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."

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.

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/ [serenitymovie.com]

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

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.

Re:what

[Rei]

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

Re:the obvious question

[Hidyman]

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

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 [usatoday.com], actually.

Re:the obvious question

[Anonymous Coward]

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

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: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 [imdb.com], during the final 3 years of the "Space Race"

</nerd>

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 [scifi.com]

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:Gag reel

[theoddbot]

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

Just wait till I've finished downloading it :)

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.

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 [tivo.com] 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: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.

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....