A Unique Chance to Experience Earth-That-Was in 2002
This year, the calendar is aligned just right for the original air dates of the eleven episodes of Firefly that debuted on the Fox television network to fall on a Friday, just as they did when the series aired for the first time 22 years ago. The last time this little coincidence happened was 2019. It won’t occur again until 2030.
You might be wondering why I’m fixated on this calendrical phenomenon. Well, it just so happens that your cap’n (this guy) has DVD recordings of the original episodes of Firefly as they first aired, complete with the commercials that ran with them in the fall and winter of 2002. That little bit of good fortune provides us with a unique opportunity to recreate the experience of watching Firefly as it originally aired as closely as we possibly can. (And let’s face it, that’s not something that a whole lot of us can say we did, as was evidenced by the show’s swift cancellation.)
So, here’s the plan... the idea is that we are going to schedule brigade watch parties for each episode. The episodes will be screened at 8pm (Firefly’s original time slot) on the same Friday dates on which they originally aired. Where we screen them will depend upon how many folk express an interest in seeing them, but some of you may remember that the brigade also did this back in 2019, and that year the watch parties took place at my house and those of my two brothers.
Before I tell you how you can get involved, there are few other things I should explain about the watch parties. First of all, they’re not the kind of party to which you can arrive fashionably late. The episodes will start promptly at 8pm, because that is how the broadcast schedule on a television network is supposed to work (well, unless the broadcast is preempted by some manner of puppet theater that’s foisted on the somnambulant public, but that didn’t happen during Firefly’s original run, so it’s not relevant here). If you want some time to get settled in and maybe have a short palaver with the others in attendance, I’d suggest you arrive about a half hour early. Secondly, do not expect the same picture quality you’ve become accustomed to. Firefly aired before the era of high-definition television, and watching the episodes as they were originally broadcast on a modern television means dealing with a picture quality that is a mite fuzzier than that of today’s TV shows (or even your own DVD or Blu-ray copies of the series). Also, while there will be some light snacks and beverages available at the watch parties, I’d suggest you eat dinner before you head to the shindig, and anyone who wants to imbibe any of the sort of beverages that can make you blind will have to provide their own, because when it comes to alcohol, all watch parties will be BYOB. And finally, out of respect for them as are kind enough to host the watch parties, smoking and vaping will be prohibited.
Oh, and we’ll be airing the episodes out of order, just like Fox did. That means we’ll start with “The Train Job” (which should have been episode two but was aired as a pilot) and end with the 2-hour “Serenity: Part 1 & 2” (which was supposed to be the pilot but aired as the series finale instead). We’ll take the same seemingly random weeks off in October and November like Fox did too, and we won’t show three of the episodes at all (“The Message,” “Trash” and “Heart of Gold”— all among the show’s best episodes in my opinion), because they never aired during the show’s original run.
Those who participated in the watch parties back in 2019 may remember that we had a few special features at some of them. For example, my brother Michael (a member of the CSTS Pittsburgh crew) has a birthday that falls on the original air date of the episode “War Stories,” so we (meaning other family members, not me) baked him a replica of the cake that Kaylee bakes for Simon in the episode “Out of Gas” using a recipe from “Firefly: The Big Damn Cookbook” by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel, and we all sang “Happy Birthday” and shared some cake and ice cream after we watched that episode. (You can see that night’s crew in the photo I’ve included with this blog entry.) And after the final episode, we all toasted the completion of our re-watch with a bottle of 2017 Chateau Chevalier Noir “Southdown Abbey Strawberry” wine that I had won in a raffle at the Browncoat Ball in Gettysburg. We have some similar things planned this year, so be sure to check for them in the descriptions on the sign-up page on the website.
What sign-up page? It’s actually very easy to find. Just go to the “Shindigs” page of our site and find the rewatch parties on the calendar. Click on them, and you’ll be taken to the sign-up page for the watch parties where you can RSVP to whichever ones you plan to attend. (It really is easy as lyin’, but if even that little bit seems like too much trouble for you, just click here.) Don’t wait until the very last minute to sign up though. We’ll be shuttin’ down the RSVP’s one week before the watch party so we can conjure all the particulars, especially the location where we can hold the shindig to accommodate all the folk who plan to attend.
That should just about cover it. I don’t know about you, but I think having the chance to watch Firefly exactly as it originally aired— on exactly the same nights of the year— is kind of like opening a time capsule, and I’m looking forward to relivin’ this piece o’ Browncoat history with the rest of our brigade starting next month. See y’all in the world real soon, and until then, keep flyin’.
- Chris