The Fox television series “Firefly” had its own little bit of wit and charm before, as many viewers would agree, it was prematurely snufed out. With creator Joss Whedon firmly working on a new series, “Dollhouse,” it’s been assumed for quite some time that a revival of Firefly isn’t a possibility in the near future.
So it came as a surprise to see a commercial on the SciFi channel of a movie with the following:
- A smuggling spaceship
- A girl in a box (naked)
- Fight scenes on a dusty, rocky planet
- The line “We’re all trying to get off this rock alive”
Sounds familiar, except for one thing:
- Giant insects trying to attack the characters
Yes, the wonderful team over at SciFi greenlighted a movie that brings together the elements of Firefly with the baddies of every bad sci-fi film. There doesn’t seem to be much info on it over at IMDB but it does star James Kyson Lee of NBC’s “Heroes.”
Writers understand that pretty much every possible premise and most plot lines have already been written. I’ve read that Firefly was similar to a previous work, and I always expected someone to duplicate it in some form. Mimicry and flattery, right? I assumed that most screenwriters would leave Firefly alone because of the significant and rabid fan base; those fans had mixed thoughts about the movie, showing how protective they were about the original series. So when it comes to this SciFi channel movie, only one thing comes to mind: in the words of Firefly character Wash, “I curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.”
And in related news, the SciFi channel just ran a commercial confirming a story that ran on Slashdot a few months ago: the network is changing its name to “SyFy.” I never did understand the reasoning behind that one.
