Serenity and Firefly

Post by **Alatar** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:27 pm

I know there are some more Joss Whedon fans here who might be interested in this news:

Serenity And Beyond
Exclusive: Whedon on Firefly's future

Browncoats around the world cried out in despair when, due to an underwhelming performance at the box office, Joss Whedon announced that the saga of Serenity had ended. No sequels, no follow-ups, no hope. But Whedon isn't a man to let his brain-child die; the man's already resuscitated the franchise once and there's still hope for a third coming.

"A sequel's unlikely," Whedon told Empire with a note of clear regret, "but it's amazing what permutations of something can happen." But if not a theatrical encore, that leaves... yes, you guessed it, a possible return to the smaller screen. "As long as I was able to service the characters with integrity and had enough money so that I wasn't hampered, then I would love to return Serenity to TV. I love that universe; it continues and those characters live on. There could be a series, there could be a miniseries, there could be all sorts of things. I'm not ruling anything out. I'll let it simmer for a while and see if anyone calls."

As for why the film failed to rake in the cash despite uniformly glowing reviews, according to Whedon it's all in the presentation. "It's a question of marketing ultimately. The fact that I like to dance around genres with gay abandon has worked to my disadvantage. Nobody knows exactly how to market anything I do because it usually has so much in it. It has a diffuseness because of it's origin that keeps it from being the easy sell. Some people also said that you can't call an action movie 'Serenity' but I think that's still okay. What was I going to call it? 'Big Smash Bang With Boobies'? Which was, of course my second choice."

DVD sales should, however, put Serenity back in the black and when the bucks start rolling in we can only hope that one of the suits at Universal looks at the numbers, adds the success of the Firefly DVD box set and greenlights a return for Captain Reynolds and his crew. Until that time we advise Whedon to keep his phone switched on.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:35 pm

Oh, I hope that works out. This show and the film are both rare gems. The writing and characterization are brilliant. I've fallen in love with it entirely since getting the series on DVD, and I would love to think there's room in the television universe for mordant wit, high principles, perfect dialogue, and deeply human characters, all in an SF show that is genuinely exciting.

Thanks, Alatar, for posting this note of hope. I hadn't read anything since Whedon's last statement that there would be no sequels and he was moving on.

Post by **Frelga** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:36 pm

Well, that's one reason to buy a DVD, something that I do only rarely.

So Whedon is channeling Kaylee? "To hell with it. I'm gonna live!"

Post by **Lalaith** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 5:24 am

That does give me some hope! Thanks for posting it, Alatar.

I love the show and the movie. It would be awesome for it to return somewhere.

Lali

Post by **cemthinae** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:29 pm

Frelga wrote:So Whedon is channeling Kaylee? "To hell with it. I'm gonna live!"

He's always been that way about Serenity!

Wait until you watch the features on the dvd. What a great guy!

Post by **Cerin** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:10 pm

Kaylee turned up on 'DaVinci's Inquest' as DaVinci's daughter!!!!

vison, I'm so glad you clued us in to that show. I really enjoy it. It is so different from American TV!

Post by **Maria** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:58 pm

Yay! There is hope.

Post by **Impenitent** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:40 am

Both Firefly and Serenity passed me by; I watch very, very little TV and very few movies (except rentals, although they tend to be dictated by the kids' choices) and apparently Firefly was screened in Aus at very odd hours, around midnight and without any hoopla...so I hadn't heard of it before Serenity began to be discussed by friends in a, shall we say...over the top? manner.

So, frustrated with being out of the loop with all those in-jokes, I rented Serenity - which really was so very good! (although suspension-of-disbelief button had to be activated throughout the viewing). Firefly isn't available at any of my regular rental places, so the wonderful and generous NotListening mailed it down to me from Sydney only a week ago.

Well...we're all Firefly converts. My daughter and I watched the last episode together last night, and tonight we'll watch all the special features. It is very captivating; real, gripping, one cares about the characters, their history and complexity. And the show is gritty; grimey. And it could all have happened yesterday; or maybe it will happen tomorrow. In any case, it is happening now, and one can feel it, live it. It is familiar, somehow.

What an excellent production! Which is, of course, why it was killed off by neglect. Are all studios run by 6 year olds who can't get past one line character definitions? So sad.

I hope Whedon does resuscitate this idea. I can't say I was that impressed by Buffy or Angel - all those prosthesis got in the way of believable character, I think; and there were too many holes in that world; or maybe it's the fantasy/fusion that didn't work for me - whereas the future/past fusion worked so beautifully and came alive in Firefly.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:16 am

Hurray!

It's marvelous, isn't it? The writing just makes me go all

.

