Firefly Returns to TV

But not the way you've hoped. The original show will be broadcast in the originally intend order, in high definition, and with interstitial "bonus" material on the Science Channel beginning in March. That's good news, I suppose, but my favorite part of this story is when Nathan Fillion tells what he would do if he won the lottery.

Short-Run Sci-Fi

Another link from io9: This one is a list of 10 short-lived but entertaining science-fiction series that you could watch in a weekend. Having seen and enjoyed 6 of the entries on this list,* I'm interested in checking out the others.

* Firefly, the Battlestar Galactica mini-series, Torchwood: Children of Earth, Jekyll, Life on Mars, and Cowboy Bebop.

Firefly, Generic

Firefly flans may be amused by this comic chronicling a generic episode of the show.

Jaaaayyyne!

The dog they call...Jayne!



Pretty cunnin' dontcha think?

And Your Mamma, Too

SFX has just posted an amusing list of science-fiction's greatest insults. Check it out and see how many you recognize.

Let's Play Dollhouse

It looks like* several interesting alumni of Whedonverse shows and Battlestar Galactica will appear on Dollhouse in Season 2:

• Jamie Bamber, Lee "Apollo" Adama form Battlestar.
• Michael Hogan, Saul Tigh from Battlestar.
• Alexis Denisof, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce from Buffy and Angel.
• Summer Glau, River Tam from Firefly and Serenity.**

In addition, Amy Acker and Alan Tudyk will be reprising their roles on the show.

I'm quite excited about this development.

* There are minor spoilers on the linked-to page.

** Once the Sarah Conner Chronicals was cancelled,*** you had to know it was just a matter of time before this happened.

*** Say that three times quickly!

Betrayal

I need this shirt.

Whoa. Good Bible.

Alison is visiting her mother fora couple of weeks.  During my fortnight of bachelorhood---between scratching myself and eating over the sink---I'm re-watching Firefly.  The experience is reminding me of just why I love this show so much.  Even the episodes I remember as being my least favorites are teh awesome.

In Popular Culture

xkcd is great, if for no other reason than because it allows me to put up a one-sentence, one-link entry with eleven* tags.

* Well, it would have been eleven, but I reached Blogger's 200-character limit at ten. Can you guess which one is missing?

Wired to Sci Fi

It appears that the Sci Fir Wire's news editor and contributors collectively share my opinions on the best TV series that were canceled before they had a chance to find an audience. Certainly, I firmly agree with the first and second spots on their list.

The Mikies: Firefly/Serenity Ed

Welcome, gentle reader, to the third aperiodic Michael Awards for Excellence in Whatever He Darn Well Feels Like. In this edition, I'll be considering Joss Whedon's tragically short-lived Firefly and its theatrical continuation, Serenity. (Note: This post contains significant spoilers.)

Creepiest villain, single: Adelei Niska.
Creepiest villain, multiple: Reavers.
Most attractive character: Kaylee.
Most attractive client of Inara's: the Councilor
Prettiest twin: Fanty.
Most dangerous Serenity crewmember: River.
Serenity crewmember who kills the largest number of unarmed people: Mal.
Funniest character, laughing with: Wash.
Funniest character, laughing at: Jayne.
Best couple: Wash and Zoe.
Most amusing love interest of Mal's: Saffron.
Most drunk-seeming actor: Jonathan M. Woodward.*
Most touching death: Wash.
Most sudden but inevitable betrayal: Allosaurus.
Best place to look for Jayne: his bunk.
Best place to find out what going mad feels like: Canton.
Best song: "The Hero of Canton."
Most difficult episode to watch: "Out of Gas."
Best episode: "Jaynestown."
Most intriguing thread left unfinished: Book's backstory.

Recurring character I would most like to see more of:  Saffron.
Shiniest gorram ship in the ruttin' 'verse: Serenity.

*Woodward is one of what Whedon calls his "hat tricks:" actors who appeared in Buffy, Angel, and Firefly.

Serenity Breaks Atmo

It appears that the DVDs of Firefly and Serenity recently carried to the International Space Station aboard Atlantis are being well received.

Shiny!

It looks like there may be a new Browncoat on the Cortex.

Make Room on the Schedule

Speaking of F*x canceling series, here's the gag that opened the first new episode of Family Guy after it was uncanceled by the network:

PETER: Everybody I've got bad news. We've been canceled.

LOIS: Oh no Peter! How could they do that?

PETER: Well unfortunately Lois, there's just no more room on the schedule. We just gotta accept the fact that Fox has to make room for terrific shows like Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Action, That 80's Show, Wonderfalls, Fast Lane, Andy Richter Controls The Universe, Skin, Girl's Club, Cracking Up, The Pitts, Firefly, Get Real, Freaky Links, Wanda At Large, Costello, The Lone Gunmen, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Normal Ohio, Pasadena, Harsh Realm, Keen Eddy, The Street, American Embassy, Cedric The Entertainer, The Tick, Louie, and Greg The Bunny....

