Firefly is a series that now has major legacy for two big reasons: Fox cancelled the cowboy Western drama far too soon, and it amassed an incredibly loyal fanbase. Luckily for those who fell in love with Mal and Co., the world of Firefly didn't come to a total end when Fox made the cancellation after a single season in 2002. A movie based on the show--Serenity--was released in 2005, and a series of comics has chronicled more of the crew's adventures. One fan went above and beyond continuing the universe, however, and put together a trailer for a Firefly animated series that is destined to give any Browncoat a major case of the feels. Check it out!
Animator Stephen Byrne has been laboring to put together this trailer for more than a year, and I'd say his work paid off. The trailer looks so professional that it's almost hard to believe that a single person who clearly knows the show inside and out managed it. Byrne deserves all the kudos in the world - nay, the galaxy - for creating the clip.
The trailer clearly picks up on the Firefly chronology after the events of the Serenity film, so we had to deal with a bit of heartache courtesy of the image of Wash and Zoe. Fortunately, the shots of Jayne going nuts with the firearms, River kicking ass, and Mal being Mal were exciting enough that it was easy not to get too heartbroken all over again about Wash. Of course, any of us who had already seen the animated gif of Wash and Zoe had an edge to steel ourselves against the sadness ahead of time.
The only way that this fan-made trailer could have been better would have been if Stephen Byrne had somehow managed to recruit the actors to voice some dialogue. The stars may never align enough to get the whole cast back together for another season or another movie; a few seconds of voice work could be enough to tide us over. On the whole, it might be for the best that the trailer didn't feature any dialogue at all. Even if Byrne had managed to write lines that would somehow please everybody, the trailer just might not have felt as real without Nathan Fillion voicing Mal, Gina Torres voicing Zoe or Adam Baldwin voicing Jayne. Without dialogue, we can just watch and use our imaginations. We've been doing it ever since Serenity came out, anyway.
Sadly, this trailer is not actually for an upcoming Firefly animated series. Still, it definitely put a smile on my face. I'll take what I can get at this point, and the animated trailer is an unexpected treat. Check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see what you'll be able to watch on the small screen in case you ever tire of re-watching Firefly on Netflix.
