This should solidify my ‘Firefly’ fan street cred very nicely.
Tim Minear was executive producer and writer on ‘Firefly’, ‘Angel’, ‘Wonderfalls’, and other fine television shows. Check it out: I found out last week that he reads my blog.
True story. He even left a comment on my post about ‘Firefly’, which kinda made me lose bladder control for a second. We exchanged a few emails, and I got his permission to quote him. I’d been fawning all over the show and his part in it, and he told me there was no need to, because:
It’s way cooler that the broad behind the best written blog on the web likes the show — in similar words, right back atcha…Best written blog. Seriously.
Now, clearly this man is insane, but still. Could I possibly have an endorsement more cool than one from someone behind the brilliance that was ‘Firefly’? I’m pretty sure that’s a no.
By the way, I’ve been told by many of my commenters how awesome ‘Wonderfalls’ is so I’m ordering that from Amazon, which I expect will blow my mind on many levels, not least of which because Minear mentioned that Jewel Staite has a recurring role and because he said that show is more like my blog than ‘Firefly.’ No joke - loss of bladder control here.
He found my blog through Instapundit, in case you wondered (he was on the Glenn and Helen show a few years ago). Thank you, Glenn Reynolds. You have helped me on my way to wresting control of all Earth from the powers that be.
“…and who had personally wet himself at the battle of Badon Hill.”
Congratulations. This is one of what will most likely prove to be many Kevin Bacon moments. I second Tim’s emotion.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:02 pmDearRachel,
Please let us all know when his initiation into the Rashel Lukis Cult of Awesomeness (TM) will take place so we can participate as well. Somehow my own invitation never arrived. (I wonder why)
v/r
May 12th, 2008 at 12:08 pmmhuete
Uber cool. I’m sure they won’t be resurrecting Firefly, but could they just resurrect a character like Jayne Cobb? (I hate spin offs, for the most part they suck.)
May 12th, 2008 at 12:13 pmWhat Mike said.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:14 pmThat is SO awesome.
When you get control of the world, new Firefly season, k?
May 12th, 2008 at 12:16 pmI have a new found respect for Tim Minear - he has fabulous blog tastes! I am so very envious, o mighty and supreme Empress/Mistress/Supreme Ruler!
May 12th, 2008 at 12:28 pmWowzers. That’s just…wowzers.
Seriously, that’s just so beyond cool and into…wowzers.
And awesome, I guess too.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pmSo can we expect Operation: Code Brown protests out in front of the TV studios to get Firefly back on? We can all dress in brown and march up and down the street chanting and then maybe cast magic spells to bring wisdom to the TV executives.
Hey, if the Code Pinko’s can do it, why can’t we?
May 12th, 2008 at 12:30 pmHey Wachel,
May 12th, 2008 at 12:32 pmYou’ll love Wonderfalls, I’m sure of it. The only downside is again that the networks cancelled it way too early and so there’s just too few episodes.
Jewel does a great job as a villain (not Darth Vader villainous, but not nice anyway) and the plots, writing, etc stand out as far, far superior to anything on the tube today. Plus Caroline Dhavernas who plays the lead is another total babe (always a plus!)
Great Mom day post, and welcome back to the Rupert Man! I hope his surgery goes well and he’s a full up round in short order. Totally inappropriate, but when’s the wedding?
Best,
Sluf
I second the Wonderfalls love. Great series; ended too soon. Same with Dead Like Me, which is another Bryan Fuller creation.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:37 pmCongrats!
What do the dogs think?
Isn’t it time for a dog / beast weight-update?
May 12th, 2008 at 12:41 pmWow. Pretty dang cool.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:45 pmI am struck speechless with drooling fanboy awe.
Two thumbs, way way up.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:46 pmMinear is simply getting ahead of the curve in sucking up to our Empress To Be. In a Rachl Lukis run world, Tim Minear will have a place of power and honor. The bastard.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:15 pmRachl Lukis, I’m peeing my pants just because Tim Minear reads your blog and so do I.And I just washed these pants.
I’m sad, though, because when I tell Frank, he’s going to finally decide to leave me for you so he can be a part of such greatness.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:41 pmYou so need to look into Dead Like Me. The humor is so snarky and the actors are fantastic at deadpanning, particularly Ellen Muth as George. Seriously, put it on your wishlist and I will bow to the empress’ command and buy you the first season. I love sharing the joy of good TV, especially if it was canceled way before its time.
