Firefly 10th Anniversary: Browncoats Unite

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Narrator:
10 years ago...

a small Firefly-class spaceship...

Now die!

Testing. Captain, can you hear me?

I'm standing right here.

Narrator:
... and a renegade crew...

- How's business?

- None of yours.

Changed the verse forever.

We've done the impossible,

and that makes us mighty.

Time for some thrilling heroics.

[Groans]

[Guns cock]

I love this ship.

I have from the first moment I saw it.

We're still flying.

Simon:
That's not much.

It's enough.

Narrator:
A decade later,

the band is back together...

Well, I thought Nathan was so handsome.

- It's true.

- Minear:
He is.

Narrator:
... To share the real stories...

Minear:
"We need a script on Monday."

We're like, "we can't

write one over the weekend!

That's crazy!"

Narrator:
Behind a short-lived series...

It was just the worst to know

that people upstairs weren't

really feeling the same way that we were.

Narrator:
That became a Sci-Fi phenomenon,

worshipped by legions of fans.

Joss Whedon's vision keeps flying.

The story is alive... because of you.

[Cheers and applause]

It's the year 2517.

We've colonized space

by terraforming planets

to replace our dead earth.

Rebel Captain Malcolm

Reynolds and a crew of misfits

are on the run from the alliance,

the oppressive rulers of the galaxy.

They make a living on

the outskirts of society,

doing whatever they can to survive.

I do the job, and then I get paid.

This is the world of "Firefly,"

a series that captures

hearts and minds of all who watch.

But there's not enough.

Son of a b*tch.

Within three months, the show is cancelled.

And the saga should have ended there.

10 years later, July 2012.

Thousands of fans descend

on the world's biggest Sci-Fi convention

to honor their heroes...

"Firefly's" cast, writers,

and the legendary creator

of "Buffy," "Angel," and

"Firefly," Joss Whedon.

Whedon:
When I see you guys,

I don't think the show's off the air.

I don't think there's a show.

I think that's what the world is like.

But the main event is

not onstage at comic-con.

It's behind closed doors.

A private gathering is underway.

The gang is together for

the first time in years

to tell their story of "Firefly."

It's been 10 years since

the birth of "Firefly."

And the death.

It's been 10 years since the

cancellation of "Firefly."

The show should have gone

away, but somehow, it didn't.

And for the past 10 years,

the show has had this wonderful, strange,

enduring life and legacy.

Why do you think it's endured?

What is the enduring appeal of the show?

There was a certain kind of excitement

for this world and these characters,

and then when you put

in these personalities,

it was like a thing

that just was ready to

start right out of the box.

I always say it was

sort of this chemistry between all of us...

well, not Nathan.

That's fair.

But, like, you know, the group of us.

[Laughter]

It's just the strangest thing

that we all kind of clicked like that.

It was this very weird family.

It was meant to be.

Torres:
Joss was putting

together a cast that he knew

could play together, could work together,

could inhabit these people.

It definitely comes from

the top down, I think,

because it's the trickle-down effect.

And Nathan being the lead set the tone.

Nathan was this amazing presence,

knew everybody's name.

You were sort of a captain of

the ship and captain of the show.

How early did people start

talking to you, Nathan,

and referring to you as captain?

I remember the first day

I put on my space boots.

And when I came up the

ramp, David Boyd, our D.P.,

turned, saw me.

He said, "captain on deck."

And everybody stopped what they're doing,

just kind of gave a little...

Baldwin:
Nice.

I was like, "ahh, this is amazing.

I'm getting in the spaceship."

[Laughter]

Well, I thought Nathan was so handsome

when I first met him.

It's true.

Minear:
He is.

Molina:
Give her the money.

That's just what she thought.

Tudyk:
And she also said,

when she first met you.

What happened since then?

I wear on people.

[Laughter]

Jensen:
Well, Nathan, how

did "Firefly" enter your life?

What was your audition like?

I went in. You were there.

He was a jerk to me.

- Whoa!

- You were.

- What did I say?

- Tudyk:
Really?!

That's not true at all! [Laughter]

She was just nervous. It

was nerves. It was nerves.

Glau:
No, you came out.

And I said, "how did it go?"

And you said, "don't worry.

I don't think we're going

up for the same role."

[Laughter]

I said, "really well, but don't worry."

Oh, that was the beginning

of the set scapegoats.

[Laughter]

Maher:
I heard that.

Molina:
Summer!

Here's what happened to me.

I walked into a room,

and there was a scraggly-looking fellow

with a purple sweater with

a hole in it right here

sitting in the corner.

And I thought, "when's

Joss Whedon gonna get here?"

[Laughter]

And I had a 45-minute chat with this guy,

and at one point, I

realized it was Joss Whedon.

I do remember when Joss said

that he had found the guy.

Like, he had always pictured Mal

to be a little bit older than you,

probably maybe a little

younger than you are now.

But he had pictured the character

sort of older and more worn, et cetera.

But you came in and completely nailed it,

is what he said.

Jensen:
Let's talk a little bit

more about the early beginnings,

about the pilot, what that story was,

and why you guys thought

it was the best way to launch the show.

It's the best way to launch

a complicated universe

because it introduces that universe.

It set up the premise

of all these complicated character arcs

in this world that you had to

sort of ease the audience into.

I'm a shepherd from the Southdown Abbey...

Book.

Well, I'm Kaylee.

And this here's Serenity.

And she's the smoothest

ride from here to Boros

for anyone can pay. Hmm.

Can you pay, or... ?

Well...

Every character had their strength

and their reason for being there

and their reason for

believing what they did.

And the dynamics were really fascinating.

Mal, this is Simon.

Simon, this is our captain.

Captain Reynolds.

Now we have a boat full of citizens

right on top of our stolen cargo.

That's a fun mix.

Ain't no way in the verse

they could find that compartment,

even if...

even if they were looking for it.

Why not?

'Cause.

Jensen:
You guys who wrote these episodes,

like, how did you find this unique fusion

of science fiction and a Western?

The whole feeling was we

wanted to do everything

from sort of John Ford

to spaghetti westerns.

But anything that sort

of encompassed that genre

was something that we tried

to take and put into the mix

of what we were doing on the screen.

Joss and I did a lot of

what he was doing for Jayne.

I mean, we looked at a lot of westerns.

I don't understand why we

didn't leave that sum b*tch

in a pool of his own blood.

When I started reading the

character, I just figured,

"well, I'll just go over the

top and see where it goes."

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