| Firefly | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Joss Whedon |
| Owner | 20th Century Studios[a] |
| Print publications | |
| Book(s) |
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| Comics | |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | Serenity (2005) |
| Television series | Firefly (2002–2003) |
Firefly is an Americanspace Westernmedia franchise created byJoss Whedon and produced byMutant Enemy Productions. The franchise includes the TV seriesFirefly, the filmSerenity, and other media.
The franchise is set in the year 2517, after humanity's arrival in a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew ofSerenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. Whedon described theSerenity crew members as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things".[1]
The franchise explores the lives of people who fought on the losing side of a civil war and now make a living as part of thepioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system. In addition, it is set in a future where the only two surviving superpowers, theUnited States andChina, fused to form the central federal government, called theAlliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures as well. According to Whedon's vision, "nothing will change in the future: technology will advance, but we will still have the same political, moral, and ethical problems as today."[2]
The franchise stars the crew of the shipSerenity: CaptainMalcolm "Mal" Reynolds, second-in-commandZoe Washburne, pilotHoban "Wash" Washburne, CompanionInara Serra, mercenaryJayne Cobb, mechanicKaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye, DoctorSimon Tam, prodigyRiver Tam and preacherShepherd Book.
Firefly, the first part of the franchise, was a short-lived TV series. One season of14 episodes was produced. The series was initially broadcast onFox from September 20 to December 20, 2002. Fox canceled it after 11 episodes were aired. The remaining 3 episodes eventually debuted in 2003 on theSci Fi Channel in the United Kingdom.[3] Despite its relatively short lifespan, the series received strong sales when it was released onDVD and has large fan support campaigns.[4][5] It won anEmmy Award in2003 for "Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series."
The filmSerenity was released on September 30, 2005. The film acts as a sequel toFirefly and features much of the same cast and crew. The film was written and directed by Joss Whedon. It was released onDVD,VHS andUMD on December 20, 2005, onHD DVD on April 18, 2006, andBlu-ray on December 30, 2008.
It received generally positive reviews and opened at number two, taking in $10.1 million its first weekend, spending two weeks in the top ten, and totaling a domestic box office gross of $25.5 million and a foreign box office gross of $13.3 million.[6] However, it did not make back its budget until its release on DVD.Serenity won film of the year awards fromFilm 2005[7] andFilmFocus.[8] It also wonIGN Film's Best Sci-Fi, Best Story and Best Trailer awards and was runner up for the Overall Best Movie.[9] It also won theNebula Award for Best Script for 2005, the 7th annual 'User Tomato Awards' for best Sci-Fi movie of 2005 atRotten Tomatoes, the 2006 viewers choiceSpacey Award for favorite movie, the 2006Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form[10] and the 2006Prometheus Special Award.
TheR. Tam Sessions is a series of five short videos released online in promotion of theSerenity film. They were also released on theSerenityBlu-ray.
Set before the events ofFirefly, theR. Tam Sessions depict excerpts of counseling sessions with the characterRiver Tam while she is held at anAlliance "learning facility" known only as "The Academy." The counselor in these sessions is played byJoss Whedon himself, whileSummer Glau appears as River. The videos shed some light on the experiments and torture "The Academy" conducted on River. They "document" her change from a shy prodigy to the mentally unstable character of the television series.
Between 2005 and 2017,Dark Horse Comics released severalSerenity comic books. For legal reasons, the comics were calledSerenity rather thanFirefly. All of theSerenity comics wereone-shots orminiseries, as creator Joss Whedon didn't believe the Firefly universe could work as anongoing format without compromising the quality of the franchise. The firstSerenity comic wasThose Left Behind, a three-issue miniseries. It was published July through September 2005, and served as a bridge between the TV series and theSerenity film, the latter of which released later in September 2005. Another three-issue miniseries namedSerenity: Better Days was released in 2008, and tells of theSerenity crew becoming rich after a successful job. More comics followed since, most recently the six-issueNo Power in the 'Verse series which ended in 2017. All of theSerenity miniseries and one-shots have beencollected as hardcovergraphic novels.[11]
In July 2018,Boom! Studios announced that they had acquired the comic book and graphic novel publishing license toFirefly with plans to release new monthly comic book series, limited series, original graphic novels and more.[12] As part of the acquisition, Boom! Studios also bought the republication rights to the oldSerenity comics. The monthly series ran 36 issues from November 2018 to January 2022; Boom! continues to publish new stories as of 2024.
