Scifi.com post: Firefly Film, DVDs Due by JavidRho

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Scifi.com post: Firefly Film, DVDs Due

POSTED BY: JAVIDRHO
UPDATED: Thursday, May 22, 2003 17:53
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Tuesday, May 20, 2003 4:37 AM

Scifi.com just posted an interview with Nathan Fillion. The first part of the article is listed below:

Nathan Fillion, star of Fox's defunct SF western series Firefly, told SCI FI Wire that the show could rise again, as both a movie and as a DVD set. "Right now, our hopes and dreams are pinned on a Firefly movie, which TV can't cancel us out of," Fillion said in an interview at the May 18 Saturn Awards, where he was honored with Cinescape's Face of the Future Award. "We're talking silver screen, wide release, big old deal. So everything's looking very positive, so we're going to keep our fingers crossed."

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Tuesday, May 20, 2003 4:45 AM

JAVIDRHO

Here is the direct link:

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2003-05/20/11.45.tv

or just go to www.scifi.com and browse the news section.

"Remember, shoot the man, not the horse.
Dead horse is cover, live horse is a great pile of panic." -Mal

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Tuesday, May 20, 2003 4:51 AM

SERENITYVALLEY

The more and more I hear about this movie, the more I feel like I KNOW it's gonna happen.
*crosses fingers*

"Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?" -Wash
"I told him to sit down," -Simon

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Tuesday, May 20, 2003 11:50 AM

RANDA

The scifi wire article also confirms the DVD production -- why would Nathan, Alan, and Joss be doing episode commentary for a DVD release that isn't going to happen?

WOOHOO! I know what THIS girl wants on her Hanukah list. *dancing in my chair*

Randa
"2 hours, 14 minutes and counting to the Buffy series finale."

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Tuesday, May 20, 2003 6:17 PM

KOFFEE

Quote:
Originally posted by Randa:
WOOHOO! I know what THIS girl wants on her Hanukah list. *dancing in my chair*

I'll be putting it on my Solstice wish list as well.

----------------------------------------------
“It's a real burn, being right so often.”

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Wednesday, May 21, 2003 11:56 AM

RANDOM

And Tim Minear also said last week during his Succubus Club interview that he had recorded commentary for the Firefly DVD the previous week.

He said it would include the "3" unaired episodes. I thought there were 4 unaired episodes, am I wrong?

Illusions? Against a burninator?

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Thursday, May 22, 2003 2:45 AM

JAVIDRHO

Quote:
Originally posted by Random:
He said it would include the "3" unaired episodes. I thought there were 4 unaired episodes, am I wrong?

There were 3 unaired episodes, but also one unfilmed script. It is listed somewhere here on the site, I forget where...

Also, as excited as most of us are to see a movie based on Firefly, I hope you all realize that it would probably be at least a year (more like two years) before we see it (assuming that Joss gets a green light soon). Movies take a long time to make, even before the filming begins.

"Remember, shoot the man, not the horse.
Dead horse is cover, live horse is a great pile of panic." -Mal

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Thursday, May 22, 2003 4:27 AM

JAMIE

I'm perfectly a-ok with waiting two years, since then Joss can take the time to make a really great movie. Quality first!!

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Thursday, May 22, 2003 5:24 AM

RANDOM

So I figure the movie will come out to rave reviews and make a lot of money for 20th Century. "Then" Fox-TV will say, "how about bringing back the Firefly TV series to our network?"

But Fox TV's execs are such buttheads they'd probably even screw that up. Our best hope would be for it to get picked up by a networkette like UPN or the WB.

---------------------------------
Illusions? Against a burninator?

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Thursday, May 22, 2003 5:50 AM

JAVIDRHO

There is another problem - movies are like TV shows in that the creator never has full control of his creation. It cost a lot of money to make a science fiction movie these days, and unless Joss is willing to mortgage his house and those of all of his friends, there will be "money people" who will jump in and try to change things to make Firefly appeal to the widest possible audience (they are in it to make money, after all).

I faced a similar problem several years ago when I wrote a computer game and had to deal with publishers. They wanted to change my game to make it like every other game out there (this was 10 years ago). Now I am just finishing up a science fiction novel that I have been writing for the past 3 years (some of it is online at my website) and I am facing the prospect of dealing with book publishers.

At least in the book world, you don't have to compete with other books for a time slot (as in TV). There are millions of books out there with small but loyal(!) fans. There are no such TV shows, and that is the real shame. Hey, maybe Joss will write some Firefly books...

