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."

Comments

Will there be more episodes?

[Banner]

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

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[AKAImBatman]

Will there be more episodes?

Well, Farscape was picked up for a mini-series after the Fans pushed it, and now FireFly is going to the Theaters. I'd say there's a reasonable chance that we might have a revival of Star Trek proportions on our hands. :-)

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Banner]

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping too! :-)

It was a really good show over all. At first I thought it was just 'cowboys in space' but as I started to watch it I could see there was a lot more going on there. I STILL want to know just what the heck is up with Ron Glass's character.

I also like 'Beware of the hair!'

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[bsharitt]

I hope so, I mean I already have all the episodes on DVD.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Svet-Am]

that's what always annoyed me about Sci-Fi buying the rights to seaQuest DSV. They bought the show from NBC (and also, Earth2) and promised the community that they'd be producing new episodes and that all of the cast had signed on, etc.

However, we have yet to see any new episodes and it is unlikely we ever will now given the divergent paths of the actors' careers and the untimely death of Jonathan Brandis.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[AKAImBatman]

It did not, however, preclude additional feature films.

If that's true, then FireFly's return really WILL be of Star Trek proportions! ;-)

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[stfvon007]

Loophole:
A new feature film every week on Sci Fi! :D

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Adrilla]

I must agree, his hidden story intrigued more than River. Something tells me, he did some dirty deeds in his day. Something I doubt they'll go into too much depth in the movie.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[the gnat]

I STILL want to know just what the heck is up with Ron Glass's character.

That's seriously weirding me out (I just watched the last half of the series on DVD recently). I had assumed "hey, maybe this guy's a reformed criminal or a veteran", since he seemed a little too handy with guns. And then in the bounty-hunter episode (which I guess was the last on the DVD), the bounty hunter makes an offhand remark to Simon to the effect of "that's not a Shepherd." Very quick and I almost missed it. So he's obviously *still* more than he seems.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Rei]

I wasn't going to discuss his character, but if it's a lecture you want, I've a few very catchy ones prepped...sin and helfire... one has lepers.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Rei]

Whedon: We will rule over this time slot, and we will call it... "This Time Slot".

Fox: I think we should call it... your grave!"

Whedon: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

Fox: Ha ha HA! Mine is an evil laugh...now die!

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[jdbo]

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)

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[adpowers]

If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of Hell, a level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Local Loop]

OK, that made my day. :) somebody mod parent "funny" please, even you don't get it...

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[digit]

Haaa.

That was so go.

I could just see him playing with fox.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[RufusFish]

Having just watched the entire series on DVD recently, I think the story has given 4 distinct clues to the fact he's something other than 'just a shepherd':

1) In the first episode, he has a small monologue about what he's experienced during his first few days aboard Serenity, in which he says something to the effect of 'the captain just shot the man I swore to protect, and I'm not sure I feel bad about it'

2) In the episode where Book gets shot, the alliance refuses to treat him until they take a look at his identity card, at which point they usher him through without a question. Mel questions him about this later and how the alliance doesn't show that kind of attention to mere shepherds but Book defers answering with an 'I'll tell you later'-ish comment.

3) As mentioned above, in the bounty-hunter episode, Jubal Early says 'That's not a Shepherd'.

4) One episode (I can't recall which), Book goes into great detail about the weapons they're about to use -- something a simple Shepherd probably wouldn't know.

It's obvious that Whedon was doing a slow build in revealing the character, but he was definitely building the foundation for Book in the first season beyond his role of 'the preacher'.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[unitron]

You wanted more episodes of Earth 2? As opposed to the use of a time machine to go back and prevent some of them from having ever been made in the first place? :-)

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Oinos]

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.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Txiasaeia]

In other news, Joss Whedon announced his latest series "Bumblebee." A group of renegades are on the run from Feeble OXygen Corporation, led by Commander Melvin ("Mel") Richardson, a former officer in the Packers Independence Flotilla (i.e. the "Green Skins"). Other memorable characters include Chloe, the steely (but feminine) first mate that served under Commander Mel during the Independence war, Oregon, the wisecracking pilot whose won the heart of Chloe, and Mary Kay, the loveable grease-monkey-cum-sweetheart whose bubbly cheerfulness is her trademark.

Although actors such as Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, and Jewel Staite have signed on to the show, Whedon denies that the show has anything to do with his previous sci-fi drama, "Firefly." "They're two completely different insects!" Whedon said in a telephone interview. "They're both sci-fi shows, so there might be some similarities in that regard, but otherwise they're completely different. Promise!"

Sources have confirmed that Whedon will be singing the theme song for this show too, containing the lyrics "Can't never take away my blue clouds, y'hear?" Look for "Bumblebee" in Fall 2006 on the Sci-Fi channel.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[ResQuad]

My friend and I are huge fans, and that is by far my favorite line in the series. That was just awesome. Mad props - or what ever the proper hip term is now.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[pcmanjon]

"Having just watched the entire series on DVD recently, I think the story has given 4 distinct clues to the fact he's something other than 'just a shepherd'...."

Yeah, there is even a few more things that were said too, that slihgly indicated he knows more than just a preacher would usually know.

It would seem he has some sort of background, and that the shepard thing is just a cover.

I really hope we get to find out in serenity!

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[MaineCoon]

Whedon only wrote the themesong... the 4th DVD of the set has a bonus feature of a recording of him actually singing it, played to the opening sequence. He sang it to capture the feel of the song, how he wanted the actual artist who would perform it to portray it.

He doesn't sing all that well, so it's a good thing they got a real singer to do it. Not to slight him, it's just obviously not a talent/skill he's developed. He makes a much better writer...

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[jfisherwa]

Not necessarily -- Cartoon Network picked up Family Guy and Futurma, but the new episodes of Family Guy are for Fox. I think it's more of a licensing agreement.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[fm6]

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.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Sollord]

Ah but the trick is to get Sky One to pay for half of the season if it does well on scifi. Who own fox and who own sky one? Drum roll please? Rupert Murdoc. If it does well enough and they can get Sky One to go half and half or the same as star gate or battle star well i for see Fire Fly being totaly possible

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[91degrees]

Apparently not.

Universal own the rights to Firefly, but Fox still own the rights to the TV show. Both have agreed, that there aren't going to be any more episodes. For them to change thir minds, you'll have to get by corporate big headedness and get two major networks to actually cooperate over something that's valuable. For bizarre illogical reasons, this sort of thing never happens.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[bay43270]

I guess this was after 'Sliders'?

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[StarDal]

Note that Sci-Fi does 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.

If you recall, most of Vivendi's stake in Universal was bought out by (GE/)NBC a while back, including SciFi .. check hout http://www.nbcuni.com/ for more details. Though the ratings for NBC may not be quite like during the heyday of 'Must See TV', their pockets aren't too shabby.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[dsplat]

If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of Hell, a level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.

I expect to hear that from someone while I'm waiting in line for tickets to Serenity the day it opens.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[kria]

I would say one more clue is the fact that he obviously is VERY good with guns (even if he's only aiming for kneecaps).

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[radish]

Ever since then, they've refused to look at any big-budget project

*cough* galactica *cough*

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[puto]

ACtually no. Good news is as per advertising on Cartoon network the new Family Guy Episodes(reruns of the sunday ones on Fox) will appear on Cartoon network on Thursdays.

American Dad has already been shown Cartoon Network as well.

Puto

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[BlogPope]

I was never a big fan, but it seemed to me he was the typical "Gunfighter turned preacher" trying to run away/atone for his past. Think 1985's "Pale Rider". Obviously not a direct rip, his background seemed to be tied to the government Firefly was trying hard to avoid, etc.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Badfysh]

I presume that clause doesn't prevent Fox themselves from bringing it back though, if they wanted to?

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[ShinyBrowncoat]

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, I believe the contract specifies that the tv series cannot be brought back for a period of time -- something like 9 or 10 years, but practically speaking that has almost the same effect.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Eskarel]

I'm not entirely certain where you got that figure, and would appreciate some sort of source, but even if it's true it's not really that bad.

When you consider that an episode of "Friends" used to cost 6 million an episode just to pay the primary actors, 1.5 starts to look quite a bit smaller. It's not the red green show, but it's quite tolerable.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[fm6]

Jeez, have you looked at the NBC schedule? Sitcoms and reality shows. Which are cheap to make. What dramas they do have are formulaic (four Law and Order shows!) and low-budget. Plus a notable absence of edgy ideas or sf/fantasy stories.

If Sci-Fi goes to NBC Universal management and asks for big bucks to buy the rights to Firefly from Fox, I think the answer is predictable. So it all comes down to whether Fox will let go of Firefly for a reasonable amount. Not impossible, but not the way the media industry tends to do things.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[fm6]

I haven't seen the new BG (can't afford cable), but I'd be very suprised if it were that expensive to make. I'm sure there are a lot of expensive special effects -- but there's expensive and then there's expensive.

I know that (relatively) low production costs is why they bought Stargate and dumped Farscape. Which might seem strange, since Stargate obviously spends a lot of money on effects. But the overall cost is much lower. Probably the absence of fancy sets is a big factor.

And here's a detail: Sci FI didn't have to buy the rights to the original series, which GE essentially got for free when it bought various Vivendi Universal assets from the bankruptcy court. If they'd had to pay Universal Studios for the rights I very much doubt if the series would have happened.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[hawk]

I'd say there's a reasonable chance that we might have a revival of Star Trek proportions on our hands. :-)

*shudder*

You mean that all of the original episodes get wiped out in an inane time loop???

hawk

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[MBraynard]

Just three law and orders. Trial by jury was cancelled.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Mercano]

I don't Galactica is cheap. I mean, they have to cut the corners off of every scrap of paper that appears on camera! That, and, you know, all those highly detailed digital space ship models they have to render. Though they certainly saved money by not buying a SteadyCam.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[fm6]

Cancelled, and then uncancelled. I guess they didn't have anything better to fill the slot!

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[thiophene]

My fiancee and I have been watching the set over the last couple days, and one thing that struck me was in the episode when Mal and Wash get captured by the sadist guy (I can't remember his name), both the sadist and Book mention something about a Chinese philosopher.

Now, here's my theory, both Book and the sadist were students of some sort together and were exposed (during the war) to carnage. Book went one way, the sadist went the other (morally speaking).

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[pittnat]

As far as I understand it, Fox sold the rights to the show to Universal along with the feature film rights. How else would Sci-Fi (one of Universal's stations) be showing the tv-show.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[MBraynard]

Uncancelled? Looks cancelled in this story from two days ago:

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/entertainment/118 86078.htm.

I did enjoy the episodes I did see, though I am begining to dislike the CI as way to formulaic and SVU as too overtly left-wing politically. I think I'll stick with Jack McCoy for the time being.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Rubel]

The biggest insight into Book's character, IMO, comes in the final episode, when we finally see things from River's "special" perspective. When she looks at Book, he says something like, "I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not - so where does that leave you?" Nasty!

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[aonaran]

I hope so.

I'd really like to see more of Firefly.

Was anyone else disappointed that Sheapard Book isn't in any of the promotional photos or trailers?

I hope they didn't kill him off. He's listed in IMDB, but the lack of evidence that he's still a part of the crew is disturbing. I liked where his story line was going and I want to see it continue.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Fyz]

Could you please explain your sig to me?

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[fm6]

I thought I saw a report that it had been uncancelled. But apparently it's just a rumor that Dick Wolf is still fighting to keep the show alive, either on NBC or TNT.

I probably didn't read the report carefully because I've come to thoroughly loathe the whole franchise. I used to enjoy it when it was a single show that tried to deal with interesting legal and social issues. But now it's just a depressing freak show.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[aggies11]

I saw Whedon speak at last Years Chicago Wizard World Comic con. (He's extremely funny and witty individual).

While not directly ask, this topic did come up, and he was rather clear in suggestion (although not in so many words), that the future of Firefly, at best, lies with more movies.

He has moved on, and so have the other actors, such that resuming the series (even if there was support/demand) would not be realistic.

It was the one thing that sucked about that pannel (we did get to see an exclusive 8min cut of firefly footage though). Also got to see the director of Batman, give a little presentation about the movie that they were filming in Chicago last summer (and saw some ultra exclusive, totally raw footage of filming, stuff that was even shot the previous day ;).

So all in all, very dissapointing. But it was a pipe dream anyway :/

Aggies

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[AJWM]

It could come down to how they defined "broadcast".

Sci-Fi doesn't broadcast, they're carried by cable (not a broadcast at all) and satellite, the latter being a beamcast or narrowcast.