Anovelization of the filmSerenity, written byKeith R. A. DeCandido, was published byPocket Books in 2005. At the time that book was contracted, Pocket Books also contracted to publish two original novels, and solicited proposals from various authors. However, none of these proposals were approved by Joss Whedon, and after a year had elapsed, the contract was canceled.[13]
In February 2018, it was announced thatTitan Books would be releasing three newFirefly novels, beginning later that year, with Joss Whedon attached as executive editor.[14] The novels would be within the maincanon of theFirefly universe, which also includes Dark Horse'sSerenity comics.[15]Big Damn Hero (James Lovegrove from a story concept byNancy Holder) was released in November 2018,The Magnificent Nine (James Lovegrove) was released in March 2019, andThe Ghost Machine (James Lovegrove) was released in March 2020. The series has been well-received, with the first four books winning or being shortlisted for major awards for tie-in fiction:Big Damn Hero was nominated for the 2019Dragon Award for Best Media Tie-In Novel,[16]The Magnificent Nine was nominated for the 2020Scribe Award for Best Original Novel - Speculative,[17]The Ghost Machine won the 2020 Dragon Award for Best Media Tie-In Novel[18] and was nominated for the 2021 Scribe Award for Best Original Novel - Speculative[19] andGenerations won the 2021 Dragon Award for Best Media Tie-In Novel.[20]
Six additional novels have since been released:Generations (Tim Lebbon) was originally scheduled for October 2019 but delayed to November 2020,Life Signs (James Lovegrove) in March 2021,Carnival (Una McCormack) in January 2022,What Makes Us Mighty (M. K. England) in July 2022,Coup de Grâce (Una McCormack) in July 2023, andAim to Misbehave (Rosiee Thor) in November 2024. All available books have audiobook editions narrated by James Anderson Foster.
| Title | Author | Publication | Place in the timeline | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Big Damn Hero" | Nancy Holder (story concept) andJames Lovegrove | November 2018 | Between "The Message" and "Heart of Gold" | The crew's latest job becomes complicated when Mal is captured by a group of former Browncoats who believe him to have betrayed the cause during the War. |
| "The Magnificent Nine" | James Lovegrove | March 2019 | Between "Objects in Space" and "Those Left Behind" | Jayne receives a call for help from a former lover, but the visit is complicated by the presence of a child that all evidence suggests is Jayne's. |
| "The Ghost Machine" | James Lovegrove | March 2020 | Between "Those Left Behind" and "Life Signs" | Mal and the crew take receipt of a sealed crate which they are being paid to transport to Badger, no questions asked. |
| "Generations" | Tim Lebbon | November 2020[21] | Between "Objects in Space" and "Those Left Behind" | Mal wins an old map that River translates as revealing the apparent location of one of the generation ships that evacuated humanity from Earth centuries ago. |
| "Life Signs" | James Lovegrove | March 2021 | Between "The Ghost Machine" and "Serenity" | The crew learn that Inara left Serenity because she is terminally ill, leading them to seek out a disgraced scientist rumoured to have a cure for her condition on a frozen Alliance prison planet. |
| "Carnival" | Una McCormack | January 2022 | Before "Heart of Gold" | When a job on one of the Rim worlds goes wrong, Zoe and Book are taken hostage by some very unsatisfied customers, and Mal is given three days to find 8,000 platinum to get them back. The crew are now in a race against time to save their friends – calling on contacts and calling in favours, and some revealing talents that have hitherto remained hidden. Meanwhile, the hostages have their own plans... |
| "What Makes Us Mighty" | M. K. England | July 2022 | Before "Heart of Gold" | |
| "Coup de Grâce" | Una McCormack | July 2023 | Between "Objects in Space" and "Those Left Behind" | |
| "Aim to Misbehave" | Rosiee Thor | November 2024 | Between "War Stories" and "Trash" |
The 2010 bookStill Flying includes fourshort stories by writers of the TV showFirefly. The next short story, "Haven and Hell", was released in 2020 in theBarnes & Noble andForbidden Planet exclusive hardcover editions ofThe Ghost Machine.
| Title | Author | Year | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| "What Holds Us Down" | Jane Espenson | 2010 | Still Flying |
| "Fun With Dick and Jayne" | Ben Edlund | 2010 | Still Flying |
| "Crystal" | Brett Matthews | 2010 | Still Flying |
| "Take The Sky" | Jose Molina | 2010 | Still Flying |
| "Haven and Hell" | James Lovegrove | 2020 | The Ghost Machine (some editions only) |
The first book aboutFirefly was the 2004 essay collectionFinding Serenity: Anti-heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly. Though an unauthorised volume produced as part of theSmartPop Books series, it was edited byFirefly writer Jane Espenson. A sequel,Serenity Found: More Unauthorised Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe, followed in 2007 which also coveredSerenity
Titan Books began publishing authorisedFirefly andSerenity reference material with a series of visual companions containing shooting scripts, interviews with the cast and crew, images and behind-the-scenes information:[22]
Titan resumed regular publication of Firefly reference and related books in 2016:
Another reference title, Mark Sumerak'sHidden Universe Travel Guides: Firefly: A Traveller's Companion to the 'verse was published by Insight Editions in 2018.
