6 ms·

Firefly Reboot Coming to Disney+

66 points by ohjeez 6y ago

ulkesh 6y ago
"Disney announced a lot of their big plans for the future in a huge investor presentation last week, but they didn’t announce all of them. There’s one property that I’ve been hearing whispers about that didn’t get mentioned. That property is Firefly. The lack of an announcement about it doesn’t mean, however, that Disney isn’t keen to do something with the Joss Whedon cult phenom." "My source tells me that Disney is in early development on a Firefly reboot." So no announcement was made to investors. And the author cites only a single anonymous source. Call me skeptical.
- WorldMaker 6y ago
  Also "early development" can mean in Hollywood something like one or two of these fun examples: - Someone wrote down an idea on a cocktail napkin - Someone wrote down an idea on a whiteboard - Someone made an assistant note to check to see if Joss Whedon was canceled this month, and how busy his calendar looked - Someone set a golf appointment with a buddy from Universal to discuss Disney maybe acquiring the IP rights to Serenity to get all the IP back under one roof
  - mulderc 6y ago
    I bet there is more than just that going on but I would imagine there are people working on how to develop literally everything they just bought from Fox. If there is an intellectual property that Disney owns, then someone is trying to figure out how to make money off it.
beowulfey 6y ago
This is certainly an exciting rumor but I had a question about this: “Movie theaters are done. The biggest chain in the world will likely shutter permanently next month and the others are likely to follow suit.” Is this generally expected? I know the pandemic has a done a number on them, but are movie theaters really expected to disappear forever?
- Accujack 6y ago
  Mostly, at least the first run theaters. They were honestly not seeing good profits for a while, because they had to pay so much for films to the studios/distributors. Most of the chains in my area have gone under and won't reopen, and it's difficult to see anyone getting investment for new ones any time soon - even if they came back to 100% of what they were before the pandemic, they wouldn't be a great investment. Smaller theaters showing older movies will probably pick up, though... places where you can have a beer and watch Casablanca or a 1970s war movie, that kind of thing.
- techer 6y ago
  We’ve been told, in the UK at least, COVID is never going away. So it’s possible that large scale it’s over. Cinemas will live on in some form.
  - gojomo 6y ago
    COVID may stay around as an endemic, circulating virus - but at the same time, it will recede in impact. Eventually, nearly everyone will have some level of immunity via either natural-infection-and-recovery, or explicit vaccination. (The latter is certainly better for avoiding death or serious complications.) Even if that immunity fades somewhat with time, as seems to be the case with other 'common cold' cornoaviruses, it'll typically be re-boosted by either a mild survivable case (from circulating virus), or explicit re-vaccination. So at some point – probably no later than 2022 – people will be behaving mostly as before, because the ongoing impact of COVID will have shrunk to be similar to traditional colds/flus.
- subsubzero 6y ago
  yeah I don't really trust anything in the article based on that statement: >“Movie theaters are done." It sounds like just wishful thinking(regarding firefly), but I'd love to be proven wrong :) a firefly reboot would be great and many people have wanted this for a long time, the problem is its been way too long and alot of sci-fi fans may have forgotten or just don't know about it, the show was cancelled 18 years ago so most 20 somethings have no idea what it is.
Accujack 6y ago
"Fans may initially be unhappy, but it’s easy to see a way it could work." Firefly, but with a new cast and an altered storyline? That wouldn't retain any of the fans of the original, and in fact Disney would be hated on endlessly for doing it. If this is real... quite possibly Disney is "leaking" this info to test this idea and see what fans think.
- thrill 6y ago
  Showrunner: "Let's take this piece of art, well loved by adult sci-fi fans, get a whole new cast, change it at its eyebrow-raising core to make it suitable for pre-teens, reducing it to unseasoned pablum, and see if it sticks to the wall." Executive: "Ship it!"
  - duxup 6y ago
    Don't forget recycling plots, characters, scenes but in a sort of soulless way.
  - dudul 6y ago
    It's probably more like all the infamous reboots that have come out recently: "OK, so we want to do this new show where blablabla" "Sounds boring as F, nobody is gonna watch that" "Well, we could call it the VerySuccessfulBelovedFranchise reboot. We can just rename the characters to match the original set" "Gold"
