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Firefly Movie Gets The Green Light 344

Posted by simoniker from the big-screen-says-hello-to-reevers dept.
An anonymous reader writes "According to FireflyFans.net and Ain't It Cool News, Universal has greenlit production of 'Serenity,' the motion picture based on Joss Whedon's cancelled TV series 'Firefly.' Both sites point to an article from Variety that says the film will start production in June, and be ready for release in 2005." The informative Whedonesque weblog is also monitoring developments regarding this much-deserved resurrection.
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Firefly Movie Gets The Green Light More

Firefly Movie Gets The Green Light

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  • firefly (Score:5, Insightful)

    by panxerox ( 575545 ) * on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:34AM (#8460166)
    OIC firefly is good enough for a dvd set and good enough for a movie but not good enough for a series. Sometimes I wonder about the people making the decisions. Are they making a decision to not do a series because of business reasons or just well because they say so and those weenie viewers arent going to change our minds because they might get it in their heads that they matter. Yes I'm bitter. Its like they say "come here viewers come check out this great new series!" then they go "SUCKERS !! haha no show for you !!".

    • Re:firefly (Score:5, Insightful)

      by eatenn ( 572604 ) <enntee@@@localgod...net> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:55AM (#8460299) Homepage
      "OIC firefly is good enough for a dvd set and good enough for a movie but not good enough for a series."

      Financially speaking, I would say that Firefly may actually be better suited to movies than television. Whedon's shows are excellent... and also extremely expensive. Having to spend huge amounts of money for 22 episodes every year means that the corporate heads demand a pretty big payback pretty damn quick. Fox couldn't really afford for viewers to ease into the show (and God knows a Friday night time-slot didn't help). It's for similar reasons that Buffy left the WB and Angel was recently cancelled.

      As a motion picture though, they spend the big bucks once and reap the benefits for months in merchandise, rentals, etc. You don't get that kind of a pay-off with TV (at least not that quickly). I love Whedon's serial storytelling, but I'm excited to see how he adapts to the big screen.

      • Re:firefly (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Issue9mm ( 97360 )
        Hopefully he's improved on his big-screen capabilities since the original Buffy and Alien 4. Ick.

        Actually tho, seeing how he much time he's taken in perfecting the series runs he's had, I have little doubt that Serenity will be spectacular. I just hope that he's able to work within a 2 hour movie. His best plots have taken seasons to develop, much less a few hours.

        -9mm-

        • Re:firefly (Score:5, Insightful)

          by teraph ( 147902 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @01:31AM (#8460458)
          Hopefully he's improved on his big-screen capabilities since the original Buffy and Alien 4. Ick.

          Well, it's hard to tell what the original scripts were like. A good script can become awful between the day it's bought and the day it's released in a theater.

          You have a half-dozen suits, directors, and editors to screw it up. (We're assuming here that the original script was good.)

          seeing how he much time he's taken in perfecting the series runs he's had, I have little doubt that Serenity will be spectacular.

          Yes. His TV shows are probably the better indicator of the quality of his writing, since that is where he has the most control. Everything he has done for film has had multiple hands, for good or ill. (And he's repeatedly stated his disappointment at both the Buffy movie and Alien Resurrection. He was once mis-identified as having written an episode of "Boy Meets World" and he expressed more pride in that incorrect credit than his writing of Resurrection.)

          It's possible that the Firefly film will suck, maybe because he fails to produce a good script, maybe because Universal selects someone else to direct, maybe because the producers demand bad changes.

          That's why he's better in TV. Head writers (who are almost always the producers) are nearly Gods with regard to how their scripts read and show up on screen. The network has some input, but much of it is Standards and Practices stuff (i.e., the censors).

          In film, the producers own the script and can do as they please. And then the director is in control the moment shooting starts (with input from the producers).

          Film writing is good money, but it's very little control. (Unless you make it yourself.)

        • Re:firefly (Score:5, Insightful)

          by eatenn ( 572604 ) <enntee@@@localgod...net> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @01:34AM (#8460478) Homepage
          Hopefully he's improved on his big-screen capabilities since the original Buffy and Alien 4. Ick.

