The year 2020 has been a nearly unbroken string of bad news, sad news, and worse news. Just for contrast, some good news would be fine for a change, and I may have some.
As I have implied before, I am a fan of the 14 episode TV series Firefly, and the film sequel Serenity. As you may be aware, it is a cult favorite and for years afterwards the cast showed up at comicons to do Firefly panels for the would-be “browncoats.”
Today comes news - sort of - that Disney which purchased the entertainment part of Fox owns the property. It is said to be planning a revival, per this story at greatfreakinrobot.com. Disney itself has made no announcement. Hat tip to Instapundit for the link.
Much remains unclear about where, or indeed whither, their treatment will take the story, including if series originator Joss Whedon - of Buffy fame - will be involved. In the almost 20 years since the original was made, the cast have aged too much to reprise their roles, sadly.
A sort of space Western, the original series echoed the experiences of defeated Confederate veterans heading west to start over on the frontier. It was set in a future time where the frontier is lightly-settled planets on the edge of human-inhabited space.
The author speculates Disney will do a remake from the beginning when Mal acquires his ship and crew at the end of a civil war his side lost. He further imagines Disney will eliminate the less wholesome aspects of the Whedon original: defending a brothel and traveling with a geisha/courtesan.
It is worth noting Australian sea captain/author A. Bertram Chandler worked a similar vein of material in his Rim-Runner series of novels, written in the 1960s and 70s about a tramp starship captain working a similarly undeveloped “frontier.”
