Firefly reboot rumors abound, but should Serenity fly again?

Firefly holds a special place in the hearts of many sci-fi fans. First, this 2002 western show by Joss Whedon is goodwith a large gang of funny and engaging characters at its heart. Second, it was tragically canceled in its first season, with all its promise intact. Then Whedon, prevented from filming more TV episodes, ended the series with a Hollywood film, Peacein 2005. The film showed exactly why the cast and series would have had enough energy to run and run if the Fox network hadn’t changed their order and then canceled the show.

In the 21 years since the film, there’s been plenty of time for the Browncoats — as they’re known — to get excited about every suggestion of a reboot. It’s all for nothing. Now the Browncoats are probably playing with their hearts again. Nathan Fillion, who played the captain of a battered ship called Serenity on the show, went around former cast members asking them cryptic questions, complete with key quotes from Fireflyand then posting the mysterious interactions online. We’ll probably find out what it’s all about on March 15.

Oh, we’re definitely kidding ourselves, especially since there are a million reasons against a reboot (one of which is the fact that Whedon has fallen out of favor after being accused by several actors of creating a toxic atmosphere on set; (so he denies it.) But how can we not secretly hope it might happen?

For the purposes of this article, I re-watched the first full-length episode of the 14-episode run and then the final movie to refresh myself on a piece I’ve already (probably) seen an unhealthy number of times. I’ll try to write this without spoilers for those lucky readers among you who haven’t seen any of it yet.

There were two things that stood out to me about the first TV episode, titled Peace. First, how confident Magpie Whedon really was. He put everything he loved into the show and did it with great vigor. In this one episode, the main characters: fight in what looks a bit like the American Civil War, wearing their now familiar brown coats; ride horses cowboy-style on an alien planet; illegally strip salvage from an abandoned spaceship in a scene that could have come straight from it Star Wars; hide from a huge Imperial-style ship as it sails by; hide from the ship of killer zombies; and expect a super-mysterious black passenger on their creaking “Firefly” class ship – where gravity works perfectly and everyone has a surprisingly large bedroom. And somehow it all works!

Second, Whedon has always been excellent (both his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer proves) that he quickly established a believable group of on-screen friends, but here he was particularly lucky in his casting choices. There are no weak crew members. On rewatches, Alan Tudyk, who plays the pilot, stands out primarily for his humanity and comic delivery. But they’re all good — though it’s a shame that Nathan Fillion’s love interest, played by Morena Baccarin, is a sex worker with a heart of gold (sigh).

When I watch the film right after, I notice how obviously the production value goes up radically, which is excellent. My main feeling about the movie, other than being sad about the probably unnecessary death of a key character, is that despite a few moments of slightly jarring exposition needed to fill in viewers who may not have seen the TV show – it’s easily as good as the big movies that became big franchises like Guardians of the Galaxy. My other main feeling was: wow, what a difference a world class baddie makes. Chiwetel Ejiofor is great in the (fantastically written) role of an assassin for the ruling “Alliance”. And also: dialogue! There are such wonderful lines from “I’m a leaf in the wind” to “Someone’s on fire!”

So yes, I realize the fans are being played with. Our hopes of flying Serenity again will surely be dashed. Just to put in my pennyworth: why note restart it? There is so much meat on the bones of this universe and these characters.

Some people on the internet are like, “Oh, but they’re all too old now.” But I mean, too old for who? They all seem shiny enough to me. More scientifically, several of the original actors are now powerful enough for television to lead in major shows. Why not let them spend some of their TV blood seeing where Serenity might take them next? I can imagine it would work well with a few extra years under it’s belt.

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

Emily H. Wilson is the author The Sumerians trilogy and former editor The new scientist

topics:

• Science fiction/
• TV