          Yeck. Being president of the Joss Whedon Stalker Club, I may be a little biased, but I've read Whedon's draft of the Buffy movie (which he didn't direct), and the version that actually made it to the theatres... Whedon's draft is much better. Apparently Donald Sutherland insisted on writing his own dialog, the studio wanted it to be more of a teen comedy, and the director didn't understand the material. It's the nature of the business that scripts get fucked with by a series of producers, directors, and studio heads who are constantly looking for ways to fit a monkey into the story somehow.

          Whedon has also stated that no one hates Alien 4 more than he does. He had other people dictating what he was supposed to write.

          I've also had the experience in film school having one of my scripts approved for production and then butchered beyond all recognition. It ain't fun.

          • Re:firefly (Score:5, Informative)

            by gilroy ( 155262 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @03:56AM (#8461048) Homepage Journal
            Blockquoth the poster:

            Whedon has also stated that no one hates Alien 4 more than he does. He had other people dictating what he was supposed to write.

            The IMDb has an interesting trivia point about this, on the entry for Angel [imdb.com] :

            In the episode "Fredless", when talking about the Aliens series, a character says, "He's always had a thing for those 'Aliens' movies. Except for that last one they made - I think he dozed off." Series creator Joss Whedon wrote the script for Alien: Resurrection (1997), although it was heavily rewritten.

        • He is the director this time (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Per Abrahamsen ( 1397 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @04:08AM (#8461089) Homepage
          The Buffy movie has a very different feel than the series, which Joss claim is because the director had a different vision than Joss did.

          Alien 4 feel a lot more like City of Lost Children than an Alien movie. Again, the directors influence. One other write with a Usenet presense (I believe it wa Peter A. David) claimed he got into Buffy by wathing Alien 4, and seeing a good script being burried behind a misunderstood direction, and got currios about the writer.

          Titan AE was actually pretty good, but I don't know how much of Joss writting was involved. There was a couple of places that were clearly Joss though. The intelligent guard, and Planet Bob were Joss trademark humor.

          This time Joss gets to both write and direct the movie according to the Variety article, so we will be able to judge directly his abilities as a movie maker. From the few Buffy episodes he has written and directed himself (like Hush and Once More With Feeling), I believe we are in for a treat.

        • Re:firefly (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Snaller ( 147050 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @08:45AM (#8461896) Journal
          Hopefully he's improved on his big-screen capabilities since the original Buffy and Alien 4. Ick

          If you knew the background you would know that they are not him. He was just a little guy who should shut up then. In interviews he has pretty much indicated that Donald Sutherland was an arrogant prick who though he was gods gift to the universe and who readily changed the script ("Improved" it Sorbo style) (which is probably why he never accepted improvisation on the TV series), and the director didn't see it Joss's way either and wanted to improve it etc. Same thing with resurection:
          "("I asked the director, "Can you just explain to me why he's doing this? Why is he going for this gun?" And the editor, who was French, turned to me and said, with a little leer on his face, [adopts gravelly, smarmy, French-accented voice] "Because eets een the screept." And I actually went and dented the bathroom stall with my puddly little fist. I have never been angrier. But it's the classic, "When something goes wrong, you assume the writers a dork. And that's painful."

          But now, not only does he write, he also directs, and his buddy Chris Buchanan is one of the executive producers - I'd say its a safe bet that this time he has much more control. Of course not ultimate, because universal is paying and could demand scenes with half nake showgirls twirling their tassles - one can only hope they stay away and let Whedon win them that Oscar we know he is capable of :)

      • Re:firefly (Score:3, Informative)

        by TheCyko1 ( 568452 )
        I enjoyed Firefly except for those random bits of bad chinese. I suspect that they were talking in mandarin, maybe even cantonese, but the actors always butchered the language so badly that it always sounded more like nails on the chalkboard.

        • Re:firefly (Score:5, Interesting)

          by TheLoneDanger ( 611268 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @03:48AM (#8461019)
          It was Mandarin, except for one part when the engine breaks down and the ship broadcasts a warning that oxygen's low, check life support etc. That was Cantonese spoken fluently. I assume they just asked someone Chinese to say what they wanted "in Chinese" and that person just assumed Cantonese (which is fairly prevalent in North America).

          The inconsistency bugged me a bit, but I was happy to actually understand what was being said for once (I only know a little Mandarin, and it was butchered so badly that the only one I could make out was mei-mei).

