Ah-ha! Another convert, another toaster.

A friend of mine came over to hang out and watch dvds today. As I was putting in the dvd we were to watch, she noticed me taking out the Firefly dvd and inquired as to what it was. Warily, I told her simply that it was my favourite tv show of all time, but that I wasn't sure it was her thing. She said she'd give it a go anyway. I hadn't introduced it to her before as, like I said, I didn't think it was really her thing. She's the sort who's not willing to give anything more than a little bit of time before she judges, and tends to hate SF in all its forms. However, by the end of The Train Job, she was hooked.

Six episodes later and I've just sent her home with my box set. She mentioned something about staying up for the rest of the night to watch them all.

I got the usual "Why in the hell did they cancel this?!" but when I later referred to it as a 'western in space', she wet herself laughing and said "Oh, that's why they cancelled it." But! A new convert. One at a time, people, one at a time...

We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so very pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die.

Mal, 'Serenity'

Do you think this is a Powers shoutout?

Was Bendis terribly prominent when "Serenity" was first being written? The timing on that seems iffy to me.

Was Bendis terribly prominent when "Serenity" was first being written? The timing on that seems iffy to me.

When was it first written? He was prominent by 2001, for sure.

Who is this Bendis? Not Jonathan Woodward's character, I presume.

Who is this Bendis?

Tamara, it's the soldier with Mal and Zoe in the opening scene of Serenity (the pilot episode, not the movie, obviously).

The mother of the roommate who likes "Firefly" came to stay with us one night (she had an exam in the university across the atreet on the following day), and my roommate thought that she'd enjoy watching "Firefly". I didn't have my first CD with me (loaned to a friend), so roommate's mom started from the second, and because her French is far better than her English, she used the French dubbing (listening to the Chinese in a French accent? priceless). She had such a blast, she had to force herself to stop after "Our Mrs. Reynolds" (which I think she loved best of all three she got to see), in order to go over the material for her exam, the reason she came to visit us in the first place.

And then my roommate had to mock me for my aparent clearly-visible pleasure at somebody else's enjoyment of the show.

Ok. Thanks Nilly. I think I was confusing the character of Bendis and the character of Tracy (who was played by Jonathan Woodward). I am sure this has nothing to do with the amount of alcohol I have had this evening.

It still seems that there is a cultural reference I am missing in the posts above. Is there a second Bendis? Someone not of Firefly?

And "HI!" to Nilly. Always great to see you (or at least your posts).

Tamara, Brian Michael Bendis writes a really great comic book series called Powers about a couple of police officers who have to deal with a world where super powers are more trouble than they're worth. One of the officers is a former super hero. David was speculating that naming the soldier Bendis was a shoutout to the comic book writer.

(I should not try to type anything sense-making at dark:thirty in the morning.)

I keep seeing the name Bendis in the credits of Firefly, or BtVS, or Angel. I can't ever remember to pay attention to whether he writes, produces, ADs, edits, or what. But I always thought they just used the name 'cause the guy was on set or in the office and his name was there for the use when they needed to name the character.

Tamara, Brian Michael Bendis writes a really great comic book series called Powers about a couple of police officers who have to deal with a world where super powers are more trouble than they're worth.

Also Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man, Secret War, The Pulse, and isn't he still on The Avengers ? THE MAN NEVER SLEEPS.