MUCHOS New Serenity/Firefly from Dark Horse! (2007)

I know it's heretical, but I didn't get into Firefly. I have yet to see Serenity, but I have honestly sat down and watched entire day-long marathons of the original Sci-Fi series at least twice and just couldn't get into them. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't know the characters well, the story, the whole concept - whatever it was, something just didn't click with me.

But regardless of my personal take on the matter, Serenity/Firefly has almost never been hotter - truly a feat for a canceled series! Just think, Firefly has become far more popular after it was canceled than it probably would ever have been, had it remained on the air. And this official Dark Horse press release has even more great news for Serenity fans:

Friday, November 30, 2007 (Milwaukie, OR) - There's plenty of reason for the Browncoats to look forward to 2008. Dark Horse has a whole lot of Serenity coming down the pipeline! First and foremost is the new Serenity comics series that is due out in March. This three-issue series, Serenity: Better Days, is a step back in time to the early years of the Firefly crew, and the fledgling gang's turbulent attempts to cope with success after they pull off their first successful heist. It features the same creative team as Those Left Behind, with the story by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, and Adam Hughes providing all three covers this time.

In conjunction with the launch of the new series, Dark Horse will be releasing a pair of lunch boxes. In 2006 there were whisperings about a Serenity lunch box. It was postponed for further development, much to the dismay of the Browncoats and Whedon fans worldwide. Their voices were heard loud and clear, and in response, Dark Horse not only put the improved lunch box back on the schedule for 2008, but added a second one.

Featuring the traditional Serenity logo that fans have come to know and love, the original lunch box also depicts the ship herself, and is trimmed by a colorful band of Serenity's spacey intergalactic currency. The second lunch box spotlights the anime-style art from Mark Brooks and Peter Gilstrap's Fruity Oaty Bar commercial. This is the seductive video ad that is playing in the club where the crew first discovers River's hidden "talents." Little did anyone suspect that this unusual little commercial had the power to send River Tam into a state of complete abandon, and it is in this pivotal scene that she unleashes her capacity to annihilate anyone in her path. While certainly worlds apart from other Serenity visuals, the iconic cartoon imagery of Fruity Oaty Bar has become an underground favorite, and Dark Horse is happy to present an officially licensed application of it. These new litho-printed tin lunch boxes are slated for April 2008 on-sale.

In case that isn't enough exciting news, fans can get instant gratification because the hardcover edition of Serenity: Those Left Behind hit the shelves on Wednesday, November 7^th. Collectors can pick up their copy at retail establishments all over the world. This is the definitive collector's bookshelf edition, printed larger than the original collection, and featuring an in-depth look at the film production art by comics superstars Leinil Yu and Josh Middleton.

And finally, the print runs have been set at 5,000 each for the Inara's Shuttle and Reaver Ship ornaments. The edition sizes were set according to pre-orders placed in September and October, and there will be no additional production of these limited-edition ships. Inara's Shuttle and The Reaver Ship ornaments will be in stores this February. These are the only three-dimensional versions of these ships available, and were created with the special participation of Zoic Studios, who generously provided digital data from their creations for the film production.

About Serenity

Joss Whedon, the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity.

Based on Firefly, Whedon's cult hit television series, Serenity expands upon the adventures of the memorable characters launched in the TV series, with the addition of new characters created expressly for the motion picture adaptation, which won new fans and critical worldwide praise following its DVD release on December 9, 2003. Whedon acts as both screenwriter and director, with Barry Mendel (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and The Life Aquatic) producing and Chris Buchanan and Alisa Tager (of Barry Mendel Productions) serving as executive producers. The Serenity cast includes such returning Firefly cast members as Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds, Gina Torres as Zoarren, Morena Baccarin as Inara Serra, Jewel Staite as Kaylee Frye, Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb, Sean Maher as Dr. Simon Tam, and Summer Glau as River Tam.

The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

When Mal takes on two new passengers - a young doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister - he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl. The crew that was once accustomed to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space. Hunted by vastly different enemies, the crew begin to discover that the greatest danger to them may be on board Serenity herself.