  - fractalf 6y ago
    My secret source tells me we might see the rise of JarJar. That should please every die hard fan
- rakoo 6y ago
  It's easy to see a way it could not work: just take the example of the Star Wars movies
- detaro 6y ago
  As someone who admittedly isn't a die-hard fan of the original, I think something independent in a similar style, set in the same universe could work. But I suspect any corporate attempt at it would break it... can't take too many chances so need to make it bland, need to insert too many throwbacks, ...
jedberg 6y ago
This is just a rumor for clicks. There is nothing backing this up.
SrslyJosh 6y ago
That prompt to allow push notifications on every single page load is obnoxious.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- gojomo 6y ago
  Not seeing even a single such prompt visiting this site in Brave.
proactivesvcs 6y ago
"This shift in tone suggests the new version of Firefly might drop characters like Inara, who is basically a prostitute. Instead it’ll probably lean more into the fun and adventure aspect of the universe’s stories." Jeepers, what a problematic paragraph. There was nothing basic about the character (who was also fun and adventurous) nor about the sex work portrayed in the series. An entire episode centred around it, telling the story of how unregulated is unprotected in sex work. That universe's take was refreshingly insightful and something modern societies could takes lessons from.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- gkoberger 6y ago
  Agreed, but I think it's important to point out this is hearsay from a writer of a no-name fan site. Nothing anywhere has ACTUALLY suggested it; they're just trying to fill paragraphs.
- aaomidi 6y ago
  The hatred so many people have towards sex work is very interesting to me. Yet they consume work of sex work, without shame, and without expecting to pay for it - effectively increasing exploitation. It's very interesting how the more "left" you go, the higher the acceptance towards sex work becomes. I'm quite annoyed how we've decided to increase the barrier of entry for sex work (to be fair, it is slowly coming down), that makes it so only rich people (generally old and white) can create companies that make sex-based products.
  - dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
    This might be a collective defense mechanism: if it's destigmatized, many people might no longer feel the need to enter long-lasting relationships, and birth rates - already low in Western countries - might decrease even more.
    - aaomidi 6y ago
BlueTemplar 6y ago
> My source tells me they’re planning to target it more at a PG-adventure, family audience and less at the sort of PG-13 dynamic the original Joss Whedon show went for. > This shift in tone suggests the new version of Firefly might drop characters like Inara, who is basically a prostitute. > Disney, not wanting to court the ire of outraged Twitter activists, may simply be unwilling to have [Joss Whedon] involved in their brand. It could also end up that Whedon won’t want to be involved, if indeed Disney really is committed to turning Firefly into a gold standard family-friendly adventure series. That may skew too far from his original vision for the program. Disney ruins everything: https://youtube.com/watch?v=245j8gWuOTQ https://youtube.com/watch?v=245j8gWuOTQ
- geodel 6y ago
  > Disney ruins everything: I think they turn everything to wholesome family entertainment.
wyldfire 6y ago
Hmm, is Whedon involved w/creative team? Seems like he's challenging to work with.
nickthemagicman 6y ago
If Josh Wheedon is involved it could be great. Getting Filoni involved in the Mandalorian was great.
- dualboot 6y ago
  Eh. I would be more excited if Ben Edlund was involved rather than Whedon. Edlund was the spark and humour behind the series.
  - nickthemagicman 6y ago
    Oh that's awesome I didn't realize Edlund was the brainchild behind Firefly. And you're right probably need both of them involved.
pengaru 6y ago
As long as there's still an adorable coverall-wearing female spaceship mechanic I'll give it a chance.
dualboot 6y ago
Rebels was basically a Star Wars-ified version of Firefly that targets a different audience.
theknocker 6y ago
"Let's just ruin everything pertaining to space by turning into hipster camp." -- Disney They can't even leave the one alone that was already hipster camp.
dmnd 6y ago
> they’re planning to target it more at a PG-adventure, family audience and less at the sort of PG-13 dynamic the original Joss Whedon show went for This can't be real. Why would Disney use/ruin the Firefly universe for this show idea when they already have the Star Wars universe?
- Aeronwen 6y ago
  Because they haven't bought Viacom yet, so they need something to do while CBS ruins Star Trek without them.
roastedjalapeno 6y ago
This legit brought a tear to my eye.