Post by **TheWagner** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:42 am

I am a very recent convert to Firefly/Serenity. In fact, I just watched the movie three nights ago.

Frack! That was an OUTSTANDING show! I was hooked, and I'm now the junky groping for a new fix....

Seriously, that was a very interesting drama, with intriguing character development and sociopolitical commentary. I wish that I'd known about it: I guess that I was too busy looking at snails and arguing about Tolkien at the time.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Fri May 19, 2006 5:13 am

"Frack"?

Then I take it you already watch Battlestar Galactica?

I don't find BSG as . . . I guess the word is "loveable" . . . as Firefly, but it's well-written and well-played. Bleak, though, and without Firefly's secret uncynical heart.

Post by **TheWagner** » Fri May 19, 2006 6:14 am

Primula Baggins wrote:"Frack"? Then I take it you already watch Battlestar Galactica?.

Heh, yes: but the word is much older. I think that Robert Heinlein as a substitute for other obscenities.... Babylon 5 used it, too, for what that is worth.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Fri May 19, 2006 9:22 am

I'm trying to remember. . . .

I need to watch B5 again, that's clear, when I can't even remember the ubiquitous fake swear word. Fortunately I have a lot of treadmill time ahead.

At a certain point my sons referred to milder swearing such as "crap" and "dammit" as "Garibaldi words."

As for Heinlein, I don't remember any fake swearing I found convincing. His gifts didn't tend toward language.

I do know that on the old BSG the word was "felgercarb." I honestly don't know why I know that, as I did not watch that show—I thought correctly that it was a cheap ripoff of Star Wars. The new one is nothing at all like that.

I write SF, but my characters don't swear. They get very angry and passionate, but they don't swear. This is just now occurring to me. Odd.

Post by **Cerin** » Fri May 19, 2006 7:00 pm

I have never felt such extreme frustration at the cancellation of a series, as when they took off 'Firefly'. Really, I was beside myself with aggravation.

Post by **Frelga** » Tue May 23, 2006 2:06 am

I was turned onto Firefly around the time Serenity was released and... I just can't my head around this show being cancelled. DH even expressed a suspicion that this may have been a conspiracy against the moral and social message in the story.

One of the things I love - in addition to plot, character, dialogue and cinematography (that shot of the spaceship with horses running below!) - is how powerful women are in that 'verse. Not your usual drool baits, even though Inara and Zoe are both gorgeous, and Kaylee is adorable. But their characters are not about being gorgeous, they are capable, strong and feminine all at once. And I absolutely adore the (mostly) happy married couple - it's so rare to see a good working marriage in fiction.

Post by **Cerin** » Tue May 23, 2006 4:04 pm

Hi, Frelga!

Frelga wrote:DH even expressed a suspicion that this may have been a conspiracy against the moral and social message in the story.

But what was objectionable about the moral and social message? Love, loyalty, resistance to tyranny and cruelty ...

Oh, perhaps the fact that they were thieves?

Btw, who is DH?

Post by **Frelga** » Tue May 23, 2006 5:06 pm

Cerin

right back at ya!

DH = dear husband. You know, from, like, physical world and stuff.

But what was objectionable about the moral and social message? Love, loyalty, resistance to tyranny and cruelty ...

Perhaps that it had one? I wouldn't say that I agree with that conspiracy theory, though. It's just that the cancellation is inexplicable to me, given the quality of the series.

BTW, you all have to check out Serenity thread on TOB. There is some hilarious stuff, using dialogue from Firefly for LOTR characters.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Tue May 23, 2006 5:07 pm

DH = Dear Husband, aka Mr. Frelga.

I do think it's the idea that breaking the law does not make you a bad person when the law is imposed by a tyrannical authority. That has always been a thoroughly subversive notion.

Edit: Cross-posted with Frelga. I'm so glad you're here!

Tue May 23, 2006 5:45 pm

Me too.

Post by **Hachimitsu** » Wed May 24, 2006 1:13 am

Frelga wrote: - it's so rare to see a good working marriage in fiction.

That is why I watch Medium

Yes, I remember when it was on Fox, they made it near impossible for a fan to catch the show. Why did they premiere the show during baseball season and on Fridays? Also I did not really like the reworked pilot. I think from the begining there was more going on concerning Fox and their intentions, since from what I have heard of the original pilot it seemed pretty OK.

I like Farscape for the strong women. They aren't glammed up and are willing to get very dirty and look very unglammourous. The human looking girl character basically had frizzy messy hair for most of the first season, which was quite out of the ordinary for what people expect from women in sci-fi (I blame Star Trek in part for perpetuating the stereotype even more, stupid Seven of Nine, grr).