2. What is Firefly?
• Short-lived science fiction
television show created by
Joss Whedon.
• Originally aired from 2002-
2003, was cancelled after
one season.
Since then, has gained a
cult-like following and
expanded into a multi-
platform media franchise.
3. That includes a film, Serenity…
…an online miniseries,
R. Tam Sessions…
4. ...a novel... ...along with a role-playing game,
fan sites and fan fiction...
...numerous comics...
5. ...with a massively multiplayer online game
(MMOG), Firefly Online, planned for the future
(and this is based on a series that left the air
more than 10 years ago!)
7. …while the comics
continue the story
where the film left
off, expanding the
diegesis of the
original series and
allowing for
character
development, which
was stunted due to
the early
cancellation of the
show.
8. Firefly is unique in that if it hadn’t been cancelled
and continued to remain on the air, it probably
wouldn’t have grown into the multi-platform media
franchise it is today.
9. • In the absence of content between 2003 to
2005, fans kept the show alive by producing
numerous transmedia works, such as fan
fiction, and mounting large support
campaigns to spread the word about the
show.
10. • Such fans of television shows serve a “productive,
industrial function” (Johnson, 2007, pg. 68)
• With “the intersection of television and new
media via multiplatforming”, the television
industry was able “to begin participating in this
new economy of free labor.”
• In order to promote Serenity, the show’s fanbase
was “channeled into the promotional sector to
foster ‘grassroots’ buzz” about the show.
11. • In the age of multiplatforming, “television production has
been dispersed throughout society as labor performed by
consumers”. (Johnson, 2007, pg. 78)
• Television consumption no longer exists solely in front of
‘the box’; today, “the consumption of television takes place
within the hyperdiegetic worlds of television.”
• The industry utilises fans’ devotion as a form of free labour
in order to further expand the show across multiple media
platforms, deepening their participation and involvement in
it and allowing for the creation of new revenue streams and
even new potential audiences.
12. What made the show so
appealing?
• The show itself was unlike anything else on TV before.
• It was literally a western set in space (aka “space
western”).
• Characters had a lot of development potential.
• Set in a future world where the two surviving
superpowers, the USA and China, have combined to
become a super world government known as the
Alliance.
• Joss Whedon: “nothing will change in the future:
technology will advance, but we will still have the same
political, moral, and ethical problems as today”.
13. What made the show so
appealing?
• The television medium allowed Firefly to develop its large
and varied cast of characters across its short first season.
• Introducing numerous strong, interesting characters rather
than a single “hero” would leave many possibilities for future
developments of the television series.
• Attempting to include as much content into a film would not
be possible, whereas the nature of a TV show allowed for
much more character development to be spread out over
the course of the series.
• Characters’ backstories and relationships with one another
could be explored in a way that the constraints of a feature
film would not allow.
14. 2005
• Focused on
closure of elements
introduced in the
TV series.
• Film was used as
it was the only
medium with
secure funding
and legal rights.
16. • Firefly had concluded by the time of Serenity.
• The plot of the film did not have to consider an
ongoing series.
17. • Firefly had concluded by the time of Serenity.
• The plot of the film did not have to consider an
ongoing series.
18. • Those Left Behind, 2005
• Better Days, 2008
• The Other Half, 2008
• Float Out, 2010
• The Shepherd's Tale, 2010
• Downtime, 2010
• It's Never Easy, 2012
• Leaves on the Wind, 2014
19. ‘We don't have studio executives sweating every
decision and that's very nice.’
- Joss Whedon, 2013
(Joss Whedon: “Every kid who hates grownups became a grownup.” 2013)
20. 'I always thought of it as wanting as many
people to read it as watched it ... You always
want to write for everybody - I don't want to
exclude anyone from the party.’
- Joss Whedon
(Joss Whedon: “Every kid who hates grownups became a grownup.” 2013)
'How do texts create two or more implicit
readers? By constructing a sedimentary
multilayer text that needs different cognitive
skills to be interpreted.‘
- Scolari, 2009
21. ‘Each franchise entry needs to be self-contained
enough to enable autonomous consumption.’
- Scolari, 2009
“We knew it [Serenity #1] would be a hit, but we
couldn’t have expected it to be as big as it was.
We didn’t have anything else selling as much at
the time.”
- Scott Allie,
Editor of Dark Horse Comics
(Buffy Season 8 - the Shape of Things to Come? 2007)