Or maybe Sci-Fi just bought out the rights.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Txiasaeia]

Heh, sorry, give it a shot now.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[StarDal]

According to TVGuide (which I linked to from the new TVTome/TV.com and can't figure out what the real link is), as of June 3rd there was still talk of resurrecting it, but nothing definate.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[CaptainAvatar]

Yeah, mine too - some friends made me watch Firefly (because that's what friends are for!), and when I saw that scene I knew I was going to like this show.

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[Snaller]

I don't believe this is true. Universal didn't want TV rights, so they negotiated and bought movie rights. So yes, you can't make a tv series without the rights, but someone could invest in those rights if they wanted too..

Re:Will there be more episodes?

[BattyMan]

when I saw that scene I knew I was going to like this show

They had me when they kicked the bad guy into the engine intake.
(which I saw _before_ the dinosaur scene, on the air)

I was surfing the channels, minding my own business, when I caught this sequence where a pretty girl in an atmospheric-capable spacecraft spider-dropped this rather sarcastic dude into a magneto-levitational train full of cowboys, coolies, and - WTF? *Starship Troopers*?

Maybe I was watching something else (yeah, stupid of me), because I missed the next segment altogether. The next I remember of it is this:

CAPTAIN: (from memory, Mum has the DVDs) "Here's all the money Niska gave us. Give it back, and tell him we're not doing his job."

FIRST BADGUY: "Keep it, and buy yourself a nice funeral. I'll hunt you down and kill you _myself_!"

CAPTAIN: <*sigh*> (Kicks bad guy, rocking him back a meter and into the intake stream of the idling spaceship engine, where (through the majic of CGA) he's _SUCKED_IN_ at a hilarious velocity!)

<WOW! Now we see the violence inherent in the sytem! But there's more:>

(Second Bad Guy is dragged before the Captain)

CAPTAIN: "Here's all the money Niska gave us..."

SECOND BADGUY: (Quickly taking the money) "OK, Sure! I'm right with you on that!"

By this time I'm wondering: "Who does this guy think he _is_? Joss Fscking Whedon?" Of course that was answered by the Mutant Enemy trademark at the end: "GRR! ARGH!"

But even after watching all the DVDs, I still have about a hundred questions, starting with "_what's_up_ with that preacher, he's _definately_ got a history!"

Awesome...

[brxndxn]

I think it's about time networks start to realize they need to have a 3-season investment, at least, in order to establish a larger viewership. All these reality TV shows score big on their first season and then never add up once the hype is gone.

Also, changing the time every week and having them be interrupted by the 'MJ verdict' doesn't do much for people trying to set up a schedule around the shows. Ya, people have Tivo.. but then again, the networks aren't targeting those people anyway.

Re:Awesome...

[mattdm]

I think it's about time networks start to realize they need to have a 3-season investment, at least, in order to establish a larger viewership. All these reality TV shows score big on their first season and then never add up once the hype is gone.

Which do you think is cheaper: a dozen new hyped-up shot-on-video minimal-effects minimal-EVERYTHING reality shows, or a 3-season investment in developing the fanbase for a quality show?

Re:Awesome...

[AoT]

But what was the last reality show you watched in reruns?

Re:Awesome...

[NanoGator]

"I think it's about time networks start to realize they need to have a 3-season investment, at least, in order to establish a larger viewership. All these reality TV shows score big on their first season and then never add up once the hype is gone."

Actually, they do realize it. The reason why 3 seasons is a magic number is because they end up with enough episodes to make money off of the airing of reruns. For them to cancel it when they did, they probably ran across some VERY bad numbers. Perhaps they realized they could spend that hour on a show that was more likely to succeed. Perhaps the ratings just weren't what they wanted given the cost of making the show. Perhaps a new fad came along that they really wanted to tap into.

It's hard to say. Sci-fi, however, is notoriously difficult to hold on to for a long period of time. It's expensive (compared to a reality show, for example) and, let's face it, sci-fi doesn't have the mass-market appeal we'd like it to. Shows like Star Trek and BSG are the exceptions, not the rules.

Yes, these shows get unfairly dumped. However, you have to remember that TV's a business, not an art form. It's a business built on the whims of a constantly changing mass-market audience. The original Star Trek series, for example, wasn't all that popular. Years after it ended, the 'space race' happened, and suddenly there was interest again. A few years later, bam, Star Trek: The Motion Picture came along. *That* wouldn't have happened if not for the success of both Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third kind. (It was quite a shock that either of those movies did so well.) It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that the numbers these guys use to figure out of a show is worth the risk or not are about as accurate as a Magic 8-ball. With the millions of dollars involved in producing a show like FireFly, I can't say I'm all that shocked they'd pull out when they did.

Re:Awesome...

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I think it's about time networks start to realize they need to have a 3-season investment, at least, in order to establish a larger viewership.

What do they care about a large viewership. All they care about is short-term profit. Fox seems to have developed a cute little game - run about half of the episodes of a show - just enough to hook a decent sized number of fans and then cancel it. Later that year, release the entire show on DVD so those fans can buy it - it is like they get paid to run commercials for their own DVDs.

Here's just a few such series:

Firefly
Tru Calling (they finally ran 5 of the episodes from season two and then re-cancelled the show before the 6th and last one aired)
Point Pleasant
Wonderfalls

Re:Awesome...

[blibbler]

I think it is naïve to expect networks to commit to making 3 seasons of an unproven TV show. Along with the few good shows that get cancelled after a few episodes, there are a lot of very crappy programs that are cancelled quickly too (watch the first episode of the new Family Guy to get a sense of just what Fox has cancelled in the last few years)
I think your second point is right on the money though. They should at least treat the show with respect. This is especially true of shows like Firefly, which have an ongoing story line. You can imagine how successful the Lord of the Rings trilogy would have been if they released Return of the King first because it had a cool fight scene... or if George Lucas started the Starwars trilogy by jumping in the middle with episode 4, or something crazy like that.

Re:Awesome...

[ceejayoz]

Why would they care?

They can make ten new seasons of a reality show for the cost of that single season they're running reruns for.

Re:Awesome...

[Bishop923]

The original Star Trek series, for example, wasn't all that popular. Years after it ended, the 'space race' happened, and suddenly there was interest again.

<nerd mode="anal-retentive">

Actually The original series ran from 1966-1969, during the final 3 years of the "Space Race"

</nerd>

Re:Awesome...

[pcmanjon]

"Also, changing the time every week and having them be interrupted by the 'MJ verdict' doesn't do much for people trying to set up a schedule around the shows. Ya, people have Tivo.. but then again, the networks aren't targeting those people anyway."

Well, TiVo won't do a damn thing if you program it to start recording at 6:15 - 7:15 block to get Firefly. I had that set up on my TiVo.

Yeah, until fox killed the show by putting it on from 1:00 - 2:00.

I was really surprised when I didn't see firefly on when it was suppose to be; thought my tivo was broke.

About 4 weeks later I found out the show was cancelled.

I hate fox. In fact, I almost puked when I had to buy the firefly dvd from the net (which profits would end up going to fox)

I don't watch fox anymore. If they cancel such great shows like firefly and put complete shit on like "Stacked"... that's a network that isn't worth my viewing. To hell with fox double for making a contract that will kill any series they cancel. (10 year ownership of any series they endorse. Yes. No continuation of firefly through sci-fi ;-(

Re:Awesome...

[Keeper]

For them to cancel it when they did, they probably ran across some VERY bad numbers ...and I bet showing the episodes out of order, frequently pre-empting the show with sports, and placing it in the worst time slot on tv had nothing to do with it... /me wants to shoot Fox execs

At times I wonder why they even bothered producing the series in the first place.

Re:Awesome...

[Uhlek]

There's a few problems with that.

Reality shows and basic dramas (think Desperate Housewives) are relatively cheap to make. You don't have the big up-front expense of maintaining large sets on large soundstages, nor do you have the continuing expense of effects work.

Firefly failed for a number of reasons. For one, it's premise made it seem hokey, reducing the number of people willing to give it a chance. Even those that did were turned off by the mediocre first episode that didn't match with the advertisments, or the two or three modiocre episodes that followed (along with the confusing plot due to the out-of-order airings). Plus, being on Fox, they demanded considerably higher ratings than they were ever going to get. Yeah, yeah, X-files started out with low ratings, but X-file was one of Fox's flagship shows when it became a network, back in the days where if you weren't ABC,NBC, or CBS, you were nothing.

The timeslot wasn't at fault, really. SFC airs their three main original series on Friday night, including BSG, but get very high ratings.

Re:Awesome...

[anime_layer]

"It's expensive (compared to a reality show, for example) and, let's face it, sci-fi doesn't have the mass-market appeal we'd like it to."

Are you sure? If you don't make a handycam-series without any professional lightning this might be true but outdoor scenes are usually much more expensive to produce than studio scenes. For a sci-fi series you have to build some sets that can probably easily be reused and you have to add some 3d effects that shouldn't be that expensive to produce nowadays. I don't think the average sci-fi series is much more expensive than the average series that's shot in the studio and that's much less expensive than a series shot outdoors...

Re:Awesome...

[NanoGator]

"Are you sure? If you don't make a handycam-series without any professional lightning this might be true but outdoor scenes are usually much more expensive to produce than studio scenes."

Yes I'm sure. Outdoor scenes mainly require a good light setup. Sci-fi sets require a lot of intricate design, complex building, and dramatic lighting. In addition to that, there area a lot of camera setups, to boot. Compare that to say an episode of Fraiser: Sets? No prob, run down to the store, buy tables, chairs, draperies etc. Camera setups? Sort of. They get 3 or 4 cameras running and figure out which ones to use during the edit.

Re:Awesome...

[ErikZ]

Normal Sci-fi sets require a lot of design, complex building and dramatic lighting.

Firefly outdoor scenes:
a brothel in the middle of the desert.
A tent.
A rock in the middle of a desert.
A reusable western town.
A corral...For cattle.

Fraiser may save on the cost of the scenes, but I'm sure the actors and writers salaries make up for it.

Re:Awesome...

[Dzerzhinski]

Television drama is an art form. Television broadcasting is a business. Television production straddles these two sides. There is always a little business in art, and there is often a little art in business. But the screenwriter can't forget that he is paid to be an artist, and the network executives can't forget that the commodity they deal in is art. And you can't forget that Fox torpedoed Firefly from the beginning. The first episode aired was the second (or third, if you count the pilot as a two-parter) episode of the story. I had tuned in to see the series begin, but the second ep was a pretty shitty introduction to the series and I was turned off. It wasn't until long after it was pulled off of the air that I watched the rest of the series on a friend's recommendation, and now I am a pretty rabid fan of the show (Watched it back-to-front three times, own the DVDs). I am willing to bet they lost what could have been a big chunk of their base this way. I am sure they had reasons, but this turned out to be a poor business decision.

Re:Awesome...

[Allison Geode]

don't forget the firefly indoor scenes:

generic non-descript cargo hold.
generic non-descript infirmary.
generic non-descript kitchen (with garage-sale furniture that has been bolted to the floor so that it doesn't float around in low-g settings
generic curtain-filled room for the space-hooker's quarters.
generic dashboard-looking cockpit with plastic dinosaurs scattered here and there.

Re:Awesome...

[ajs]

"generic non-descript cargo hold."

It had a cat-walk, too. That's all futurish. And in one episode they opened something that had dry-ice steam floating off of it.

"generic non-descript infirmary."

Hey, they had needles in there... and... and stuff!

"generic non-descript kitchen (with garage-sale furniture that has been bolted to the floor so that it doesn't float around in low-g settings"

Ahem! "Space bolts"!

"generic curtain-filled room for the space-hooker's quarters."

Oh, and I supposed you think you can just saunter down to Better Whores and Brothels and pick up a bolt of Companion Cloth! That stuff was so 400 years ahead of it's time!

"generic dashboard-looking cockpit with plastic dinosaurs scattered here and there."

Dinosaurs! Do you hear yourself? Dinosaurs! The things died out millions of years ago, and yet through the magic of television they were brought back to us, just to "decorate a set"! My gods, how wastefull is this Joss Whedon guy?!

Re:Awesome...

[ajs]

For the most part, the costs in an SF show are:

Actors
Cameras
FX/CG
Costuming
Makeup
Set design

Certainly Firefly dodged the bullet on makeup; set design wasn't too much worse than your average drama; and the costuming was easier than usual (but they still had to establish the correct cultural feel which was an old-west / vaguely asian hybrid, which means that most of what you saw was NOT off-the-shelf costuming).

FX would have been very slightly cheaper than your average SF series, just because they didn't do flashy FX work most of the time, but the ship still had to be animated, and they still had to do some virtual sets, explosions, and some fancy weapons beyond simple slug throwers.

