A-Z Challenge: X is for eX (as in cancelled)

OK, so it’s kind of cheating to use “ex” in this spot, but cheated is exactly how I and countless other Firefly fans felt when the show was cancelled, so I feel vindicated.

To be honest, Firefly was essentially doomed from the start. Fox began showing the episodes out of sequence, so that the intended first episode was actually shown third (after the second and third episodes, respectively). This meant that the episode introducing and establishing the characters, was shown two episodes after we’d seen them all in action. It just didn’t make sense and was a move no fan has ever been able to understand, and nobody from the network has been able to adequately explain.

Then, inexplicably, Fox cancelled the show before it had even completed its first season. After airing only eleven of the fourteen filmed episodes, Fox pulled the plug, leaving the Browncoat fandom effectively lost in space, jaws on the floor, wondering what on earth had gone wrong.

Eventually, all fourteen episodes were aired, in their correct sequence, and Firefly won many more fans via word of mouth till there was a massive outcry and much gnashing of teeth that there were no further episodes to see, nor were more planned – as it earned its cult status, Serenity was adrift.

But as the title song says, “You can’t take the sky from me!” In September 2005, three years after its cancellation, the follow-up movie, Serenity, was released. The title of Firefly was still owned by Fox, so the name of the ship became the title of the film. It was wonderful, but still, we Browncoats still wish there was more.

Firefly remains a popular show with an ever-growing fandom. It is constantly referenced in other shows, such as The Big Bang Theory (In Sheldon and Leonard’s room mate agreement Friday nights are reserved for watching Firefly, because, as Sheldon says, “That show will run for years!”), and there are countless knowing nods in Nathan Fillion’s current show, Castle.