@charliejane Wow! You really did.

Your captions under the pictures made me LOL hard.

@charliejane I have introduced so many people to Firefly over the years.

I haven't wanted a revisit for at least 15 years. I can't think of much that would be more pointless.

@charliejane You're not *wrong*, except that Buffy is probably equally "eh" in bringing it back. But I'd love to just reboot for *now* and ditch the problematic stuff (like Adam Baldwin) and move *forward* with it all.

Like an anime that reboots and doesn't feel bound by the original outside the most big picture stuff. I think there's still meat there in the right hands. But, yeah, maybe get into the colonial stuff more and certainly get into the "losing side of civil war" more than ever.

@charliejane Great essay.

In my film classes it was pretty much a given that the base genre for most sci-fi movies is the western. There are obvious exceptions of course, but a lot of them are essentially western stories bare disguised by sci-fi tropes. I loved Firefly in part because it didn't bother trying to hide that, but embraced it as the look and feel of its universe.

But yeah, we don't need it to come back. And I'm not sure I could even stand to hear Adam Baldwin's voice considering his post-Firefly history.

(Also, I do love the way western tropes (even when in sci-fi, samurai, or swashbuckler films) allow for examining the relationship of the individual and society, but too often the examination is lazy and surface level, ignoring the broader context. But then you get films like The Searchers or McCabe and Mrs. Miller that actively dive into the problems with the myths and I find those really satisfying.)

@charliejane I love what you say about the "space western." *Star Trek* was billed as "Wagon Train to the stars" or whatever and then *Deep Space Nine* basically took this all to its logical conclusion by being *Gunsmoke* on a space station. Really not much else one can do with this formula (especially now that *The Mandalorian* incorporated the Spaghetti Western into space opera).

Let *Firefly* be.

@charliejane Honestly, almost every revived brand should stay dead. I know it’s a money/marketing/risk question, but that doesn’t change the reality

You’re right that a middle-aged Buffy story is more plausible. But now it’s not a big metaphor for coming of age. It could be a metaphor for parenting, or exploring what female-female mentoring means under patriarchy. But you might as well make a new show now

@charliejane I don't disagree with a single thing you say.

but I've been listening to Nathan fillion and Alan Tudyk's podcast, and I have come to the conclusion that the world needs the joy of these people getting together with their old dear friends and doing something that they all love.

I've always been glad that Firefly was canceled, because from my own point of view I could already see some things that I thought would eat the show if it went on. But this? I'm there.

@charliejane

I do agree with your assessment about the setting between the show and movie being a bad idea.

However I see far more unfulfilled promise in Firefly than Buffy, if only that the latter had far more time to flesh it's world out. Like the mostly positive but still somewhat misunderstood by some recontextualization of sex work by Inara's character that came up the other day with someone in parallels to their own work.

More people would probably connect with a Buffy reboot though.

@charliejane Buffy a better choice?!... Buffy shouldn't even exist. Let it stay dead.

Moving on.

The only reason Firefly shouldn't have a new series is because they will mess it up. This bunch of down on their luck actors are lining up for one last milk of a long dead cash cow. They will cut costs to make it more profitable, and the end result will be shit.

I hope I am wrong.

However, I will raise an eyebrow if they happen to choose the French animation studio Fortiche that did Arcane.

@charliejane Aww I didn't know that about the Buffy reboot! I was really looking forward to it.

Agreed on all points, btw!

@charliejane Agree with pretty much your entire post.

Would also say this: I was actually ready to watch new live-action Firefly episodes, but ...ANIMATED? No thanks. Uh-uh. No sirree Robert.

“not a huge Cowboy Bebop fan — and when I have watched it, it's always struck me as much more noir than western”

oh, absolutely. Cowboy Bebop characters *wish* they were in a Western fiction world in which *someone* gets a happy ending. The cowboy fantasies are diagetic!

And the live action Bebop, with some actors I really like, couldn’t manage noir and went for gore instead. Pfui.

@charliejane

@charliejane @danlyke about Gina Torres: … right? 😍

I guess they're aiming for a demographic that doesn't know about Book et al. I.e not us.

@charliejane entirely with you on the idea of a Firefly revival

but still holding out hope for an anti-colonialist space western

mostly because there's so very very much incredibly badass history involving people who aren't The Usual Protagonists that could feed into something like that, if people in film and TV production were more interesting than they are

@charliejane OK but hear me out: Buffy/Firefly crossover event

#SpaceVampires