          Interestingly enough, Jayne's actor seemed to speak Mandarin a bit better than everyone else. In the DVD extras he talks about it a bit, and I assume he practiced it more.

      • Re:firefly (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Udo Schmitz ( 738216 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @06:02AM (#8461434) Journal
        Whedon's shows are excellent... and also extremely expensive.

        I always hear that, but noone ever gives any numbers? Did you pull that "fact" out of your ass, or can you give me any prove for that claim? I'm pretty sure any StarTrek show is far more expensive. Still the FX look worse. The planet sceneries sometimes look like in the classic series.

      • Re:firefly (Score:3, Interesting)

        by jafac ( 1449 )
        There's also the circulating conspiracy-theory that "sci-fi shows in general, are under the gun, because, demographically, their viewers are more likely to watch on a commercial-skipping PVR."

        They're being repaced with cheaper sitcoms, or reality shows.

        Good riddance, I say. The McDonaldization of science fiction entertainment has been a mixed bag. I'd rather be honest and pay for DVD sets, and fill my bookcase with them, and my spare time watching them. Fewer episodes of greater quality, perhaps not co

    • Re:firefly (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Cecil ( 37810 )
      Its like they say "come here viewers come check out this great new series!" then they go "SUCKERS !! haha no show for you !!".

      I'm pretty sure that's actually the thought process they go though. Good call.

      In case you couldn't guess from the URL of my website -- I'm bitter too. Firefly rocks. Futurama rocks. Family guy rocks. Fox sucks.

    • Re:firefly (Score:4, Informative)

      by PowerPill ( 687850 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @01:55AM (#8460569)
      Fox had never zipped up the deal for a complete season of Firefly so right from the start it was a nail biter for Joss. Fox didn't even allow the premiere (Serenity) to be the premiere because they thought it lacked a certain pace. If you take notice, Fox generally takes the approach of more action right at the get go = better ratings over elegantly gripping television. So yes, it was that Whedon's vision didn't quite fit Fox's business model or formula rather. All of this is actually touched on in the box set.

      • Re:firefly (Score:4, Insightful)

        by mbourgon ( 186257 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @09:27AM (#8462035) Homepage
        All of this is actually touched on in the box set.

        Touched on isn't the word I'd use. It's heavily talked about during both Serenity (the Pilot) & The Train Job. Joss certainly doesn't hold back during the commentary. Never has the "commentary may not reflect the studio's views" warning been more apt.

  • Strange. (Score:5, Funny)

    by nefele ( 654499 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:35AM (#8460175)
    So they actually decided to make a movie about a web browser?
    Oh, wait...

  • Obligatory. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Trejkaz ( 615352 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:35AM (#8460177) Homepage
    Serenity Now!!

    • Re:Obligatory. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by anagama ( 611277 )

      I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'll be driving around and the theme song comes into my mind - "burn the land, boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me ..." It's going to be great to hear this in a theater rather than from my TV or computer speakers. Still, I agree w/ posters below, a series would be much more satisfying.

      • Personally I have NFI because the series never aired here. I was just taking the easy route to a +5 Funny.

      • Re:Obligatory. (Score:5, Informative)

        by TheLoneDanger ( 611268 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @01:52AM (#8460561)
        Full opening theme lyrics:

        Take my love, take my land,
        Take me where I can not stand.
        I don't care, I'm still free;
        You can't take the sky from me.

        Take me out to the black,
        Tell them I ain't coming back.
        Burn the land and boil the sea;
        You can't take the sky from me.

        There's no place I can be,
        Since I've found Serenity.
        But you can't take the sky from me.

  • Curse of the F's (Score:5, Funny)

    by KoopaTroopa ( 549540 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:36AM (#8460185) Homepage
    They're really naming it Serenity to avoid being prematurely cut off during production. This would surely have happened had the name started with 'F'.

    Firefly - cancelled
    Family Guy - cancelled
    Futurama - cancelled

    Someone ought to cancel Fox.

  • New Series (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bsharitt ( 580506 ) * <(moc.ttirahs) (ta) (tegdirb)> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:36AM (#8460186) Journal
    While a movie would be nice, I would rather have the series returen. Firefly was one of the few shows I've watched that I really like and made it a point to watch, instead of just watching it if it was on like most other shows.

