Shuroki Online

As a dedicated fan of the “”Firefly”" universe I am constantly on the look out for some way to have the story continued. Thankfully, there have been many different extensions in various media that have helped in the past few years. We”ve seen a movie, comic books, and novelizations; but I”m greedy – I want more. In fact, no less than a continued series will satiate me – and I have an idea that I think could make that happen.\r\n

To back up a bit, as stated in countless articles on the subject, “”Firefly“” was a television series. More than that, it was a completely different style of series than just about any show before it. It was science fiction, taking place in a whole new system of planets, with spaceships flying to and fro – though, there were no alien encounters and the high-tech wasn”t all that unfamiliar to our own. The real difference was that the show was replete with western themes û including long duster jackets, down south accents, and six shooters. Yeah, I don”t particularly care for westerns either but if you”ve watched it, you know it works. Oh, and they swear in Chinese.

\r\n\r\n”"Firefly”" was created by Joss Whedon. Most people know by now that Joss was also the creator of “”Buffy the Vampire Slayer“”, and its spin-off “”Angel“”. Something many people do _not_ know however, is that Joss also wrote the screenplay for “”Toy Story”", wrote on the movies “”Titan AE“”, “”Alien: Resurrection”" and many episodes of the long running sitcom “”Roseanne“”.

\r\n\r\nOf course, the show was much more than the sum of these parts. The characters were deeply developed with phenomenal dialog, long story arcs, romance, comedy, and plenty of action. Like most “”smart”" shows these days the critics loved it, but the general public didn”t get it and it was cancelled before completing its first season.

\r\n\r\nI could write two pages on the stupidity of the Fox executive board: running the episodes out of sequence and changing schedules, but frankly I”ve grown weary of it. What”s done is done. Even with the existing essays on them, history will inevitably repeat itself – well, *has* repeated itself with the tragic loss of “”Arrested Development“” when its final episode aired February 10th.

\r\n\r\nWith blockbuster sales of the “”Firefly”" series on DVD and several fan write-in campaigns and convention coverage, Joss was able to turn what would have been the second season into a critically acclaimed feature film. To gap the time between the movie and the show, there was a series of three comic books released. There is now a role-playing game, novels, and soundtracks to feed a hungry fan base.

\r\n\r\nNow, I loved the movie version titled “”Serenity“”, but to me, there is nothing like another season. It is kind of like having a 13 episode mini-series, or a new mini-movie to look forward to every week. The fact is, there is just a lot more story to play with than can be crammed into a two hour movie, comic book, or novel.

\r\n\r\nWhere I propose Firefly could find a home is (no – not the Sci-Fi channel) but HBO. Home Box Office has a long history of taking chances with its programming and has very deep pockets.

\r\n\r\nI was watching an episode of John Favreau”s “”Dinner For Five”", where he and four actor/director/or writer-type guests get together and talk about Hollywood. This episode featured Timothy Oliphant, one of the stars of HBO”s series “”Deadwood“”, and David Milch who created it. One of the guests asked Milch if Deadwood could work on network television – basically if it could make it without the sex, violence, or profanity. Milch essentially said that it could NOT work on network television, but not because of those taboos, rather the Shakespear-esque dialog and intricate plot lines.

\r\n\r\nHe explained that the reason it currently works is that HBO doesn”t *care* about appeasing mass-media, lowest common denominator America and the ratings that brings. All HBO cares about is the number of glowing critical reviews and awards that it can scoop up. This makes sense when you look at the esoteric line up over the past 10 years – and I think that this philosophy has Joss Whedon written all over it.

\r\n\r\nHBO gained huge popularity with modern day dramas like “”The Sopranos“” and “”Oz“”, taking television to places it had never been before. They followed this success with a trip to a mystical mid-30”s past with “”Carnivale“”, then back a little further to the old west of “”Deadwood”". Currently they are exploring ancient “”Rome“” which really leaves nowhere to go – but perhaps the future. And nothing says “”future”" like space-ships….. and Chinese spouting outlaws wielding six-shooters.

\r\n\r\nI have seen in several interviews with comedians and writers that one of the pleasures of working with HBO is that they give you the money, and then stand back – giving complete creative freedom. Joss Whedon and his production team have shown that they have the creative chops to bring compelling (and more importantly) critic pleasing programming, and to keep it coming on a consistent basis.

\r\n\r\nJoss also clearly proved to Universal that he *knows* how to spend money for the most effective presentation of his work. “”Serenity”" had a paltry $39 million dollar budget and arguably looked every bit as good as Star Wars Episode 3, which cost almost three times as much!

\r\n\r\nWell, there”s my pitch. I think that HBO would be a perfect home for Serenity and her crew. Deep pockets, creative freedom, and the time needed to do things right. I encourage all brown coasts to forward this notion in any fashion possible and see if maybe the mucky mucks on high just haven”t thought of it yet. In getting the movie made, we did the impossible – and that makes us mighty. Now lets see if we can bring “”Firefly”" back home to television.