A Firefly Movement We Can All Get Behind

Bc:R Director Mike Dougherty, and Editor Andrew Marnik with The Dome, Kriana, Zombrarian and Dru

There has been a lot of drama and controversy surrounding the Firefly ‘verse lately regarding who will or will not win the lottery and start it up again. These people are missing out. Firefly is alive and well, not only in the hearts of it’s fans, but also with the new(ish) independent film: Browncoats: Redemption. If you’ve never heard of/seen Bc:R, it’s an incredible fan and volunteer effort to make a movie set in the Firefly universe but with a different set of characters. Despite the quality of the film and cameos from several ‘Big Damn Stars’, the movie has gotten less attention than I would like in the midst of crazy super-villain type plans to re-start the original show (Was that really the plan? Are you SURE that’s where the money was going…? Anonymous people collecting money would NEVER try to exploit passionate fans desperate for ANY glimmer of hope…)

After so much craziness, nearly overnight, a movement has sprung up on FireflyFans.net to get Bc:R aired on Syfy. Now I’m going to re-post TDBrown’s proposal and address their points one by one.

First off, let me say that I am NOT directly associated with the Producers of “Browncoats: Redemption”. I just feel that Airing BcR on SyFy is a good idea. Here are a few good reasons why:

1) It would be the first Non-profit Film to be broadcast on a Cable Network, at least I believe so.

2)It would provide great exposure for the Sereniverse, and provide major funds to the Charities BcR supports. This could be done by having SyFy donate directly to the Charities as payment for Airing the film, or they could convince their advertisers to donate, and perhaps mention it during their commercials. this would be good PR for all concerned.

3) SyFy is a Universal-owned property, as is Serenity. BcR was approved by Universal, so this is a good fit. The events in BcR take place after the events in Serenity. It isn’t a violation of Fox’s rights to Firefly; It’s an extension of Serenity.

4) If BcR is well-received by Fans and Critics, it could ignite yet another call for the resurrection of either Firefly or Serenity. It could also attract interest in expanding on the Sereniverse altogether. Perhaps, Browncoats: Redemption II?

5) The original films that SyFy presents on their “most dangerous night on Television” are of the same quality as(or sometimes worse than) Browncoats: Redemption.

First off: We on SciFi Saturday Night are good friends with the guys involved with Bc:R (in the way that we love them and like to have them on the show as much as possible!). In fact, Mike Dougherty is SO excited about this, that he’s coming on our show this weekend to talk about it. Now I’m not sure if this will be the first non-profit film aired on television, but it would definitely be the coolest one. As for point #2, did I forget to mention that all of the profit from Bc:R goes directly to charity? (It doesn’t even pass Go!) And not just any charities, all of the organizations: EqualityNow, Kids Need to Read, The Dyslexia Foundation, The Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center, and The Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation are near and dear to the hearts of the people who worked on Firefly.

Point number three I could see lawyers disagreeing with, but Mike has the e-mail that says Joss Whedon approves of his project, signed in person by Joss Whedon. Do you need more cred than that? (Hint: No.) As for point four, there will be no Bc:R II Electric Boogaloo, if they don’t sell enough copies of Bc:R. This is and always has been the deal. So if you like the movie, and want more to come out of the project, please go buy it. And when you’re done, enter the coupon code SFSN2011 for $1 off. Christmas is just around the corner people, and nothing says love like Bc:R.

Point five needs it’s own paragraph. Syfy regularly airs crap like Mansquito and Sharktopus. Not only would Bc:R probably improve their ratings, it would improve their entire channel. I might even stop calling them Siffy. (Spoiler alert: No I won’t…)

To summarize the post-turned-essay: Do I want Bc:R on SyFy? Hell to the yes! If you want it too, here’s what you can do:

• Check out the original post.
• Send an e-mail to feedback@syfy.com requesting that they air Bc:R.
• Join the Facebook Group.
• Retweet supporting messages.
• Buy the film.
• Like the film on Facebook.
• Follow the film on Twitter.
• Listen to us this Saturday night, and bring your questions for Mike.

UPDATE:

We are extremely lucky to also be having Tim Brown, originator of the “Asky SyFy to Air Browncoats: Redemption” movement, on the show with Mike on Saturday.

Also you can now join the Facebook community which seems to be easier to link to than the group.