    • Re:New Series (Score:4, Interesting)

      by blincoln ( 592401 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:43AM (#8460227) Homepage Journal
      While a movie would be nice, I would rather have the series returen.

      Allegedly Whedon's plan is to use a successful film as a springboard for a follow-up series.

      I would be happy with him either keeping it in theatres or switching back to TV, as long as he gets to finish the story one way or another.

      Also, is it me, or is this "press release" more of a series of writer's notes?

      To that end, he said he went out of his way while penning the "Serenity" script to make sure that it is accessible to auds who never tuned into "Firefly."

      "Auds"? Obviously this is short for "audience," but still. Let's move on.

      Series was a space oater set 500 years in the future, tracking the journeys of the crew aboard the Serenity.

      Ah yes, a "space oater." I'm fond of those.

      Chris Buchanan of Mutant Enemy, Whedon's shingle, and Mendel exec Alissa Tager are exec producing.

      "Whedon's shingle," uh huh...

      • Re:New Series (Score:2, Funny)

        by steeef ( 98372 )
        "Auds"? Obviously this is short for "audience," but still. Let's move on.

        Variety seems to love these abbreviations. Nick Nunziata of CHUD [chud.com] sums it up:

        For those not invested in Variety's ass injuring dialect, re-skedding and distribs are slightly quicker ways to say rescheduling and distributors. I can only imagine these folks in the bedroom saying "Honey, thank God I circummed my 'nis or you'd not know the face of Baldhammer(TM)". Annoying.

      • Re:New Series (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Chris Mattern ( 191822 )
        > "Auds"? Obviously this is short for "audience," but still. Let's move on.
        ...
        > Ah yes, a "space oater." I'm fond of those.
        ...
        > "Whedon's shingle," uh huh...

        o/~Normal talk makes producers walk/You might as well speak Greek/Unless you learn to talk that Variety Speak (Baba-doo-ba, baba-doo-ba...)o/~

        Chris Mattern

      • Re:New Series (Score:3, Funny)

        by llefler ( 184847 )
        Also, is it me, or is this "press release" more of a series of writer's notes?

        You missed a couple....

        Pic, budgeted in the mid-eight figures, is skedded for a June start and should be ready for a 2005 release.

        Apparently grammer is a lost art. 'skedded'?

        speaking with other nets and cablers about the skein

        Ok, I have no idea what the thought is here. Are you sure this wasn't written in chinese and run through a google translator?

        U acquired the feature rights from Fox last fall.

        Good news, apparentl

    • Re:New Series (Score:5, Insightful)

      by prockcore ( 543967 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:47AM (#8460252)
      I would rather have the series returen

      Joss Whedon should call up USA. With Monk and Dead Zone it's obvious that USA isn't afraid to back a strange-yet-brilliant show.

      Or maybe FX (Nip Tuck, The Shield) or Bravo (Keen Eddie, Touching Evil).

      Cable is really the only place you can find good shows that don't dumb down to the common denominator.

      Fox is just stupid. How much money are they making from the Firefly dvds and Family Guy dvds? Compare that with how much money you would expect an any reality TV DVD to make.

      In a couple of years, fox is going to have to reach all the way back to In Living Colour in order to make DVD sales... because no one wants to buy anything that they currently air.
      • Yeah, that was probably the inital problem, puting it on broadcast TV. Cable is about the only place for shows that have actors and don't give away prizes.

      • The first season of In Living Color is already out on DVD: See here [amazon.com].
      • Seriously. They've both bankrolled risky and expensive series in the past. They've both bankrolled scifi series too.

      • Re:New Series (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Chris Carollo ( 251937 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @02:28AM (#8460690)
        Universal Stuidos are owned by GE, who in turn owns The Sci-Fi Channel. So that's probably the most likely place if Firefly is to make a return to TV.

        • Re:New Series (Score:3, Insightful)

          by B3ryllium ( 571199 )
          GE also owns NBC ... I think Firefly would make an excellent lead-in to ER, because of the story arcs involved in each show. Thursday nights ... the writer's plaything.

          We will rule over all this land, and we will call it ... this land!

      • Re:New Series (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Ray Radlein ( 711289 )
        Yeah, but Monk and Dead Zone and Nip/Tuck and The Shield and the like absolutely have to have significantly lower per-episode costs than Firefly had.