66 points by ohjeez 6y ago

"Disney announced a lot of their big plans for the future in a huge investor presentation last week, but they didn’t announce all of them. There’s one property that I’ve been hearing whispers about that didn’t get mentioned. That property is Firefly. The lack of an announcement about it doesn’t mean, however, that Disney isn’t keen to do something with the Joss Whedon cult phenom." "My source tells me that Disney is in early development on a Firefly reboot." So no announcement was made to investors. And the author cites only a single anonymous source. Call me skeptical.

WorldMaker 6y ago
Also "early development" can mean in Hollywood something like one or two of these fun examples: - Someone wrote down an idea on a cocktail napkin - Someone wrote down an idea on a whiteboard - Someone made an assistant note to check to see if Joss Whedon was canceled this month, and how busy his calendar looked - Someone set a golf appointment with a buddy from Universal to discuss Disney maybe acquiring the IP rights to Serenity to get all the IP back under one roof
- mulderc 6y ago
  I bet there is more than just that going on but I would imagine there are people working on how to develop literally everything they just bought from Fox. If there is an intellectual property that Disney owns, then someone is trying to figure out how to make money off it.

beowulfey 6y ago

This is certainly an exciting rumor but I had a question about this: “Movie theaters are done. The biggest chain in the world will likely shutter permanently next month and the others are likely to follow suit.” Is this generally expected? I know the pandemic has a done a number on them, but are movie theaters really expected to disappear forever?

Accujack 6y ago
Mostly, at least the first run theaters. They were honestly not seeing good profits for a while, because they had to pay so much for films to the studios/distributors. Most of the chains in my area have gone under and won't reopen, and it's difficult to see anyone getting investment for new ones any time soon - even if they came back to 100% of what they were before the pandemic, they wouldn't be a great investment. Smaller theaters showing older movies will probably pick up, though... places where you can have a beer and watch Casablanca or a 1970s war movie, that kind of thing.
techer 6y ago
We’ve been told, in the UK at least, COVID is never going away. So it’s possible that large scale it’s over. Cinemas will live on in some form.
- gojomo 6y ago
  COVID may stay around as an endemic, circulating virus - but at the same time, it will recede in impact. Eventually, nearly everyone will have some level of immunity via either natural-infection-and-recovery, or explicit vaccination. (The latter is certainly better for avoiding death or serious complications.) Even if that immunity fades somewhat with time, as seems to be the case with other 'common cold' cornoaviruses, it'll typically be re-boosted by either a mild survivable case (from circulating virus), or explicit re-vaccination. So at some point – probably no later than 2022 – people will be behaving mostly as before, because the ongoing impact of COVID will have shrunk to be similar to traditional colds/flus.
subsubzero 6y ago
yeah I don't really trust anything in the article based on that statement: >“Movie theaters are done." It sounds like just wishful thinking(regarding firefly), but I'd love to be proven wrong :) a firefly reboot would be great and many people have wanted this for a long time, the problem is its been way too long and alot of sci-fi fans may have forgotten or just don't know about it, the show was cancelled 18 years ago so most 20 somethings have no idea what it is.

Accujack 6y ago

"Fans may initially be unhappy, but it’s easy to see a way it could work." Firefly, but with a new cast and an altered storyline? That wouldn't retain any of the fans of the original, and in fact Disney would be hated on endlessly for doing it. If this is real... quite possibly Disney is "leaking" this info to test this idea and see what fans think.

thrill 6y ago
Showrunner: "Let's take this piece of art, well loved by adult sci-fi fans, get a whole new cast, change it at its eyebrow-raising core to make it suitable for pre-teens, reducing it to unseasoned pablum, and see if it sticks to the wall." Executive: "Ship it!"
- duxup 6y ago
  Don't forget recycling plots, characters, scenes but in a sort of soulless way.
- dudul 6y ago
  It's probably more like all the infamous reboots that have come out recently: "OK, so we want to do this new show where blablabla" "Sounds boring as F, nobody is gonna watch that" "Well, we could call it the VerySuccessfulBelovedFranchise reboot. We can just rename the characters to match the original set" "Gold"
- fractalf 6y ago
  My secret source tells me we might see the rise of JarJar. That should please every die hard fan
rakoo 6y ago
It's easy to see a way it could not work: just take the example of the Star Wars movies
detaro 6y ago
As someone who admittedly isn't a die-hard fan of the original, I think something independent in a similar style, set in the same universe could work. But I suspect any corporate attempt at it would break it... can't take too many chances so need to make it bland, need to insert too many throwbacks, ...

jedberg 6y ago

This is just a rumor for clicks. There is nothing backing this up.

