Saturday, November 10, 2012

Firefly 10th Anniversary Special Reviewed

Before we get into the specifics of this weekend's long awaited special, I have a confession to make. I started in on Firefly...backwards. My first run in with the show was Diamond Select asking for coverage of their tiny action figure line. I wasn't familiar with the property, but I'm sure we ran some news on Action-figure.com. At around the same time, Universal was looking to push the film along the same grass roots channels that got it made in the first place, and so a little toy news site like A-F seemed like a good place to shout out to the masses. We pushed the movie, ran trailers and a contest and for my efforts, the studio sent me a mini poster with autographs from the cast. Remember, I'd never seen the show, but I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer so I held onto the mini and probably wound up seeing the movie when it came to DVD. Suffice to say, I loved what I saw so I went out in search of the TV show and the rest is history. I've lost count of how many devotees of the show I've created by just saying "FUCKING IGNORE that it is a western...and FUCKING IGNORE the space ships. It's Joss Whedon. TRUST ME!!" When people give the show a chance they are more likely to fall in love than not.

All that said, I've always done my best to filter in Firefly/ Serenity news in on whatever website I may be working on for all the Browncoats out there and the cast seems to float past me where ever I go. While conducting interviews in a booth at San Diego Comic Con, we were distracted by shouts of "Oh Captain My Captain!!" up to Nathan Fillion who was waving to his people from atop a booth. On another occasion, in a hallway on an upper level of SDCC, I ran past Jewel Staite who was waiting to do interviews for a new project and was very kindly posing for pictures with anyone who asked. I didn't miss an opportunity to shake Joss Whedon's hand at the Hard Rock and tell him the crew at Dread Central was looking forward to the distant release of Cabin in the Woods..and gushed a bit with Alan Tudyk on a press line for Tucker and Dale vs Evil...as I have nothing but gush for the guy. So..kindly..I thank you for this moment to express my love for this show and this crew and put things in perspective when I go into detail, recounting my teary eyed viewing of the Science Channel's "Browncoats Unite" special.

If you are anything like me, there is a special place in your heart for the crew of Serenity. This isn't Star Wars with legions of fans debating the minutia of a 10 second scene in one film until there are supplemental books and comics on the topic aplenty. This is a special show made with a lot of heart...originally aired in the wrong order and barely even given a chance to finish a season. It is with this heart that the Science Channel assembled most of the original cast and some key crew before the Anniversary panel at San Diego Comic Con to talk about the origins of the show, the creations of characters we've come to love, the untimely and abrupt demise of that show and the subsequent rekindling of that magic into the movie Serenity. Joss Whedon would not let his dream die and he had legions of fans out there backing his play...so how could a studio say no?

The Firefly Anniversary special sits cast members Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Sean Maher and Summer Glau with executive producer Tim Minear and executive story editor Jose Molina around a heavy wooden table to reminisce. Cast members Gina Torres and Jewel Staite join via spliced in interviews. The same reasons why this cast was perfect together in the show shines through as they chat together more like a family ...picking on each other..hamming it up..visibly getting a little choked up from time to time. If these moments were not enough for die hard fans, you'll also find a big secret revealed, a story line never produced and further story ideas from the cast. The show wraps with highlights from this year's San Diego Comic Con 10th Anniversary panel.

Firefly: Browncoats Unite is 60 minutes of teary eyed bliss that every Browncoat will want to own seconds  after watching. Tune in this Sunday, November 11th at 10pm (et/pt) on the Science Channel!

BONUS! After you've watched the special, come back here to watch the full SDCC panel courtesy of Things From Another World.



Ultra super mega BONUS!! CLICK HERE to see clips you won't see on the show!

And finally, the NYCC panel courtesy of IGN...


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