Plus, the pilot involved a pretty serious war, that was probably Fox's first impression of the costs of the show.

Overall it was a bold idea which required a certain amount of faith in Joss's abilities and probably seemed moderately pricy. Worse, Joss is involved in some pretty liberal stuff, so Fox probably started off with the sense that he wasn't exactly one of the team.

I think Fox did poorly by Firefly, but I also don't think they can be blamed too strongly for not seeing the value in a new SF series. It's hard to call those well, and what fans like often isn't what's popular, just look at Farscape.

Re:Awesome...

[makomk]

Actually, I was wondering what had happened to Point Pleasant. Channel 4 was re-showing it (in the UK) and seemed to stop at "Swimming with Boyd". Was that when they cancelled it, by any chance? If so, interesting...

Re:Awesome...

[alib001]

One of the extras on the DVD was a tour around the ship, Serenity. They built the whole thing (although it was split over two levels) which allowed them to get the feel of the ship when filming. So it wasn't just separate, simple sets, as I would have expected too.

Re:Awesome...

[glitchvern]

Yes, these shows get unfairly dumped. However, you have to remember that TV's a business, not an art form. It's a business built on the whims of a constantly changing mass-market audience.
[snip]
It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that the numbers these guys use to figure out of a show is worth the risk or not are about as accurate as a Magic 8-ball.

Everytime I think of tv executives I think of the episode of futurama where bender meets some tv executives

Network President: Greetings gentlemen, you already know my Execubots. Executive Alpha, programmed to like things that are seen before.
Exec Alpha: Hey hey hey.
Network President: Executive Beta, programmed to roll dice to determine the fall schedule.
Exec Beta: (rolls dice) More reality shows.
Network President: And Executive Gamma, programmed to underestimate middle America.
Exec Gamma: It's funny, but is it going to get them off their tractors?

Then I think about how fox canceled Family Guy which was subsequently shown as reruns on Cartoon Network which then became the first cable network to ever beat the broadcast networks in the ratings in the Tonight Show timeslot. Then I laugh. TV execs don't know what they're doing.

Re:Awesome...

[kannibal_klown]

watch the first episode of the new Family Guy to get a sense of just what Fox has cancelled in the last few years

Yeh, there were a lot of stinkers in there. But there werew a few in there I liked:

Firefly (obviously)
Greg the Bunny
and Dark Angel

Re:Awesome...

[fafaforza]

But with an established series (like Family Guy, or Seinfeld) a network can sell it to syndication as well as on DVD, so that every time an episode of Seinfeld runs on UPN9 at noon, the creators get royalties.

Re:Awesome...

[kria]

Even the Animaniacs, nominally a kids' show, made fun of Fox:

Miles: Be gone, pests, and give me the bird.
Yakko: We'd love to, really, but the Fox censors won't allow it.

Yakko: It's that time again!
Wakko: To make the Fox censors cry?

Dot: Who came up with this stupid 'Wheel of Morality' idea anyway?
Yakko: The execs at the Fox Kids' Network.
Dot: Ohhhh... They did? What a great idea!

Re:Awesome...

[Bazzargh]

NanoGator: The original Star Trek series, for example, wasn't all that popular. Years after it ended, the 'space race' happened, and suddenly there was interest again.

Bishop923: Actually The original series ran from 1966-1969, during the final 3 years of the "Space Race"

He wasn't talking about our space race, dude. It was the one on Vulcan.

Re:Awesome...

[abb3w]

Television drama is an art form. Television broadcasting is a business.

Successfully running a business is an art form.

Re:Awesome...

[jafac]

For them to cancel it when they did, they probably ran across some VERY bad numbers.

. . . more likely, some upper-management types at Fox were offended by the show's "Social Message";
- The government are the bad guys. (not cool in the post-9/11 world)
- One of the characters is a prostitute.
- Another of the main characters, in one episode, "corrects" the Bible.

This sort of thing doesn't sit well with Rupert Murdoch, if you watch the popular outrageous fantasy show; FoxNews.

Re:Awesome...

[orac2]

What was interesting about the Firefly sets (according to the DVDs) is that it was designed in such a way that most of the lighting required for shooting is built into the set already. Combined with the deliberatly 1970's style cinematograohy (lens flares, shots which would be considered under- or badly- lit by today's standards), and the fact that the Serenity was built as two huge (for the upstairs and downstairs areas) contigious sets complete with ceilings, this meant that shoots could be done a lot quicker (and therefore cheaper) than one would expect for a sci-fi show.

Re:Awesome...

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

They cancelled it and Fox officially said that they would not allow Channel 4 to show it either because they did not want internet copies of the unaired (in the US) episodes to compete with the upcoming DVD release.

When I read that, it pissed me off enough that I've decided that I will never buy Point Pleasant on DVD. I will just wait for internet copies of the DVD rips of the unaired episodes.

Re:Awesome...

[XPACT]

For the same reason I don't watch UPN anymore. I don't know how shows like Martin or Kevin Hill generates money compared to Star Trek for example.

Re:Awesome...

[NanoGator]

"This sort of thing doesn't sit well with Rupert Murdoch, if you watch the popular outrageous fantasy show; FoxNews."

Maybe, but you're talking about the same network that aired 'When Animals Attack!'

Re:Awesome...

[Thieron]

It is about economics. For a network to make money on a show the budget
Adtervisting = ratings. The price for an ad is set based on the ratings, unrelated to the type of show, time it airs, etc. That is why you find the effect of prime time, ie when most people have the time to watch = highest possible ratings. It is why Friday and Saturday night, when lots of people go out, have lower potential ratings than Sun-Thurs.

The difficultly with making SciFi shows successful is exactly why realtity shows are so prevelent. Reality shows are about the cheapest to produce, Sci-Fi some of the most expensive. So even if a Sci-Fi program gets better ratings than Joe Millionaire, it make not be making a profit.

The Sci-Fi channel has rarely had the money to make their own series. Stargate started on Showtime so they had a fan base and a good sense of where the ratings would be before committing to it. BSG was a mini-series first, which is a whole different set of economics. Then, the mini-series did well enough to show that there would be ratings to support the show. Also, I'd bet that the mini-series put in place a lot of the effects that they can now reuse to save money on the production now.

As someone else noted, Farscape was a different animal. They had some money and took a chance. Plus, you can't really say it was a success because it was canceled for the same reason Firefly was in the end. It got a much better run is all.

All the contracts, etc aside, Firefly has done very well on DVD, showing it has an audience. That got the movie bankrolled. If the movie does well, that shows that the audience will continue and that there is new interest. If the reruns on SciFi do well, I'm sure there will be some effort made to bring more episodes to the screen since a certain amount of ratings can be expected. Plus, with the film in the can, they can probably reuse effects from that to give the TV episodes some budget savings.

However, note that Joss Wheadon is commited to the Wonder Woman film next. Tim Minear, the other creator of Firefly has a new series on TV now, so if that takes off, a new Firefly season might be subject to schedules.

Re:Awesome...

[Cadrys]

FFS, you're talking about the same network that brought us "Married With Children", a whole lot of steamy "they're teens, sort of" shows, the worst of the reality shows, and *how* many seasons of "The Simpsons".... ...and you honestly think they're motivated by "Social Message?"

FOXNews != Fox.

Re:Awesome...

[Peristarkawan]

- The government are the bad guys. (not cool in the post-9/11 world)

Sure is a good thing then that Fox didn't produce The X-Files. :-)

Then again, Clinton was in office almost the entire time X-Files was running, so maybe you have a point.

What?

[lionheart1327]

Firefly, a science fiction series that was canceled midway through its first season on Fox

Yeah, right, like any Slahdotter doesn't know what Firefly is.

Re:What?

[gumpish]

No shit.

Amazing that this gets explained but crap like AJAX floats by in aubmitted blurbs without so much as a Wikipedia or AcronymFinder link.

Re:What?

[hoka]

I didn't know what it was, in fact, I posted a question about it when a Firefly article came up and I was modded -1 Offtopic. Not everybody can get cable television or can be up to date on bloody everything, just don't assume everybody is the same as you. We are a very diverse group of nerds.

Re:What?

[patio11]

Some sort of new browser extension for viewing web pages from the comfort of your seat in first class? Seriously, I never heard of nor saw the show.

Re:What?

[Rei]

What was wrong that prevented you from watching Firefly? Was it monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?

Re:What?

[Adrilla]

I was like you. I didn't know, nor care about the show, until I read a couple articles here. So, I rented the DVDs out of curiousity, and found it to be quite a solid show with solid storylines, and complex, realistic characters. After watching the entire series, I'm now excited about the film. I'd say try it out, maybe you like it, maybe not. But I think it's worth a go round and maybe next time a Firefly article pops up, you might be one of us blathering idiots, screaming things like "I can't wait for the movie" and "I can't believe those idiots at Fox ruined this series", etc, etc.

ps: I'm not a die hard Sci-Fi series fan. I haven't ever really followed any of the Star Trek series, or Battlestar Galactica (new series), or any thing on the SciFi network for that matter. I just found Firefly to be a good show.

Re:What?

[TLSPRWR]

Firefly wasn't originally aired on cable. Just on plain old 'rabbit-ears' TV on your local Fox station. Granted, it wasn't on for long, but the series has picked up a big following on DVD. Sci-Fi Channel is just jumping on the bandwagon.

Re:What?

[adpowers]

I was a Star Trek fan, but only casually (well, more casually than most, but I was far from a hard core fan; I only know the name of a few episodes).

However, I've seen all the Firefly episodes a number of times and I know most of their names (of course, that is easier when you only have to know 15 episodes (like 650 minutes of television). I also evangelize the show whenever I have a chance.

Everyone owes it to themselves to watch this show at least once. If people got that obsessed over Enterprise, they should this show.

Andrew

Re:What?

[ceejayoz]

If people got that obsessed over Enterprise, they should this show.

I think a lot of the people who obsessed over Enterprise did so because of the words "Star Trek" before it.

You could make "Star Trek: Dog Turd" with a static shot of (literally) a pile of crap and you'd get people fighting cancellation, but the same folks would look at Firefly and go "wtf no technical manual? no technobabble? lame!"

Re:What?

[hoka]

That also requires a tv with rabbit ears :) Such luxuries!

Re:What?

[adpowers]

That's true. There is a lot of hype around the Star Trek series. I watched all of Enterprise because it was Trek, but I was pretty tired of it for a while (in the middle when they had all the decontamination gel). I think Trek could use a rest, and that's why I'm glad Firefly is around. It is Sci-Fi without (much) technobabble and no particles of the week.

PS: Oops, I forgot the 'see' in the sentence you quoted.

Re:What?

[AvantLegion]

If I had mod points, you'd 0wnz0r them.

It amazes and saddens me how often fans (usually "nerdier" ones) of sci-fi, fantasy, and/or anime glorify the absolute worst that these genres/types of entertainment have to offer.

I'd bet a good reason some of these things remain niche is the fact that the fanbase evangelizes the total shit over the intelligent, quality material.

OMG INUYASHA! DRAGON BALL Z! ENTERPRISE!

Re:What?

[toad3k]

I hereby challenge your nerd status.

Re:What?

[Deliveranc3]

Um part of the problem with firefly is that is was painfully American.

Amazingly so.

I'm not saying it was terrible sci-fi but the characters finished development and had nowhere to go, the plot lines weren't really interesting (Who cares what happened to that girl?)

Also remember that Fox got to see 3 more episodes before they cancelled the show.

So they knew more about where it was headed than you do... And most series turn to crap in their second season.

Re:What?

[Gulthek]

I've seen those episodes on DVD, they are all kinds of awesome. Just like the rest of the series.

I find it odd that you say the characters had finished developing. If nothing else, what about the fake preacher?

Re:What?

[drsquare]

Of course, we wouldn't want anything about technology or science in science-fiction, would we? It might confuse the masses who don't know what kilograms or photons are.

If this Firefly doesn't have any 'technobabble', and is just about the characters, then it's not really sci-fi, it's just a soap in space, so you can't expect it to appeal to the Star Trek crowd any more than Friends or Buffy the Vampire Slayer would, so why mention it in the same breath?

Although Star Trek is actually crap. The science and technology are never explored, just 'particle of the week', the acting is below awful, the plots are recycled (what is it with American shows that need 3000 episodes even though they only have about 6 plots?), the dialogue is stale, and there's no drama or tension or anything.

Re:What?

[adpowers]

Exactly. The three episodes are on the DVD and I've seen them a number of times. They are just as good as the rest of the series.

