# What was this Firefly-like show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-firefly-like-show/324344 "2005-10-01T16:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-firefly-like-show/324344/21 "2005-10-02T00:46:59Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Have you read Harlan Ellison’s account of the whole situation, I think in _Stalking The Nightmare_? No, I am not familiar with it. Was he the one who said that the show must have been written by high school students? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-firefly-like-show/324344/22 "2005-10-02T00:59:49Z")
Well, Ellison _wrote_ “The Starlost” – at least the original script, which (if I recall) won a Nebula or Hugo. Somebody else turned his script into crap (according to Ellison; I never had the dubious pleasure of seeing the show). Ellison freely acknowledged that the premise of the show was dreadfully hackneyed in the world of science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-firefly-like-show/324344/23 "2005-10-02T01:05:38Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > If anybody has any idea what show I was thinking of, let me know please. Sounds like [Mission Genesis](http://www.scifi.com/missiongenesis/) to me. Interesting premise, but the show didn’t last long. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-firefly-like-show/324344/24 "2005-10-02T01:29:01Z")
Earth: Final Conflict? AFAIK, it might have been made in Canada - a lot of the actors were Canadian. Mmmmm, Kari Matchett. And it was another Roddenbury idea, but his widow was at the helm. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-firefly-like-show/324344/25 "2005-10-02T03:08:28Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Sounds like [Mission Genesis](http://www.scifi.com/missiongenesis/) to me. Interesting premise, but the show didn’t last long. That’s it, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-firefly-like-show/324344/26 "2005-10-02T03:12:43Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > No, I am not familiar with it. Was he the one who said that the show must have been written by high school students? As **Baldwin** already mentioned, Ellison wrote the screenplay. In one of his books (likely _Stalking The Nightmare_) he gives quite an amusing account of the situation. Take it with a grain of salt though, it’s obviously from his egotistical point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-firefly-like-show/324344/27 "2005-10-02T08:12:52Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > As **Baldwin** already mentioned, Ellison wrote the screenplay. In one of his books (likely _Stalking The Nightmare_) he gives quite an amusing account of the situation. Take it with a grain of salt though, it’s obviously from his egotistical point of view. The novelization, Phoenix Without Ashes, was credited to Ed Bryant and Ellison. And Ben Bova used Ellison’s account as the basis for a comic SF novel called The Starcrossed [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-firefly-like-show/324344.md?page=1)