BTW, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but I love, love, love Firefly. My only problem is that every time I watch I feel an intense sadness that it was canceled after so short a time and a boiling hot anger that Fox is run by morons. If you haven’t seen the Futurama movie it’s worth it just for the beginning when they make fun of Fox for canceling the Futurama series.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:43 pmSecond the Dead Like Me recommendation - also another show that was too short… But I hear there is a new 2 hour episode coming out with Lost’s Desmond taking over as the head of the Reapers. I guess ole Rube (Mandy Patikin) wasn’t interested in reprising his role…
May 12th, 2008 at 1:54 pmDead Like Me 2?
This new learning amazes me, Cosmo. Explain again how Rachel’s bladder may be employed to prevent earthquakes.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:58 pmFYI, there is a Dead Like Me movie in the works. I believe that it’s in post-production right now.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:14 pmHe reads your blog, too?
I guess I’ll have to check out his show.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:05 pmOoh! I am seething with jealousy.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:13 pmIf I weren’t part of your intertube-enabled friends network, I would be audibly sizzling at the moment. I loves me some “Firefly” and “Serenity.”
You need to add a “Rachl Lukis and Rupert - Big Damn Heroes” to your Zazzle collection.
I never leave comments, so I’m breaking some serious rules here, but geez, this is pretty cool. Tim, if you read this, Firefly was one of the best shows ever. What dumbass decided to cancel it in the first place?
May 12th, 2008 at 3:14 pmI have but one comment:
“We’re not worthy!”
Also I see someone is a Monty Python fan
May 12th, 2008 at 3:18 pmSo Wonder Falls has Jewel in it eh? hmmm was that amazon.com?
physicsgeek, you just totally made my day. But if Rube isn’t coming back I’m sad, because his story started to get really interesting at the end of season two.
Rachel, aside from being the Ruler of the World, would you also please take on the title of All High TV Executive and, as someone else said, bring back Firefly? Oh, and Jericho, too. Thank you.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:34 pmWowzer! That’s pretty darn cool!
Based on the good opinions here, I had a Firefly marathon this weekend, topped off by a Serenity screening that ended at midnight. I may fall asleep at my desk today, but it was so worth it! It took me a few episodes to really see the genius of it, but now I’m just all pissed off that Fox cancelled the series too soon!
Oh, and Yay! Rupert’s coming home! And Boo! He has to have surgery. I think my former boss had that same surgery, he said the thought of it was a little scary, but the result was well worth it.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:35 pmSo, I’m trying to order your Dead Like Me crack for you and it won’t let me ship it to your address. I guess Amazon doesn’t like to do that when it’s not coming directly from them. Would you like a money donation to go toward the purchase of said crack or do you want to see if we can work something else out? I’m flexible.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:41 pmBehold, the coolness!
Told my dogs — now they want to touch the hem of Sunny’s raiment!
May 12th, 2008 at 3:46 pmJewell doesn’t show up until the third disk but is in about 4 episodes. I like the first and third disks the best. All of the females actresses are babes, Caroline Dhavernas, Katie Finnernan (blonde lesbian), Tracie Thoms (currently in Cold Case), Kari Matchett (brown-haired lesbian) and Jewell Stait. Alex Rice is hot as well.
I think Fox marketed it improperly as like Joan of Arcadia which was on at the same time. Rachel will probably think the writers had some insight into her life except they removed her dogs.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:10 pmAnd here I am, wallowing around with only Max Hardberger’s cred for my blog.
Well, Max is the sort of man that Minear would make a movie about. And he could let Max do his own stunts, apparently.
Oh, not that I’m vying for the job of Empress of the Known Universe. I already have a job, thenkyewveddymuch. But if Minear made a movie about Hardberger, well, it would make me a pretender to the throne.
Like I said, I’m busy… lucky for you!
May 12th, 2008 at 4:48 pmI was always a fan of The Inside:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inside
I only watched it because I saw he was involved. Very interesting and weird. Of course I loved it for that. Ended too soon.
Well, quality television never sticks around. Something akin to genius never being appreciated until death. Quality television is rarely appreciated until it is cancelled.
