One year ago today, thanks to the tireless efforts of Joss and the cast, Universal Studios, and some thousands of fans, we got to go back to the black.

Critically acclaimed, less-than-a-blockbuster, controversial among the fans, “Serenity” made its mark in cinema history on several levels and left our Big Damn Heroes (most of them, anyway) with exciting new directions. It was both a fitting end to the TV series and an enticing beginning to a potential movie series that may never happen but hasn’t been ruled out, either.

Today is a good day to watch the movie again and thank Joss and Universal for bringing it to us. Here’s some suggestions:

Watch it
Get together with some friends and relive the excitement. Check your local Browncoat groups for big screen showings like the ones at Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania. Watch it on HBO.

Buy it
I’d be surprised if anyone reading this doesn’t own at least one copy, but you can still buy them for different platforms, or for friends and family, or to donate to local libraries, or to send to soldiers. And keeping sales up helps tell Universal that its still a  viable product.
Widescreen | Fullscreen | VHS | UMD | HD-DVD

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Today’s the day, if you havemn’t already, to write Universal and thank them for “Serenity.” Here’s what some folks on the FireflyFans site are suggesting:

The Anniversary Job

September 30th will mark the first Anniversary of the American Release of “Serenity”. To commemorate this event, we’d like folks to do the following:

A few days prior to that date, send a letter to Universal Studios in Hollywood. In your own words, Congratulate them, Thank them for making the film and include any other comments you’d like to make. Contact info is below.

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While we wait for Joss and Dark Horse to whomp up some more Serenity comics, Browncoats do what they do best… make their own. Serenity Tales seeks to be a repository for fan comics and strips about the Big Damn Heroes. There are four comics up there now and more to come, along with (in the works) links to every Firefly reference in a web comic, ever.

Not the place for pinups, although there are some nice ones on the front page, they’re taking submissions and will host if you like. Browncoat artists? Take that fan fiction to the next level!

QMx, the brand new prop replica company started by Steve Dymszo (formerly of Master Replicas) just popped up and it’s time to go visit.

As mentioned previously, the first item is a money pack that include 12 bills and a money band, plus a copy of Mal’s map (online orders only; any versions that will pop up in retail stores later will not have the map). These are created from the original graphics files, you can’t get a more accurate replica. Also, if you preorder from the site your pack might have one of 5 “golden tickets” to win actual pre-production artwork signed by either Serenity graphic designers Geoff Mandell or Tim Earls. The money packs will ship in November. The fan club edition is only available for a limited time, $19.99 plus shipping.

Then there’s Mal’s pistol, and it looks nice. Cast from the original mold, this is identical to the screen version. It’s heavyweight resin, with copper and brass plating and antique black finishing, with a hand-rubbed walnut grip and machined metal hardware. Weighs in at about 2 pounds, and comes with a display stand and metal plaque. Limited to 1500, this puppy’ll run you $249 plus shipping. Look for this to ship later in the year.

If you’re not sure about the price tags, they also offer a layway system called X-Pay that breaks up your costs into three payments. No excuses…

Get over there and register for updates!

Don’t you hate it when your friends don’t share your interests?

OK, I’m exaggerating. I’m not friends with Kevin Smith or Joss Whedon, sadly, but still you hope the people you like like the people you like. And I have read that Whedon and Smith admire and respect each others work, and this made me happy for some weird fanboy reason.

But yesterday I went to see Kevin Smith speak in Orlando for the Florida Future Filmmakers event and during the talk, as he paced back and forth in front of a large mockup of the Quick Stop, someone asked what he thought about Joss Whedon’s “Serenity.” This is a rough quote from memory:

“I haven’t seen it.

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Now that you had much of an excuse not to buy it anyway, but now it’s even easier and you can help run DTI up the Amazon rankings while you’re at it. “Done the Impossible” is now at Amazon.

Sort of. Right now it’s a Marketplace purchase which means you’re still ordering it from the same people, but with any luck Amazon will get in their own stock and meanwhile people looking for Firefly and Serenity items are more likely to stumble across this, and that is a Good Thing.

If by some chance you haven’t ordered this, do so, now, either from Amazon or from www.donetheimpossible.com . There will never be a better, richer, more feature-packed documentary made on the Firefly fan experience. Narrated by Adam Baldwin, the DTI people talked to just about everyone, fan and professional alike, who had anything at all to do with the ‘Verse. There’s a trivia game, music videos, and more. Many of the excerpted interviews can be found in their entirety on the disc, and the amazing Firefly timeline (narrated by Jewel Staite) will teach you things even you didn’t know.

The wonderful soundtrack — containing a lot of old favorites as well as some new ones and some instrumental versions that aren’t available anywhere else — can also be found at Amazon.

Just when I start to wonder if The Prop Store of London is running out of Serenity props, they pop out another one.

This top, drab and colorless like all of Kaylee’s outfits, was what she was wearing near the end of the film. The shirt is made by ‘Just in Time’ and has tiny multicolored jewels decorating the front, which just makes sense. It comes in a framed display with the movie title and a film still of her wearing it.

Alex from BlueSunShirts.com reported receiving a cease and desist letter from FOX asking him to please stop making anything “related in any way to the Firefly Series.” He’s got two weeks to close up, although he’s looking into licensing and could use a hand with that if anyone out there knows how to go about it.

I hope he does, he was one of the very first to start making shirts and he’s got great designs you can’t find anywhere else. But this marks a gloomy precedent for Browncoats, who have made tons of their own stuff in the absence of offical wares. Are more letters forthcoming? Five years later, is FOX starting to realize they have a valuable property? How are they defining “related”?

Few fans would dispute that FOX has the right to protect their copyrights. But will this be the same sort of massive attack on fansites as the Simpsons and X-Files onslaughts that alienated their most fervent fans, or will they take an approach that recognizes the value of fansites to the franchises — especially this one — and limit the C&D letters? Keep an eye out, boys and girls.

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BWAH!, the popular versified card game that spawns more expansions than an all-you-can-eat buffet, has just popped out another one.

BWAH! Still Flyin brings you 9 new character cards and 9 new action cards. Fess Higgins! Alliance Counselor! Bazaar pickpocket! Officious doctor!

You’ll need the BWAH! game to play, and you might as well get the rest of the expansions while you’re there. Check here or here for the latest download locations.

The first adventure written for the award-winning Serenity RPG game is out, finally. Had a few months of delays, some confusion over contracts, and I received an e-mail from Amazon saying they were canceling my preorder because they weren’t getting it the same day Margaret Weis Productions announced it was available.

All is well, I got a copy, and eagerly dove in.

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