"Remember, shoot the man, not the horse.
Dead horse is cover, live horse is a great pile of panic." -Mal

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Thursday, May 22, 2003 6:36 AM

SLOWSMURF

I think after the experiences Joss had with movies, he's NOT going to be risky with firefly. He'll make sure they know what they're making beforehand, that they can't change it(ie give me money and let me do my thing(and sign a contract saying so) or fuck off)

Especially as long as they make it fairly low budget(an hour ep for TV took, apparently, 2 million. Nothing says a movie would have to cost THAT much more(per hour))

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Thursday, May 22, 2003 2:02 PM

RANDOM

Quote:
Originally posted by SlowSmurf:
I think after the experiences Joss had with movies, he's NOT going to be risky with firefly. He'll make sure they know what they're making beforehand, that they can't change it(ie give me money and let me do my thing(and sign a contract saying so) or fuck off)

Especially as long as they make it fairly low budget(an hour ep for TV took, apparently, 2 million. Nothing says a movie would have to cost THAT much more(per hour))

I agree that Joss won't make the movie unless he has contracted control. After his many, frequent and continuing rants about his horrible experience on the Buffy movie and a lot of movies thereafter, I can't see him even thinking about making it unless he is the boss of bosses. And if he can get 20th Century behind him, he should be ok in that respect.

As for the budgets. My friends who work In Hollywood tell me anything connected with movies cost a lot more than anything connected with TV. That there are whole groups of people in Hollywood who just work Movies or just work TV, never the two shall meet. And the Movie gang charge a lot more for everything than the TV gang (unions and all that).

Still, if made outside Hollywood, (Canada, New Zealand, UK) a 1.5 hour Firefly movie could probably be made for under 10 million. I'm basing this estimage on other low-budget, no-star movies made there over the last few years.

There would be no big-star paychecks to pay. But any theatrical Sci Fi movie needs the requisite massive amount of special effects. They'd probably have to spend a Firefly-season's worth of budget on FX. But from what I remember, Zoic (who did the Firefly FX) typically only had a budget of only $150k to $200k an episode to produce the FX. So figure a few million for the FX, a few million for the production, a nice paycheck for the stars. 10 million is do-able, "if", they stay out of Hollywood. Then figure at least 5 or 10 million to promote the movie. A good weekend or two could pay for it entirely, the overseas market and DVD/rental markets would be gravy.

How long would it take? Well, these days movies can get to the screen surprisingly fast. Digital editing and all that makes the post production process that much easier. If they started production before the end of this year, it could easily be on the screens by late Spring or Summer of 2004.

---------------------------------
Illusions? Against a burninator?

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Thursday, May 22, 2003 5:16 PM

ELERI

From an email I received from the TVonDVD site:

Firefly extras in-the-works for the DVDs
5/21/2003

The SciFi Channel's SciFiWire news section had this article today, revealing some information about the upcoming Firefly DVDs:
(Nathan) Fillion-who played Capt. Mal Reynolds-said that he is completing audio commentaries for a complete DVD set of the Fox series' 15 produced episodes, including three that never aired. "I just finished commentary with Alan Tudyk [Wash] on 'War Stories,' an episode where he and I got tortured. ... And then, Monday, I go in to do audio commentary with Joss Whedon for 'Serenity,' the two-hour pilot."

The DVD will also include on-camera interviews and maybe even some of Fillion's own behind-the-scenes home video and photos. As for the unaired episodes, Fillion said, "My naked ass is in them. In the very last episode. I'll let you know that much. They called me Capt. Tight Pants for some time. And now it's going to be Capt. No Pants for sure." Fillion did not know when the DVD set would come out.

~~Eleri

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Thursday, May 22, 2003 5:53 PM

TECHBOY

Quote:
Originally posted by JavidRho:
... there will be "money people" who will jump in and try to change things to make Firefly appeal to the widest possible audience (they are in it to make money, after all) ...

[edited for brevity]

The thing that really will get people in the seats is the talk that the fans are generating, and the fact that "Firefly" is good story telling. It's not about the hi-tech super-razmafrazits, and heizenberg comsentaors.

I'm a Trek fan, but I care more about what happens to the "Enterprise" more than what happens to the people in it. Granted, Trek is about the story, too - but "Firefly" is about the people and how they live, not how they operate their ship.

I think that will translate well to the big-screen, and draw people in. What I worry about is the episodes really need to be seen in order, and releasing a motion picture without the background may cause confusion, and not have the impact that it had on us.

All through this, when watching episodes and reading posts here, I've got the felling that their (the crew of Firefly) stories haven't been told yet, things are just getting started. I will be waiting for more "Firefly" stuff with baited breath.

Does anyone have the final ratings numbers for the run?

================================================
Today, as I was having lunch, I was watching the birds in the trees and wondered what it would be like if birds knew that people didn't like being shat on. As I was thinking this, a bird shat on my sandwich. Perhaps I knew too much...

-Simon Travaglia
If you like that, check this out.[url= http://bofh.ntk.net/]

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