Wait, isn’t “Quality Television” an oxymoron these days? *shrug*
May 12th, 2008 at 6:47 pmI know, y’all! I am the coolest cat on the scene! Feel like a champion of worlds.
hM - why thank you very much. Yeah, Amazon is stupid that way. I have a P.O. Box address I could email you if you INSIST on buying me that disc, which you do, I just know it.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:49 pmRachel, cause of you, I ordered the series and movie. I look forward to watching them over here in the “stan”.
As to the military charities project “valour-IT” provides voice activated Laptops for injured servicemembers whom have lost the use of thier hands or sight.
I have been supporting them for 3 years.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:36 pmThis news made my day. I have converted about 6 family members into Firefly fans. I gave them the DVD boxed sets for Christmas. I just consider it a 15 hour movie, not a canceled series. Helps keep the bitterness to a minimum. Fox people are just bastard people.
This could be your connection to getting to Jayne, Rachel. Jayne!
May 12th, 2008 at 7:42 pmJeez Rachl, coolness wears your shoes.
I agree that Wonderfalls is more like your blog than Firefly. Goofy, with odd insights percolating up in unexpected places.
In overthinking retrospect, Firefly is more of an anti-fascist comedy-drama. Also in line with your blog? Firefly was subtle in a different way: the viewer was left to self perception to identify the nature of the fascist Alliance. While in the series it always appears as a totalitarian [I know, redundant as a characteristic of fascism] high tech military-industrial complex, in the Serenity movie it made clear that it was most fundamentally a super nanny state: it knew what was best for everyone, and was relentless in establishing it’s utopian polity. In short, an anti-individual collective. The Operative is quite explicit in explaining this in Serenity.
My suspicion is that that political thesis is a part of why network execs were so willing to not have this on the tubes. That is the very heart of today’s liberal/progressive they were reframing in this show. Establishing it not as wonderful but oppressive and anti-human.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:17 pmDead Like Me, Firefly, Wonderfalls, and Veronica Mars - all are about as addictive as TV can get. I’m off to watch Firefly (Out of Gas) for the umpteenth time. Happy TV viewing.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:19 pmGood on ya, Rachel. Six degrees of Firefly separation rocks.
Thanks for the stories, Tim. You do good work.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:40 pmRachel, Tim will be here in town for the Serenity Charity Screening in June, the 22nd. Look here : http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/dallas/.
Email me for more detail.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:40 pm[…] Another Browncoat from the Firefly Universe […]
May 12th, 2008 at 9:26 pmWow! Just Wow! Very cool. So is there some sort of blogger “made” designation? Kinda like the
Cosa Nostra ( read mafia) designation? I mean an endorsement from Malkin, an acknowledgement from Tim Minear, pledges of fealty from thousands ( well dozens anyway), doesn’t that translate into… something? Is there a secret handshake, tax deferred munis, free somethings ?
On a different note. My wife borrowed Silverado from the library. What a great Western! Great stars ( before the most of them turned into a**holes later). Probably Kevin Costner’s, Scott Glenn’s, and Danny Glover’s best roles. Lawrence Kasdan really knew how to work a film. If you haven’t seen it, rent it or get it from the library.
Great quotes:
Calvin Stanhope. But my mother used to call me “Slick.”
…
Slick: Excuse me, Sheriff, I’m a gambler who’d like to run an honest game in your town. To whom do I speak about that?
[notices the dead man lying in the dirt]
Slick: I hope it’s not this gentleman.
…
On an another different note, Robert Duvall is I think probably the finest living American actor. Great movies and memorable characters.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:28 pmI insist. I want to bring the joy of Dead Like Me to the home of the Empress.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:35 pmI got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel a few months ago and your entry about Firefly has got me very curious and I think I might have to at least catch the first episode somewhere on YouTube (before I go ahead and buy it)
May 12th, 2008 at 10:05 pmLinz:
You can watch all 14 episodes (including the three that were never aired during Firefly’s short run) in the proper order (not in the order the jackoffs at Fox aired them) at www.hulu.com/firefly.
Enjoy.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:12 pmThis really is the best written blog. Period. I felt the same way he did upon finding someone talented was reading my blog.
You can make a story about a broken dog whistle engrossing. If that’s not talent, I don’t know what is.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:12 pmAs long as we are still making suggestions, I would encourage you to put the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, vol. 2 on your wishlist because it is worth it for Pod People alone. Hands down one of the best episodes ever. It also includes the Cave Dwellers, which in itself is a gem of an episode.