I'm not sure what the grandparent doesn't expect character development. As the parent said, what about the 'preacher'? What about the sexual tension between Kaylee and the doctor or Inara and Mel? Inara just announced that she was leaving in the second to last episode. The series barely even had a chance to gain reoccurring characters. We saw a few characters more than once, like Badger. I imagine Niska would have been back as well. Don't forget more fun with the reavers.

Andrew

Re:What?

[ceejayoz]

Kilograms and photons aren't technobabble.

old news

[brian0918]

"Fans of the cult-hit series Firefly will be pleased to learn that the show has been picked up by the Sci Fi Channel."

Correction: were pleased to learn... over a month ago.

Re:old news

[krajo]

Yep, for Firefly/Buffy/Angel related news go see http://www.buffy.nu/ "I'll be in my bunk"

Tell them I ain't coming back.

[VonSlatt]

You can't take the sky from me . . .

Nice :)

[Ka D'Argo]

Good tv is hard to find these days. The only thing sustaining me is Lost and Battlestar Galatica..

Nice to see Firefly get a home on Sci Fi. Even though theres only one season, it's better than nothing.

Re:Nice :)

[Rabbi T. White]

You're pretty much right. TV as a whole is in an awful state at the moment apart from Lost and cartoons. I am sincerely hoping that they decide to pick up another season of this and give JW time to flesh out the characters and actually run some story arcs. Oh... There is one other program that is worth watching that involves a certain creature called a Time Lord who travels through space and time in a ship called a TARDIS, but if you're not in England, you wont be able to see it... legally.

Re:Nice :)

[91degrees]

but if you're not in England, you wont be able to see it... legally.

Sure you will. As long as you're in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Italy, or the Netherlands.

Re:Nice :)

[computechnica]

Maybe it will be on BBC America?

Misleading

[Knara]

Looks like they're just airing the original episodes in-order to help promote the upcoming movie (not a bad thing, mind you). When I hear "picked up" in relation to a TV show, I usually associate it with "making new episodes".

Re:Misleading

[double-oh three]

One does not preclude the other. If they find that with the replay shows and the movie that there is a large enough audience, they will probably bring it back and bump Andromeda from the Friday lineup (which they should have done a while ago). This show is right up SciFi's alley, the market might be too small for Fox but just right for a Cable channel.

Re:Misleading

[adpowers]

I'd love if a channel that was dedicated to the show picked it up and gave Joss free reign.

As much as I love Firefly, I won't be watching it... I already have it on DVD :). Hopefully enough people that don't own the DVD will watch the episodes, in order to show SciFi there is interest in it. After much prodding, I finally got my college roommates to watch the show and they loved it. They were very hesitant at first, but once they saw what a quality show it was, they were begging to see more. Actually, to be honest some of them got mad at me because they wanted to sleep, but we had to watch another episode :).

Let's hope enough people give it a chance and then realize how good the show is.

Andrew

Re:Misleading

[Scrameustache]

When I hear "picked up" in relation to a TV show, I usually associate it with "making new episodes".

Not to mention that "fans of the show" tend to already own the entire thing on DVD by now.

It might make new fans, that's interresting, but what a deceptive headline and blurb, really.

Re:Misleading

[ajs]

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.

Re:Misleading

[RubberDogBone]

Yeah, it's the same thing TechTV and later G4 tried when they found out the Thunderbirds movie was about to come out.

Run the TV show and hope to boost the movie, and if the movie does well, hope that translates back into big TV ratings.

Except it didn't work. And the movie bombed. And the show went off the air almost immediately.

But fans of the Firely TV show need not worry too much about box office sales. SciFi tends to rerun stuff for years and years and years and it doesn't even have to be good or get good ratings. They'll run pretty much any old crap they have laying around.

Someday I'm gonna make a movie about transdimensional genetically engineered dinosaurs from space who come to Earth to cause chickens to mutate so they can become intelligent and secretly take over the bodies of the Federal Reserve's board of governorrs. I know SciFi will buy it and want to show it over and over and over.

I'll get rich! You'll see!

New?

[Zeebs]

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.

Re:New?

[AKAImBatman]

I wouldn't give up just yet. Sci-Fi picked up both Sliders and Stargate SG-1, and poured quite a bit of development money into both. Plus, the amount of money they spent of Battlestar Galactica and the Farscapre Mini-Series (another cancellend show, remember?) shows that the Sci-Fi channel will most certainly make new episodes if they smell money.

So everyone with a Neilson device, make sure you turn on every episode of FireFly! We need to make Sci-Fi think that FireFly is the hottest show since the original Star Trek got cancelled! ;-)

Re:New?

[GlowStars]

Plus, the amount of money they spent of Battlestar Galactica and the Farscapre Mini-Series (another cancellend show, remember?) shows that the Sci-Fi channel will most certainly make new episodes if they smell money.

You forgot to mention that Farscape was cancelled by Sci-Fi itself. Bad example.

Re:New?

[pdo400]

And also that Farscape and BSG are both friggen Bad-Ass. They are (were) both completely different shows in tone and content but were (are) both absolutely spellbinging in ways that 'the females of the species' can get into.

I loved Farscape and liked Firefly, but c'mon... could anything either of those shows have done compared with the 2-part ending of BSG's first season? My face was honestly twitching with the scenes of Sharon with the pistol in her mouth and 'is Apollo banging Starbuck?? Oh hell no, sweet!, it's the Doc!! Booya!! Oh... wait... (stomach drops)"

Re:New?

[indifferent children]

Apollo banging Starbuck? You're sick. I'll admit that I haven't watched BSG in ~20 years, but I think I would have remembered that kind of funny business.

Re:New?

[Xibby]

You forgot to mention that Farscape was cancelled by Sci-Fi itself. Bad example.

After how many seasons of get Crichton, sexual tension, we're so screwed (x3), narrow escape, it was quite possibly time for Farscape to end. Going from weekly to ocasional mini series was quite possibly a very good idea.

Now if only you could get Sci-Fi to stop spending their money making "original" pictures and stick to what they do well...

Re:New?

[ckaminski]

Which I think was fair. About time. Every series has to die. Farscape was reaching it's pinnacle, IMHO. Ratings were slipping, even as I first started getting involved in it... The miniseries was just a wonder end to the whole thing.

Now it's not playing on SciFi at all, which Sux0rz, because there's a lot of episodes I missed.

Re:New?

[nanoakron]

You do know that it was only planned to be a 5-season story arc from the beginning, and they had confirmed funding for the 5th season as they were wrapping up the 4th, right?

And then the rug was completely pulled from under them.

The show was going to end naturally. Why they didn't stick to their original promise of money for that last season, I don't know.

Re:New?

[Ziviyr]

Sci-Fi would be the first to employ the view-doze system, that lets you watch TV in your sleep to enhance ratings...

Re:New?

[iq in binary]

Now if only you could get Sci-Fi to stop spending their money making "original" pictures and stick to what they do well...

Dune was a work of beautiful cinematography and a story that held me for it's entire 8-hour duration, thank you very fucking much.

But I just bought it!

[civman2]

I just bought Firefly on DVD. It's really good and I recommend that everyone watch it, but I wish someone would have told me in advance so I could have saved $35.

Re:But I just bought it!

[Zeebs]

The DVD sales were in all most likely a great part of the reaon there will be a movie. I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't think of it as $35 wasted, just a really expensive movie ticket, that you have to buy again for $15+. Actually just think of it as $35 wasted ;)

Re:But I just bought it!

[riprjak]

Hell No, dont save the money just coz you can record it!!

It doesnt matter if it *IS* being aired in its entirety; they wont make new episodes unless they smell money.

By the DVDs. Hell, buy 10 sets and hand them out instead of socks to your relatives at >insert culturally appropriate annual celebration here

Let me be the first to say

[aussie_a]

YIPPEE!

Does this mean new episodes will be made as well?

Yeah, whatever...

[OrthodonticJake]

The REAL question is whether or not they're going to make new episodes. Did they buy the repeat rights or the rights entirely?

No mention of new episodes

[mwyner]

This sounds great, but the article doesn't say anything about new episodes. Assuming a "try before you buy" type of thing?

oh, *reruns*.

[mattdm]

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.

Re:oh, *reruns*.

[NoodleSlayer]

Sci-Fi channel did buy the exclusive rights from Fox though!

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?id=31 260

Original Staffs

[fembots]

Are all the original writers, actors, actress etc. still available and willing to continue?

Futurama might be picked up (via DVD-only release) but if the original bunch is no longer there, the "feeling" will be different.

Re:Original Staffs

[sirsnork]

From the things I have read that quoted the actors directly everyone of them would happily drop whatever they were doing to make more Firefly. The all consider it the most fun they have had acting ever.

Re:Original Staffs

[tf23]

It's hard to imagine that making a movie is better then having to ask "do you want fries with that?" ;)

Re:Original Staffs

[ckaminski]

If you honestly don't think that Morena Baccarin, Summer Glau, Adam Baldwin or Jewel Staite can't get better jobs than flipping burgers, you seriously need to get out of the house once in a while. :-P

Especially Morena and Jewel. Hell, I'll pay them just to come sit around the house and look pretty.

Finally some decent news.

[probatus]

Its no Enterprise or Dr. Who but its good to see some sci fi on TV

PS -The Daleks are on the upcoming dr who episode.

http://www.cbc.ca/doctorwho

Re:Finally some decent news.

[TheKidWho]

ehh, doctor who sucks... The jokes are corny, and the stories are corny too.

Re:Finally some decent news.

[dstech]

"Its no Enterprise or Dr. Who"

And thank god for that!

Re:Finally some decent news.

[LoveMuscle]

I assume your refering to Star Trek:The Berman Tragedy, and the "New" Dr. Who?!? I've only watch a few of the Dr. Who's and, so far, they suck. As for Enterprise.... bah... It makes me sad that you think that crap is good sci-fi..

Re:Finally some decent news.

[Scrameustache]

by TheKidWho (705796)

ehh, doctor who sucks... The jokes are corny, and the stories are corny too.

Bah! You're just jealous he's been using your clever "who-in-the-name" gimmick for fourty two years.
I bet that's irritating.

April Fools!

[azcoffeehabit]

April Fools!

Re:April Fools!

[MoriaOrc]

by azcoffeehabit (533327) Alter Relationship on Wednesday June 15, @08:55PM (#12829770)

April Fools sure came late this year o.O

Re:April Fools!

[flatface]

Inter-planetary time zones, duh.

The upcoming special

[evenprime]

Well, that means SciFi will definitely be airing a "Making of" special for Serenity.....

Picked up?

[ErikZ]

When I see "Picked up" I think "Own it and is developing new shows."

It's nice that they will be getting more FireFly awareness out there. But they're just popping in the dvds into a player and broadcasting it.

Not too impressive from where I'm sitting.

Darn...

[lasmith05]

When I saw picked up, I also though it meant there would be new episodes. But I guess 3 un aired episodes and reruns will do for now.

Re:what

[aussie_a]

whats next, updates on "where is the cast of cheers now?"

Ted Danson is in San Diego

Shelley Long is in Fort Wayne

Kirstie Alley is in Wichita

Nicholas Colasanto is in Providence (the place, not the show)

Rhea Perlman is in Brooklyn

John Ratzenberger is in Bridgeport

Oh fuck. That's where they were born. Screw it. You can look it up yourself to see where they are.

Not so wonderful as it appears...

[bani]

...looks like they just bought broadcast rights for the episodes already made. I would have been happier if it were for a contract to make new ones.

Hooray! Renew series?

[Sean Clifford]

Hooray, SciFi! If Serenity does well in the theater, perhaps we'll see a lot of renewed interest in the series. I understand there's a three movie deal, but hey - hopefully the gang will be game for reviving the series.

Just re-watched my DVD collection, but for the folks who haven't seen FireFly check it out. The writing and acting are both excellent and it has a feel of authenticity. "Old West" in space.

Woah...

[MagicDude]

First news that the Super Mario Brothers Super Show is being released on DVD, now this. Next think you'll be telling me is that they're bringing back crystal pepsi. Oh damn, just thinking about that makes me feel tingly...

Re:Woah...

[fishmasta]

Dude, Crystal Pepsi fuckin' rocked.

Re:Woah...

[BoxO'Luke]

Crystal Pepsi was probably the most innovative cola product out there. It's really too bad most of my friends never knew it existed.

Re:Woah...

[dimator]

Man, I would kill for an ice cold glass of crystal pepsi right now. I wonder how well it keeps, there's more than a few bottles on ebay.

I don't know how series work.. but..

[Idimmu Xul]

It would be awesome if shows that will never see the light of day ever again were donated to some kind of PBS channel, rumour has it that there are countless programs that have been made, but are just sat on the shelves because noone want's to buy them..

Imagine an advertless channel, full of free shoes that none of the normal stations can justify paying for....aaaaaaaaaah nirvana!

