The event was broadcast on the Science channel on Sunday. There were also interviews with Morena Baccarin (Inara), Gina Torres (Zoe), and Jewel Staite (Kaylee). It was great to listen to insider stories of the making of the series, how each of them felt about hearing the show was canceled, the filming of the movie, and where the characters would have gone had the series lived on for more than one season.
Interesting Facts:
Nathan and Summer auditioned the same day. Summer asked Nathan how his audition went, and he said, "It went really well, but don't worry, I don't think we're going up for the role."
Joss Whedon, the creator of Firefly, originally pictured Captain Malcolm Reynolds older than Nathan Fillion was at the time - older and more worn. Regarding that fact, Tim Minear said to Nathan that Joss imagined someone, "maybe a little younger than you are now." But Nathan "nailed" the audition.
The pilot was meant to introduce the 'verse (what the Firefly universe is lovingly called), set up the premise of all the complicated character arcs, and ease the audience into the show.
While developing Firefly, the creators/writers wanted to do everything from John Ford to spaghetti westerns, anything that encompassed the genre.
Adam Baldwin decided to go over the top with the character of Jayne and just see where it went. Nathan asked him, "are you going to do it that way?" and Joss said, "that's pretty cool."
One of Jewel Staite's favorite scenes in the whole show was in the pilot when Kaylee is being operated on and Jayne's watching from the window.
On one of Alan Tudyk's first days on set he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and Joss was wearing the exact same shirt. Alan thought, "that's my character right there."
Joss hand picked every cast member. It was Morena Baccarin's first TV series, and she thought that every series was like that.
They made that great two hour pilot introducing the 'verse and the characters, and Fox didn't think it was exciting enough. They thought it was too dark. They wanted it lighter and funnier, with more action and adventure. So, the writers wrote the second episode over a weekend. That was the first episode that aired, "The Train Job."
One of Alan's favorite scenes was in "Out of Gas." He and Nathan were given the script an hour before shooting and it had a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo. The frustration spilled over into their performances, and where they would have spoken calmly to each other, they ended up yelling their lines.
Wash (yelling): Well, maybe I should do that then.
Mal: (yelling): Maybe you should.
Jose Molina (one of the writers) enjoyed trying to figure out what River (Summer Glau) was suffering from. Summer didn't know much of her back story, so she had to make it up in her head in order to give the performances she needed to.
Joss made sure to let everyone know that the show wasn't named after any one character, and that everyone was expendable. So, Adam knew that he had to make Jayne "lovable quick."
Jose's favorite scenes were between Kaylee and Mal.
Later episodes reflected the fact that the show was at "death's door." "Out of Gas" especially reflected the fact. As they were preparing to write the episode, Joss and Tim were at dinner and Joss said, "can we start it with Mal shot?" And then they asked how did it happen? That's how that episode came about.
After Joss announced that the show was canceled, Nathan thought that going back to work the next day would be the worst, that everyone would be down and sluggish. But it was the complete opposite. Everyone was going to make the most of it. "It was joyous."
The scene where everyone is sitting around the table telling stories about the dead man and laughing in "The Message," was shot the day after they had been canceled. They were having an "Irish wake," mourning the loss of the show. Not only was the composer writing the music for the funeral scene in the episode, he was writing music that reflected how everyone felt about the cancelation of the show itself.
They noticed the fans early on, but the fans ("Browncoats," as the called themselves) kept growing after the show was off the air.
Joss wanted to get the show back on.
Alan gave the button from "Out of Gas" to Joss and said, "When your miracle gets here, we'll all come."
Universal supported the film because they saw the support of the fans.
Alan went to a convention in London after the movie came out. He gave his head shot to a fan and wrote, "I am a leaf on the wind," and the girl started sobbing and asked, "How could you write this on my picture!" She was very upset.
The writers had mapped out where each character would go. However, the actors didn't know where their characters would go. Although, Joss did tell Morena Baccarin Inara's secret. They revealed Inara's secret on this show. I won't spoil it for you here, so if you want to find out what it is, watch the show (it airs again on the Science Channel tonight, Nov 14, and Friday, Nov 16, early morning) or you can give me your email address and I'll email it to you.
