It really is remarkable how much love there is for Firefly these days, and it reminds me a bit of how Star Trek wasn’t a hit in its initial run, but later became one of the most important franchises in sci-fi history.
It is indeed a case of not knowing what you got until it’s gone because after the TV show went down, Firefly was resurrected as a film, Serenity, and the series still wasn’t resurrected.
Writing about Firefly on TG, we’ve gotten a ton of people tuning in and offering opinions good and bad, and I’m even seeing the term “browncoat” become part of the zeitgeist. All this is for a show that came and went ten years ago, and only lasted 14 episodes.
Even with The Avengers becoming the #3 film of all time at the box office, Joss Whedon seemed more proud of the fact that the fans were still out in force for Firefly. Appearing at Comic Con this summer, at one point he was actually moved to tears speaking about the show, telling the audience, “When I see you guys, I don’t think the show is off the air.”
The rest of the Firefly gang are also very proud to be part of their time in Whedon’s universe. As Nathan Fillion, who played Captain Malcolm told the audience at the New York Comic Con, “It’s one thing when it’s just us sitting in our living rooms saying ‘It was good?’ It’s another thing 10 years later to come to New York and see you guys all around. It’s very, very validating.”
Along the Firefly grapevine, there’s been talk of a special on the Science Channel celebrating the show, and now more info has just been released about this event. As the site GiantFreakinRobot reports, the special is titled Firefly: Browncoats Unite, and it will air on the Science Channel on November 11 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
The special is slated to be an hour long, and the Science Channel promises exclusive interviews, footage from the Comic Con reunion panel. The Firefly gang of Whedon, Fillion, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Adam Baldwin, and more will all be aboard for the jamboree.
As one executive for the Science Channel added, when the channel started showing Firefly in 2011, “We immediately realized that these fans are a subculture united by a unique and fanatical passion for the series. Our goal is to present them the series they love – but in a totally new and surprising way. Whether that’s through exploring the science behind the show or reuniting the entire cast for the first time, we want Science Channel to be the home for Browncoats everywhere.”
