The benefit of it being animated is that if it sucks we can just ignore it, if it’s good we can embrace it.

If they went the full live-action route there’s a higher chance it tarnishes the legacy of the original.

I didn’t like Star Trek: Lower Decks but it didn’t make me feel like Trek has been ruined like Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy did.

Agree, Whedon's script is essential to the popularity. I'd love it happen tho if they can do a good enough job. As well as River etc, I'd like to Shepherd Books back story.

Lets be real - Firefly was very good. But the reason it holds "magic" status as far as series goes is mostly because of its rarity, and the final movie where a major likable character was killed off, with everyone wishing for a sequel.

Its same with anything really - car enthusiasts obsess over limited runs of older cars because they are rare, not because they are good, and people were lining up at McDonalds when they re-released Szechuan sauce (which is literally soy sauce and ketchup).

If they would have done Season 2,3, and so on, it wouldn't be held in such a high regard as it is now.

If there’s any chance at success, animated is probably it. Alternatively they could remake the show with a different cast portraying some other crew with a whole new storyline. Of course that’s not a reboot but it could capture the same kind of magic the first did with the right writers and cast. It could even be set before, after, or contemporaneously with the original. It would be a big expensive gamble though.

>They can pick right up from where they left off after they figure out how to dig Wash out of the ground.

The animated show is set between the original series and the movie, presumably because of Wash's character.

> figure out how to dig Wash out of the ground

My understanding is that it fits between the series and the movie, so there will be no need to rename the land known as His Grave.

> I have no idea how much modern animated show development costs

Animation costs are all over the place. It can be dirty cheap, it can be more expensive than a highly-produced live action. You can notice the difference, but it's not what actually matters for the show's success.

Star Trek animated is pretty good and so is Lower Decks.

I usually don't like cartoons but I'm hopeful.

They can probably get a Shepherd Book voice actor much easier than a Ron Glass doppelgänger for a live show.

I just call it "The Season" because there was no Season II.

Say what you will about Joss Whedon, but his use of a colorful character palette & quirky, punchy style of dialog have gone from niche to mainstream in the 30+ years since Buffy. Mostly thanks to Whedon’s and his imitators’ escalating success with that formula: The Avengers, for example, took Marvel from a series of above-average superhero hits to total cultural dominance.

There’s plenty of writing talent out there that grew up wanting to emulate Buffy and Firefly, so if hearts and budgets are in the right place, recapturing that part of the show should be eminently feasible.

Okay so a little bit of out of universe trivia on Dollhouse: It was planned for 5 seasons. With the risk of cancellation, the second season and the two Epitaph episodes were a severely compressed telling of 4 seasons of plans. And, personally I think it worked well. Something similar happened to Babylon 5, Manifest, Jericho (IIRC), Firefly (Serenity was the original ending that would have played out over multiple seasons), and the Escaflowne anime: the main plots towards the end got compressed to create a faster pace at the climax while ensuring the story could be finished (though I wasn't a fan of how Manifest ended).

My concern about original writers being involved in reboots is if they want to fill out the story they couldn't tell the first time around and end up with a more standard pacing that's less exciting, and end up getting cancelled before finishing. Then we end up with things like Tru Calling and Dark Matter, which had planned plots they couldn't finish.

It is a little weird that these two events were so close to each other.

My tinfoil hat tells me Someone Important didn't want two shows from the same creator resurrected simultaneously and potentially competing with each other, but I put the hat back in the cupboard because even if it were true, that person's opinion would be stupid. Coincidences happen, and people can be fans of more than one thing.

Personally, I have high hopes for this Firefly venture. And for those who were hoping for a live action continuation, that's still not off the table! This may be how we get there.

Do you have some examples? Because honestly I put Firefly very high on my list of shows I like.

The setting is great, the writing is top-notch, and the acting is wonderful. The characters have great chemistry. It's funny.

The general universe is well done too. It lacks endless implausible human-shaped aliens and is light on space magic, which is nice. Overall it feels lived-in and there is some interesting history.

Honestly it's hard to think of another space-western style series that I'd rate so highly. I guess parts of the Mandalorian fit the bill, but I wouldn't rank it up there with Firefly.

It's because it was killed before it's time, and there was a known plan for the overall story arc (which was at least semi-satisfied by Serenity). It had developed a fan base that were hungry for more, and then it was cancelled, leaving a great thirst.

Had it lasted three seasons (or even only two), and still been 'cancelled before it's time' it would have faded from memory more quickly because the itch would have been scratched more satisfyingly.

It was good for it's time, and since it was cancelled it's locked within that time. How it translates against modern television is yet to be seen. However, the popularity of The Mandalorian means there is still a market for the Sci-fi Western.

(I liked parts of The Mandalorian, but it went downhill pretty fast in terms of ... everything. I like the sci-fi western thing - it's not serious, but it can touch serious-ness. The Expanse was serious, and touched some Western/Frontier sci-fi)

like which ones, let's get concrete here

Not for me. It scratches a very specific itch that hasn’t been replicated since. Which is probably a good indication it won’t work for this show either.

Like what? Maybe I'm missing some great shows.

Firefly has memorable characters, great acting/actors, and good chemistry and good writing. And it's especially memorable because the show got fucked over so people can imagine a lot more greatness than was delivered.

What are the sci-fi channel series?

Good drama, good humor, good characters, and a very cozy feel in those quiet moments on the ship between things.

In contrast to the sibling comment, I fell in love with the series before I knew it had been canceled. When I finished season 1, I immediately went in search of season 2. When I couldn’t find it, I went to find out when it was going to be released. Discovering what had happened to it was tremendously disappointing.

> recast versions WITH ai video generation

Eww, absolutely not.