From tvguide.com. Just confirms from Joss what Tim Minear said last night:

Will Fox Swat Firefly?

Friday, October 25, 2002

If you haven't yet sampled Fox's gonzo space Western, Firefly, its creator, Joss Whedon, would like to make one small request: Please do... and preferably tonight at 8 pm/ET. "This week definitely matters [to the series' future]," the celebrated writer-director-producer tells TV Guide Online. "[Network prez] Sandy Grushow said to me before we ever started that this [show] is going to be a slow grow, and [the World Series] is going to hurt us, which it has. Fox has a lot of shows that are underperforming because of this weird season.

"So," he continues, "I'm not like, 'My future is assured!' But it's also not like the death knell chiming."

Far from it. In fact, Fox just commissioned three additional scripts from Whedon, the mastermind behind UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its glorious WB spinoff, Angel. However, Firefly has yet to get a full-season pickup. "[The script order from the net] is a vote of confidence, and it's a way of not making a decision," Whedon theorizes. "The next few weeks will be important, and this week I'm particularly stressing because I think it's such a good entrance into the world [of spaceship captain Mal Reynolds and his merry band of rogues and misfits]. That's why I'm all hyped about it.

"It has a number of flashbacks to how the crew got together," he continues, "so it's a really good way to learn how it all began. For somebody meeting the characters for the first time, it's a real insight into who they are. There's not all this [plot] information to process, which is a problem because the pilot was never shown. People are like, 'Um, what's going on?' The idea was never to confuse people."

Just so Whedon doesn't add to viewers' consternation, he quickly notes that the backtracking scenes are not highlights from the debut that Fox shot down. "These flashbacks are to before the pilot," he clarifies. "The pilot was the story of how this crew picked up a few wayward stragglers; [this installment] flashes back to how [the original gang] first found the ship itself, what the ship is and what it means to Mal, because [the craft] really is the 10th character on the show."

Now that that matter has been cleared up, Whedon hopes that viewers will be able to sit back, relax and enjoy the show... for years to come, ideally. For the moment, though, he sighs, "Everything is kind of in flux." - Michael Ausiello with Ben Katner

Wow. I hope this means that they'll show a little bit more of how Zoe and Wash ended up as ZoeandWash.

There a scene from the next episode, War Stories, posted on the Fox site. Mal and Wash get kidnapped. Looks Good!

[link]

And then Mal turns to Wash and says, "If we're gonna die, I want you to have something real before we do..."

Oh no wait. Wrong show.

The sample script pages are intriguing. I like that Mal wasn't entirely happy about Zoe marrying Wash.

I'm excited to see that scene, I have to say.

No slashing Wash or Zoe! I like that they're happily married but not dead boring.

From scifi.com:

Whedon Helms Firefly Ep

Joss Whedon, who is directing an upcoming episode of Fox's SF series Firefly, told SCI FI Wire that the installment features guest star Richard Brooks (good vs evil) as a bounty hunter named Early. "It's basically about a bounty hunter who's come to seek River [Summer Glau] and actually manages to get on the ship while it's in the middle of space," Whedon said in an interview during a break in filming. "And so it's very sort of suspenseful. And it's also about the crew finding out what is River and ... is she dangerous? Is she psychic? Is she just weird? And juxtaposing her character and the bounty hunter as two outsiders who are sort of looking at the crew and this world."

Whedon also wrote the episode, "Objects in Space," which will air in December as the show's 11th segment. "It's actually a big existentialist tract about the sort of meaning of objects," Whedon said, with tongue in cheek. "But I don't really pitch that, because, 'Tonight, an existential tract on the meaning of objects right after you changed to the channel suddenly!'"

Directing Firefly is different from helming episodes of Whedon's other series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, he said. "Every set has its own sort of tenor. The thing about Firefly is ... that this whole cast, ... they're extremely kind and professional, and they get along, and they help each other, and they work hard. I'm not saying my other casts don't work hard. And some of them get along, and it's great. But there's a star, and then there's the ensemble. And there's tensions on the set. ... It's not one big happy family. It seldom is on a television set. And [in Firefly,] I've got nine people, all of whom are great in a scene. Any pair of them works great. And all of them doing their best to help each other out. It's early on still. But they really feel like an ensemble than any bunch I've worked with." Firefly airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT; it returns with original episodes on Dec. 6.

I'm not saying my other casts don't work hard. And some of them get along, and it's great. But there's a star, and then there's the ensemble. And there's tensions on the set. ... It's not one big happy family.

Dude. Makes me wonder, it does.