Adam gave his idea of where Jayne would go. He said that he would get his own ship, compete with Mal, fail miserably, and have to return - humbled.
Summer said that River was "gunning for Wash's job."
Alan said that Zoe and Wash were going to have a baby and Wash wouldn't let Zoe go out on any more jobs.
Sean said that Simon and Kaylee would have a kid too and that there would be a Firefly daycare.
Nathan said that Mal would become more crotchety and bitter.
Quotes from the Private Gathering:
Jeff Jensen (moderator): It's been 10 years since the birth of Firefly.
Tim Minear: And death.
Jeff: The show should have gone away, but somehow it didn't.
Sean Maher: I always say, it was sort of the chemistry between all of us. Well, not Nathan.
Summer Glau: I thought Nathan was so handsome when I first met him.
Nathan Fillion: It's true. He is.
Adam Baldwin: That's just what she thought.
Alan Tudyk: That's when she first met him. What's happened since then?
Nathan: I wear on people.
Adam: I could dive in and chew as much furniture as I could.
Nathan: What can be a very stressful situation [the low ratings], it actually ended up being a unifying force.
Adam: We all knew that, ah shoot we're on the chopping block from the get-go... so we really need to make the best show we can because we don't know how long we're going to be around.
Jewel Staite: What I love the most is Kaylee's faith in Mal, and her trust in him. She will do anything for that guy.
Nathan: The reason that Captain Malcolm keeps these people so close is because they all are an aspect of himself that he's lost.
Morena Baccarin: It's kind of a genius concept that, you know, you have people that want to be isolated, and they're in space where you couldn't possibly get more isolated, and they find a family with each other.
Adam: Merry Christmas. You're canceled.
Jewel: I've been in lots of shows that have been canceled, and that's it, you know, you're done. And Joss was like, "nope, nope, nope. I'm going to find a place for us. And even if we're doing puppet theater in Sherman Oaks, that's what we're going to do."
Gina Torres: I thought, no... that's never been done. It's never been done. Nobody makes a feature film out of a failed television show. That's just not done.
Jewel: I was shocked when we found out about the movie, and it was just such a weird, giddy vibe in the room to hear the characters come back.
Nathan: I couldn't believe we got it back... It was two weeks into filming when I realized we're gonna do this.
Gina: If I were a betting woman, I would have lost serious money. See, never bet against Joss. Just note to self, never bet against Joss Whedon.
Gina: There's nothing like a sci-fi fan. Like warm honey... poured all over you.
Tim: Do you know what it means? It means we weren't wrong. The fans are the proof of it.
Gina: I like to believe that there's a wiry-haired redhead boy with freckles and that Jayne babysits and that he and I have arguments about who's going to teach him about guns.
Jeff: What are the chances there might be more Firefly?... Television, movies? Is that something that could happen?
Tim: I say never say never.
Nathan: My first Comic-Con was because of Firefly 10 years ago... and here we are, 10 years later and it's not dead. It's not dying.
Quotes from the Comic-Con Panel:
Joss Whedon: We always knew from the very beginning that everything we were doing we were doing for the right reasons, in the right way, with the right people. That we were making something that was more than the sum of its parts. That we had the best cast I will ever work with. The best writing team... I just wanted to make something real that felt like a piece of history. I wanted to buck the system that all science fiction is lit with purple lights. I wanted to tell an American immigrant story. I wanted to tell a western story. But I need spaceships or I get cranky.
Nathan: If I can get through this without crying it will look much cooler.
Nathan: No one would give me a chance to be anything other than #5 guy, the lead girl's ex, the other dude who doesn't come in until later and then he leave pretty early. No one would give me a chance, and Joss Whedon was the guy who gave me the best character I've ever played. The best words that have ever come out of my mouth.
Joss: There was no reality where I would not get these people back together.
Nathan: The worst thing that could have happened is if it had stayed dead. That it died is okay. That you guys are here...
Joss (to the fans): The way in which you guys have inhabited this world, this universe, has made you part of it, part of the story. You are living in Firefly. When I see you guys, I don't think the show is off the air. I don't think there's a show. I think that's what the world is like. I think there's spaceships. I think there's horses. I think it's going on in all of us. The story is alive.
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