Re:I don't know how series work.. but..

[jfengel]

The "countless" programs are pilots. One episode gets made, and that's it. For the most part, if you'd seen them, you'd know why they never got made. If you hate the trash that makes it to TV now, you should see the crap that even studio executives can't stomach. Even if it was good, all you'd see is one episode and that's it.

Re:I don't know how series work.. but..

[ErikZ]

Imagine an advertless channel, full of free shoes that none of the normal stations can justify paying for...

That...I...

Shoes?

Re:I don't know how series work.. but..

[forkazoo]

-Hey, Bob, let's give away some of the content sitting in our vault to a no-ads channel, so people will watch our competitor instead of us, and our ad revenue will drop.

-Wow, Fred, you have issues with your brain being missing.

Re:I don't know how series work.. but..

[orac2]

free shoes

free... s'what?

Join the Browncoats, see Serenity

[Lynchenstein]

...and maybe, just maybe we'll see more of Firefly than the first 1/2 season.

Browncoats: http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/

It was a great show that Fox in its short-sightedness cancelled way WAY too early to tell if its was going to be a hit or not. I have the DVDs and share them with as many people as I can in hopes that they will see the quality of the writing and acting and get hooked. Now that the show has been picked up for broadcast in the 'states again this should help the word get out.

BSG is being called the best sci-fi on TV right now, and Firefly (IMHO) was the best sci-drama I've ever seen.

Watch the series and if you like it, go see the movie.

../end evangelical post

Re:Join the Browncoats, see Serenity

[Lynchenstein]

Oops, are 13 episodes considered an entire season or 1/2 a season? I dunno. Anyway...

Re:Join the Browncoats, see Serenity

[Quietude]

13 episodes would be considered a short season. 22 is a full season, 6 is a disaster, and 2 means you're a sitcom on Fox.

Re:Join the Browncoats, see Serenity

[Scrameustache]

I'm in independant browncoat.
That OUGHT to be redundant, but there we are.

I looked at the site, its "win credits" thing appaled me. Though apparently it's a good place to learn about preview screenings that aren't anywhere near where I live... restricted to "central cities", you might say. Are you enjoying the irony at all? ;-)

Serenity and Firefly....

[tenchiken]

There will not be a TV series if Serenity does well. Rather there will be two more movies as most of the actors are under contract for all three.

They have the option of doing a TV series at some point in the future, but only after the movie has been out for some period of time.

Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[WombatControl]

...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.

Re:Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[grungebox]

Couldn't have put it better myself. I mean, look at Family Guy. That thing was sitting pretty at TBS and Cartoon Network in perpetual rerun land for a looooooong time till Fox got off their duff, listened to fans (and DVD sales numbers) and ordered new episodes. I imagine Firefly will suffer the same fate.

Re:Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[ErikZ]

There were millions of DVDs sold of that one season.

What's stopping them from releasing seasons through DVD only?

Re:Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[AaronStJ]

What you said flatly contradicts the story, as well as news posted on scifi.com itself saying the episodes will air on fridays, starting July 22nd. So somehow I doubt you're correct.

Re:Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[Kjella]

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.

OTOH, just keeping it off the air earns them exactly $0. If they have any economic sense, they simply see that the odds of getting good money for it are higher after the movie than before. If they choose to air it themselves or sell the contract, that's still cash, and cash is king.

Re:Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[Anonymous Coward]

OTOH, just keeping it off the air earns them exactly $0.

This simply isn't true.

For example, maybe they have decided that putting it on the air would make them less money than putting other things on the air instead. Hence, they make more money if they keep it off the air.

That's stupid! you say. If they're not going to show it, why not sell it?

Answer: because maybe letting someone else put it on the air would lose them money. Believe me, their accountants are NOT stupid, and they DO know more about making money than Kjella, who would not be posting on Slashdot if he'd made his fortune and could afford to spend his days lounging by the pool while a selection of supermodels begged for the privilege of fellating him.

In this case, presumably they've calculated that letting Sci-Fi show it will make them more money than refusing. And presumably they've also calculated that making more episodes would lose them more money than it would make them, and that the same would be true of letting other people make more episodes. So they won't.

Re:Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[TobascoKid]

But they're not making any new epsiodes, they're just airing the original 15. Read both the TFA and your own link, nothing is stated anywhere about new episodes being produced.

If they did make new episodes, Fox would most likely have first run rights - at least in the US. I suppose they could concievably make new episodes and put them straight to DVD in the states but air them in other parts of the world, but I somehow doubt that would happen.

Re:Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[colinferm]

Universal had nothing to do with the TV show. It was produced by Mutant Enemy a division of Fox Television and released on DVD by Fox Home Video. Universal purchased the *movie* rights.

Re:Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[argStyopa]

I've never really understood this.

Production companies that hold on to rights that they won't use. Computer companies holding on to source code and materials for games that are long past commercial viability.

WTF?

Re:Firefly Won't Be Returning To TV

[Mr. Sharumpe]

No *new* episodes will be made. SciFi is only playing the episodes that already exist.

Bah, Sci Fi channel

[fishbowl]

My cable provider refuses to carry Sci Fi, except for the way overpriced digital cable product. I'd go as far as to say Sci Fi channel is the *only* interesting thing in the digital cable line, and that's not enough to make me want it.

Now, when they release these things on DVD, that's when I see them.

Re:Bah, Sci Fi channel

[MayonakaHa]

Err... you missed the boat by a few years methinks.

Firefly on DVD

Re:Bah, Sci Fi channel

[fishbowl]

Ah, is that the same thing? It's that old?
Does that DVD include the episodes that weren't ever aired? Thanks, I'll check it out.

Re:Bah, Sci Fi channel

[MayonakaHa]

Yup it's that old. It includes all the episodes including the unaired ones.
And don't worry, a friend of mine didn't like it when it was on TV, but finally checked it out in the REAL order after donwloading it. He watched three episodes and liked it so much he bought the DVD set.

For the love of God and all things holy.

[bucky0]

Please, let there be more episodes done. A friend of mine casually showed me the pilot movie (she bought the DVDs). Two days later, I had watched them all and craved more. I'm gonna echo everyone else's sentiment that I really wish that more of this would be on tv as opposed to whatever crap reality show is undergoing it's 15 seconds.

Can You Say Rerun Only

[Ranger]

This isn't the show you were looking for. There are no new episodes of Firefly. The Sci-Fi Channel thought farscape was too expensive, so I really, really doubt they'll fund new episodes. I think UPN or WB networks would be a better place for it anyway if it were to be ressurected. You are better off buying the Firefly DVD set so you don't have to watch the other crap The Sci-Fi Channel shows.

Re:Can You Say Rerun Only

[Anonymous Coward]

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).

Oh, juh jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean-jan!

[Mateorabi]

Too bad the FOX execs were a bunch of BUN tyen-shung duh ee-DWAY-RO the first time arround.

Give the show to a network that knows what it's doing and appreciate what it has got.

Re:Oh, juh jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean-jan!

[Cybrex]

Gorram right! Doh ma?

Re:No new episodes?

[Adrilla]

I'd much rather have the DVDs, than have to wait for Sci-Fi to pick it up, and air it at their discretion. "Hmm, do I want to wait until Sci-Fi shows it Wed. @ 8:00, or whenever I damn well please?". Winner: DVDs. Bonus, you get all the extras, like the gag reel, and the behind the scenes stuff.

Must be warmer...

[VivianC]

This Sci-Fi must live somewhere warmer than Chicago. We won't be picking up any fireflies until later this month.

I guess I'll go read the article now....

Re:Must be warmer...

[Cranst0n]

Wait a second.. What abuot the 90 degrees and humid the past week and a half? Plenty of Fireflies then!!!

Spoiler

[RickPartin]

River is made out of chocolate!

Re:the obvious question

[AoT]

And wher do I find the old episodes? without cable.

Gag reel

[H_Fisher]

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.

Re:Gag reel

[Trogre]

I thought the whole series was the gag reel.

I mean, a cheesy western, with space ships shoehorned in to make it look cool? wtf? A saloon bar complete with pool table, except the balls bleep when you hit them.

I've seen four episodes now, and what a waste of time. Those 3 hours I'll never get back.

At least Trek and Farscape know they're Sci-fi - they don't pretend they're something else.

Re:Gag reel

[Anonymous Coward]

You say: "Those 3 hours I'll never get back."

Slashdot says: "Trogre's Latest 24 of 1137 Comments"

I wouldn't worry about the three hours if I were you :-)

Re:Gag reel

[theoddbot]

Try http://fireflyfans.net/feature.asp?f=42.

Just wait till I've finished downloading it :)

Re:Gag reel

[Trogre]

It seems that you, Mr Coward (if that is your real name), have posted here a great deal more than I have.

Re:Gag reel

[Macrat]

You are describing one of the episodes that Whedon had to write to keep FOX happy. This was actually the replacement pilot for FOX executives who couldn't understand the real pilot.

You should watch the DVD set for the real episodes.

Re:Gag reel

[julesh]

Whereas you've apparently spent your time working out how to tell the age of a slashdot account from its numerical id. That's almost as bad as working out a system for stardates! Get a life!

Re:Gag reel

[Trogre]

Thank you, I did not realise that.

Maybe I should rent the DVD and give the series another chance.

You should have been living in Canada

[Toxygen]

The canadian sci-fi channel Space has been showing Firefly reruns all last year.

Re:what

[Rei]

Firefly has a huge fan base. Myself included; that's why I took the time to make fortune-mod-firefly :)

It will come back... if the movie does well enough

[buddahfool]

I con't find the link but Fox announced that if Serenity does well they will bring back the series.

theme

[m()p3s]

Please please please let them change the song. I know what he was trying with the country/wild west style show and a score to match but my goodness it is bad. We know he can do good after a very buffy music episode but Joss has let himself down here.

Joss, if you are out there, please know it isn't a sign of weakness that you can't do everything, delegate man!

Re:theme

[LoveMuscle]

What the hell?!?!! That theme was great. Well, mostly great. If you hear Joss sing it...... yikes.

The Enterprise (AKA Star Trek:The Berman Tragedy) theme on the OTH, made me cringe if I didn't have it TiVo'd. That was truly painful. Actually most of the show was painful, but thats a different thread.

Re:theme

[Local Loop]

Respect your viewpoint, but I think the song is perfect for the show.

It's a folksy show, with a folksy theme song. And a very well done song at that, being both melancholy and hopeful at the same time.

And that is one very funky fiddle player.

Re:the obvious question

[Hidyman]

On DVD of course.
That's what brought Family Guy back.

Am I the only one?

[elmegil]

I see the summary of the series and think "Oh, live-action Cowboy Bebop. Woo hoo."

Re:Am I the only one?

[Mr2001]

After watching the first DVD, I gotta say, I came to the same conclusion. I'm sure it's the best space western around, but personally, I haven't liked space westerns since I stopped watching Silverhawks as a kid.

Sci-fi == anticompetitive

[Hao Wu]

They buy a show and claim that they "saved it". Then they run it for 2 seasons, and kill it.

I don't know how they get away with it.

Re: Zhe4 zhen1 shi4 ge kuai4 le4 de jin4 zhan3!

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:No clue...

[techno-vampire]

Would you be interested in a well written show with good acting? That's what Firefly was, and I've heard the movie is the same. I'm not a fan of the show because it's Sci-Fi, but because it's good, and I doubt I'm the only person who feels that way.

Re:what

[LOTHAR, of the Hill]

I can tell you where Nicholas Colasanto is.

He's dead. Died during Cheers. They even had a tribute episode and everything. He was replaced by Woody Harrelson, so I guess it worked out.

A half hour later the Bailiff on Night Court died. They went through two of them in nearly as many years. Sad times. I cried.

Re:the obvious question

[Olaserov]

I have to respectfully disagree and say that it was [adult swim] on cartoon network. They aired it for years late at night, rebuilt the fanbase, and then Fox suddenly "changed their minds".

Go figure.

Incorrect...

[oSand]

You need half a season. What you need is to not farq it up by canning it 1/2 way through and showing episodes out of order.

#22 at present.

[Grendel Drago]

Currently #22. For a DVD released in December 2003, that's pretty goddamn impressive.

If it's not worth it to Fox to bring back something this popular, then the economics of television production are seriously fucked.

--grende drago

Re:#22 at present.

[TheShadowHawk]

Amen Bro.

Re:#22 at present.

[Scrameustache]

Currently #22. For a DVD released in December 2003, that's pretty goddamn impressive.

If it's not worth it to Fox to bring back something this popular, then the economics of television production are seriously fucked.

It's all about the ratings.

