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alt title(s): Firefly The Series; Serenity

"Big Damn Heroes, sir."

Firefly ran for four months on the Fox Network in 2002. It was canceled after 14 episodes were produced; only 11 were aired. Its quick cancellation helped give rise to The Firefly Effect. A DVD box set was released in December 2003 and has sold briskly ever since. A major motion picture, Serenity, was announced in February of 2004 and released in October 2005, to critical success. The financial performance was mediocre at best (~$70M domestic first week, not quite a production/promotion-cost recoup), which probably dooms the idea of further movies.

The show was created by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear (Mutant Enemy Productions), and combined science fictional concepts (interstellar travel, space ships, terraforming) with a western setting (poor agricultural colonies where people ride horses, cattle ranching, western slang). The show told the story of a run-down tramp freighter and its crew and passengers, trying to get along in the more isolated reaches of human space in the aftermath of a civil war. Virtually unique among space-going science fiction series in that the universe has no non-human sentient beings (although the insane Reavers come close...), or, for that matter, any non-Earth-based life at all.

Firefly's life story is an interesting one: it went from (canceled) television show, to runaway cult hit DVD series, to comic-book sequel, to major motion picture. Firefly is noted for being one of the few canceled television series to be spun off into a major motion-picture. The Universal film was titled Serenity because Fox still owned the rights to the name Firefly. There are also a few [[Interquel comics]], with plans for more.

Notable for extremely well-written scripts, a well-conceived backstory, memorable villains (including the perpetual anti-hero, Jayne Cobb), and a talent for switching between 'sweet and touching', 'dark and sinister', and 'downright hilarious' without missing a beat.

The cast included:

For further details, there is a character sheet here.


This show provides examples of:
And notably avoided: