Firefly to spearhead Universal's new HD Channel?

Lucky Day

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Universal Studios is going to be showing the cult tv classic Firefly in their Saturday slot of their new? HD Channel.

If you've never watched the show by Buffy director Josh Whedon, or its subsequent Universal movie, Serenity then you are missing out. It was an incredible Sci-Fi/Western Hybrid written in the style of the sophisticated Westerns of the 1950's.

It was killed by Fox studios execs who only showed 11 episodes in its inital run and out of order. Apparently, they were either jealous or wanted another Buffy. But this is the same group that cancelled Futurama and gave us another clone of a clone Major Dad (they kept trying to kill In Living Color too).

When the series was released on DVD it sold 500k copies, one of the biggest DVD releases ever so Universal was willing to fund the Serenity movie. Serenity broke even which disappointed the studios but fans have been very Star Trek like and cultish and subsequent media releases like iPod version do brisk sales.

"Browncoats" spread the gospel of Firefly with strange missionary zeal, buying multiple copies for families and friends. I have to admit I got my PW very interested in it myself. There's even a guy I work with that lends out copies of his DVD to anyone who will listen.

To me this sounds like the whole "save buffy" campaign and this grass roots campaign appears every bit as engineered as Gene Rodeenberry's. Nevertheless, its a great series and I still won't watch buffy (when I think of buffy I think of the 20 minutes I saw of the movie).

Very strange.

Either way Universal is hosting several forums for Browncoats and encouragin responses. It appears to be a way of gauging interest in a sequel or a set up for pre-hype and word of mouth.

Either way, read about it at fireflyfans.net

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=29132&newsid=0

You can't take the sky away from me

http://www.universalhd.com/Firefly/
 
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Firefly was well acted, intelligently written, and had superb production values - that all costs big bucks. In contrast lumpen 'reality' TV cost next to nothing, and the class of intellect inclined to enjoy such programming is susceptible to a broad range of advertising.
 
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Firefly is wonderful, it was my very favorite for the brief time it was here. One of those Fox Television productions that appears to have been intentionally scuttled by the network. I always wonder why Fox bothers greenlighting these shows only to turn around and do everything in their power to prevent their success. Then they run Party of Five for several hundred seasons with little in the way of viewership, the whole time blaming the viewer with promo spots that call PoF "The best show you aren't watching." :sarcasticclap:

Firefly and Farscape, I still watch and love them both! :worship:
 
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I bought the Serenity dvd and loved it. I've been meaning to pick up the Firefly season dvd when I can find it for a good deal. Can someone tell me if the dvd has all 14 of the episodes that were produced, or is it just the 11 that were broadcast?

Best Sci-fi show period.......Battlestar Galactica
 
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I bought the Serenity dvd and loved it. I've been meaning to pick up the Firefly season dvd when I can find it for a good deal. Can someone tell me if the dvd has all 14 of the episodes that were produced, or is it just the 11 that were broadcast?
The DVD box has each and every glorious episode that was canned, including commentaries. :)
 
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The version I bought, Collector's Edition, has all 14 episodes plus the usual extras. Excellent series though I think that Battlestar Galactica is better.
 
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It was one of the highest/fastest selling DVD series when it came out. It was what convinced Universal to pick it up.

The DVD series is in the order the show was meant to be broadcast.

Take a note of the dialogue in the pilot concerning Mal and the very next episode. Mal was clearly written for an older actor.

As for studios killing TV projects this happens at every stupio, its just the worst at Fox. Normally it happens the worst when they hire a new president; check the history of the Bonnie Hunt show. The new guy there was cancelling the show even though he hadn't seen it. Bonnie even sent him video tapes.

To me it seems like there must be too much Democracy at Fox (not to mention outright stupidity). One person can get something approved but 10 others are there to kill it. However, with Firefly I think everyone wanted kill it because it wasn't called "River the Werewolf Killer" like they expected.

The new Battlestar Gallactica is boring and terrible.

I will note that one of their pilots is named Alfred Bester. The real Alfred Bester was a Science Fiction writer who wrote two of the best Sci-Fi novels ever written: The Demolished Man and the The Stars My Destination.

Hmm..nope looks like it was Babylon 5..another scifi show that annoyed me. No surprise I mixed them up.

