IIRC, Joss has already planned it as such.
Actually, it was the 2002-03 season.
Where’s Ron? <Insert Chinese Cursing Here> Shepherd Book’s my favorite character!
He’s in but won’t be seen much due to a previous commitment.
Back to the spirit of the OP, I had never heard of Firefly (or Joss Whedon) until June of this year. I’ve never seen Buffy or Angel either. My 18-yo son had seen some of the episodes and tried to get me to watch them, but I put him off, since he is really into anime, and I thought that this would just be more of the same.
One night we were at my BIL’s house, and he showed us the DVD of the 2 hour pilot. After that, even though it was getting late, we started to watch The Train Job.
Within 48 hours I had the DVD’s from Amazon. I tried to buy them at all the local stores, but no one had them in stock. I watched all of the episodes, then found out about a preview screening of the Serenity movie. I had to spend some fairly big bucks to snag some tickets on eBay, but my son & I were able to go to the movie, and we LOVED it. I’m really looking forward to seeing it again this month.
Right on target, with maybe two caveats: first, that Heinlein’s women, in addition to the usual long list of skills, would want to drop everything and have babies at the first opportunity; and second, that Firefly has a very un-Heinleinish sense of humor.
Oh please, let this movie be made, and be made well. Of all the SF novels I’ve ever read, this is the one I’d most like to see on the screen, and has been for over a quarter-century.
Well, not all of Heinlein’s women wanted to have babies, but they were generally competant, confident, and had healthy sex drives. That pretty much describes every female character in Firefly.
As for the sense of humor, Heinlein had one. It’s just a different sort, and somewhat anachronistic.
If it’s to be made, Minear is the guy to do it. I read an interview with him where he talked about it, and he said (something like), “The hardest part is to make sure that the studio doesn’t take it and transform the Libertarian themes into some quasi-socialist screed or twist the meaning of the book completely like Starship Troopers did. I don’t want Mr. Heinlein spinning in his grave because of me.”
It’s clear to me that Minear ‘gets’ Heinlein, and I think that’s been a strong influence on Firefly. So let’s hope that A) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress does get made, and B) Minear has enough control to keep it from being wrecked by some idiot studio exec or big-name director without a clue.
BTW, Have Space Suit - Will Travel is in the works, being adapted by the guy who wrote Finding Nemo. and produced by the guy who did the Harry Potter movies.
Between Serenity and the two Heinlein works, maybe we’ll see a mini-renaissance in good space fiction.
Why do you torture yourself so, Sam? You know they’ll mess it up ;).
I’m an eternal optimist. Unless The Braga bunch get hold of it.