The cult-hit T.V. show FIREFLY was a great show that alas, only lasted one season. As most brilliant well-written shows it was cancelled for not finding an audience. The die-hard fans blame the network accusing it for not giving it a chance and not understanding the genius of the show or its writer Joss Whedon who also penned “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its spin-off “Angel.”
If you’re not familiar with FIREFLY it is a story set 500 years into the future where the corporations have taken over and formed a world Alliance with other Worlds. In this future Earth is bilingual meaning we speak both English and Chinese. Malcolm (Mal) Reynolds is a hardened brown coat veteran of the last War against the World Alliance. Weary and upset that his side lost the war, Mal decides to eke out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity.
Mal and his fellow veteran’s Jayne, Zoë, then finds themselves leading a small, eclectic crew with the addition of Wash the pilot of Serenity and Zoë’s husband, Kaylee the mechanic, Inara, the professional companion, Shepard Book a lost preacher and mysterious stowaway’s Simon and River. This rag tag misfit crew becomes the closest thing Mal has to a family for a long time.
The show didn’t conform to being a kid friendly “Hero’s in Space” show. There were no strange looking philosophizing Muppets, No human was made up to look like an alien by being painted in a single color, or spoke with some unknown imagined foreign tongue. It was more than a Star Wars “Space Western” It was a Western in the future with Anti-hero’s.
It was GUNSMOKE in Space!! (If you don’t know GUNSMOKE, it’s is shown on TVLand on basic cable, you should really check it out) It was adults in real serious adult situations. They lived, cursed (Mostly in Chinese), made love, and fought trying to survive in the world.
The shows legions of fans old and new (I’m new) despite their anger of this unfair cancellation still look for the latest FIREFLY anything; DVD’s, Movie, Posters, Fan sites that they can find to join thier beloved characters “Up in the black,” once again. I have compiled a list of the 5 best FIREFLY fan sites for the die-hard fans that are missing this stunningly unique, brilliantly written show.
1.
VIRTUAL FIREFLY- Here’s how it might have been- here the brilliant fans of FIREFLY decided they would continue the adventures of the SERENITY crew by writing episodes for the 1st Season and the non-existent 2nd season over the span of 22 episodes. It is a fan-based site totally dedicated to “virtual continuation.” The second season answers the question “What would things would have been like if Joss Whedon had been able to tell his story of SERENITY in 22 episodes instead of 2 hours in a movie?”
The stories take you where the movie leaves off. However, the path is going to be longer and much different. The First episodes title of this virtual second season is “The lonely Place” The Second episodes title is “NuDu Shen.” The latest and third episode of the second season is “Test by George.”
There are 1st and 2nd Season Box sets found on the website created by the fans that look as authentic as if you had seen it on the shelves at your local electronic store. Virtual Firefly Season One has a black background with the Serenity ship flying over the emblem of Joss Whedon’s FIREFLY’s golden symbol and the whole below. The Virtual Firefly Season Two Box Set has a white background with River in a fighter stance with the rest of the cast underneath.
Both Boxes have “Here’s how it might have been” written on each side. How it is done is you click on the button “Open Box” found at the side of the page. It takes you to a page where the box is opened for you with the two disks ready for you to load. Then, click on load DVD and you can read the PDF file. First you register to download these stories and the decision is up to you to how many stories you want to download. VIRTUAL FIREFLY can be located at WWW.stillflying.net.
2.
WWW.BROWNCOATS.COM- This fan site is linked to VIRTUAL FIREFLY and is an unaffiliated resource site. Their purpose is to offer everything FIREFLY. This site creates a place where fans can join in with other FIREFLY fans to maintain the fandom while other fan sites stop updating and eventually close because of few visitors to their sites. BROWNCOATS.COM provides fans with a list of the latest fan-fiction, fanzine, Filk (music), DVD’s, history of the FIREFLY series, and its cancellation. Information on the cast and crew, characters, episodes, the episodes costumes, artwork, the “Verse,” language, and conventions. Navigating through the site is easy with a list of all I’ve listed found at the left side of the website. Highlight the tab and an extra list will appear with extra links relating to the tab you selected as well as another list. The visitor learns about FIREFLY from its beginning to its untimely end.
3.
WWW.FIREFLYFANS.NET- Is a huge site with everything a FIREFLY fan could want. They sell the DVD of the FIREFLY film “SERENITY” in regular DVD as well as HD-DVD. You can also buy double-sided posters, the film novelization of the SERENITY film by Keith R.A. Decandido, The SERENITY soundtrack, and everything related to FIREFLY series. The website also has a message forum where fans can discuss FIREFLY to their hearts content. I have to tell you how much I love this! Being new to the series I can ask questions about the show and the characters. P.S. The die-hard fans are such nice people.
You can download official SERENITY Flash banners to attach to your website, blog, or e-mail using a zip file. Fans can also download “SERENITY” wallpaper for their computers also using a zip file. The website lists the latest news about the cast and crew and about Joss Whedon. There is a chat room and a tab where you can read episode information about the series. Fans can enter the Blue Sun Room to read the latest FIREFLY fanfiction and to look at the latest images, current media and latest Wallpaper. The sites are great on this website for hours of FIREFLY fun whether you are a fan or not.
4.
WWW.Aprettybadplanet.com- This fan site is dedicated only to the stowaways Simon and River Tam. Here fans of this sister and brother team learn information about the actors who played them Sean Maher and Summer Glau and about the characters they play with a number of links and much more. It is also a fan fiction archive where great FIREFLY stories are collected. They are divided into sections, each having a different main focus. The websites name comes from a scene from the episode “Our Mrs. Reynolds” in which Simon tells River that siblings can only marry on “Pretty bad planets.”
There is Wallpaper of Simon and River provided on the website for you to download as well as the best scenes of Simon and River on FIREFLY and the film SERENITY. Don’t forget to sign your name in the websites guest book if you really enjoyed the website. This website is really a lot of fun even if Simon and River are not your favorite characters in FIREFLY.
5.
FIREFLY: The Blue Sun Saga- This unique message board is dedicated to all of the characters in FIREFLY. There is a long list after you register of all the places you can go. First there is the general board for orientation to help you navigate around the website. After you have met everybody on the general board they will then direct you the second block below the first to the FIREFLY/SERENITY discussion board where you can go to discuss everything about FIREFLY, the series and the film SERENITY. Next you can go to THE REAL YOU board where you introduce the real you and not under the cover of one of the characters. You can next go to where the administration of the discussion board meet to discuss various things.
There is a section where you learn the rules of the discussion board called “The Rules” There is also a great place where you can discuss plotlines and make suggestions for the next fan fiction. You can create your own planet, take on the characters of FIREFLY, or create a new character to inhabit your “Verse.” You can register as a character from FIREFLY and role-play aboard the SERENITY board.
This message board is unlike other message boards because you can register as one of the main characters, a villian or make up your own character. I wanted to register as Zoë, however someone else had the name so I couldn’t. I tried Saffron and then Inara but someone had those names as well. I tried all the characters and instead ended up creating my own character to be aboard the SERENITY. Hey, at least I’m on the ship.