Interestingly enough though, Bester was the name of Firefly's original mechanic. I won't elaborate as not to spoil that epsiode ;).
 
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Hmm..nope looks like it was Babylon 5..another scifi show that annoyed me.
*sprays tee all over the monitor*

WHAT?!? You damn heathen scoundrel! Nobody dissed Babylon 5 and gets away with it!

That does it. I've just made a deal with the devil and made sure you're now at the top of Cm's infamous "list" and have made arrangements for you to have a 2 weeks stay in her barn undisturbed. :shakefist:
 
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sure..meet me on DS9 as soon as I can get out of this wormhole. (but ow that its been proved that space is flat there goes the whole wormhole theory) say..isn't that Mr Checkov?
 
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Hmm.. cult classic? Maybe it's just me, but I can't see what all the fuzz is about :) I mean, I think the Firefly series is ok - but not better than that. It seems to me that every single episode (I must note that I've only watched the first 8 episodes though) has more or less the *exact* same story:

1) The crew of Serenity gets into some shady deal that'll make them rich
2) They actually succeeds in stealing/selling the stuff
3) There is a moral ending where Mal chooses to hand the stuff back.. or they get cheated out of the stuff they sell.
4) Nomatter which variation of 3) is applied - they end the episode with a complete "status quo".

There might be a *slight* character development going on, but for the most part each character acts exactly as in the previous episodes. A bit boring actually..

I guess I better equip my cloak of +30% fire resistance now :)

- Kasper
 
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Im my opinion, you missed the entire point. Firefly wasn't about the job, that was just the backdrop of each episode. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer before it, the show was about the interaction of the characters and their how their relationship to each other grows, and evolves and effects others. Slight character development, maybe, but Joss Whedon has always told stories over an entire season or series. Firefly is paced with that in mind. And even over 14 episodes, some of the characters developed by leaps and bounds -- River and Jane, the almost-but-not-quite relationship between Mal and Inara. Firefly was meant to be viewed like a soap opera, if you watched the show just to see the latest heist then you missed the whole thing.
 
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Firefly was the best show on TV and I was so disappointed after the show was cancelled. I was hanging out for Season 2 of Firefly... and it will never come.
 
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Firefly and Farscape, I still watch and love them both! :worship:

You do know about the "return" of Farscape, don't you?
 
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I never really got into Farscape. I watched a couple of episodes and they were enjoyable, but it wasn't like the first time I watched Firefly and I wanted it. It was on after midnight in Australia, and I'd sit up and tape it and cut the ads out. I would watch the same episodes as many times as I could before the next week, when I would do the same thing again. When the DVD's come out my other half thought I'd won lotto or something cause I sqealed louder than Spiderpig when Homer pulled it's tail.
I should probably give Farscape another go....
 
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Im my opinion, you missed the entire point. Firefly wasn't about the job, that was just the backdrop of each episode. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer before it, the show was about the interaction of the characters and their how their relationship to each other grows, and evolves and effects others. Slight character development, maybe, but Joss Whedon has always told stories over an entire season or series. Firefly is paced with that in mind. And even over 14 episodes, some of the characters developed by leaps and bounds -- River and Jane, the almost-but-not-quite relationship between Mal and Inara. Firefly was meant to be viewed like a soap opera, if you watched the show just to see the latest heist then you missed the whole thing.

Yep, well said Gig. What was Shepherd Book's background? Was he an agent or similar for the Alliance? What will happen with River? Why did Inara really sign on to such a dodgy ship...it's all about the characters. Mal, for example - essentially a good guy but a thief and quite flawed. Jane - a straight up meathead mercenary...or is he?

I simply loved it. Watching Out of Gas right now...how many scifi shows are both touching and funny?
 
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I have Firefly on dvd, I'll agree that its decent - I didn't like the film so much though.
 
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No, the film wasn't quite as good as the series. Serenity was created to be viewed be people who has watched the series and people that hadn't. A lot of time was used to introduce the characters and the world they lived in. I still really enjoyed Serenity, but it was always going to be difficult to get a movie to the same standard and depth as 14 episodes of TV. I still really liked the movie, and I watch the series and then the movie.
 
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I haven't heard much on a possible Serenity sequel yet. Most of the cast members are rightfully looking for other work. I think Nathan Killian? has been in two series since then.

Does anyone know if Josh did a thing at the San Diego Comic Con this year?
 
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