It doesn't matter how many millions of people actually try to watch the show. If they can schedule it in such a way so that none of the Nielsen boxes watch it, then they kill it.

So: Fucked, indeed. Why is Nielsen the monopoly that dictates which show thrive and which show die? Who's making sure they aren't messing with the numbers? Etc.

Re:#22 at present.

[indifferent children]

You don't think that the combined efforts of the entire television broadcasting industry and the rest of American industry (aka advertisers) go into watching Nielsen? Both sides seem to trust that Nielsen are not deliberately dishonest, and Nielsen is extremely transparent to these groups so that accidental errors in statistical models or methods can be challenged (with enough eyeballs all errors in sampling methodology are shallow).

Oddly, the one group that does not trust Nielsen is FOX. From NYTimes (no reg): Nielsen's introduction of new electronic television meters in the New York area last winter, for instance, prompted a torrent of criticism from Fox Television, which saw the local ratings (and potential revenue) of several of its programs suddenly plummet. FOX started an astroturf campaign against Nielsen. All the other players in that industry like to bitch about how Nielsen is expensive, unresponsive, and a de-facto monopoly, but they never seem to claim dishonesty.

Re:the obvious question

[sangreal66]

I have to respectfully disagree and say that it was [adult swim] on cartoon network. They aired it for years late at night, rebuilt the fanbase, and then Fox suddenly "changed their minds".

It was both, actually.

Scifi's Priorities

[jeffkjo1]

Maybe Scifi has their collective heads on straight now, but they've really had some bizarro priorities when it comes to programming in the past, particularly shows they pick up from elseware.

Case(s) in point:

Sliders : Cancelled at it's peak of popularity, and as I remember, it was the No. 1 rated show on the channel.
MST3K : Cancelled because the show couldn't bring in more ratings, or because it was too expensive, depending on what time of day it is when you ask. Of course, the fact that Scifi never ran promos for the show helped.
Farscape : Cancelled when it was the No. 1 rated show on the channel, because it was too expensive. How is it possible for your most popular show to be too expensive?

Re:Scifi's Priorities

[kfg]

How is it possible for your most popular show to be too expensive?

By costing more than you can sell it for. It might have been the No.1 rated show on the channel, but, let's face it, Sci-Fi ain't the No.1 rated channel on the dial.

KFG

Re:Scifi's Priorities

[Rura Penthe]

Well Farscape may have had something to do with the fact that what you're saying is completely untrue. Stargate whooped Farscape each and every week (I don't recall the exact numbers but it was around 2:1) AND cost less to produce.

I love Farscape and I am sad that it won't be back, but saying it was the most popular show on Sci-Fi is just wrong.

Re:Scifi's Priorities

[tqft]

include rant.h

When are the coke addled idiots who run these things going to think?

Bring back Space:Above and Beyond. Guns and blood and explosions - YES. Women that can be plausibly shown half-naked - yes. Established fan base - yes. 20 years since on TV - yes.

They remake, sequel and destroy every half assed piece of shit and only finally now maybe are they putting it on DVD.

Where is the mini-series where the Wildcards are released from 20 years hard-time for blowing the battle plan? A full blown chig-human alliance vs the silicates gone psycho or a tank preservation society conspiracy run by Aerotech?

Re:Scifi's Priorities

[The Rizz]

Sliders : Cancelled at it's peak of popularity, and as I remember, it was the No. 1 rated show on the channel.

I was watching Sliders that season ... it sucked. It sucked hardcore. It sucked so bad, that the star of the show quit (who, IIRC, was even an executive producer until that season), along with 1/2 of the rest of the regular cast.

MST3K : Cancelled because the show couldn't bring in more ratings, or because it was too expensive, depending on what time of day it is when you ask. Of course, the fact that Scifi never ran promos for the show helped.

Uhhhh... I'm pretty sure MST3K ran on Comedy Central, not SciFi. Also, while the show was making plenty of money, it was in, what, the 9th season? When a show runs that long, in many cases the re-runs are able to pull in as much viewership as new airings. (Especially when the old episodes are of a vastly higher quality than the new shows.)
Another nail in MST3K's coffin was the fact that their production costs had risen dramatically in the last few seasons - simply put, they were out of old, cheap movies to use. With the popularity of MST3K, the studios that owned most old movies were raising the prices they were charging to incredibly high rates for movies that hadn't been seen in decades.
And, finally, after so many years, nearly all the original staff was gone, and those who were left were looking to move on.

Farscape : Cancelled when it was the No. 1 rated show on the channel, because it was too expensive. How is it possible for your most popular show to be too expensive?

OK, this one I will agree with... the cancellation of Farscape was one of the stupidest things I've seen in a long time. The only possible justification I can think of for it is if they didn't have the budget to pay for BOTH new Farscape episodes AND new SG-1 episodes. (As another poster pointed out, SG-1 was cheaper to produce, and had better ratings, so if they could only do one show they picked correctly...)

Re:Scifi's Priorities

[MalachiConstant]

Uhhhh... I'm pretty sure MST3K ran on Comedy Central, not SciFi.

It ran on Comedy Central for seven seasons, then got picked up of SciFi for three more seasons.

Also, while the show was making plenty of money, it was in, what, the 9th season? When a show runs that long, in many cases the re-runs are able to pull in as much viewership as new airings. (Especially when the old episodes are of a vastly higher quality than the new shows.)

That's certainly debatable. I think the show was in top form when it got cancelled. "Squirm", "The Horrors of Spider Island", "The Girl In Gold Boots", and "Soultaker" were all in season 10 and they are some of my favorite episodes.

Another nail in MST3K's coffin was the fact that their production costs had risen dramatically in the last few seasons - simply put, they were out of old, cheap movies to use. With the popularity of MST3K, the studios that owned most old movies were raising the prices they were charging to incredibly high rates for movies that hadn't been seen in decades.

That's true. That, in addition to MST3K not fitting into SciFi's new vision of itself after USA Network bought it is the real reason it was cancelled.

And, finally, after so many years, nearly all the original staff was gone, and those who were left were looking to move on.

I can't say whether the cast really wanted to move on, but almost all of the original cast was still there. The only people who left were:

Josh Weinstein - Dr. Erhardt/Tom Servo. Left after season one.

Joel Hodgson - Joel Robinson. Left after season five.

Trace Beaulieu - Dr. Forester/Crow. Left after season seven.

Frank Conniff - TV's Frank. Left after season seven.

Michal J Nelson, Mary Jo Pehl, Kevin Murphy, Jim Mallon, Bridget Jones, Paul Chaplin, and Patrick Brantseg, were all there since the beginning (or nearly the beginning).

Re:Scifi's Priorities

[Harlockjds]

>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.

Re:Scifi's Priorities

[Dastardly]

Farscape : Cancelled when it was the No. 1 rated show on the channel, because it was too expensive. How is it possible for your most popular show to be too expensive?

When Brian Henson and Rockne O'Bannon both said it cost way too much to make at Comic-Con 2004. I tend to believe them. They could have been toeing the party line, but it didn't seem like it. The sense was Farscape was a sort of loss leader and that they were pretty happy SciFi took the risk on it in the first place.

(Yes, a lot of reading between the lines.)

Re:the obvious question

[carninja]

Adult swim got good ratings, but it was the DVD sales that turned fox around, or so their official press release said.

Re:the obvious question

[Anonymous Coward]

bittorrent baby. can you type in a url and then search for the content you need?

Re:No clue...

[adpowers]

Firefly is barely Sci-Fi. It doesn't even have aliens! The characters are one of the reasons I love it so much. The characters are very well written in the show. I love how they all fit together and provide many interesting situations and dialogues. There was a lot of backstory that was hinted to in the show's short run, so it could provide a very interesting story arc over time. I just hope they don't reveal to much in the movie (which I've heard is mostly about River).

Andrew

Re:the obvious question

[ArcadeX]

I recently bought the entire season of firefly, including the never aired episodes from amazon for only 30 bucks. love that series.

All I have to say is...

[Moofie]

FUCKING FINALLY!

Now get some Babylon 5 action, and we're talking.

Yippee Spit

[His Shadow]

We may have had to wait longer to see the new "Battlestar Galactica", but we Canucks have had Firefly on Space: The Imagination Station since almost immediately after it was cancelled.

Re:No clue...

[norton_I]

I recommend you check it out. While my sci-fi loving friends widely regard it as at least one of the best TV shows ever made, I have personally introduced it to around a dozen people who are not sci-fi fans (including those who make fun of me for liking the various star trek shows), and all of them have liked Firefly. It is a well written show with interesting characters and engaging plots that has appeal well outside the genre for which it is known.

I love sci-fi, but I understand how many people aren't interested. Firefly, however, is special.

Then..

[grasshoppa]

Then, they'll let it run and mature for a few seasons, develop a strong fan base and a good show.

Then, they'll cancel it. On a really good cliff hanger.

Fuckers

Its on scifi site.

[digit]

SCI FI Channel 7/22/2005 7:00 p.m. ET/PT

The Sci Fi Channel airs Firefly, Joss Whedon's cult-fave space opera series, and the basis of the upcoming Serenity feature film. The 15 episodes will air on Fridays before new episodes of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica.

firefly

Re: Zhe4 zhen1 shi4 ge kuai4 le4 de jin4 zhan3!

[Loie]

nimen dou shudaizi!

A Science Fiction Series

[TempeTerra]

Firefly, a science fiction series that was canceled midway through its first season...

Firefly you say... I haven't heard of it before. Was it any good?

(It's a joke, numbskull ;)

Still works on the network's favor

[Optic7]

No need to pay residuals to the actors and whoever else. Basically, it's disposable/fast-food programming. They make their cash and dump it.

On the other hand, I imagine reality shows in their current form will get old soon, and they'll have to revert to regular episodic shows or come up with something else.

Re:No clue...

[abandonment]

i agree - the fact that they didn't try to pass off 'people with strange foreheads' as aliens was one of the reasons that i thought the show was particularly great.

definitely the best acting i've seen on tv in a long time (the new battlestar is the other other show that's geniunely surprised me)...i heard the hype about it, watched an episode and wasn't too impressed, but after 'obtaining' the entire series recently i was extremely impressed.

can't wait until serenity comes out. such great characters'...

Serenity Preview Tickets

[SFEley]

Huzzah, a thread where this is on topic...

If anyone here is in the Atlanta area and wants tickets to the Serenity preview showing on June 23, my podcast is giving away a pair. Being eligible for them requires some work, but as the work pretty much consists of listening to a bunch of quality science fiction stories, we're hoping it won't be too onerous.

Contest details here:
http://escape.extraneous.org/contest

Re:Serenity Preview Tickets

[/dev/trash]

Your mp3 is sponsoring a contest????

Guess I was wrong

[petrifiedcow]

Huh, I guess there is a god... well I guess it's off to church for me.

No point...

[Scrameustache]

I'm a Slashdotter. I don't play games, not into Japanese animation, and don't watch "sci-fi". I guess I really don't care if this series I've never heard about gets picked up or not. But, post a story about some wild advance in RAID technology, I'm there!

And you know what? NONE OF US CARE YO KNOW THAT.
So instead of replying to each and every article you don't care about with a message stating you don't care, why not simply ignore it? Or spend your time on a website that caters to your limited interests? Save everyone the trouble.

Pass

[trawg]

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.

Re:Pass

[WereTiger]

Oh, we'll see your comment.... and we'll summerily reject it and substitute our own :)

Seriously, it's great that you gave the show a chance, I really couldn't ask for more of ya. If you didn't enjoy the glib writing style of Buffy the Vampire slayer, you probably couldn't appreciate the style of Firefly. The character interaction in the series is really what did it for me.

I could go on ad-nauseum about this highlight or that to try to support my claim that Firefly was a phenominal series, but I don't think I'd change anyone's opinions
Guess I'll spend my newfound spare time watching the series again instead :)

Re:Pass

[krajo]

"But the thing that struck me as the most improbable was the "loot" they stole or smuggled. OK the meds were probably pricey but COWS and energy bars!? What the fuck is that all about." People can't eat gold/money/diamonds. Read the news about aid going into Africa and you'll understand.

Re:Pass

[trawg]

But the thing that struck me as the most improbable was the "loot" they stole or smuggled. OK the meds were probably pricey but COWS and energy bars!? What the fuck is that all about.

haha, yeh, that was something else that I forgot. I remember watching that episode wondering what they were talking about, and it gets to the end - and they're RUSTLING CATTLE!@#!

Re:Pass

[bhima]

So... in Africa the laws of physics are some different and it makes sense to use a space ship to transport 50 cows to another planet to get a better price and dodge the sales tax?

or is it: only in Africa do they drive a star destroyer around looking for people who have absconded with less energy bars than I could put in the trunk of my car?