LOIS: Is there no hope?

PETER: Well I suppose if ALL those shows go down the tubes we might have a shot.

The Minear Effect

A couple of years ago, just after Wonderfalls was axed, Nick expressed his belief in what I now call "The Minear Effect:"

The Minear Effect, noun phrase. The phenomenon wherein, if Tim Minear becomes associated with a television series, it will instantly become 20% better but 50% more likely to be canceled.

This article from Blogcritics Magazine illustrates my point by listing the mostly-good shows with which Minear has been associated and which have been canceled, mostly before their times. Come to think of it, perhaps I should recast this phenomenon as The Fox Effect. Sigh.

Drive, Fred, Drive!

Tim Minear just announced that Amy Acker is the latest casting addition to his upcoming series, Drive. She'll be playing---get this---the wife of Nathan Fillion's character. This show is starting to sound like a big ol' Whedonverse reunion. If you'd like to revel in more than a little squee over this news, surf on over to the corresponding thread at Whedonesque.

In other Drive news, shooting on the recast pilot begins today.

Drive, Gorramit!

Nathan Fillion has been cast in Tim Minear's upcoming series Drive. Fillion, for those of you who don't know, and are thus just uncool, played Captain Malcolm Reynolds on Firefly and in Serenity and played Caleb in the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Minear, meanwhile, wrote, executive produced, and directed episodes of Angel, Firefly, and Wonderfalls. If you've ever read this blog, you can guess that I think this is a case of chocolate meeting peanut butter.

For the record, here's the 'Pedia's description of the Drive:

The series is set across the backdrop of an illegal road race with the central focus being on the competitors and eventually on the puppet masters behind the race. Regarding the tone of the show, Minear has described it thusly: "A secret, illegal, underground road race can be anything from Cannonball Run to The Game to North by Northwest to Magnolia-on-wheels. Ours is all those things."

I'm skeptical about the setup, but I 'm optimistic that the pairing of Fillion and Minear will be well worth watching. The show was picked up by Fox*, as a mid-season replacement, based on a pilot episode, which featured Ivan Sergei in the role Fillion has been cast to play. It's not clear to me whether (a) the relevant scenes in the pilot will be re-shot before it's broadcast, (b) the entire pilot will be re-shot before it's shown, or (c) the pilot will not be broadcast at all.

Look for Drive to hit the small screen in March or April.

* The single word "Fox" has me worried, given the tendency of the company to cancel good shows before they can find their audiences.** Still, I'm hopeful that Fox will give the series a fair shake.

** See, for example, the aforementioned Firefly and Wonderfalls.

The Whedon Update

So I'm sure the Whedonites in the readership are wondering what's up with Joss' various projects. Here're are a couple of relevant links.

• First, Whedon just talked to TV Guide, mostly about the upcoming Buffy: Season 8 comic series, which will be cannon in the Buffyverse and answer Dawn's "What are we gonna do now?" Other topics discussed: Firefly/Serenity---nothing happening---Wonder Woman---rewriting now, no casting yet---and Battlestar Galactica---apparently Whedon's favorite show.
  
• Apparently, something is happening with Seren-ifly, just not what you might think: Multiverse is announcing today that they've signed a deal with Fox to bring a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Firefly universe to market. Look for the game in 2008. As far as I can tell, Whedon's not involved, so I'm a little skeptical.
• In other Seren-ifly-in-other-media news, it looks like there's going to be another Serenity comic limited series. It will be called Serenity: Better Days, and it should be out next year.
  

Speaking of Buffy, Firefly, and Battlestar Galactica, you may be interested to know that the first Battlestar episode written by Jane Espenson airs tonight on the Sci Fi Channel.

The Firefly Cast Gets Lost

Today, I have two bits of news about Firefly/Serenity cast members appearing on Lost or something like it. That's right: two.

• First up, Cap'n Tightpants himself, Nathon Fillion was on Lost last night. Lost lost me about a year ago, so I didn't tune in last night, but I'm sure Fillion did a fine job.
• Second, it appears that Jewel Staite, the lovable Kaylee of Sereni-fly and the evil Heidi of Wonderfalls, will be headlining---!---a film called The Tribe in 2007. Don't believe me? Check out the trailer here. The storyline looks like a subset of Lost's so I can't say I'm excited about seeing it, but it certainly seems like good news, career-wise, for Staite.
  

Joss Whedon is My Master

My fellow Whedonites might be interested to know that
Serenity was awarded the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Shiny, eh? The icing on the cake for me was Joss Whedon's trademark hilarious-but-touching acceptance speech, which was read by Morena Baccarin.