Fox TV agrees to consider a FIREFLY reboot

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

2 hours ago, Werthead said:

Fox TV is willing to do a FIREFLY reboot.

The only caveat is that Fox will only do it if Joss Whedon is involved, and they think he'll be too busy with movies. However, I'm not sure that's the case, given his break-up with Marvel.

The other important thing is that previously Whedon had said it was unlikely he'd consider a reboot as too many castmembers were on other shows, but right now only Morena Baccarin and Gina Torres have full-time roles on other shows (GOTHAM and SUITS respectively). A full 20-episode season would therefore be out, but a mini-series should certainly be doable.

The only question is if Whedon would be up for it. He's more recently said that resuming the story 12+ years after the events of SERENITY would be difficult and he'd be worried about damaging the reputation of something that is so beloved. On the other hand, if he came up with an idea to make it work, that'd be worth a look.

Do an anthology series set in the Verse.  Then you can bring in original cast members as they become available.  I've said this for years.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

17 minutes ago, Leofric said:

Alan Tudyk could come back as a Wash Sexbot that River made for Zoe to try and cheer her up.

http://img.pandawhale.com/85040-Ill-be-in-my-bunk-meme-Imgur-YT1Q.jpeg

[Werthead]

The animated series fan suggestion had Zoe creating an AI interface for the ship that looked like Wash. That'd be cheesy, but if they investigate the psychological reasoning behind that it might be interesting.

Having someone steal Wash's body and resurrect or clone him as some kind of infiltrator but the crew manage to reawaken his memories...would be bullshit. But how badly would you want Tudyk back in the show?

[Rhom]

11 minutes ago, Werthead said:

The animated series fan suggestion had Zoe creating an AI interface for the ship that looked like Wash. That'd be cheesy, but if they investigate the psychological reasoning behind that it might be interesting.

Having someone steal Wash's body and resurrect or clone him as some kind of infiltrator but the crew manage to reawaken his memories...would be bullshit. But how badly would you want Tudyk back in the show?

Firefly 3:  The Search for Spock Wash

[mormont]

31 minutes ago, Werthead said:

But how badly would you want Tudyk back in the show?

Not badly. I'm not even sure I want to see the show back at all. But if it does come back, it has to be the original show in spirit, and the original show would not bring a deceased character back. IMHO anyway.

[Werthead]

I was always interested that Whedon planned to bring back Jubal Early, as he seemed pretty much toast at the end of Season 1. But at least he was still alive (just lost in space) and it's not totally 100% impossible he had some distress signal or even a remote control for his ship hidden in his suit.

I think Whedon's rule that if characters die and are resurrected, there is a price to pay for that and they can't just be the same people, as we saw with Buffy, Fred, Angel etc.

[red snow]

While there have been some good reboots/remakes of films and TV shows we'd have to keep in mind that this is Fox. The list becomes much smaller when taking this factor into account. Then again, bringing back shows that had been milked dry like 24, Prison Break and X-files suggests they could do a lot worse than give a show that was prematurely axed another go.

Wash coming back would have to be handled in an interesting way to be worthwhile. Although always good to have Tudyk involved. Clones and possibly stealing some ideas from "Dollhouse" is a sci-fi route but making that interesting would be more of a challenge.

What is Whedon doing these days?

[polishgenius]

2 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I was always interested that Whedon planned to bring back Jubal Early, as he seemed pretty much toast at the end of Season 1. But at least he was still alive (just lost in space) and it's not totally 100% impossible he had some distress signal or even a remote control for his ship hidden in his suit.

 

I didn't know that he'd planned that, but had always assumed it to be the case anyway because several of the other most memorable antagonists had two episodes and he was definitely one of those, it seemed like a pattern that was developing.

[Kalbear]

I'd much rather they brought back Buffy. An older, wiser Buffy facing the dread Mayor who is now the POTUS. 