        Cable markets have even more trouble supporting effects-heavy science fiction than networks do. The only reason Farscape and Lexx ever worked financially for the Sci-Fi Channel were because they were filmed abroad (Australia and Canada, respectively) and also sold into numerous foreign markets, both of which helped lower the network's outlay.

        If Firefly were

  • Why do I get the feeling.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ImTwoSlick ( 723185 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:38AM (#8460197)
    ... that they like to cancel great TV shows, just to make a few extra bucks on a movie they know people have been dying to see.
    • ... that they like to cancel great TV shows, just to make a few extra bucks on a movie they know people have been dying to see.

      That is clearly not the case. Fox cancelled the TV show. Universal will be making the bucks on the movie. Possibly Fox got some money from Universal for the rights, but that's all Fox will ever get.

  • Thanks to Firefly... (Score:5, Funny)

    by devphil ( 51341 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:40AM (#8460212) Homepage


    ...I am terrified of people in business suits wearing bright blue gloves.

    On the up side, I know now how to say "Fuck everyone in the universe to death!", "Shut up," and my favorite, "Holy mother of God and all her wacky nephews!" in Mandarin Chinese.

  • Serenity? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Daetrin ( 576516 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:40AM (#8460213)
    I hope they're referencing the ship and not the battle the ship was named for. If it's the battle we'll miss out on most of our favorite characters :(

    • Re:Serenity? (Score:3, Informative)

      by eatenn ( 572604 )
      All the characters from the TV series are signed on for the movie, though the article neglects to mention the characters of Book and Wash.

      No worries though, the actors have hinted at being committed to the movie long before this was made official.

  • Go Browncoats! (Score:5, Funny)

    by torgosan ( 141603 ) * on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:43AM (#8460226) Homepage
    Shiny!

  • won't be that great as movie (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:47AM (#8460254)
    The movie won't be able to depend on knowledge of the TV series because there isn't a large enough fanbase. That means they will have to condense a lot into 90 minutes. Firefly is so good because of the time allowed to develop the characters in a TV series. So while non-fans may have some visual effect treats and see SOME of the flavor of the show, it won't be able to touch the series; and fans will be disappointed because the movie will have to be introductory and won't pick up where the show left off.

    TV show movies that do well are those that ran a long time and therefor have a large fanbase.

    This will just be another scifi movie.

    • Joss Whedon has turned the town of Sunnydale into a giant musical (Once More, With Feeling), he has taken away the ability for his characters to talk (Hush), and recently he has turned a centuries old vampire-with-a-soul into a felt puppet (Smile Time)... all of it pure comedy.

      I think the guy deserves the benefit of the doubt ;)

    • Did you read the article? Just so you don't strain yourself here is the appropriate part.

      'Whedon said the pic will be released under the title "Serenity" to give it some distance from the TV version. "It was important that people understand that the movie isn't the series," he said. "The movie is bigger, more epic than anything you can do in a series."

      To that end, he said he went out of his way while penning the "Serenity" script to make sure that it is accessible to audiences who never tuned into "Firefl

    • Length? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Cyno01 ( 573917 )
      Who said the movies gonna be 90 minutes. Thankfully hollywoods lengthening movies a bit on average latley. Cant remember last movie i saw in theaters that was shorter than two hours. Not that i expect much of the average american attention span, but the most sucessfull (imho) movies of the past 3 years have all been well over 3 hours. :p

  • AWESOME (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Cirrius ( 304487 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:48AM (#8460257)
    I recently picked up the box set to check out the series, and this is great news...I was surprised how good the series was and perplexed as to why such a show was canceled.

    • Maybe we'll get to see Jewel Saite naked... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by runlvl0 ( 198575 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:55AM (#8460300) Homepage Journal
      I recently picked up the box set to check out the series, and this is great news...I was surprised how good the series was and perplexed as to why such a show was canceled.

      Because you didn't watch it on TV?
      • Not the original poster, but I don't have cable, so I *couldn't* have seen it on TV. I'm definitely glad I picked up the DVD set tho!

  • Don't Wander Around Best Buy (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ralph Wiggam ( 22354 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:51AM (#8460274) Homepage
    Seeing the article made me want to buy the DVD set. I liked the concept of the show a lot, but didn't catch many of them. In Star Trek, everyone has neatly groomed hair and they're always nice to each other. Firefly seemed to be about normal, flawed people who happen to fly around in space.