Gale Force Nine have released two games based onFirefly and a number of expansions for both. InFirefly: The Game, released in 2013, players take on the roles ofFirefly captains, hire a crew and compete by completing jobs for their clients to fulfil their mission conditions.[25] Subsequent expansions have introduced a variety of new elements, including new cards, game boards and ship miniatures:
The other Gale Force Nine game,Firefly: Adventures is a cooperative skirmish game where players work together as members of the Firefly crew to carry out jobs.[26] In the original 2018 game,Brigands and Browncoats, the available characters are Mal, Zoe, Wash, Kaylee and Jayne. The other four main characters followed in two expansions,Wanted Fugitives adding River and Simon as playable characters while theRespectable Folk contains Book and Inara.
In 2015Toy Vault released a cooperative board game,Fistful of Credits, with three scenarios inspired by the episodes "The Train Job", "Bushwhacked" and "Ariel".
In 2014 Toy Vault issued a cooperative card game,Out to the Black. This was followed in 2015 byFirefly: Tall Card, based on the card game played by Simon, Jayne and Book in "Shindig".[27]
Looney Labs released aFirefly version of their card gameFluxx in 2016. Upgrade packs are also available.Upper Deck Company also released aFirefly version of their Legendary Encounters game in the same year. Quantum Mechanix have printed aFirefly-themed deck of standardplaying cards.
In 2022 Gale Force Nine releasedFirefly: Misbehavin', a 2-4 playersdeck-building game.[28]
There have been twoFirefly dice games, USAopoly'sFireflyYahtzee (notable for using a detailed miniature model ofSerenity as the dice cup) and Upper Deck'sShiny Dice Game from 2015.
TheSerenity Role Playing Game was produced byMargaret Weis Productions and released in2005. Its mechanics use theCortex Classic System. In 2013 Margaret Weis Productions announced they had the rights to produce theFirefly Role-Playing Game using theCortex Plus system: the game was released in 2014.[29]
On October 4, 2007,Alan Tudyk said that sales of the then newly releasedSerenity: Special Edition DVD had led to "talk [of] doing another movie".[30] Joss Whedon has since discounted that statement as being "wishful thinking" and added "I want to do more, but nobody's talking about doing more right now."[31]
Thesoundtrack toFirefly was mostly composed byGreg Edmonson. Thetheme song of the series, "The Ballad of Serenity," was written by Joss Whedon and performed bySonny Rhodes. The soundtrack to the series was released on CD on November 8, 2005, byVarèse Sarabande, although a 40-minute soundtrack was released by Fox Music in September 2005 as a digital EP.[32] Thesoundtrack to theSerenity film was composed byDavid Newman and released on September 27, 2005.
On December 8, 2006,The Multiverse Network announced that it had obtained the rights from Twentieth Century Fox to develop amassively multiplayer online game (MMO) based on the series.[33] As of 2008, little progress had been made. On 3 September 2008, as part of a press release announcing the development of an MMO based on theBuffy the Vampire Slayer television series, Multiverse stated that work on theFirefly MMO had been delayed as there were "some issues that need to be worked through",[34][35] although some gaming news sites have expressed doubts, based on the lack of progress with theFirefly MMO, about whether or not it will be completed or released.[36][37]
On January 2, 2012, website Ten Ton Hammer uncovered documentation that Multiverse, the team behind both theBuffy the Vampire Slayer andFirefly MMO projects, had ceased operation on both games as of December 7, 2011 due to lack of funding. However, on January 5, 2012, former members of the Multiverse team announced that they had acquired the source code and were still working to develop a finished product.[38]
On July 18, 2013, it was announced at Comic-Con that a mobile game titled "Firefly Online" would be released in Q3 2014 forAndroid andiOS.[39] While it was later stated that the leads of the series had signed on to voice their characters in the game and the release was pushed back to Q2 2015,[40]no release has ever materialized, and the game's website has not been updated since 2015.
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