Now if only they’d release the Werewolf episode (#904) in a set…
May 12th, 2008 at 10:40 pmAnthony, Out of Gas is my very favorite episode (barely beating out Jaynestown), if I have to pick one (Shindig is Frank’s).
May 13th, 2008 at 12:37 amI see a Minear nod for Ministry of Propaganda within a Rachl Lukis empire…er…administration.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:54 amEveryone who liked Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls must start watching Pushing Daisies!! Oh TV gods, don’t let another great show die.
I watched Firefly when it originally aired and at the end of each episode I would shake my fist at the sky and scream “Damn you Fox!” because I KNEW those bastards were going to cancel it.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:20 amMy wife and I were watching “Pushing Daisies” but I really don’t think it measures up to Dead Like Me.
I think it may have been that it got just too silly.
My son and daughter will be here the first week of June…Firefly and Serenity marathon is on the calendar!
May 13th, 2008 at 6:25 amAll hail Rachel and her quest to overthrow the Powers that Be!
The only thing I worry about now is the eventual battle between Glenn Reynolds (aka Instapundit, aka The Puppy Blender) and Rachel Lucas for control of the blogosphere.
Please let me know when you plan on starting that battle so I can lay in guns, ammo, and supplies because I am sure that will start Armageddon.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:36 amRe: Wonderfalls…
Don’t be drinking anything when the UPS man starts choking and they’re driving him to the hospital.
I’m just sayin’.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:57 amOh, and we, to this day, still accuse each other of having “sodes.”
May 13th, 2008 at 9:57 amI am so impressed right now I could just keel over. I feel like I should start printing “Rachl Lukis for Despot!” campaign buttons. I second the suggestion that when Rachel becomes the One Leader that she implement a second season of Firefly to please the masses. Thanks to Tim Minear for acknowledging the best blog on the internet.
And I am glad to hear that Rupert is coming home. No one doubts he was prepared to serve his country. Just a stroke of bad (good?) luck is all…
May 13th, 2008 at 11:52 amA. Pushing Daisies is returning in the fall according to IMDB
May 13th, 2008 at 12:08 pmB. Joss Whedon and Tim Minear are working on a new show called Dollhouse which will premiere on Fox this fall - Fox huh? Good luck with that… I know I will check it out, but I am not getting attached to it.
Just in case I’m missing something here, do any of the referenced shows have spaceships and guns?
Thx.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:27 pmNope
May 13th, 2008 at 12:45 pmDid you find out when season two will be on the air? Or the next movie?
May 13th, 2008 at 12:53 pmWell, Dead Like Me does have a toilet seat that fell from a space station, but that’s as close as it gets.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:11 pmseason two of what?
May 13th, 2008 at 1:16 pmI LOVE Pushing Daisies. It was actually the first of the new shows to be approved for a second half this season, but then the writer’s strike happened. And this summer, if there’s a SAG strike, that’ll push the fall stuff back… I really miss Pushing Daisies.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:28 pmGeorgia: If I had to choose between being a heart or a brain I’d definitely choose a heart because at least you’d do something. If you’re a brain, at the end of the day all you’re really at is settling for shitty situations.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:35 pmI love George. Everybody I know who I’ve convinced to watch Dead Like Me automatically tells me George reminds them of me. Particularly the part where she’s waiting to interview at Happy Time. I love that part.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:20 pmOn the surface Dead Like Me would seem to me to be a show I wouldn’t care for, but there was something about it that kept dragging me back to it.
Don’t like Pushing Daisies but like Dead like me… *shrug* I’m so inscrutable even I don’t get me.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:03 pmWhew…after reading Miz Lukis’ posts about Firefly, I promptly went out, bought and watched the first (and only) season to see what all the fuss is about.
Wuh de tyen, ah! I’ll be in my bunk.
May 19th, 2008 at 6:20 pmHoly Crap!
Rachel: You should read the comic book/trade paperbacks of the two Firefly based 3 comic series. Also look for the new one later this year on Book’s background. I know that was something you wanted to know about.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:06 pmI agree with the Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies recommendations. Also someone mentioned Veronica Mars, which I started watching when I heard it was Joss’s favorite show. He even had a cameo in one episode. Also Jewel shows up in an episode of Dead Like Me.
Why doesn’t someone just come out and say it? Minear/Lucas ‘08: at least The TV and blogging won’t suck!
July 1st, 2008 at 11:00 am