    Anyway, I go to BestBuy.com to see how much it costs. Only 40 bucks is a good deal. Here's the messed up part. On the web site, and presumably on the store shelves, the Firefly DVD set is listed under "Horror". Their subgroups under horror are "Comedies, Occult, Vampires, Zombies, and General Horror". At least it's not under Zombies.

    -B
    • In Star Trek, everyone has neatly groomed hair and they're always nice to each other. Firefly seemed to be about normal, flawed people who happen to fly around in space.

      Try watching Deep Space 9. I love ST:NG, to be sure, but DS9 is even better. And more of a dark and gritty feel to it, with characters that don't always get along.

  • Converts after cancellation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by loftydog ( 562124 ) * on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:52AM (#8460277)

    Fox did everything it could to kill this show.

    First, they aired the episodes in a random order so there was no continuity

    Second, they changed the time it was aired, then changed the day, all within a span of three weeks

    Third, and most insulting, is that they assumed the demographic watching Firefly would switch to watching Fastlane, as some of the numbers from Nielson were similar

    Sadly, I've had more people become "fans" of the show after the cancellattion by loaning them the DVDs, with most of them not being scifi fans.

    • Re:Converts after cancellation (Score:5, Informative)

      by thegrommit ( 13025 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:56AM (#8460310)
      Fox did everything it could to kill this show.

      I think the problem was that Fox didn't know what to do with it.

      Anyhow, Universal is backing the film - not Fox.
      • I think the problem was that Fox didn't know what to do with it.

        I think the problem is that they just wanted it to be another regular space show. They didn't want it to defy genre conventions, and therefore didn't understand where their potential audience was.

        Just one look at the DVDs sort of confirms this. It's all futuristic, and the characters are in their Big-Damn-Hero Poses(tm).

        Hopefully Firefly, er, Serenity will find it's audience on the big screen as opposed to the terrible Friday night times

      • Re:Converts after cancellation (Score:4, Insightful)

        by gmhowell ( 26755 ) <gmhowell@gmail.com> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @02:47AM (#8460761) Homepage Journal
        If Fox didn't know what to do with it, they shouldn't have screwed around with it. They should have shown the pilot as the pilot. They should have shown the episodes in order, etc.

        No, Fox *thought* they knew what to do, but obviously didn't.

  • Cast announced (Score:4, Insightful)

    by __aaaehb3101 ( 610398 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @12:53AM (#8460285)
    I don't see Ron Glass("the shepard") listed in the returning cast list. I wonder what is going on there? While not my favourite character, the shepard seems to have a more shady past than any.
    from the press release:
    ...The Serenity cast will include such returning "Firefly" cast members as Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds, Gina Torres as Zoe Warren, Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra, Jewel Staite as Kaylee Frye, Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb, Sean Maher as Dr. Simon Tam and Summer Glau as River Tam.
    • Nor has Alan Tudyk been confirmed as returning...did see something about an on-going commitment for him. Hopefully both Wash and The Shepard are reprised by the original actors.

    • Kaylee... (Score:3, Funny)

      by MachDelta ( 704883 )
      Ah yes... Kaylee Frye. Every geek and tinkerers dream girl.

      C'mon guys, admit it. That's the only reason anyone really watched the show. ;)

      • Re:Kaylee... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by brandonY ( 575282 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @04:21AM (#8461121)
        Yeah, she was amazingly hot. On the DVD, they point out that Whedon, in his infinite wisdom, told her that she could be on the show, but she would have to gain 20 pounds so she would look like a real human. Bless the man.
  • Josh Whedon is a genius. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly were all wonderful shows. Firefly and Angel were both cancelled way to early.. but especially Firefly. Only one season? I guess Americans are too hung up on shows like Fear Factor, Survivor, American Idol, and any other show that uses very childish antics to develop a fan base. I for one hope that Josh Whedon will continue with wonderful writing, concepts, and work - maybe people will catch on and see what we have seen for years (A b

  • Probably offtopic, but... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JayBlalock ( 635935 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @01:13AM (#8460384)
    Why is it there's going to be a Firefly film, but still no Babylon 5 movie?
    • Because Firefly is a great series.
    • There are many TV shows that don't translate well to the big screen because there's nothing left to tell. The core story of B5 ran it's course through the TV series. JMS got to tell the story he wanted to tell and we enjoyed it. Everyone's happy.