SrslyJosh 6y ago

That prompt to allow push notifications on every single page load is obnoxious.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
gojomo 6y ago
Not seeing even a single such prompt visiting this site in Brave.

proactivesvcs 6y ago

"This shift in tone suggests the new version of Firefly might drop characters like Inara, who is basically a prostitute. Instead it’ll probably lean more into the fun and adventure aspect of the universe’s stories." Jeepers, what a problematic paragraph. There was nothing basic about the character (who was also fun and adventurous) nor about the sex work portrayed in the series. An entire episode centred around it, telling the story of how unregulated is unprotected in sex work. That universe's take was refreshingly insightful and something modern societies could takes lessons from.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
gkoberger 6y ago
Agreed, but I think it's important to point out this is hearsay from a writer of a no-name fan site. Nothing anywhere has ACTUALLY suggested it; they're just trying to fill paragraphs.
aaomidi 6y ago
The hatred so many people have towards sex work is very interesting to me. Yet they consume work of sex work, without shame, and without expecting to pay for it - effectively increasing exploitation. It's very interesting how the more "left" you go, the higher the acceptance towards sex work becomes. I'm quite annoyed how we've decided to increase the barrier of entry for sex work (to be fair, it is slowly coming down), that makes it so only rich people (generally old and white) can create companies that make sex-based products.
- dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
  This might be a collective defense mechanism: if it's destigmatized, many people might no longer feel the need to enter long-lasting relationships, and birth rates - already low in Western countries - might decrease even more.
  - aaomidi 6y ago

BlueTemplar 6y ago

> My source tells me they’re planning to target it more at a PG-adventure, family audience and less at the sort of PG-13 dynamic the original Joss Whedon show went for. > This shift in tone suggests the new version of Firefly might drop characters like Inara, who is basically a prostitute. > Disney, not wanting to court the ire of outraged Twitter activists, may simply be unwilling to have [Joss Whedon] involved in their brand. It could also end up that Whedon won’t want to be involved, if indeed Disney really is committed to turning Firefly into a gold standard family-friendly adventure series. That may skew too far from his original vision for the program. Disney ruins everything: https://youtube.com/watch?v=245j8gWuOTQ https://youtube.com/watch?v=245j8gWuOTQ

geodel 6y ago
> Disney ruins everything: I think they turn everything to wholesome family entertainment.

wyldfire 6y ago

Hmm, is Whedon involved w/creative team? Seems like he's challenging to work with.

nickthemagicman 6y ago

If Josh Wheedon is involved it could be great. Getting Filoni involved in the Mandalorian was great.

dualboot 6y ago
Eh. I would be more excited if Ben Edlund was involved rather than Whedon. Edlund was the spark and humour behind the series.
- nickthemagicman 6y ago
  Oh that's awesome I didn't realize Edlund was the brainchild behind Firefly. And you're right probably need both of them involved.

pengaru 6y ago

As long as there's still an adorable coverall-wearing female spaceship mechanic I'll give it a chance.

dualboot 6y ago

Rebels was basically a Star Wars-ified version of Firefly that targets a different audience.

theknocker 6y ago

"Let's just ruin everything pertaining to space by turning into hipster camp." -- Disney They can't even leave the one alone that was already hipster camp.

dmnd 6y ago

> they’re planning to target it more at a PG-adventure, family audience and less at the sort of PG-13 dynamic the original Joss Whedon show went for This can't be real. Why would Disney use/ruin the Firefly universe for this show idea when they already have the Star Wars universe?

Aeronwen 6y ago
Because they haven't bought Viacom yet, so they need something to do while CBS ruins Star Trek without them.

roastedjalapeno 6y ago

This legit brought a tear to my eye.