Behind the Scenes

he buzz surrounding Firefly-broken down in the simplest terms is about cowboys in outer space-was bad. Joss Whedon-the Oscar and Emmy-nominated creator of Buffy the Vampre Slayer and Angel-delivered a 2-hour movie pilot of his space opera to Fox this past summer at a screening to the broadcasting company showing a 40-minute edited version of the pilot to critics. In short, it was said Firefly didn't make much sense and was very confusing, not to mention very slow-moving. This forced Whedon to redo the pilot before it blasted onto TV screens Sept. 20. It never bodes well when a show's pilot is recalled and then subsequently overhauled.

The Serenity soars into space

However, Whedon has proven himself the exception to that unwritten rule. After all, this is The Man we're talking about here. This is the same person who told The New York Times he cried once he saw the 1992 movie version of Buffy, fearing he would never ever work again. But in 1997, Whedon regrouped-in a second chance very few creators in Tinsel Town get-retooling Buffy, turning it into a TV series that put the fledgling WB Network on the map. It also became a highly-acclaimed show amongst TV critics-launching the careers of little-known or unknown actors-and eventually earned a fan-base surpassing that of The X-Files and rivaling Star Trek. It hasn't stopped there: Buffy, now entering its 7th season, spun off into Angel, now entering its 4th season. Not only that, work is underway for a Buffy animated series and a BBC spin-off for Anthony Stewart Head's Giles character.

Firefly takes place 500 years in the future where mankind has expanded into the depths of outer space. In the aftermath of a universal civil war, the intergalactic government called the Alliance controls the galaxy with a totalitarian iron fist. This does not sit well with the losing side, particularly Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion, Two Guys And A Girl), the roguish Han Solo-esque commander of the starship Serenity. Reynolds is in charge of a ragtag band of refugees and rebel mercenaries who take on any job on the outskirts of Alliance influence without asking questions. In the first episode, written by Whedon (who also directed) and Tim Minear, the crews "don't ask" policy is what leads them into trouble. Hired by a powerful tycoon whose henchman kills a man hanging from his ankles to show the Serenity crew he doesn't tolerate failure, Reynolds, second officer ZoÎ (Gina Torres, Alias), and Jayne (Adam Baldwin, The Patriot) steal cargo from a train (a nod and a wink to The Great Train Robbery). They later learn it's medical supplies for a small town whose citizens desperately need it. They return the supplies to the town and return their client's retainer, who has now marked them for death.

Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, & Nathan Fillion

Firefly is greatly influenced by "The Killer Angels," novelist Michael Shaara's fictional recreation of the Battle of Gettysburg. Whedon said in an interview with The New York Times, "I thought, 'That's the show I want to make!'...It was about the minutiae of the soldiers' lives. And I wanted to play with that classic notion of the frontier: not the people who made history, but the people history stepped on-the people for whom every act is the creation of civilization. Then again, there's also gunfights and action."

If there was anything wrong with the first episode of Firefly is that the backstory was explained too hurriedly and that there are too many characters vying for screen-time. There's nine regulars! The rest of the Serenity crew is rounded out by Book the preacher (Ron Glass, Barney Miller); the ship's doctor, Simon Tam (Sean Maher, The Street); Simon's sister, River Tam, a Drusilla-esque character who's been lobotomized (Summer Glau, the Prima Ballerina in the Whedon-helmed Angel episode, "Waiting In The Wings"); pilot Wash, ZoÎ's husband (Alan Tudyk, Hearts in Atlantis); space hooker Inara (Morena Baccarin, Perfume); and mechanic Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite, Higher Ground). And let's not forget the villains! Yet, the greatest villain Firefly will ever face is the Friday night timeslot, the bane of existence for many TV shows, both good and bad. Be that as it may, with some work and some more breaking of Hollywood's unwritten rules, Whedon-alongside of John Doe, which follows Firefly-may just keep people at home Friday nights.

Visit the official Firefly website at www.Fox.com/firefly

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