      As far as Firefly goes, it was killed in it's infancy, making nobody but the Fox suit lobbying for yet another inane reality show happy. Like JMS, there is a story Joss Whedon desperately wants to tell (though I seriously doubt he had 5 seasons more or less pla

    • Um, there were several Babylon 5 movies.
  • All I can say is... ...ahem...

    WHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOO!!!

    Seriously, if you have no idea what the fuss is about, buy/borrow/steal the DVDs and watch them. The only downside was watching half way through an excellent season, and realizing you would never get to see everything resolved.

    If nothing else, the movie will be a chance to give the series the ending it deserved. If it leads to a resurrection of the series, even better.

  • Hallelujah! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bbsguru ( 586178 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @01:22AM (#8460420) Homepage Journal
    The long months in the wilderness are at an end, brethren! And on the day I finished re-viewing the last of the DVD extras for the umpteenth time!

    This is great news. Note that it is Universal now, not Fox, so there really could be another series at the end of the trail here.

    Since the DVD set came out, I have introduced the series to a dozen 'Fly newbies, all of whom are as swept away as I was. It's just too fanastic a program to let it go, and no maybe (just maybe?) we won't have to.

    Shiny!

  • Serenity? (Score:5, Funny)

    by ShinyBrowncoat ( 692095 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @01:27AM (#8460440) Homepage
    They are calling the movie 'Serenity'? Now what am I supposed to do with all these Firefly Movie posters [fireflymovie.com]?

  • "Blue Sun" rises? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by teneighty ( 671401 )
    When you watch the movie, keep an eye out for a bigger role for the Blue Sun corporation. The series merely hinted at their role, but I think we can expect to see Blue Sun emerging as the bad guys, rather than the Alliance.

    The hints? In the original episodes, watch at how River reacts to anything with the Blue Sun logo on it - Jayne's shirt, labels on cans, and so on.

  • Plot intro, and more info (Score:5, Informative)

    by Namarrgon ( 105036 ) on Thursday March 04, 2004 @03:41AM (#8460992) Homepage
    When Mal takes on two new passengers - a young doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister - he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl. The crew that was once used to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space. Hunted by vastly different enemies, they begin to discover that the greatest danger to them may be on board "Serenity" herself.

    More info here [comingsoon.net].

  • The campaign to Save Angel (Score:5, Informative)

    by The Lynxpro ( 657990 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [orpxnyl]> on Thursday March 04, 2004 @04:54AM (#8461224)
    I'm placing this in here because most FireFly fans are probably also fans of Whedon's other program, Angel. As you know, the WB Network made the announcement that they will not be renewing Angel for the sixth season, despite its majorly improved ratings over last year and that its the #2 show on their network for the major 18-34 aged advertising demographic.

    If you wish to help with the efforts to save the show, there are several websites coordinating fan activities, and I will list them here:

    Petition Online:
    Here's the petition protesting the cancellation of the program. Please sign it and join the 72,000 + other fans who already have...
    http://www.petitiononline.com/ai5d0162/pe tition.ht ml

    http://www.savingangel.org/
    Saving Angel is placing ads in the Hollywood Reporter and Variety. You can find them here:

    http://www.supportangel.org/
    Support Angel has been coordinating a lot of the fan base postcard campaigns. They are a great source of information.

    Some of the other information you'll find on the pages include the fact that Tribune Broadcasting itself (a 20% + shareholder in The WB Network) is encouraging fans to protest the cancellation. The WB wants to replace Angel either with a teen version of "Dark Shadows" or another revamp of "Lost in Space." It is reported that UPN has passed on picking up the show because they'd rather try to run their own version of "Teen Wolf" and borrowing heavily from the Buffy (Whedon) format to make it a success.

    If you've been holding off on purchasing any of the Angel Season Sets on DVD, now is the time to purchase them; the networks ARE watching the sales figures. Remember, Fox decided to relaunch "Family Guy" after witnessing their sales success. And while UPN might have passed on picking up Angel for Season Six, we still have TNT, FX Network (fitting since Angel is a Twentieth-Century Fox production), SciFi, or even Tribune Broadcasting syndication to fall back upon!

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