Firefly news from USA Today

Some hope perhaps? Here are a few quotes from the article posted here:
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20030411/5062282s.htm

Bright possibilities for Whedon's 'Firefly'

Firefly may be grounded, but it's not quite ready to be scrapped.

Whedon, however, remains committed to the show's possibilities -- and hurt by its quick demise.

''I still haven't given up on Firefly,'' he says, ''which may seem strange since it's been off the air for months. If I can find a new home for Firefly, TV or movies or any damn thing, it will soften the blow.''

Whedon also may have found a home for Firefly on DVD. Fox is planning to release the show on disc in widescreen format, probably in December. Whedon is expected to provide commentary, as he did for Buffy and Angel.

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Wheeeeeee[don]! Not since JMS have I a respected a writer-creator-executive-producer so much. I would watch an infommerical by either of them.
I want those DVDs -- I want them bad.
Hail Joss!

Yay!! This is good news indeed I really started to enjoy the show, then *poof* I hate when that happens.

I know. I have a lot of respect for Joss even though I know very little about him. I love Buffy and was really getting into Firefly when it disappeared from the airways. I do think FF got shafted and it deserves at least a season with proper promotion from a network.

YES!

Maybe, just maybe, if the DVD's sell well enough ...

YES!

Maybe, just maybe, if the DVD's sell well enough ...

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Gees, have we ever been here before (Crusade & Rangers)!

I HOPE the DVDs come out. Then, even if it only continues in novels, I'd be happy.

A few more news items:

From Ain't It Cool News:

No release date yet, but Fox Home Entertainment will be releasing. It sports the entire season, including the unaired eps, in 16:9 glory and, most likely, in the "correct" order. With lots of goodies.

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From The Digital Bits Rumor Mill:

All the episodes (including a few that were never aired) will reportedly be released on disc later this year, in anamorphic widescreen video, with other extras TBA. Here at The Bits, we've heard that this will include audio commentary with series creator Joss Whedon and various cast members for each episode. Just FYI.

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This is good news.

This will be a set that I will probably actually buy.

So they are talking about releasing the complete season of Firefly on DVD?

See, this is the part that confuses me. Why would companies be so quick to offer out on DVD a series that only went one season? Even more baffling, why would people be so quick to BUY a series that only went one season, when you barely had a chance to even get into it. Im not really that psyched if they end up releasing Crusade on DVD. I liked the possibilities, but they are just that, possibilities. Owning 13 episodes on DVD isnt even enough to wet my appetite. Just seems odd. I guess you need to be a fanatic fan to want to collect something that BARELY got off the ground.

At least shows like Dark Angel went a couple seasons so things were starting to have a well developed story. I guess in order to warrant spending money on something Id like it to be a finished product. To me buying a "barely one season" show on DVD is like buying a car without the tires and the engine.

In gustibus et coloribus non disputandum, dude.

asphinctersayswhat?

One shouldn't argue about taste and colour. Or sth like that... my Latin's a bit rusty these days.

Honestly, does no one (except Kribu) study Latin anymore
"In matters of taste and colour there is no dispute."
... although habeas testicules, habeas cardium et cerebrum
("Once you have their ...uhm ... full attention in your grasp, you have their hearts and their minds.")
Hail Terry Pratchett!

So they are talking about releasing the complete season of Firefly on DVD?

See, this is the part that confuses me. Why would companies be so quick to offer out on DVD a series that only went one season? Even more baffling, why would people be so quick to BUY a series that only went one season, when you barely had a chance to even get into it. Im not really that psyched if they end up releasing Crusade on DVD. I liked the possibilities, but they are just that, possibilities. Owning 13 episodes on DVD isnt even enough to wet my appetite. Just seems odd. I guess you need to be a fanatic fan to want to collect something that BARELY got off the ground.

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At least that way we'd be able to get clean copies of Crusade without all the commercial adulteration (massive, animated popups for garbage shows, squeezed credits with staticy voiceovers, and traditional commercials). With Firefly, there's the extra incentive of getting three episodes that haven't aired yet (which FOX will probably never air).

Ah.

Thats great, but tell me somewhere where I was disputing everyone's taste and color.

I liked Firefly too, I was merely questioning the sense (from the DVD producers standpoint) in bothering to make a DVD release for a show that barely existed, and in 4 years, will probably be forgotten except to very few. I never said anything bad about the show --- it was just another network victim.

And as far as wanting to buy a complete product, well that has little to do with taste as well.

You seemed to be wondering why people would want the DVDs of this morsel of a series. I was just pointing out that there is no "why" -- no logical one anyway -- they just do.

As for the "sense (from the DVD producers standpoint)" of releasing the DVDs: money. What else could it be? They decided that enough people asked for it, so why not give the people what they're willing to pay for?

Personally, I view it as a step in a more audience-centric direction for the TV industry. We all know that in the current model the advertisors are the customers, the audience is the product and the content is the bait. Through DVD sales, they have to treat the audience as the customers, and that brings us one step closer to dictating what the content is directly to the supplier with the one thing they will listen to: our wallets. And that is how it should be.

Vox populi, vox dei.

So they are talking about releasing the complete season of Firefly on DVD?

See, this is the part that confuses me. Why would companies be so quick to offer out on DVD a series that only went one season? Even more baffling, why would people be so quick to BUY a series that only went one season, when you barely had a chance to even get into it. Im not really that psyched if they end up releasing Crusade on DVD. I liked the possibilities, but they are just that, possibilities. Owning 13 episodes on DVD isnt even enough to wet my appetite. Just seems odd. I guess you need to be a fanatic fan to want to collect something that BARELY got off the ground.

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The same reason I bought a movie released on DVD, even though I might already have it on Laserdisc or Videotape.

I can afford to, the quality of the audio and video are better, and I like the movie or show.

Also I only saw the first hour of the Pilot since the VCR was programmed for the regularly scheduled time slot. I would like to have been able to TiVo it but my assigned Nielson viewing area channels are not carried by DirecTV.

Because of my odd shift schedule at work, I was home to see only half the episodes when they aired, in 16X9 format, on the local HDTV Fox affiliate. The other episodes that I taped on my analog VCR, when I was at work, were interesting. I could hardly wait for them to be rerun at the end of the season, when I would most likely be home, and could watch them on the HD fox affiliate on the big screen HDTV. Those hopes were dashed when Fox cancelled the series in mid-season.

Now that it will be released on DVD I will be able to see them again, in 16X9 format and digital audio. Maybe if the show sells well, it might have a second chance on a different network or cable channel. The un-aired episodes are only a plus in my book, as I would purchase the DVDs for the show even if they only released what was originally aired.

Just my two centavos.

Why would companies be so quick to offer out on DVD a series that only went one season?

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DVD release for a show that barely existed, and in 4 years, will probably be forgotten except to very few

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I think you answered your own question. They are quick to release it because they think their window for making money off such a release is short. They figure they can sell a profitable number of them now, while people are still writing letters supporting it and pining for more of it to be made / aired (especially since they have 3 eps that were never aired in the US). If they wait a few years they think their market will have evaporated to a significant degree.

Strike while the iron is hot .... and all that.

Hey, I kind of take offense at that "fanatic fan" thing.

I never bought the B5 DVD's because I have every single episode on EP VHS tape (some, actually, sans commercials, if I was there to press the right button.)

I'd buy Firefly, if it was reasonably priced -- I simply liked the characters, liked the scripts, liked the show's atmosphere -- and I don't have the tapes. My criteria for Firefly is the same as if I were buying a movie.