Browncoats have some reason to get excited: There’s a new film set in the Firefly universe on the way. That’s the good news.
The bad news? It’s sort of a fanfilm set in the past and periphery of the universe.
The good news? The guy has $1 million to do it.
From the Westmorland Gazette (the local paper from where the film is being shot):
The film, called Lost Transmission, follows the lonely adventure of Blake, captain of a mining ship, with no-one but his computer to talk to after war breaks out on Earth. But he leaves the planet to find life on other worlds.
Filming is expected to start in early 2012, and will be split between Cumbria and America.
This is a very interesting concept to me. Though I still want to see more adventures of Captain Mal and his crew on the Serenity, I want to see the world itself explored more. Like Star Wars, it’s a rich universe with plenty of stories to tell. With only 14 episodes of a show and one movie, there’s all the room in the ‘verse to make it interesting. And the concept isn’t terrible. I love movies about lone men on spaceships and this could very well end up being a good one.
And it’s probably a smart marketing move for him to say it’s an unofficial Firefly movie. But does that make this fanfiction? How does that work?
Only time will tell.
For more about the project, check out the Westmorland Gazette.
Bryan Young is author of Lost at the Con and Man Against the Future.
UPDATE: According to i09, they contacted the film company who vehemently denies any connection to the Firefly universe. They said they were misquoted in the paper. The filmmaker was inspired by Firefly. Though if Fox were smart they’d step in and let it have a better connection. With $1 million already ponied up, all it could be for them is money in the bank.