The pitch: A sci-fi western; humanity has colonized space but undergone another civil war, with a small group from the losing side forming up the crew up the renegade spaceship Serenity. The second Joss Whedon show to appear on this list, Firefly was mishandled from the beginning by FOX, with episodes aired out of order, making it hard for audiences to follow. It was quickly cancelled, but fan interest was still enough to have it resurrected as a feature film, Serenity. Was it weird? Sure, considering it was a space western that had no aliens and thus lacked the allure of, say, a Star Trek clone - but the fact that it was Whendon doing it got people interested. It's often Buffy and Dollhouse that get mentioned as high concept when it comes to Whedon's shows. but Firefly fits right in there as well. "Space Western" is a very pitch-able premise (Cowboys and Aliens sold it as well, after all) when you really think about it, and the what ifs created by the civil war in space storyline put it solidly in the high concept column as well. It's a shame that the show was never allowed to fully develop. The movie felt a little rushed story-wise, but that's hard to avoid when you need to wrap up a television series that might have lasted for years in just a couple of hours.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
