot, etc.

[dbdg]

I rented it on DVD (with the pilot) after a friend recommended it and quite simply....

...it Rocks!

[Gurm]

It should be noted that the doctor's sister was the subject of experiments that resulted in her being emotional disturbed (which has interesting results when taken with her already high intellect). She is highly wanted by the Alliance and the "blue" men.

Actually the experiments made her telepathic (or at least empathic), although they never come right out and say so. She isn't able to distinguish reality from a game, or a dream. She has also been "programmed" with combat skills, but she can't bring herself to use them because she has also been rendered incapable of controlling her emotions. Most normal people, if presented with a situation where they have to suppress their fear, or shame, or guilt, in order to survive, can do so. It's an emotional response we develop as we age - 3 year olds can't swallow their fear or sadness and press on, but adults can. Not River. She feels EVERYTHING... ALL the time. Part of her brain's reaction to this is to build elaborate fantasy worlds. She's capable of killing with precision, so long as she doesn't have to realize that she's hurting someone.

[Gurm]

There is something in the deal that including making the movie(s) that they cannot return to the small screen within five years. That would make Fox look bad of course. I heard this in person at DragonCon 2004.

Err... really? The movie deal isn't with Fox, and Fox doesn't own the series any more. I don't even think Fox did the DVD's...

I'd like to read some more on this, perhaps from an official source? I'm not saying I don't believe you, just that it doesn't ring true when the picture deal is with Universal, and the TV series is currently owned by Sci-Fi.