Rumors of a Firefly reboot abound, but should Serenity fly again?

firefly Holds a special place in the hearts of many sci-fi fans. First, this 2002 western-in-space show Is by Joss Whedon GoodAt the center of which is a great cast of fun and charming characters. Secondly, its first season was tragically canceled with all its promise intact. Then Whedon was prevented from making any more TV episodes, he closed the series with a Hollywood film, Calmnessin 2005. The film showed why the cast and series would have had the chops to stay on and run if the show’s network, Fox, had not changed its running order and then canceled it.

In the 21 years since the film, there’s been plenty of time for the Browncoats – as fans know them – to get excited at every suggestion of a reboot. All this did not happen. Now the Browncoats may be playing with their hearts once again. Nathan Fillion, who played the captain of a beat-up ship called Serenity on the show, has been reaching out to former cast members and asking them cryptic questions along with key quotes. fireflyAnd then posting the mysterious conversation online. Obviously, we’ll find out what it’s all about on March 15.

Oh, we’re definitely being messed with, especially when there are a million reasons against a reboot (just one of them being the fact that Whedon’s side is screwed). After several actors accused him of creating a toxic environment on the sets; He denies the allegations.) But how can we not secretly hope that might happen?

For the purposes of this article, I rewatched the first, feature-length episode of the 14-episode run and then watched the capstone film to refresh myself based on a work I’d already seen (arguably) an unhealthy number of times. I’ll try to write this without any spoilers for those of you lucky readers who haven’t seen any of this yet.

Two things impressed me about TV episode one, titled Calmness. First, what a confident magpie Whedon really was. Whatever he liked, he put into the show, and he did it with great enthusiasm. In this one episode the main characters: don their now-famous brown coats and fight in a war somewhat reminiscent of the American Civil War; On an alien planet, ride horses in cowboy style; Illegally snatching salvage from an abandoned spacecraft in a scene that could come straight from star wars; hiding from a huge royal-style ship as it passes by; Hide from the ship of killer corpses; And reckon with a super-mysterious stowaway on their creaky “Firefly-class” ship – where gravity works perfectly and everyone has surprisingly large bedrooms. And somehow it all works!

Second, Whedon was always brilliant (as his work continues to be). buffy the vampire slayer proves) in quickly establishing a reliable group of on-screen friends, but here he was especially lucky with his casting choices. There are no weak crew members. Upon re-watching it, Alan Tudyk, who plays the pilot, particularly stands out for his humanity and comedic delivery. But they’re all good – although it’s a shame that Nathan Fillion’s girlfriend, played by Morena Baccarin, is a sex worker with a heart of gold (sigh).

Immediately after watching the film, I noticed how clearly the production value has increased exponentially, which is excellent. My main feeling about the film, other than sadness over the supposedly unnecessary death of a main character, is that – even with a few moments of slightly jarring exposition needed to fill in audiences who may not have seen the TV show – it’s easily as good as the major films that went on to become major franchises, like guardians of the galaxy. My second main feeling was: Wow, what a difference a world-class villain makes. Chiwetel Ejiofor is superb in the (brilliantly written) role of an assassin for the ruling “Alliance”. Oh and also: communicate! These range from “I’m a leaf in the wind” to “Somebody’s on fire!” Such lovely lines.

So yes, I realize the fans are being messed with. Our hopes of Serenity flying again will surely be dashed. However, just to put in my pennyworth: why No Reboot it? There’s a lot of meat on the bones of this universe and these characters.

Some people on the Internet say, “Oh, but they’re all so old now.” But I mean, too old for who? They all look pretty shiny to me. To put it more scientifically, many of the original cast members are now TV-powered enough to lead big shows. Why not let them spend part of their TV lives seeing where Serenity can take them next? I can imagine it doing just fine with a few extra years under those gun belts.

(And yes, yes, yes, I know they’re going to let us down again.)

Emily H. Wilson is the author of sumerian Trilogy and former editor of new scientists