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Sci-Fi Channel Picks Up Firefly

Posted by samzenpus on from the best-show-ever dept.

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."

8 of 406 comments (clear)

  1. Will there be more episodes? by Banner · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's what I'd like to know. Maybe if Serenity does well in the theaters?

    1. Re:Will there be more episodes? by jdbo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Can you cite something on that? I thought I had read that the contract specified a 3 film commitment (i.e. the studio could make up to 3 films if they wished to), subsequent to which the show could return to the air (if anyone wanted to pick it up, that is)

    2. Re:Will there be more episodes? by Oinos · · Score: 5, Interesting

      When negotiating for the rights to make a Firefly movie, Fox's contract specifically says that Joss can never bring the tv series back in any form. It did not, however, preclude additional feature films.

      Actually, when Fox picks up a television program the contract that they make everyone sign says that Fox owns the broadcast rights to the series for ten years. This is Fox's idea of controlling what is shown on TV. If a show doesn't pan out the way Fox thinks it should, they can it, and no one else can pick it up. There was no stipulation about feature films in the broadcast contract, that's why Joss decided to take the story to the big screen.

      If the Sci-Fi channel is showing the series, they would have had to buy out the broadcast contract from Fox. Assuming that the show pulls in some decent ratings, I wouldn't be surprised to see Joss writing a new season and production starting as early as this fall depending on availability of the cast.

    3. Re:Will there be more episodes? by fm6 · · Score: 3, Interesting
      If the Sci-Fi channel is showing the series, they would have had to buy out the broadcast contract from Fox.
      Not at all. They could have simply bought permission to show the episodes once or twice. I would be very much suprised if Fox let all broadcast rights go for the amount of money Sci-Fi Channel can afford to pay. Note that Sci-Fidoes not have deep pockets any more. They did back when they bankrolled Farscape, but then their parent, Vivendi Univesal, went thoroughly bankrupt. Ever since then, they've refused to look at any big-budget project.

      Of course, Firefly doesn't cost that much to make. But before Sci-Fi can make more episodes, they have to get Fox's permission, 'cause its their property. If Fox holds out for more than Sci-Fi can pay, that's the end of it.

      You're saying, "But that's stupid! Firefly isn't making them any money for Fox sitting in a vault!" Perhaps. But media companies sit on properties all the time, and never give them up cheaply.

  2. New? by Zeebs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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!!"
  3. Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV by WombatControl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...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.

  4. Gag reel by H_Fisher · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  5. Pass by trawg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.