Firefly given new life

[GT98]

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.

Yeah that is interesting because Univerisal/Scifi/NBC all fall under General Electric, not News Corp who owns Fox/Fox news etc...

[Gurm]

Yeah that is interesting because Univerisal/Scifi/NBC all fall under General Electric, not News Corp who owns Fox/Fox news etc...

Exactly. My understanding was that there was nothing except money preventing them from taking it back to the small screen. I mean look at it this way - Joss Whedon has been keeping all of the actors employed for the past two years...!

[High_Jumbllama]

I heard this in person at DragonCon 2004 From Adam, Jewel and Nathan. I'm gonna find proof.

[Gurm]

I heard this in person at DragonCon 2004 From Adam, Jewel and Nathan. I'm gonna find proof.

Wait wait so the deal was with who - Joss Whedon? Or the actors? Perhaps it was an exclusivity thing. I don't see it being an impediment to the actual show coming back, might just mean someone would need to grease someone else's palm.

[High_Jumbllama]

Thought they menioned it in the video of the panel from Comic Con 2004. It takes forever to download. Tryin' to find the time index.

Edit:
I can't find anything. I know I read it somewhere also. Basically, Universal bought most of the rights from Fox. One of the conditions was that they not produce another series. If successful within a realtively close amount of time, it would make Fox look bad since they failed with the series.

[paulcs]

Thought they menioned it in the video of the panel from Comic Con 2004. It takes forever to download. Tryin' to find the time index.

Edit:
I can't find anything. I know I read it somewhere also. Basically, Universal bought most of the rights from Fox. One of the conditions was that they not produce another series. If successful within a realtively close amount of time, it would make Fox look bad since they failed with the series.

Here's what I could dig up:

Twentieth Century Fox Television (the production company/studio, as opposed to Fox the television network) sold the feature rights to Universal, who were chomping at the bit to establish a relationship with Joss Whedon. I'm not sure which studio has the television rights, but I wouldn't be surprised if Twentieth (the studio) retained them. Whedon still has a good relationship with Twentieth Century Fox Television, but his relationship with Fox the network is pretty poor.

I can't blame him for being pissed off. Fox the network at first refused to air the Firefly pilot, forcing Whedon to shoot a second pilot, scheduled the show in the cursed "death slot" (Friday at 9:00 PM), pre-empted a bunch of episodes for baseball, aired the episodes out of sequence, cancelled the show, didn't bother to air several episodes, and finally aired the original pilot as the series finale. I doubt Whedon will be working with the network any time in the near future.

http://movies.msn.com/celebs/article.aspx?news=182979&mpc=2

Although Whedon relationship with the studio remains good, he ended his development deal with Twentieth last year, presumably to focus on feature films. He also said he just ran out of ideas for TV series. If he decides to get back into TV during the next year, Twentieth would have first dibs. In the meantime, Whedon has agreed to write and direct Wonder Woman for Warner Bros.

Both Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk have said in interviews that they are locked into two sequels if Universal decides to go that route. Mutant Enemy Inc. owns a piece of the copyright, so Whedon will be involved in any sequels one way or the other. He's become a bit of a control freak, which is understandable after the studios trashed his "Bufffy" (the movie) and "Alien: Resurrection" scripts: "The next person who ruins one of my scripts is going to be me," are the words he used.

Fillion said he'd be happy to do another Firefly TV series after three Serenity films are released. That assumes there will be three. Whedon has said he views Serenity as "an absolute one-shot," although he "designed their world and these characters and this ensemble to sustain seven years’ worth, so, yeah, there could be more." He was talking about film sequels at the time. I haven't read anything about a new TV series from anyone but Fillion:

http://movies.about.com/od/serenity/a/serentynf120604.htm

If Serenity does well, they'll probably stick with making movies. If it fails, I doubt anyone will be willing to revive the TV series. Although with Whedon, you never know. He's had a failed feature film turned into a TV series that ran for seven years (with a spin-off that ran for five) and a failed TV series turned into a feature film. I just can't see Firefly returning to the small screen while they're still making features.

Paul

[High_Jumbllama]

Train Job was shown first because the network did not think the pilot had enough "action" in it.

