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Firefly Lives - New Comics in 2008
gambit3 writes "'Serenity: Better Days' will be released as a 3 part comic in early 2008. The series is a step back in time to the early years of the Firefly crew, and the fledgling gang's turbulent attempts to cope with success after they pull off their first successful heist. It features the same creative team as Those Left Behind, with the story by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, and Adam Hughes providing all three covers this time." Ironic, considering today's brand-new poll.
It is "ironic" because the comic book form received 0% of the vote in that poll, yet it's the only one we get.
I'm of the same opinion as the gpp and did watch the entire series and the movie (I was sorta bored).
My theory is that most fans just really like Whedon's characters, cliches and style of dialogue. If you don't know what that is, you can see it repeated exactly in Angel, Buffy and Alien:Resurrection. Examples: no one can say anything straight, it's all got to be "witty". Martial arts are for some reason the greatest power in the universe. Every character is "bad" but would do all sorts of heroics to save a kitten (while cursing reluctantly of course... because they are bad!!), etc.
Basically, there's nothing particularly wrong with Firefly. It just lacks any sort of brilliance. The series ends up coalescing into a bland, insipid whole.
There was only 1 episode out of order, and I happen to think The Train Job made a better first episode than episode 1. The "dropped" episodes weren't dropped from the middle of anything... they're the ones that never aired because the show was canceled.
I agree-- buy the DVDs. Best DVD set evar, and great commentary (I love that they brought the costume designer in for a couple of them). But still, don't oversell its presentation of the storyline. It's pretty much the same as you saw on TV (right down to the resolution, since FOX didn't do full HD back then, only widescreen 480p), with a couple extra episodes.
E pluribus unum
(Wikipedia provides the air dates here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Firefly_episodes)
By putting episodes in the right order, the DVD set improved things considerably.
Um, if you weren't aware, there was a firefly comic book already released years ago after the show but before the movie, that dealt with the timeline between the two.
The characters were drawn as the actors, and it was very well done, with a forward by Nathan Fillion.
Obviously not as good as the return of the show, but so long as the series makes profit off the air there is a chance it will return in some form or fashion.
Check it out
"I only speak the truth"
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Most slashdotters are probably aware that Morena Baccarin showed up on Stargate SG1, and that Jewel Staite is the new doctor on Stargate Atlantis, and some might even be aware that Summer Glau did a stint on CBS's The Unit, but the one who really caught my eye was Christina Hendricks, as the ne'er do well called "Saffron":
http://www.entil2001.com/series/firefly/season1dvd/ff1-6p2.jpg
So if you liked her work on Firefly, then you might be interested to learn that she's now got a gig as "Joan Holloway", the head of the secretarial pool, on AMC's "Mad Men":
http://weblogs.variety.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/31/joan.jpg
Let's just say that she's everything you remember from Firefly and then some.
Hubba. Hubba.
Hendricks has also done a couple episodes of NBC's new show Life. She's playing Damian Lewis' soon to be trophy wife stepmom.
Little pointed out because it's also completely wrong. Firefly borrows from lots of things; Cowboy Bebop is one.
I'll accept it's in the same genre (subgenre?) as Bebop, but, for example, where'd Inara come from? I know Jayne was inspired by a character from Alien, for instance. And the box River was in? Taken straight out of the first episode of Outlaw Star.
What sets Firefly apart isn't that it's revolutionary at all, but that it's so well done.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!