TVSquad

Mal Reynolds, Nathan Fillion's character from the short-lived Joss Whedon series, Firefly, made a triumphant return to television last night. Granted, it was only for a little bit, and Fillion wasn't specifically playing Mal, but the costume was there, in all of its spacey glory.

Last night's episode of Castle was Halloween-themed, and, well, you can probably see where this is going. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Fillion had a section in his contract for Castle that says, "if ever the opportunity arises, I will be able to dress up as Mal, because damnit, I miss that (brown)coat." So last night, the worlds of Firefly and Castle collided, and Nathan Fillion once again donned Mal's brown duster as part of his "Space Cowboy" Halloween costume.

When I first started exploring this project, there were a few shows that I knew were going to be important to hit. This is the first of those. Firefly was Joss Whedon's sci-fi western series. The show mustered disappointing ratings in its short eleven-episode run on FOX.

Since then it's gone on to near mythic cult status. There was such an outcry of support from its loyalists, the Browncoats, over its cancellation that the producers made a feature film sequel. That movie, Serenity, answered a lot of questions about the future fate of the cast. Unfortunately, like the television series, it couldn't find quite enough people to show up and tune in to warrant a sequel. Nevertheless, the few morsels of Firefly we did get are enough to prove that this is one of the most innovative and enjoyable series ever to hit the airwaves.

Fox has confirmed that Summer Glau is heading back to work for Firefly/Serenity creator Joss Whedon with a recurring role on Dollhouse.

Whedon told EW in May that he was writing a part for Glau, but he didn't spill any details about her role on the show's upcoming second season. He said he didn't want her to play a "Doll," because that would be too obvious. Now, after a few early reports hit the web, Fox has offered up some details about Glau's connection to the Dollhouse.

Will she be playing a Dollhouse client? An active? A cyborg? ... OK, she's definitely not playing a cyborg this time. (At least we don't think she is.) Head after the jump for the answer.

Hundreds of Joss Whedon fans are expected to take over the small town of LaVergne, TN this weekend for WhedonFest 2009, a celebration of all things Joss Whedon. A fan group called Whedonites United is holding the three-day event in the Tennessee Valley woods. Yes, it's a camping trip (and no, the irony is not lost on us).

The first-ever Whedonfest will offer a number of nerdy activities for Whedon devotees, including role-playing hours, an improv show, and a number of panel discussions, like "The Nature of Identity in Dollhouse," inspired by Whedon's work.

I'm almost to the end of Firefly, my Jane After Dark readers' choice for this week. I really love this series, from the quirky characters to the general theme of a band of renegades burgling their way through the universe.

But even though it's set 500 years in the future, Firefly isn't your typical sci-fi space series that includes all manner of aliens and weird creatures. They're on a spaceship, and yet they rob trains. How cool is that?! It's like Alias Smith and Jones meets Babylon 5.

As with the other Whedon shows I've watched – Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel – the stories are fun and deep and fanciful (yes, I said fanciful), but it's the characters and their interactions that make the shows.

Do they cook? Not sure. Are they Jedi Knights? Errrrr, maybe? So what's the deal with Celebrity Jedi Chefs? We wish we knew. In their own words, they're [mostly] TV actors who "do the same sorts of things that 'normal' Jedi do, but [they] also cook." There are 216 of them, and most have appeared on buzzy sci-fi shows, including Heroes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Battlestar Galactica.

We're not talking background players, either. Yeah, we're still stuck trying to figure out what Celebrity Jedi Chefs...is exactly (and if the pictures, as suggested by the fashion, were all magically taken in 1993), but we needn't hear any more if it means we get to see pictures of Joan Holloway (among others, after the jump) weilding a saber.

• At 8, ABC has a new Ugly Betty, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.
• CBS has the season premiere of Survivor at 8, then new episodes of CSI and Eleventh Hour.
• NBC has new episodes of My Name Is Earl, Kath & Kim, The Office, 30 Rock, and ER.
• FOX has the NAACP Awards at 8.
• Discovery has a new HowStuffWorks at 8.
• At 9, Spike has a new TNA Impact!
• Sci-Fi is showing the movie Serenity at 9.
• At 10, USA has a new Burn Notice.
• There's a new episode of The Beast on A&E at 10.
• Food Network has a new Ace of Cakes at 10.
• Discovery has a new Treasure Quest at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

I just watched the Sex and the City movie for the first time last night. I was a big fan of the TV show, and I really enjoyed the movie. Just like Serenity, it's always fun when a favorite TV show makes it to the big screen.

Coincidentally, this week I also learned that there is a Sex and the City movie sequel in the works. The girls have officially signed on ... but for what? Here's where the problem lies for me: Sex and the City was a great series and a decently entertaining movie. Can they really pull it off again?