Re:Pass

[bopo]

Token lesbian scene was a bit lame, too.

Nevertheless, I'll be in my bunk.

Re:Pass

[Trinn]

I guess I'm strange, but I like BOTH stargate series (and -hated- the stargate movie). Of course I also -like- TNG & DS9, and -most- of B5, and -dislike- the original trek series, and of course dislike enterprise. I also really doubt I'd like firefly as I really -don't- like westerns, never did. Not once. Didn't like any of the trek episodes where they insisted on using time travel / holodeck / etc. (depending on series) to create westerns. As for the Earthsea series, I've never read the books, heard they were better, and think the series was okay but a bit flat, took too long in exposition for things that should have been shown right away and on the converse didn't spend enough time on things, for example, -why- only like 10 minutes at the school? What about all the character development the main character should have had during that time?!

Re:Pass

[ghjm]

Well, then you should read "Digital Fortress," by Dan Brown. It will give you new respect for the merely egregious stupidity of TV.

Re:Pass

[midnightthunder]

Actually you are not alone.

After hearing so much hype, I also purchased the DVD set. Watched a few of discs and quite frankly found it .....

(( don't say it )) BORING (( / don't say it ))

I have not even watched all them. Just lost interest.

Now Deadwood, there is a series where I could not stop watching. I shall definitely be picking up the season 2 set on DVD when it comes out.

Re:Pass

[hexgrid]

So, what, you found it so uninteresting that you watched the whole series?

Re:Pass

[trawg]

I watched the first episode and was immediately not grabbed. My flatmate watched it with me and decided more or less instantly that he didn't like it, and went back to this PC to play WoW before it was even half way through, constantly remarking that he couldn't believe I was still watching it.

My attitude was, "surely it has to get better". I gave it a chance, if it had even picked up a little bit I'd be going to see the movie and no doubt spending money on it - but it didn't. At least I didn't just watch five minutes of it and then ditch it! I gave it a pretty reasonable chance and can explain in pretty good detail why I didn't like it and for what reasons.

Re:No clue...

[ErikZ]

I lend out my DVDs, and I have yet to get a negative response.

Of course, I ask "Do you like Sci-fi" first. I wonder if non-sci-fi people would like it.

This is all well and good

[utdpenguin]

But the REAL question is left unanswered!
When will we get to see the massively wonderful new Doctor Who on American TV?

(I ask for the sake of others. I. of course, already see each episode within hours of BBC broadcast :)

Firefly commming back to TV

[Lifix]

In order for Firefly to come back to TV, Serenity has to do very well in theaters, and has to attract a wider audience then just the fans of Firefly. Like Farscape, Firefly was canceled because it "failed to attract fans" on a per episode basis, that is the numbers didn't go up after each show, and while this was entierly Fox's fault for skiping the pilot and jumping straight to the second episode. In a conversation with a studio distributor, he said that the studio wished they had released this film earlier in summer because it would have "run all summer long." The distributor claimed that test audiences were reacting the same way they reacted to Star Wars. This info comes from my chats with some loyal browncoats and information picked up from the official firefly fanclub that was eaten buy the serenity movie website.

Can't take the sky from me.

Don't underestimate the power of repeats...

[Otto]

Look at what happened with Family Guy and Cartoon Network. CN/Adult Swim picked up Family Guy after it was well and truly cancelled, showed the episodes repeatedly, and after a couple of years, somebody at FOX finally noticed that the rating for freakin' Family Guy repeats were actually pretty decent. The DVD sales numbers probably didn't hurt either. Result: Family Guy gets new episodes again after a 2 or 3 year hiatus, the same people get to make American Dad and somehow talk Fox into letting Cartoon Network air American Dad episodes less than a week after their First Run on Fox.

Fox might be wising up a bit in this respect. If Firefly does well on Sci-Fi, and Serenity does well, then it's not entirely implausible that it could make a comeback.

Re:Don't underestimate the power of repeats...

[poopdeville]

Too bad American Dad sucks. :-(

Hear hear

[Namarrgon]

I've wondered this in the past myself.

Re:Hear hear

[Namarrgon]

While that's true, they'd likely get most of the buyers of the original series at least. Probably not as many as if it'd aired first, but the original series did quite well so I can't imagine them flopping.

Word of mouth still applies. The movie(s) would be a good hook for new buyers. And many reviewers do DVDs too.

Sci-Fi is showing firefly...

[tyrotyro]

...I'll be in my room.

Re:Sci-Fi is showing firefly...

[Hidyman]

All I can say is Nice Quote!!

Re:No new episodes?

[aussie_a]

That's why I like bittorrent.

Re:the obvious question

[God of Lemmings]

Hey, SCIFI produced more of SG-1, so it wouldn't be surprising.

Oh wow

[Kaorimoch]

This is kind of serendipitous because I just finished watching Objects in Space this morning. I really loved watching Firefly and after finishing that episode I wished that it had kept going. The movie will be great to watch but the series has such a wealth of material to go with that I'm sure they could have done another 13 episodes of great original sci-fi and it seems a pity to cram it all down into a 2 hour slot. Great great series.

What took them so friggin long?

[flajann]

I've had the Firefly DVD set forever. While it is nice they picked up such a distinguished series, I am personally not all that impressed, considering that The Sci Fi Channel has been on a steady decline in quality since their inception.

They hit an all-time bottom with "Scare Tactics" and "Crossing Over with John Edward", neither of which has anything to do with SF or even "Sci Fi".

And if you have to ask about the difference between SF and "Sci Fi", it says a lot about you.

Re: Zhe4 zhen1 shi4 ge kuai4 le4 de jin4 zhan3!

[jiawen]

Shi a, na you zenme yang?

(A, duile, ni hai wangle yige dongci!)

Sci-Fi UK already did this multiple times

[rklrkl]

Ho hum, this is a bit of a "non-story" isn't it? The DVD set has been out in the US for 18 months (and in the UK for over a year) - containing the full set of episodes - and yet it's considered newsworthy that ages later, a TV channel decides to repeat the episodes? Never mind that the Sci-Fi Channel in the UK has *already* done at least 2 repeat runs of Firefly in its entirety, a fact totally ignored by this article of course.

Re:Sci-Fi UK already did this multiple times

[the eric conspiracy]

Mod Parent up --

The Sci-Fi channel doesn't broadcast in HD, and Firefly was recorded in 16:9, and is as well quite economical as these things go. It is one of the better DVD packages out there for SciFi fans.

Contract to not make more show?

[infonography]

Nothing money can't fix. SciFi is loaded now and Fox is likely to look at the success of Battlestar Galactica and allow a renegotiation. That and pour themselves a nice piping hot cup of STFU.

Please oh please...!

[cthellis]

Family Guy broke form, so let's all hope and pray that Serenity succeeds past expectations, and Firefly drums up enough viewers with a proper treatment to return to television anew!

If Firefly AND Battlestar Galactica were to continue on for years to come, I just might be happy about sci-fi again!

I liked Firefly but...

[linebackn]

there were a couple of things it was missing that would have made it better:

1: A shipboard computer with an attitude
2: some kind of mysterious aincent/alien technology that gives the crew some small secret advantage.

Then it would be closer to being real-life anime. :)

that is good news

[Robocoastie]

SciFi channel is one of the few I bother with anymore. The big three have zero patience for shows to gather the fanbase needed.

Nobody watched it before...nothing will change

[btdown]

Nobody watched this show before and it got cancelled, and nobodies going to watch it this time. But hey, if Lexx can last as long as it did, then maybe there's hope after all. I found the show completely unwatchable, but it seems to have a cult following.

Re: Zhe4 zhen1 shi4 ge kuai4 le4 de jin4 zhan3!

[LS]

"ben4 rou4" you3 shen2me yi4si??

Re: Zhe4 zhen1 shi4 ge kuai4 le4 de jin4 zhan3!

[LS]

Ahh, ok, for those of you not fluent or not studying Mandarin, here's the translation:

"zhe4 zhen1 shi4 (yi) ge kuai4 le4 de jin4 zhan3."

This really is a happy development

"tian1 sheng1 de yi4 dui1 ben4 rou4"

the nature of a pile of stupid meat.

LS

Is everybody kidding?

[BlakeCaldwell]

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

Google Maps

[allanc]

I hope to one day see a Google Maps hack that lets you track the cast of Cheers in real time...

Credit where it's due

[dsplat]

He doesn't sing all that well, so it's a good thing they got a real singer to do it. Not to slight him, it's just obviously not a talent/skill he's developed. He makes a much better writer...

There aren't that many people who can write and produce a great series and write a theme song that captures it so completely and compellingly.

A stronger clue in a scene that was cut

[dsplat]

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.

What's better: Movies or episodes?

[WickedClean]

If the movie does well, would it hurt it to go back to being a weekly series?

Would you rather have a trilogy of full length movies or a weekly running series? If the movie is successful, can the networks afford to pay everyone involved to make the show?

I think Serenity is going to be a major hit and it is going to make big stars out of several of the cast members. I think we will also see Joss Whedon go on to be a big name writer/director.

Re:What's better: Movies or episodes?

[01000011011101000111]

Ah dude, Joss already *is* a big name writer/director - check the credits on Toy Story sometime...

Re:No clue...

[kria]

I don't know about Joss's thought processes, but one of my favorite sci-fi series of books has absolutely no aliens in it. It's the Vorkosigan Series, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Basically, rather than aliens, she relies on the fact that if you seperate groups of humans, like having more than one planet, you're going to obviously end up with some changes in behavior even greater than the differences between different cultures on one planet. She commented at one point that someday her humans will meet aliens... but they're really just be other humans who've changed so much from the "base", physically, intellectually and emotionally.

I don't see where you need aliens for Sci-fi. Sci-fi is about theories about how what humanity and possibly it's techology will become in the future.

Forget Neilsen, it's all about TiVo

[raitchison]

So everyone with a Neilson device, make sure you turn on every episode of FireFly! We need to make Sci-Fi think that FireFly is the hottest show since the original Star Trek got cancelled! ;-)

If there's even a single person with a Neilsen device who is a regulary visitor on /. I'd be surprised

What we need is for TiVo users to give this show three thumbs up and set their season passes to record the show. And of course not opt out of the anonymous data aggregation that TiVo does.

Networks are fast discovering that this data is just as if not more valuable than the Neilsen data because it has a MUCH larger sampling pool combined with the fact that TiVo users are more likely to have disposable income (more valuable for advertisers)

Re:Forget Neilsen, it's all about TiVo

[Bloody Templar]

If there's even a single person with a Neilsen device who is a regulary visitor on /. I'd be surprised

My wife, son, and I are a Neilsen family. But they didn't give us a device. They gave us a journal. And told us to write down everything we watched on each TV in the house. If something was TiVo'd, we were to write down the original air date/time.

I'm not sure Neilsen works in "devices" anymore. With all the variance in ways to obtain content (cable boxes, satellite tuners, TiVo, and, dare I say, BitTorrent), I think a device to monitor all that would be a significant technical challenge.

Re:Forget Neilsen, it's all about TiVo

[Krieger]

You realize of course, that this means you can have an even larger impact, by watching (or saying that you watched) firefly on multiple tvs multiple times. "It was so good we all wanted to watch it again".

Re:Forget Neilsen, it's all about TiVo

[cybermage]

Networks are fast discovering that this data is just as if not more valuable than the Neilsen data because it has a MUCH larger sampling pool combined with the fact that TiVo users are more likely to have disposable income (more valuable for advertisers)

Sorry, can't let this go. Given the ease with which viewer can ignore advertising on a TiVo, wouldn't you, as an advertiser, steer far clear of shows that are disproportionately popular with TiVo users. I'd compare Nielson ratings with TiVo "ratings" and stay away from ones that we're more popular on TiVo than Nielson if I were in advertising.

Re:Forget Neilsen, it's all about TiVo

[raitchison]

Given the ease with which viewer can ignore advertising on a TiVo, wouldn't you, as an advertiser, steer far clear of shows that are disproportionately popular with TiVo users.

That's a good point, while I don't skip every commercial (I have even been known to rewind to watch a commercial if it looks interesting as I fast forward through the commercial breaks) certainly it's safe to say that most TiVo (& other DVR) owners skip most commercials..

I think that TiVo viewers attract a different kind of advertiser and advertisement, from your product placement types (not really easily done in a Science Fiction show like Firefly) to the banners across the bottom which are becoming more and more common.

IMO the overall demographics of the typical TiVo owner, being affluent, younger, gadget buyers is more attractive to advertisers in general, enough to outweigh the negative that most TiVo buyers will be skipping most of the commercials.

The Ekumen?

