In Memoriam
*** The following has serious spoilers about Joss Whedon’s debut film, Serenity. If you haven’t seen it, please do, and please do it soon.
When it comes to Browncoats I'm one of the old timers. Being a Whedon fan, I eagerly anticipated this sci-fi western he was creating, and I loved the premise of the show, based upon the Reconstruction period following the American Civil War, staring as Joss put it “the people that History steps on.” I watched “Firefly” from the beginning and fell in love soon after.
And then the troubles started. Hearing that Fox had panned the original pilot, having episodes preempted by baseball, learning that the ratings weren't passing muster. There were rumors of cancellation. Then some smarter fans than I had an idea; to raise enough money to place a full-page show of support in “Variety.” My wife and I donated to the cause, and our plea to keep the show flying appeared in print. We wrote letters to Fox, thanking them for giving this daring piece of television a chance with our hope that they'd give it the benefit of the doubt.
They didn't, so we wrote and emailed UPN, then the WB and finally the Sci-Fi Channel. We crossed our fingers and touched wood and prayed, but nothing worked. When word came that there were no more networks left to go to, we felt like those soldiers in Serenity Valley. It was over.
But it wasn't. Joss said he wasn't giving up, that he “was in love.” He was writing a script ... for a movie. It wouldn't give us the hour each week we wanted, but it was something. We started sending postcards and letters to movie studios. Joss finished the script, and said it was the hardest thing he'd ever done, but we weren't seeing any traction. Then he was writing another script, and we kept writing too.
And we got green-lighted for a feature film. We were getting a big damn movie. It was incredible. Canceled television shows don't get a second chance as feature films. We had done the impossible and we felt mighty.
I've just returned from seeing that big damn movie, and for all its greatness, and it is a great film, I'm shocked and saddened. I'm in mourning. Shepard Book, my favorite character and the conscience of Serenity --- and Wash, the funniest and most endearingly normal member of the crew --- are dead. With them died a dream, that one day we'd see our series return to television intact. Amanda and I used to wonder if we might be able to look back and say, “Just forget about those few years where the series was interrupted. We did our duty and thanks to a great collective effort we got Serenity back in the air as if nothing bad ever happened.” But we can't change the past. “Firefly” was canceled, and now Book and Wash are dead. I'm heartbroken.
And in all of this, maybe nothing has truly changed. We wanted “Firefly” to greet us every week with new episodes, and instead we got a movie. Not what we wanted, but as an alright man once said, “I'd like to be the King of Londinium and wear a shiny hat.” In other words, we're still flying, and that's enough.
When it comes to Browncoats I'm one of the old timers. Being a Whedon fan, I eagerly anticipated this sci-fi western he was creating, and I loved the premise of the show, based upon the Reconstruction period following the American Civil War, staring as Joss put it “the people that History steps on.” I watched “Firefly” from the beginning and fell in love soon after.
And then the troubles started. Hearing that Fox had panned the original pilot, having episodes preempted by baseball, learning that the ratings weren't passing muster. There were rumors of cancellation. Then some smarter fans than I had an idea; to raise enough money to place a full-page show of support in “Variety.” My wife and I donated to the cause, and our plea to keep the show flying appeared in print. We wrote letters to Fox, thanking them for giving this daring piece of television a chance with our hope that they'd give it the benefit of the doubt.
They didn't, so we wrote and emailed UPN, then the WB and finally the Sci-Fi Channel. We crossed our fingers and touched wood and prayed, but nothing worked. When word came that there were no more networks left to go to, we felt like those soldiers in Serenity Valley. It was over.
But it wasn't. Joss said he wasn't giving up, that he “was in love.” He was writing a script ... for a movie. It wouldn't give us the hour each week we wanted, but it was something. We started sending postcards and letters to movie studios. Joss finished the script, and said it was the hardest thing he'd ever done, but we weren't seeing any traction. Then he was writing another script, and we kept writing too.
And we got green-lighted for a feature film. We were getting a big damn movie. It was incredible. Canceled television shows don't get a second chance as feature films. We had done the impossible and we felt mighty.
I've just returned from seeing that big damn movie, and for all its greatness, and it is a great film, I'm shocked and saddened. I'm in mourning. Shepard Book, my favorite character and the conscience of Serenity --- and Wash, the funniest and most endearingly normal member of the crew --- are dead. With them died a dream, that one day we'd see our series return to television intact. Amanda and I used to wonder if we might be able to look back and say, “Just forget about those few years where the series was interrupted. We did our duty and thanks to a great collective effort we got Serenity back in the air as if nothing bad ever happened.” But we can't change the past. “Firefly” was canceled, and now Book and Wash are dead. I'm heartbroken.
And in all of this, maybe nothing has truly changed. We wanted “Firefly” to greet us every week with new episodes, and instead we got a movie. Not what we wanted, but as an alright man once said, “I'd like to be the King of Londinium and wear a shiny hat.” In other words, we're still flying, and that's enough.
posted by Christopher A. Dellario at 3:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home