Internet-savvy 'Firefly' fans fly back into the fight

Should we help then?

  • Yes

    Votes: 17 73.9%
  • No

    Votes: 3 13.0%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 3 13.0%

  • Total voters
    23
Joined
May 11, 2007
Messages
21,101
From the series plot, these fans are already leaning toward our side.

Should we help them?

Could "browncoats" be the new "V"?

If we became a big enough part of this effort, and it succeeded, a more political slant (in our direction) would probably happen to please the fan base. Even if it doesn't, this has the attention of 2 Hollywood writers and through participation w/ mentions of RP, we could pick up new supporters.

-t

====
http://helpnathanbuyfirefly.com/?page_id=2
http://www.facebook.com/HelpNathanBuyFF?sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-Back-Firefly/215766950258?ref=ts&sk=wall

====
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/23/bring.back.firefly/

True Browncoats, like the fictional freedom fighters they named themselves after, don't give up easily.

Those diehard fans of "Firefly," the 2002 cult TV hit, have a history of turning to the internet to buck improbable odds in defense of their favorite show.

Now, they're at it again.

Just days after an apparently offhand comment from Nathan Fillion, who played Capt. Malcolm Reynolds on the short-lived Fox series, the Web has once again lit up with efforts to revive the sci-fi franchise.

Last week, Fillion, who now stars in ABC's "Castle," told Entertainment Weekly he'd love to play Mal again. Then, he ratcheted things up a notch.

"If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to "Firefly," make it on my own, and distribute it on the internet," Fillion told EW, a CNN.com partner.

Then, some possibly surprising online reactions started rolling in.

The next day, former "Firefly" writer Jose Molina wrote on Twitter: "For what it's worth, I've told him I'd drop what I was doing and follow."

Then, Jane Espenson, who wrote an episode, chimed in: "I'm there, if needed," she tweeted.

Jewel Staite, who played ace mechanic Kaylee on the show, had a simple answer when a Twitter follower asked if she'd be on board: "Is the Pope Catholic?"

That was more than enough for fans (whose "Browncoat" nickname, by the way, comes from the Western-style dusters worn by Fillion and others on the show).

A website, "Help Nathan Buy Firefly," popped up, under the title "Let's get the Captain his money."

The goal? To set up a means of collecting pledges that would turn into donations if a revived "Firefly" looks like it could become a reality.

The pledge system hadn't been officially created as of Tuesday, but fans were already writing in the site's comment section that they're willing to pony up.

In five days, the site's Facebook group had picked up more than 33,000 members -- about 10,000 of them in the past 24 hours.

The two creators of the site are remaining publicly anonymous for now. In an email to CNN (which came from an address linked to the site and was mentioned on the group's Facebook page), they said they work in the nonprofit field but "have no credentials to speak of" in the TV/film industry or "Firefly" community.

[...]

They say they "won't take a penny" from anyone until someone like Whedon or Fillion gets involved in an effort to revive the show and would look to set up a not-for-profit foundation or something of the sort if that happens.

Other devotees of the cult favorite say they're not surprised by the quick Web action.

"I couldn't believe it when I first read the story," said Brian Harvard, co-creator of the 25,000-member-strong "Bring Back Firefly" Facebook page. "Then, all of a sudden, everyone's posting these links to the 'Help Nathan Buy Firefly' page and I said, 'We've got to help get the word out about this.' "

Even before "Firefly" was officially sacked in 2002, fans had taken to the Web to try to save it. Using the online tools of the early 2000s -- message boards, fan sites, chat rooms and LiveJournal blogs -- they organized. Call it an early example of crowd-sourcing.

They collected money for an ad in Variety, organized a postcard-writing campaign to Universal Pictures and, when the DVD box set was released, raised $14,000 to put copies on 250 Navy ships for the crews to watch.

The fan base's self-styled guerrilla marketing is widely considered to have helped Whedon get funding for 2005's "Serenity," a feature film that draws together some of the loose ends from the series.

"On the internet, that was one of the first times you've seen such a drive to bring something back," Harvard said. "Now, with the advent of Facebook? My goodness -- that's probably the most useful tool, next to the internet itself, to really bring some fire under this movement."

[...]
 
Last edited:
I never watched it as a series. Don't even remember seeing it on.
But I have watched the series online and enjoyed it. Serenity is one of my favorite movies.

I would love to see it done, if done well.
 
In five days, the site's Facebook group had picked up more than 33,000 members -- about 10,000 of them in the past 24 hours.

The two creators of the site are remaining publicly anonymous for now. In an email to CNN (which came from an address linked to the site and was mentioned on the group's Facebook page), they said they work in the nonprofit field but "have no credentials to speak of" in the TV/film industry or "Firefly" community.
...
"On the internet, that was one of the first times you've seen such a drive to bring something back," Harvard said. "Now, with the advent of Facebook? My goodness -- that's probably the most useful tool, next to the internet itself, to really bring some fire under this movement."

[...]

I like the idea that it renders middle-men obsolete. Great opportunity for free market example.
 
Last edited:
I never watched it as a series. Don't even remember seeing it on.

That's because the network shot it in the head before it even got out of the gate.

Good luck to them, of course - I'd watch a new show for sure, even though they killed my two favorite characters.
But I know a lot of fans. Socialists, every one of them. The type of people who will take a lot more than a subplot in *one* of their shows to change their worldview.
 
Am I just hallucinating, or have the membership rolls for the Facebook group swollen by four or five-hundred in the last ten minutes?
 
Last edited:
Am I just hallucinating, or have the membership rolls for the Facebook group swollen by four or five-hundred in the last ten minutes?

I had the page open for "Bring Firefly Back" from when I posted the URL's a bit under an hour and a half ago. Checked the number of people that liked it then: ~23,270 and refreshed for now: 27,590.

You aren't hallucinating - it's going viral!

There are 31 news articles about it and 2-5 tweets a minute right now. That's better than the moneybomb did!

-t
 
Yes, great show. Very unique story that on the surface seems kinda silly(space cowboys). But damn that show show was fun, and the movie rocked aswell. I will support them, and Jericho too!!
 
Farscape was better :p

Firefly was good too, so no derogation of this cause from me. But I'd have liked to have seen this sort of effort behind Farscape...
 
This is a great idea. If y'all haven't seen the series yet, it's not that expensive on DVD and it's worth watching. Very liberty-minded plotlines that revolve around struggling against an imperialistic multi-planet government. Probably why it was canceled after a season.
 
Fireflyfans.net has fairly active political discussions (for a 9-year old dead TV show anyway) on a regular basis. I'd say a much larger than average % of of them are Ron Paul supporters. I've seen Ron Paul mentioned several times on the site.

Mal, the main character, is essentially a libertarian --Joss has directly said as much before.

I hope the show sees a 2nd season! That's be like a miracle or something..
 
Mal, the main character, is essentially a libertarian --Joss has directly said as much before.


I loved the show, and one of the big reasons was the underlying plot of liberty vs. oppression. I would certainly kick in
a few bucks if there was a good chance the show could come back.

My only question would be what the cast would look like. Unless they want to claim the movie never happened, a couple
of the main characters are dead, and I doubt there would be much chance that ALL the other actors (Gina Torres, Morena
Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, etc) would be willing to sign on. They would just about have to go with some sort of Firefly
spinoff concept.
 
Movie totally changed the characters' personalities from what they were in the series. Maybe they can just pretend it never happened :x
 
Back
Top