Slashdot Mirror
Sci-Fi Channel Picks Up Firefly
An anonymous reader writes "Firefly, a science fiction series that was canceled midway through its first season on Fox, has found a new home on the Sci Fi Channel. Fans of the cult-hit series Firefly will be pleased to learn that the show has been picked up by the Sci Fi Channel--just two months before the release of Serenity, a Universal Pictures film based on the series. Looks like they'll be airing all the ones we've already seen, plus 3 that never got aired the first time around. A bonus - They'll be seen in the correct order."
That's what I'd like to know. Maybe if Serenity does well in the theaters?
I know there was something about and agreement between fox and Universal(was it?) about no more tv. Damn I got my hopes up for about 10 seconds when I read the headline, but no mention of new eps. Damn again.
Happy Noodle Boy says "F###ing doughnut! Mock me? You fried cyclops!!"
Okay, that's nice and all, but man that headline got my hopes up. Oh well. This'll probably be good for the few potential Firefly fans who haven't already seen the show yet are avid Sci-Fi channel watchers -- but for the existing fan base, it's not that exciting. I mean, who *doesn't* already have the DVD set?
As I understand it based on random internet rumor, Fox has the TV contract for approximately until the MP3 patent expires. So, if things go well with the Serenity movie this fall, we can maybe hope for a few more movies in the coming years, but no more TV series in the reasonable-at-all future.
...at least not for a long while.
Universal produced the show, but as a condition of picking up a series, a network gains the exclusive first rights to air the series on television. The rights to Firefly are still held by Fox, and Fox has expressed no interest in transferring those rights back.
Universal retains all the other rights, which is why Serenity got made, but unless someone's willing to cough up a very large amount of dough, it's unlikely that Fox would let their first-run TV contract drop.
Bonus, you get all the extras, like the gag reel, and the behind the scenes stuff.
Actually, the *full* gag reel is floating around on the 'Net. It's about 2x longer than what you saw on the DVD, and contains quite a bit of profanity and one bit (a play on the opening credits) that would have been hard-core copyright infringement had it gone on the commercial DVD.
It's quite amusing. You can find it floating around p2p land, and I'm sure there's a torrent out there.
At least try to use pinyin!
pinyin (with tones):
zhe4 zhen1 shi4 (yi) ge kuai4 le4 de jin4 zhan3.
tian1 sheng1 de yi4 dui1 ben4 rou4
After reading the overwhelmingly positive ejaculations about this series on Slashdot and a few other places, I thought I'd check it out. It was described as a 'space western' in one thread I read and that was the phrase that stuck in my mind.
When I heard the phrase 'space western', I imagined that it was a bit more metaphorical - like, it was the Space Rush days and everyone was getting out into space, it was rough and tumble, and all that jazz.
However, I was (somewhat unpleasantly) surprised to see that it was simply that - a western, set in space. That was pretty much it.
I didn't dig the main character; I thought he was bland and boring. I hated the swearing in Chinese; after watching Deadwood I find just about everything else is completely boring if its sanitised for a G rating. The sexual tension between the main character and the 'companion' is like, straight out of a highschool TV series, dude. The only common thread throughout the whole story was the doctor and his sister, which didn't progress enough to keep me interested. Token lesbian scene was a bit lame, too.
Special effects were nice and some of the scripts were vaguely entertaining; the character of Jane (Jayne?) was the only one that I really WANTED to keep seeing.
Anyway, I'm sure this comment won't see the light of day as it seems everyone else on Slashdot digs it, but that's my 2c.
Speaking of the upcoming movie, I hear that, after 3 instant sell-out sneak previews, the studio is considering re-thinking their plan to hold on to it until the fall to avoid competing with the memory of the Star Wars movie.
Everyone I've heard from who saw the sneak preview (fan or not, regardless of if they'd seen the series or not) really enjoyed it. I think if anything could convince Fox to sell the series rights to the Skiffy channel, the reception this movie is likely to get is probably it.
Firefly was one of the best shows on TV the past few years - I'm especially surprised there's so much negativity here over it...
the whole cowboy theme -- if you watch past the 4th or 5th episode that's all explained -- the alliance terraforms then drops civilians on the planent with nothing...
Plus, it's intentionally cheesy at times.
I highly recommend the show -- okay, there's one or two stupid (A-Team hokiness) episodes, but overall a great series.
keep in mind too that they originally played out of order, so the storyline didn't really fit. Hopefully the movie will renew interest and get a second season in the works... Although the movie will probably be lame...
oh well
For those of you who have the DVD set, go watch the scenes that were deleted. There's one where Simon is looking up some information about Serenity. Book explains it to him. Watch the scene.
The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.
Exactly.
Firefly cost about 2mil per episode to produce. This is why it was never picked up by another station. When Fox initially cancelled Firefly, Fox gave Whedon the option to shop the show around to be aired on another network. There were no takers because the ratings just couldn't justify the cost to produce.
Universal did not obtain the movie rights to Firefly because of DVD sales. They were interested in working with Whedon because of his talent. He has been a hot script doctor for years now and has two successful TV series under his belt. The deal to make Serenity was already on the table before DVD sales figures were even known.
Firefly DVD sales are in the 300k-500k range to date. Compared to Family guy which sold about 3MILLION dvd sets to date. This is why FOX began producing new episodes (3mil x 2 sets x $30). Chances of FOX producing new episodes of Firefly are highly unlikely unless DVD sales really pick up. Also keep in mind that if another network in the off chance picks up Firefly, it would still be produced by FOX. The new network would have to pay production costs and would only be able to make money off ad sales. DVD revenue of new episodes would go to the production company (FOX).
>MST3K : Cancelled because the show couldn't bring in more ratings, or because it was too expensive
People caught on to how much they were making on MST3K and raised the price for useing their old movies. Not to mention the cast was getting burned out.