I love talking about Firefly. It has brought so much joy and fun and happiness it is ridiculous to think I could get so much out of a little canceled TV show. I love talking about it so much that I just feel compelled to share the greatness that is Serenity. So when folks would ask me what it is about I wrote up a short intro to get people to understand what Firefly and Serenity were. The following intro is what I used to tell people about this ‘verse.
Serenity Intro
Firefly is the name of the show and it is a space western, created by Joss Whedon. Universal made the movie titled Serenity and was released September 30, 2005. The show came out on DVD December 9, 2003 and the show aired on Fox September 20, 2002 - December 20, 2002. They aired the episodes out of order, showed the pilot last and kept pre-empting it due to the World Series. It was aired on Friday nights at 8 pm, which is known to be the time slot of death. Firefly never received enough advertising. Someone looking for it could barely find it.
The crew of Serenity consists of the following:
Nathan Fillion plays Malcolm Reynolds the Captain of Serenity, aka Mal or Cappy.
Gina Torres plays Zoe the first mate fought in the war with Mal.
Alan Tudyk plays Wash the pilot and Zoe's husband.
Adam Baldwin plays Jayne the muscle, mercenary.
Jewel Staite plays Kaylee the mechanic with a smile.
Sean Maher plays Simon the doctor and brother of River.
Summer Glau plays River a young girl and sister of Simon.
Morena Baccarin plays Inara a companion.
Ron Glass plays Book the preacher.
Serenity is the name of the ship, a Firefly class mid-bulk transport ship and home to the crew. The concept is keep flying, get a job, it doesn't matter what it is, just keep flying.
My experience with Firefly
I am a long time Joss Whedon fan. I had watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel since the beginning. I was unaware of Firefly until I saw a picture in the TV Guide Fall Preview Issue. The caption called it a space western, and I just thought the idea was ridiculous. I did recognize some of the cast though. Nathan Fillion played Joey Buchanan from 1994-1997 on the soap opera One Life to Live. He then played Johnny on Two Guys and a Girl. I was also familiar with Jewel Staite from Flash Forward, Alan Tudyk as Wat in A Knight’s Tale, and Adam Baldwin from My Bodyguard. I thought the cast was great and started to read the article. As soon I saw “From creator Joss Whedon”, I just knew this would be good. I was really excited to see something new from Joss.
I made sure to sit in front of the TV for that Friday to watch the first episode that aired, Train Job. I was surprised Joss started off with such a strong western aspect. I remember when it ended I leaned back into the couch, settled in and thought, “Okay Joss, I am here for the ride.” I must say it has been an amazing ride.
I watched every episode and halfway through I realized that the episodes were airing out of order. I was so upset that they messed with the show. Things weren’t making sense, but that was because Joss tells a story through his episodes and airing them out of sequence makes things confusing. Then I found out they were finally going to air the two-hour pilot; no wonder things had not made sense! Joss told the story right, but Fox aired it wrong. They requested Train Job as a new pilot and gave Joss Whedon and Tim Minear only the weekend to write it. I still fell in love with the show, every character and every word. When I found out the show was cancelled I was hurt. I immediately jumped online and I went straight to Fireflyfans.net. I found the music to the Ballad of Serenity. I found out that folks were sending postcards and writing to sponsors. There was a coat drive that Christmas and the Variety Ad came out paid for by fans in appreciation of the show. Most importantly I found others who felt the same way about the show. We were in mourning. We had something special and it was taken away. I thought of Firefly as the next great epic space saga; first Star Trek, then Star Wars and now Firefly. The fans identified with Mal and since he was a Browncoat, that’s what we fans began calling ourselves. We are Browncoats. Eventually I found a great community of Browncoats at the Official Fox Firefly Message Board, affectionately called the OB.
The OB continued to be active in the Firefly ‘verse for 10 years. We gathered as fans and hung out often. We called these gatherings shindigs based on the title of an episode. I can write a separate book all about the many adventures of Browncoat Shindigs. This is the story of my cast encounters. Up to the Serenity Premiere, I met Nathan thirteen times, Adam twelve times, Morena eleven times and Alan six times. I started writing reports to share my experiences with the Browncoats online and decided to put it all together to share with others not familiar with Serenity or with our BDH. (Big D@mn Heroes is a phrase taken from the episode Safe. The Captain, “Zoe, appears we got here just in the nick of time. What’s that make us?” Zoe replies, “Big D@mn Heroes, Sir”. “Ain’t we just?” Mal pronounces.)
The cast of Serenity is so friendly, very down to earth, fun people. They love each other and they treat their fans very well. It has been an honor to get to meet them so many times. Every time has been a wonderful experience no matter what we need to do to see them. It is truly well worth the wait in line, the cost, and the distance traveled. I take every opportunity I can to see them and recommend to all if they are near you, go. Life is about the journey and the things we experience along the way. Meeting the cast is always a worthwhile experience.
Here is a list of my encounters to date and then I will go into specifics.
Alligator Point pilot – April 16, 2003
Nathan FillionAlligator Point pilot – April 16, 2003
LA Comic Con –December 19, 2003
Adam Baldwin, Morena Baccarin, Tim Minear, Joss Whedon, Ben Edlund, Nathan Fillion Gina Torres, Ron Glass
Set of Serenity – June 21 and 22, 2004
Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin and Summer Glau
LA Comic Con – June 27, 2004
Alan Tudyk
Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk and Jewel Staite
San Diego Comic Con - July 25, 2004
The full Cast for the first time!!!
Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Nathan Fillion, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Summer Glau, Sean Maher, Ron Glass and Joss Whedon.
Impromptu Versal Shindig – August 12, 2004
Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin
GEN Con So Cal – December 3 and 4, 2004
Nathan Fillion and Morena Baccarin
GEN Con So Cal – December 3 and 4, 2004
Nathan Fillion and Morena Baccarin
Wonder Con – February 19, 2005
Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau
Firefly Happy Hour – March 12, 2005
Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk
Way Off Broadway Screening – March 18 and -19, 2005
Morena Baccarin, Ron Glass
Wizard World – March 20, 2005
Nathan Fillion, Ron Glass, Sean Maher, Joss Whedon, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin
Advanced Screening of Serenity – May 5, 2005
Joss Whedon, Summer Glau
Advanced Screening of Serenity – June 23, 2005
Advanced Screening of Serenity – June 23, 2005
Joss Whedon
San Diego Comic Con - July 15, 16 and 17, 2005
Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass and Joss Whedon
Dragon Con – September 2, 3 and 4, 2005
Adam Baldwin, Ron Glass, Morena Baccarin and Jewel Staite
Spamalot – September 7, 2005
Alan Tudyk
Serenity Red Carpet Premier – September 22, 2005
Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Joss Whedon, Christopher Buchanan
Each encounter will be given its own section. These reports were originally written up for Browncoats on the OB. They waited anxiously to hear about every encounter with our BDHs. We all live the experience vicariously through these reports. I have tried to go back and make these reports more accessible for those not on the OB.
The beautiful thing about each encounter is that it was always a wonderful experience. We are lucky to have such down to earth folks as our BDHs. Hope you enjoy it.
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