[Martini Sigil]

Serenity is twelve years old already... they obviously can't just pick up where they'd left off.... seeing Fillion in Santa Clarita Diet, he looks like he's packed on a few pounds....lol....Summer Glau is a grown woman now....

[Werthead]

Quote

What is Whedon doing these days?

Having a nervous break down over Trump and failing (so far) to get his new movie script made. He might welcome the distraction.

Yeah, Fillion's packed on a few pounds but nothing a relatively moderate exercise regime wouldn't take care of.

Kal mentioned another problem on Twitter: Whedon and Baldwin squared off over the GamerGate controversy and Baldwin tweeted some nasty things about Whedon and Felicia Day, who's one of Whedon's BFFs. Apparently Baldwin and Whedon used to get into it over politics, but then laughed it off and went for a beer, and of course it wasn't in public. I suspect that this will be harder to come back from, so they might have to do the series without Jayne.

That'd be a shame and would prevent backstage drama, but OTOH Jayne is also the most disposable character on the show.

The rest really aren't too bad. I was surprised how young everyone was in Firefly. Summer Glau was 20 (35 now), Jewel Staite was only 19 (so she's only 34 now). Fillion is only 45, Baccarin 37. They're all more than capable of doing it.

The Buffyverse I think is dead and gone. If they bring it back they'd have to bring back Spike and Angel and they can't hide the fact that they're older.

[Howdyphillip]

If I were writing the show, I'd bring back Wash by saying his conciseness was downloaded by Serenity and he can manifest as a hologram. It could be really interesting having a season to see how his relationship with Zoe is handled with these parameters. I'd eventually write in tech where he could be returned to a body that looks like him though. 

[lacuna]

Summer's telepathic abilities have developed so much that she can make everyone see and hear a psychic projection-Wash?

[red snow]

9 hours ago, Werthead said:

Having a nervous break down over Trump and failing (so far) to get his new movie script made. He might welcome the distraction.

Yeah, Fillion's packed on a few pounds but nothing a relatively moderate exercise regime wouldn't take care of.

Kal mentioned another problem on Twitter: Whedon and Baldwin squared off over the GamerGate controversy and Baldwin tweeted some nasty things about Whedon and Felicia Day, who's one of Whedon's BFFs. Apparently Baldwin and Whedon used to get into it over politics, but then laughed it off and went for a beer, and of course it wasn't in public. I suspect that this will be harder to come back from, so they might have to do the series without Jayne.

That'd be a shame and would prevent backstage drama, but OTOH Jayne is also the most disposable character on the show.

The rest really aren't too bad. I was surprised how young everyone was in Firefly. Summer Glau was 20 (35 now), Jewel Staite was only 19 (so she's only 34 now). Fillion is only 45, Baccarin 37. They're all more than capable of doing it.

The Buffyverse I think is dead and gone. If they bring it back they'd have to bring back Spike and Angel and they can't hide the fact that they're older.

Sometimes it's a shame we're no longer in a world where people's personal issues (and often temporary) don't play out in public. I dread to think how many shows we'd be missing actors from pre-twitter in shows we love if we knew the details of their arguments. That's not to say if creators actors spill their arguments into the public they should be aware of the consequences.

Firefly was a show that looked like it could easily be comfortable focusing on other character or aspects of their world although I'm not sure if that's what the hardcore fans want.

I fear the buffyverse had its time and the fact the set up was mainly concerned with teens (although Angel broke from that mould into young adults) it would be odd to have all the grown up characters as the focus. It would really need to be a next gen set up. Maybe find a way of bringing one of the old characters back as a mentor eg Zander or Wesley (even if character deaths may have happened).

I think it was Marsters himself (a long time ago) who placed a time-limit on how long he had left to play an immortal vampire before he looked too old and that's well passed. I guess they could have him or Angel in the show and simply say they became human and have thus aged. But in all honesty I think the buffyverse isn't something that's desperately needed - it had a great run.