[Grendel Drago]

Sounds a bit like an extension of Ursula K LeGuin's 'Ekumen'. Humans send out colonies, and the colonies genetically engineer themselves to adapt to their environments. So when a collection of worlds starts up a loose federation for trade and cultural exchange, they meet all sorts of weird people who really are just people with bumpy foreheads.

I don't know that much about it---only read The Left Hand of Darkness---but it seemed interesting.

--grendel drago

Re:The Ekumen?

[kria]

Ooo, hadn't thought of that, but yes. I've read a couple of those books, and like that.

If you think about it, it would also be a great way to make budget aliens that make sense to be so similiar to humans. (Without having a hokey episode like the ST:TNG one that explained about the alien race seeding many worlds with a certain DNA.)

Re: Zhe4 zhen1 shi4 ge kuai4 le4 de jin4 zhan3!

[jiawen]

Meiyou shenme yisi, zhishi Whedon xiansheng zai fahui ta lanlan de Zhongwen. :)

Slashdot mei banfa shuru Zhongwen zi, zhen kewu...

Treknobabble.

[Grendel Drago]

And now you can't do anything even faintly techy in SF television without people yelling "treknobabble! oh noes!".

Case in point: Season three of Babylon 5. We've seen jump gates for more than two years. They're floating pylons in space that can open a gate into hyperspace. (Which is vaguely but consistently explained as a sort of macrospace, where a mile there is like a light-year in normal space, or whatever.) We've seen jump points, which are opened by capital ships---apparently they take a lot of energy---and do pretty much the same thing as a jump gate, but without the need for an expensive and hard-to-move piece of space construction.

Anyway, the bright idea was to open a jump point while inside an active jump gate. There was mad fan complaint, because they smelled "verteron pulse! reverse the chronoton flux polarity!" not far behind. It's a damn shame.

--grendel drago

Re:the obvious question

[CommiePuddin]

Any why exactly would Fox give Turner Broacasting any credit for reviving their series?

Episode Cost

[LordMyren]

At a cool $2 mil an episode, each episode would be costing much more than their movie-specials.

I'm seriously skeptical that Sci Fi has the cash to continue development. One can only dream.

Myren

Re:Episode Cost

[puppetman]

Maybe the success of Battlestar Galactica (the second season of which starts July 15th - they've been filming here in Vancouver all spring) will give them the courage and the money to start producing new episodes. Hopefully Joss will be on board.

I'm all for more movies

[DaChesserCat]

Alan Tudyk ("Wash") comments that "Serenity" will be the first of THREE Firefly movies.

Even if we don't get more episodes, I'd be willing to cough up for the movies.

I don't think I'd cough up for more Trek-related movies (the last one STUNK, bad!), but I would for Firefly-related movies.

Re:I'm all for more movies

[WickedClean]

The last Star Trek movie was not that bad. The one before it stunk. We all know that the Star Trek series suffers from 'every other' syndrome where every other movie is good. Everybody knows Wrath of Khan was better than the 1st or 3rd movie.

Re:No clue...

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

I'm not a fan of the show because it's Sci-Fi, but because it's good

If your username wasn't techno-vampire I might even believe you.

Don't just throw the show at people!

[Cybrex]

I agree with you, but in the case of Firefly I think a word of caution is in order in regard to the way it's introduced to people.

The biggest factor that killed Firefly, IMHO, is that the episodes were shown out of order. It's not a serial per se, but given the heavy emphasis on character exposition and the relatively large cast of central characters a person coming into the middle of the series will likely find themself lost.

I saw the show exactly once while it was on Fox. It looked like it was probably a nice show, but I had difficulty following what was happening (it was the episode where Serenity got boarded, and River and Simon ended up hiding on the exterior of the ship while everyone else is being interrogated) and why the situation was supposed to be tense. I didn't watch it again.

Mind you, I'm the target audience for this. I watch very little TV, but adored the Buffy and Angel series, and all of my friends raved about it. Despite being a fan of Joss Whedon, I thought "eh, space western", shrugged, and went on with my life.

Until the DVDs came out. My wife received the box set as a Christmas gift from one of the aforementioned pushy friends, so the family all sat down to check out the first episode. 6 hours later we were completely and utterly hooked. Any time we got an hour free we were watching Firefly, and even took it with us on a camping trip. (Side note: watching Firefly on a high-tech laptop while snuggled around a campfire on a cold night is a wonderful thing, and fits the show perfectly!)

There's a reason why Firefly fans are so rabid, but to get the full effect it's important to watch the episodes in order.

Damn you, Comcast!

[magefile]

And just as I find out that SciFi won't be on Comcast basic cable starting in August ...

Never heard of it...

[Mad Ogre]

Untill all the recent internet chatter about it. So I ordered it off Amazon.com. BEST SHOW EVER Whoever cancelled Firefly was a huge moron. Best script writing I've ever seen for a TV show. The dialog is outstanding.

The Mags screwed it up

[ClosedSource]

I think the writers ran out of original ideas for parallel worlds so it ended up being the Mag show.

Re:the obvious question

[Teh Suq]

I've never seen this show (I did see the Serenity trailer and it looks great), but the hype is now overwhelming. Therefore, I just ordered the DVD box set with overnight shipping. I have the day off tomorrow so I'll be watching it. I have now done my part.

Not true

[geekoid]

if the studios feel they can make money, they can do both.

I have seen Serenity, and I...

[geekoid]

....Just wanted to brag.

seriously, IF you are a fan, avoind ALL firefly sites until the movie is out. Trust me, you do not want to read spoilers.

Re:I have seen Serenity, and I...

[portforward]

What is the film rated? PG, PG-13 or R?

Re:I have seen Serenity, and I...

[Hidyman]

I'm going to see it the 23rd in Cincinnati.
I can't wait.

True

[tenchiken]

I asked Jewel Saite the question at one of the showings.

Mmmmm..

[godders]

..Kaaaaaaylee

I almost shat my pants!

[proxima centauri]

Holy mother of the verse!
I love firefly.
This news is like music to my ears
Long live Mal and Jayne!
proxi

It may be a great show but...

[shahruz]

I haven't seen the show, so if you are a fan don't take this personally. But really how wise is it to create a movie based on a series that was cancelled mid-season?

Cop Rock: The Movie

Re:It may be a great show but...

[Hidyman]

Because it is the best TV show ever made.
If you watch it you will understand.

new series

[pittnat]

why go back to TV when you can make movies instead. Joss would get more money for effects/casting and there is a lot better prospects for profit.

Fox screwed the timeslot

[jtnix]

I am 99% sure the reason the show had 'VERY bad numbers' was because this show was spun out with no firm timeslot. Affiliates were allowed to show this a la Andromeda - whenever they felt like it. Which here, in Portland, Maine was 1 AM Saturday morning. Plus, it didn't even get the proper set up of the pilot episode. I mean, really guys, at least show the first episode first.

I think its obvious the only reason Andromeda survived and Firefly died is everyone knew who Kevin Sorbo and Gene Rodenberry were, whereas barely anyone had a clue who Joss Whedon was and the relatively unheard of cast, except Buffy and Angel fanatics, who I am sure weren't crazy about a Sci-Fi Western considering Joss' previous projects.

Hopefully Serenity will help a Farscape movie.

[ysaric]

I couldn't give two craps about Firefly getting back onto TV, but if Serenity does well in the theater--shows that a dedicated cult TV audience can influence a movie to profitability--then maybe someone is more willing to get Farscape onto the Big Screen, if for no other reason than I would love to see what they would do if not constrained by the content bounds of television. That being said, the mini was a nice send-off. Not sure where they would go from there in an interesting way.

Horrible time slot

[Anonymous Coward]

This show suffered a horrible time slot, friday nights somewhere between 8-10pm if I remember right. The demographic they target is the male 18+ crowd... Well most of this crowd are not sitting at home watching tv on friday nights....

It's why I bought a DVD player

[ab762]

Lame, eh?

Re:No clue...

[naoursla]

I think the movie covers the story that would have comprised the first season.

And I didn't think it was mostly about River.

Send feedback to The SciFi Channel thanking them!

[athanatic]

And promise to buy stuff they advertise, etc. (perhaps suggest some stuff the geeks like to buy anyway).

Make sure they know the fans care about this move and that we want more please!

NOTE: There is an extra dot in feedback email links after "@" i.e. "feedback@.scifi.com". I already told them, but fix them yourself when you mail.

Re:what

[Maniakes]

Isn't Ratzenberger the head of some chuch in Italy now?

Re:the obvious question

[Teh Suq]

Funny, but I don't have either of those. When people I know and respect tell me something is entertaining, I am not afraid to give it a try. Most of the time I am glad for the purchase.

Nice try though.

I didn't watch it because. . .

[Fantastic Lad]

I had no idea when it aired and didn't bother to check.

I didn't watch an episode of Buffy until second season. If it weren't for friends with video recorders, I'd never see anything. And these days, without a television in my life, this is more true than ever before.

Doesn't mean Firefly wasn't good. It just means it wasn't marketed very well. That slack has been picked up with the DVD release. It's going to do fine.

-FL

OT: Google Maps

[ckaminski]

So I'm searching driving directions around Salem, MA, trying to figure out commuting routes to my new job, and I'm scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, and am almost all the way (60 miles) to my house before I realize *WTF*...

Hmm... For those of us doing some form of AJAX (when it was Javascript and IFrames) for years, this sort of application is vindication...

Re:No clue...

[drsquare]

I haven't seen Firefly (I'm in the UK), so is that 'good acting and writing' as in, actual good acting and writing, or the sort that is excused as good by nerds who just like it because it's set in space and has space ships and stuff? I'm wary of opinions on this site, as I've seen people here say that Star Trek TNG had good acting and writing...

Now they need to bring back Farscape!!!!

[defk3000]

I want my FARSCAPE not my FARSCAPE mixed with some SG-1! Make me and the rest of the people that used to watch that channel every friday night come back!

Re:No clue...

[Neoncow]

Being a nerd, it's hard to be impartial. Obviously tastes differ for everyone. The point is, try watching the first three episodes and see if you're enjoying it.

If you like it, buy the DVDs. One thing I like about the show is that it can go from a serious situation to something funny in the same minute. And also, the stories throw you around by leading you to believe something obvious is going to happen. And then doing someting else.

THANK YOU

[mildness]

A quick thank you to the forgotten poster here who turned me on to Firefly.

On watching the first three eps on a Netflix rented disc last night I immediately booted my computer and ordered the entire series. It should arrive tomorrow.

Damn good stuff

adios,

BillyBob

It's not my fault

[ysaric]

that one fucking muppet has more character than the entire Firefly cast.

Change your diaper and try again, Anonymous Coward.

Re:the obvious question

[McPierce]

They're available on DVD. I got mine last year...

Re:No clue...

[drsquare]

Bittorrent's no use to me, I only have 56k. And I don't like watching TV on the computer (or DVDs), the picture is always jerky.

Re:No clue...

[Neoncow]

Well, these money spending people like it well enough to post 80 reviews. Although, there's a good chance that they're all just gushing nerds too.
As a side note people here and there seem to like it enough (over 2000 reviews averaging 5 stars..)

I don't know if you can find the DVD at your local rental store (I haven't been to one of those for a while).. but that might be an alternative.

"surely it has to get better"

[colin_laney]

You summed it up quite well with the "surely it has to get better" comment. I now have watched almost the whole season for that exact reason. The only good action scene is where they execute that burn to escape the "reavers". Did anyone see that shootout where the crew members all go back to rescue the captain? Soooo bad. They're trying to take cover, but are in plain view and still can't get hit by the Alliance troopers firing at them. The only only redeeming factor of this series is the camp factor (ie. so bad its good). I can't get the fact out of my head that its Buffy in space and that the 13-15 year old demographic just loves it. "ooOOoh Mal is sooo dreamy!"

Re:the obvious question

[Teh Suq]

After watching the 2 hour premier and the first two episodes, I am more than glad I bought this. Fantastic show.

Yeah but

[Snaller]

Companies like that don't go bankrupt, small parts of them do. Universal is bringing out and movie based on a tv series, and they place the tv series on a channel they own in the weeks leading up to the opening of the movie. That seems like planning.

Joined the party late there pal...

[Snaller]

...but better late than never ;)

Fuck !"#%/"/&(&!"#(/%!!

[Snaller]

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.

Well, you see the people on Firefly could ACTUALLY WRITE DIALOGUE (they also didn't wish to appeal to a monosyllabic crow who find #### endearing) - so there was no reason to swear all the time. It wasn't sanitised, it was just to give it color (and a lot of that what they say isn't rude or swearing) - Its Whedon trying to add texture.