Firefly

Open the champers, shut down the hatches

A HIGHLY cunning high tech distribution plan may help a new season of cult sci-fi classic Firefly to get off the ground.

The maker of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon, saw his favourite pet project Firefly being cut from the air after one season in 2003.

But, legions of fans managed to get a film of the show up and running, but it unfortunately did not translate to the big screen particularly well.

Entrepreneur, Ace Underhill - no really - is apparently trying to buy up the franchise from Fox to run a second season. His big idea is to sell the show on a direct pay-per-view model. The consumer would view it on her or his computer, on his or her iPod, and on her and his on direct-to-DVD sent to his or her house or on demand through her or his cable or satellite operator.

He hopes to later flog it to off-net cable channels. Underhill is also chatting to 20th Century Fox Television, which holds the TV rights to Firefly. Underhill has admitted that his effort is a long shot, but if it does work then it could mean the end of networks killing off really popular shows as they might be saved by different online distribution channels. Crusade or Angel anyone?