Now I wouldn't object to Marsters having a role in a Firefly reboot. Although he's just been cast in the Marvel "runaways" show but that could have come and gone before Firely ever appeared.

[Werthead]

Quote

If I were writing the show, I'd bring back Wash by saying his conciseness was downloaded by Serenity and he can manifest as a hologram. It could be really interesting having a season to see how his relationship with Zoe is handled with these parameters. I'd eventually write in tech where he could be returned to a body that looks like him though. 

That seems really incompatible with the level of technology in the show. Maybe the inner planets could do that, but Serenity had nothing like that and I think Whedon wanted to avoid AIs and all the stuff that goes with that.

Quote

 

I fear the buffyverse had its time and the fact the set up was mainly concerned with teens (although Angel broke from that mould into young adults) it would be odd to have all the grown up characters as the focus. It would really need to be a next gen set up. Maybe find a way of bringing one of the old characters back as a mentor eg Zander or Wesley (even if character deaths may have happened).

 

Yeah, a next generation could work, maybe with other characters kept way in the background. But it's really not needed. I'd take a next generation-in-the-same-universe rather than the total reboot they were talking about a few years ago, not involving Whedon or the original cast at all. That seemed very disrespectful.

[red snow]

31 minutes ago, Werthead said:

That seems really incompatible with the level of technology in the show. Maybe the inner planets could do that, but Serenity had nothing like that and I think Whedon wanted to avoid AIs and all the stuff that goes with that.

Yeah, a next generation could work, maybe with other characters kept way in the background. But it's really not needed. I'd take a next generation-in-the-same-universe rather than the total reboot they were talking about a few years ago, not involving Whedon or the original cast at all. That seemed very disrespectful.

Once AI is included it opens a can of worms like you say - eg why aren't they running every aspect of life anyhow. You probably would have automated ships doing the job of the Firefly crew.

A complete reboot of Buffy does sound awful - especially without the involvement of Whedon. A bit like the new Trek films but they happened. I guess it's almost the same amount of time since BSG was remade. While some may have found it sacriliege many loved the new version. So it is tricky and really depends on the approach.

Funnily enough if they were ever to remake "lost" a prerequisite for me would be that none of the original creators were anywhere near it - namely Lindelof and Cuse but probably Abrams just to be on the safe side (although he only really set up the initial season so is probably safe)

[DunderMifflin]

I'd like a prequel set during the unification war

[Fez]

I really wonder if Joss Whedon could stomach working with Adam Baldwin at this point. Baldwin has always been conservative, but he's gotten really assholey about it in recent years. Jane needs to be in any reboot though.

 

A reboot could also mean all the new characters and actors though. Whedon is a talented writer and he's already got the interesting world, he could create new characters. Maybe have Fillion and a couple other actors show up once or twice (like when Buffy showed up in Angel), but otherwise stick with new people.

[Werthead]

Whedon was also telling a story about Baldwin apparently got quite annoyed that he'd vaccinated his kids (Baldwin's one of those anti-vaxxers) and was begging him not to. I get the impression Whedon was not impressed.

Jayne was an entertaining character, but I don't think he was essential to the show. If River or Mal couldn't come back, that would be more of a problem. And in fact I think only Mal is 100% essential (at least to a Firefly reboot, for a show set in the same universe, sure you can bring in a whole-new crew for that), as the show's central arc is really about his recovery from the war and his move from being a loner (albeit with a badass female soldier sidekick) to being part of the family.

[mormont]

The best way to do this would be neither a whole new crew or the whole old crew but a mix. Maybe River and Simon are running around with some resistance fighters battling the Alliance and they find they need Mal for some reason: they go and get him, he insists on reuniting with Zoe, and you can have a crew with four of the old cast and four of the new. Keep Morena Baccarin for guest appearances and tell Adam Baldwin to fuck off. He really isn't necessary - Jayne's role as morally questionable enforcer can be taken by a new character.