I am always wary of sequels, but this case really gets me quaking in my boots. They are so lucky they pulled the movie off as a success. I loved seeing Carrie and Big finally tie the knot, I wept for Charlotte who finally has the life she's always dreamed of, and Miranda finally came around and accepted being a part of a family. And Samantha? Well, we got to see her acknowledge her selfishness, but at least it was in character. Why should Samantha evolve? I even loved Jennifer Hudson as Carrie's assistant.

Sure Lost is a bona fide hit, but who remembers Invasion? In fact, none of the sci fi series premiering that year (Surface and Threshold) made it beyond a single season. And yet, as Brad reported, ABC is developing The Return, a series focusing on how the world handles an "alien landing." You know, like the classic V mini-series of the '80s. In fact, the last episode of V: The Series was called "The Return." Maybe this is a secret code name for the long teased V return!

But that announcement got me thinking about all those sci fi and fantasy shows that never finish on television. It's a phenomenon us long-time science fiction/fantasy fans have learned to live with. We jump on any new genre show on television hoping against hope that the ratings will be strong enough that we'll get the whole story. Alas, we know that more often than not the plug will be pulled mid-stream and we'll be left wanting. And for every Joss Whedon who continues Buffy and Angel in comics, there are tons more who don't.

I'm hesitant to get my hopes up, because there's always talk of TV shows making a leap to the big screen. Whether it's a great idea, as with Arrested Development, or a horrific one like Friends: The Movie, it seems that as soon as a show ends, the silver-screen talks begin. Regardless, I just about peed my pants when I read that a Veronica Mars movie may actually become a reality.

Even though Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas has two pilots in the works (Cupid and Outrageous Fortune), he still hasn't forgotten the little detective show that is singlehandedly responsible for people no longer asking him if he's the dude from Matchbox Twenty. Apparently, Thomas's production office is located on the same lot where VM star Kristen Bell is currently shooting Heroes and the two sat down for a little chat.

In honor of our Buffy/Angel week of Retro Squad, it's only fitting that I finally give some updates on what's going on with each series with respect to their continuation in comic-book form. I'll throw in a little 'Serenity: Better Days' for good measure.

Let me warn you right now that I'll be revealing quite a bit about each series below. So, if you haven't read them yet or want to wait to read the books for any plot points, stop reading now. I'll be writing about the entire series of each, not just the most recent.

First up, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season Eight.

We've talked a lot here at TV Squad about movies made from TV shows. A while back, Anna listed her picks for the 10 best movies based on TV shows, and then Paul listed his picks for the 10 worst. (I also chimed in with my picks for 5 TV shows that are better than the original movie). Now Rotten Tomatoes picks the 50 best movies made from TV shows, and the results are...odd.

Now, some of the choices are predictable if not accurate, including Star Trek II, Wayne's World, South Park, Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables, and The Brady Bunch Movie. And fans of Firefly will be happy to see Serenity on the list (and in the top 10!).

It's been a while since my last review of a Buffy season eight comic, and since then there's been other developments in the TV-on-comics front (we should have a category for that). Rather than dedicate separate posts to this news, I'll round everything up here, at least this time around.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - season eight - Issues #10 & #11
These were stand-alone "episodes," unlike 'The Long Way Home' and 'No Future for You'. A few things are revealed here that help keep the Big Bad of this season in play. Willow has even more power than we could have realized in past seasons, and an unexpected person has a crush on Buffy. I really liked 'A Beautiful Sunset' (#11) more than any other issue, with a great moment where one of the main, masked antagonists is almost revealed. Classic Joss writing.

A new multi-part series kicks off March 5, written by veteran Drew Goddard.

What are you going to do? The Office, How I Met Your Mother, and even new shows like Pushing Daisies and Chuck are either out of fresh episodes or quickly running out. Well, you don't need to spend the "strike season" curled up in the corner of your bedroom crying through a pile of TV Guides, remembering the good old days when you didn't already know what was going to happen this week on House.

Television is alive and well, and even growing ... just somewhere else. Want to know what happened to Jack Bauer before Season One of 24? How about Buffy and the Scooby Gang after the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? More and more shows are expanding their horizons by telling prequels, sequels and even in-between-quels in comic books, or graphic novels.

This news is a big damn deal to die hard fans of Firefly and Serenity (we call 'em 'Browncoats'). Apparently there are some Browncoats at NASA and they have managed to get DVDs of Joss Whedon's television show and movie up to the International Space Station. Astronaut Steven R. Swanson is the fan who just returned from the ISS after delivering the DVDs (oh yeah, and other important astronaut/survival supplies).

There's a fan page that blogs about it called Breaking Atmo. The most recent posts has all sorts of photos of Firefly and Serenity DVDs floating in space. One of the blog posts says that "Swanny" got the other astronauts addicted to Firefly while they were all in quarantine for five hours before the shuttle Atlantis launched earlier this month.

I've also heard that there are a number of astronauts at NASA who are addicted to Battlestar Galactica. Can you blame them?!?

[Via Pop Candy]