Editor’s Note: This article was written by Dustin Nichols (@XDustinEFLX), a Geek Link contributor.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Firefly/Serenity fan and proudly refer to myself as a Browncoat. I have always stated that the show was the best thing Joss Whedon has ever done, and I will stand by that decision until the day Whedon proves me wrong. At the same time, I am a huge Arrested Development fan, and find it to be one of the funniest shows ever written. The jokes were great, and the show was impeccably cast with a great story that starts with episode one and continues all the way until the end of season four.
So, what does AD have to do with the return of Captain Malcolm Reynolds and the rest of Serenity’s crew? I’m glad no one asked, because I have an answer. I believe that the return of the former show should result in the return of the latter, and I can explain why.
- BOTH SHOWS HAVE LOYAL FANBASES
Although maybe not the most popular shows of all time, both were critically acclaimed and beloved by small, yet fiercely loyal groups of fans, loyalty that stands to this day and likely will never disappear. No matter how hard the Fox network tried to make the shows disappear, the fans would not allow it, and both shows are probably more popular now than when they were originally on the air. Both had great writing and phenomenal casts, both things that fans latched onto without hesitation. It’s not an accident that the fan bases have always been so loyal.
- BOTH WERE CANCELLED PREMATURELY FROM FOX
As I said before, Fox seemed to have a vendetta against both shows. The schedules were constantly being shuffled, and very little promotional work was done during either show’s initial run. It is unclear what Fox hated in either case, but it is pretty obvious the hatred was there. And, in both cases, fans were absolutely outraged, flooding Fox offices with angry hate mail about their favorite shows being cancelled, not to mention all of the petitions that seemingly sprung up overnight to get them back on the air. Despite all of this, Fox did not listen, and AD and Firefly were added to its ever-increasing pile of shows people liked that were cancelled anyway.
- FANS REFUSE TO LET THEM DIE
No matter how long ago either show was originally on the air, the love and support has never gone away. From fan-made merchandise to conventions to special screenings, there are countless ways fans have done absolutely everything they can to keep the shows fresh in the minds of everyone around them. Go to any comic-con or sci-fi convention, and you will see more love for both shows than you can possibly imagine. Firefly alone had a massive presence at this year’s DCC (Denver Comic-Con), which I attended. Booths across the convention hall were stuffed with shiny merchandise, including booths that were dedicated to nothing but. And those are just two of the many types of places you will see this love on display.
- THE CASTS ARE THE BIGGEST SUPPORTERS
While the fans love these shows, you know who else does? The casts. Cast members of both shows have repeatedly stated that they consider their respective shows some of the best and most fun work of their careers. As a matter of fact, Nathan Fillion (who played Captain Mal), has publicly stated that he would like to raise approximately $300 million dollars in order to buy the rights to Firefly from Fox so he could not only own the show, but bring it back with brand new episodes starring the original cast. Fillion absolutely loved working on the show, and thanks to its popularity, the show has pretty much made his career and turned him into a nerd icon (a title he is proud of, BTW).
- AD AND NETFLIX
In a move that surprised just about everyone, constant badgering from fans resulted in something that rarely happens: earlier this year, Arrested Development was revived and given a fourth season, airing exclusively on Netflix. The result was praise from both fans and critics, and AD quickly became one of Netflix’s most watched and queued programs. Thanks to its success, executive producer Ron Howard has confirmed that a fifth season was approved and is already in pre-production, causing fans to rejoice. In addition to this, Netflix has created several other original programs that have been extremely well received, such as Orange Is The New Black, so obviously they are doing something right. So, what’s to stop Netflix from resurrecting Firefly in a similar fashion? Netflix has stated they don’t want to due to the fact that the actors have aged by nearly 10 years since the last time we saw them, that being on Serenity and too much time has passed to make it viable. You know what other show had been off the air for nearly 10 years? Arrested Freaking Development. Obviously, there was a lot of success there, so this response is a load. Not only that, but Firefly, which is already available for streaming on Netflix, is consistently one of the service’s top 10 most popular programs, and that includes both TV shows and movies that are available. Hell, in my personal experience, both it and Serenity are constantly listed in my recommended viewing list, and I haven’t even used Netflix to watch either of them! While most of the members of the cast have moved onto other things (Ron Glass is now a part of Whedon’s new show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fillion has found incredible success on ABC’s hit series Castle), it’s pretty much guaranteed they’d all find time in their schedules to make the revival happen.
Now, I understand this is wishful thinking on my part, and it likely won’t ever happen, but the common threads in the patterns for both shows cannot be denied, and there really is no good reason that the recent re-birth and success of one show can’t lead to the same fortune for the other. I know I am not alone on this, and there are millions of Browncoats around the world who would quickly do whatever they could to get the show back on their if given the chance. We may not get our show back, but the only way to have a chance is to keep fighting. It worked for Arrested Development. It could (and should) work again.
In the immortal words of River Tam, you can’t stop the signal. And you can’t stop Firefly.
