SDCC 2012: Happy Anniversary, Firefly

Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion, Joss Whedon and Summer Glau at the Firefly 10-year Anniversary Reunion panel at Comic-Con 2012

Firefly may have lasted only 14 episodes including two that never aired, but to about 10,000 Browncoats that lined up, many the night before, and the 4,000 who were able to gain entry to the panel, it was the best space western they ever saw and a TV show that FOX should have kept on the air.

A special panel was held in honor of the show’s 10th anniversary. It included creator Joss Whedon, stars Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, Sean Maher, Adam Baldwin, and writer/director Tim Minear and writer Jose Molina. When they were introduced, the cheers of the crowd were deafening

When Joss was asked about ten years of Firefly, he admitted “I’m running on fumes.” Actually, he showed his pride for the show and the Big Damn Heroes. “We always knew from the very beginning that everything we were doing, we were doing for the right reasons in the right way with the right people,” he said, “that we were making something that was more than the sum of its parts, that we had the best cast I’ll ever work with.” Joss also said the fan support goes beyond vindication. “It goes to a place of transcendence that I can’t even describe without turning into a girly man that I already am.” Nathan remarked that he was also proud of the show, because it finally gave him the chance to be a leading man, and also gave him the best character he ever played.

Jose Molina, Tim Minear, Alan Tudyk at the Firefly 10-year Anniversary Reunion panel at Comic-Con 2012

Minear and Molina described how excited they were to join the show. Molina said it was a “dream come true” to join the staff. Joss revealed that his original plan was to keep Minear at Angel, but Marti Noxon, who was the Buffy the Vampire Slayer showrunner, convinced Joss to bring Minear to Firefly while Joss turned his attention to Angel and Buffy.

Maher said that he thought the show was more like a “post-apocalyptic western” than science fiction, and recalled how he enjoyed being the leader of a heist in “Ariel.” Baldwin was asked about the Jayne hat, which is practically the official hat of Browncoats. He revealed that it was originally made by one of the staff and that he was able to, with some persuasion, convince Minear to let him wear the hat in “The Message,” and a “cunning hat” was born. Baldwin described the hat as a “birthday cake in a wasteland” and gave one away to an audience member in a quick trivia contest.