I am glad to see Whedon being such a "control freak". Too often the studios change a series to match whatever whim they have or think the public has and the art is lost. More power to him especially as he seems able to pull it off.

[DGhost]

what i understand...

part of Fox's standard contract when they sign any new show is that they retain control for creation of future episodes for a certain number of years, regardless of who owns broadcast rights. kind of a content control idea - it would keep any cancelled show from coming up on a different network, especially in the case of a popular show where The Powers That Be do not get along with the people creating it. keeps them from simply getting themselves fired and picking up work elsewhere.

the major loophole in this is that film/theater productions are essentially exempt from this policy. from what i understood, this is was a major part of his decision to go to the big screen with it as well as to go with a different studio

i am not sure how the sale to Sci Fi will affect anything... if what i heard was true then there are certain contractual obligations that have to be met even if television rights are sold to a different studio, and these might prevent it from being continued in the near future.

i dunno, i can't remember where i heard it from. just another rumor, i suppose.

[High_Jumbllama]

. . . .
part of Fox's standard contract when they sign any new show is that they retain control for creation of future episodes for a certain number of years, regardless of who owns broadcast rights. kind of a content control idea - it would keep any cancelled show from coming up on a different network, especially in the case of a popular show where The Powers That Be do not get along with the people creating it. keeps them from simply getting themselves fired and picking up work elsewhere.
. . . .

That would make more sense. They actors/actresses did sound like they were not 100% sure of the reason.

Take a look at the BitTorrent linked file in my sig.

[Gurm]

Take a look at the BitTorrent linked file in my sig.

Is this different/better somehow from the WMV-HD version which is 1280x720?

[High_Jumbllama]

Is this different/better somehow from the WMV-HD version which is 1280x720?

Oh. I did not realize that it had already been out there. Do you have a link to the Windows Media version?

It proves to me QT7 has some serious optimizing to do.

[Gurm]

Oh. I did not realize that it had already been out there. Do you have a link to the Windows Media version?

It proves to me QT7 has some serious optimizing to do.

Jammrock linked to it previously, I thought. I'll look around for the link though.

And yes, QT7 is a complete waste. The fact is that there doesn't exist a PC that can render QT-HD 1080 - it's just ridiculous. WMV-HD on the other hand can be rendered nicely by my machine (Athlon Mobile 2500), and if I turn on ATI's WMV-HD acceleration, with only about 20% CPU use.

[High_Jumbllama]

ONe of the funniest things from the show:

The Ballad of Jayne
as heard in the episode, Jaynestown.

Jayne, the man they call Jayne

He robbed from the rich
And he gave to the poor
Stood up to the man
And gave him what for
Our love for him now
Ain't hard to explain
The hero of Canton
The man they call Jayne

Our Jayne saw the mudders' backs breakin'
He saw the mudders' lament
And he saw the magistrate takin'
Every dollar and leavin' five cents
So he said "you can't do that to my people"
He said "you can't crush them under your heel"
So Jayne strapped on his hat
And in 5 seconds flat
Stole everythin' Boss Higgins had to steal

He robbed from the rich
And he gave to the poor
Stood up to the man
And gave him what for
Our love for him now
Ain't hard to explain
The hero of Canton
The man they call Jayne

Now here is what separates heroes
From common folk like you and I
The man they call Jayne
He turned 'round his plane
And let that money hit sky
He dropped it onto our houses
He dropped it into our yards
The man they called Jayne
He stole away our pain
And headed out for the stars

He robbed from the rich
And he gave to the poor
Stood up to the man
And gave him what for
Our love for him now
Ain't hard to explain
The hero of Canton
The man they call Jayne.

[High_Jumbllama]

Gurm, I found it on the main site. I hadn't looked in the trailer secton in a while. Does it require Media Player 10? It was asking to install some updated DRM components.

[Gurm]

Gurm, I found it on the main site. I hadn't looked in the trailer secton in a while. Does it require Media Player 10? It was asking to install some updated DRM components.

Uhh... maybe? Not sure. I've never tried playing WMV-HD with WMP9. *shrug*