Firefly

The best gorram fanbase in the ’verse

And now, it’s time for some thrilling conclusions...

So where were we? Ah, yes. Firefly was canceled and the fanbase, along with Joss Whedon and the rest of the cast and crew, were sad. And FOX did the second-smartest thing they’d ever do and release the Firefly DVDs. Why was this so smart? It allowed the fanbase to grow. Before, the network had to rely on ratings and that one time they’d air a show to hook viewers. With DVD, that wasn’t a problem. The consumer buys the entire series and can pass it along to more people, some of whom may go buy the DVDs themselves. Firefly went on to consistently become one of the highest-ranked DVDs on Amazon.com’s list of television show releases on DVD.

During all of this time, the Browncoats were proving just why they’re one of the best fanbases in the ’verse. Since FOX had treated them so badly, the Browncoats were ostensibly orphaned children. Not content to simply wait for a foster parent, the Browncoats became self-sufficient. FOX won’t make T-shirts? Fine. Thanks to websites like cafepress.com and zazzle.com, that is no longer a problem. The Browncoats had to stick together and help one another out when they could. Gone was the elitism that shrouds some fanbases-the Browncoats are one big extended family.

As Whedon shopped Firefly around, he stumbled upon Universal. Fortunately for him, some of the higher-ups were fans and recognized that the story of Firefly deserved some revisiting. This is where 20th Century Fox did the smartest thing they would ever do with the Firefly license: they sold it to Universal. With a budget of $40 million, Serenity, the film continuation of the Firefly series, was given a green light.

Fans went wild. To help promote the upcoming film, the Browncoats made flyers and held viewing parties of the series. Ten Florida-local Browncoats as an epic premier party for the film planned one of the more prominent events, referred to in Browncoat circles as, the Orlando shindig, was planned by ten Florida Browncoats as an epic premiere party. Whedon and company even went so far as to fully support the event. Surprisingly, Karen Robertson, one of the event’s core ten, said that, "[she doesn’t] think anybody would have been more likely to be involved if this was a more established franchise. In fact, they probably would have been LESS likely to want to be involved."

By October 1, the Orlando shindig was over and the fans were pleased. It is summed up best by Tim Downey, 25-year-old Florida native, a Browncoat who attended the shindig: "I’ve been in the audience for some pretty highly anticipated films - opening day and/or midnight showings of all three Star Wars prequels and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Spider-Man, Harry Potter ... Let me tell you all something: I have never seen an audience react the way we did for Serenity. It was electric ... Serenity confirms the best things I’ve always held true about art. That it matters, and not just in the larger cultural sense, but that it matters to people. That people will go out of their way when it matters. That, as Joss said, we believe beyond reason."

This wraps up this edition. Stay tuned for the next. Until then, love, luck, and, of course, zombies! BWA!