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100-399: Conceived by Joss Whedon , the character Malcolm Reynolds was the only definite character he had in mind when formulating the ensemble cast. He wanted a hero, but not a hero in the classic sense; someone that is "everything that a hero is not." In the proposed pilot, Mal was much darker and considerably more closed-off. Fox network executives objected, and asked that Mal be "lightened up". For

200-486: A procedural show. Whedon co-wrote and produced a horror-comedy film titled The Cabin in the Woods with director Drew Goddard , finishing production in 2009 though the film was not released until 2011. Whedon and Goddard intended to make a film that exemplified horror movies while still preserving the fun and frightening elements necessary to being a horror film. The script was written in three days and they produced

300-494: A script doctor , Whedon was an uncredited writer on films including The Getaway , Speed , Waterworld , and Twister . Whedon worked on an early draft of X-Men which subsequently contained at least two of his contributions to dialogue exchanges, while the final cut of Speed retained most of his dialogue. While he was script consulting, he also wrote Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the film that would precede

400-500: A 2010 episode of Glee (" Dream On "). Denoting this period, Whedon has said, "I had free time, but I'm pretty sure I mean my career was on the skids". In collaboration with Fábio Moon , Whedon created the free webcomic titled Sugarshock! , as part of the revival of Dark Horse Presents , which was launched on Myspace . Whedon later executive produced another free comic book on the Internet, Serenity: The Other Half . As

500-509: A book on the Battle of Gettysburg . An ever-present element was Whedon's injection of anti-totalitarianism , writing into the show a historical analogy of the Battle of Gettysburg, the "Battle of Serenity Valley". The beaten soldiers were called " Browncoats " after the brown dusters they wore as their uniforms. Whedon said, "I wanted to play with that classic notion of the frontier: not

600-509: A character, to really develop them, to understand them, to challenge the actor, to learn from the actor, to work with a team of writers – that experience is so fulfilling. The idea of putting something out there and letting it grow is really exciting. In August 2012, Whedon signed a deal to develop the Marvel TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for ABC . The series focuses on the secret military law-enforcement agency featured throughout

700-404: A culture, for our own entertainment, we tend to assume that they are (expendable)". He reiterated a sentiment that the introduction of torture porn into this genre was becoming an exercise in nihilism and misogyny as a means to promote distress and instead of trying to scare its audience. In July 2010, it was confirmed that Whedon would write and direct The Avengers , a live-action adaptation of

800-410: A facet of himself that he has lost and that's why he keeps them close and safe, and yet at arm's length." The role was originally written for Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Nicholas Brendon (who played Xander Harris ); however, the shooting schedule conflicted with his commitment to Buffy . Whedon approached Nathan Fillion to play the lead, and after explaining the premise and showing Fillion

900-600: A former student of Stearns, has often cited her as her inspiration, describing her as a "visionary feminist". His parents both acted, appearing in a play together at the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club . The family would spend vacations reciting Shakespeare. Whedon is the younger sibling of Samuel and Matthew Whedon and the older sibling of writers Jed and Zack Whedon . Whedon stated that his parents expected constant creativity from their children and were often verbally demeaning and gave them

1000-463: A long winter campaign in New Kashmir (as told by Zoe in " War Stories ") where he commanded a platoon. Mal was also involved in the ground campaign during the Battle of Sturges (as seen in the comic book Serenity: Those Left Behind ), which according to Badger was the "bloodiest and shortest battle in all the war", although Mal considers it a distant second. Mal fought in many more battles, but

1100-691: A melding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (USA). The Alliance retains a mixture of both Western and Eastern cultures from the "Earth-That-Was", the original home of all humans, spearheaded by the Americans and the Chinese . Generally, the Alliance is rather authoritarian , although Joss Whedon , the series' creator, has said this is at least partly because

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1200-406: A minimum of 15 pages a day. Whedon described it as an attempt to revitalize horror, calling it a "loving hate letter" to the genre, continuing: On another level it's a serious critique of what we love and what we don't about horror movies. I love being scared. I love that mixture of thrill, of horror, that objectification/identification thing of wanting definitely for the people to be alright but at

1300-426: A multi- racial , multi- ethnic , and multi- religious universe. The Alliance may have some elements of a monarchy . In " Serenity ," Malcolm Reynolds ( Serenity 's captain) said "I'd like to be king of all Londinium" and many of Inara Serra 's customers are Lords . However, "King of all Londinium" may just be an idiom (cf "king of the world" in modern usage) and Lord could merely be a political title. There

1400-673: A panel of writers, he contributed to Marvel Comics' Civil War crossover event lending advice on how to tell the story and also how to end it. In March 2016, Whedon contributed a story for the 75th anniversary issue of Captain America : Sam Wilson with Astonishing X-Men collaborator John Cassaday . He introduced several new characters into the Marvel Universe such as the villainous Ord , X-Men Ruth "Blindfold" Aldine and Hisako "Armor" Ichiki , Runaway Klara Prast , and Special Agent Abigail Brand along with S.W.O.R.D. ,

1500-474: A period of 12 days at his residence in Santa Monica, California. The film was scripted, produced, directed, edited and composed by Whedon, based on William Shakespeare 's play of the same name . His idea to adapt the play for the screen originated from having "Shakespeare readings" at his house with several of his friends, years prior. Despite the play's comedy, he discovered that there were elements in

1600-413: A poll in 2005 to find "The World's Best Space Sci-Fi Ever", and Firefly and Serenity took first and second place, respectively. It also received an Emmy shortly after its cancellation, as well as a number of other awards. Since being canceled, Firefly has attained cult status. In 2004, Whedon created the comic book line Astonishing X-Men . He finished a 24 issue run in 2008 and then handed over

1700-429: A private detective in order to "help the helpless". Though praised for presenting a unique and progressive version of the archetypal noir hero as a sympathetic vampire detective, early in its run it was criticized as being lesser than its parent show, in the context of having devolved from a more popular original work. Despite that it won a Saturn Award for Best Network TV Series and three episodes, " Waiting in

1800-567: A response to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike , Whedon directed, co-wrote and produced Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog . It tells the story of Dr. Horrible, an aspiring supervillain, who shares a love interest in a girl named Penny with his nemesis, Captain Hammer. To Whedon the miniseries was "a project of love", an accomplishment that from their excitement would be embellished with passion and "ridiculousness". His half-brothers Zack and Jed and sister-in-law Maurissa Tancharoen share

1900-411: A theme of human connection as the metaphor for the couple's mysterious link. He conceived the idea in the early 1990s, and had written drafts of the screenplay since then. In summer 2014, Whedon encountered artist Shawnee Kilgore on Kickstarter . Whedon funded her album and when Kilgore contacted him about his fulfillment reward, he suggested they make a song together. She agreed, and the collaboration

2000-416: A week and a half. Erikson provided a foamcore conceptual mockup and the base guns, one of which was a five-shot .38 caliber Taurus Model 85 revolver. Erikson researched American Civil War -era revolvers for inspiration and the final mockup had a brass or bronze look, with the revolver a little elongated. The biggest challenge was masking the shape of the original revolver and still keeping it operable. On

2100-685: A young age, he showed great interest in British television series shows like Masterpiece and Monty Python . Whedon attended Riverdale Country School in New York City where his mother taught history. Starting at age 15, he spent three years at Winchester College , a boarding school in England . There, taking note of omnipresent bullying, he concluded, "it was clear to me from the start that I must take an active role in my survival". Whedon graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987, where he

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2200-416: Is also alluded to; its logo appears on Alliance weapons. In the movie Serenity , the Alliance also hires local security companies. The two worlds that make up the "core planets" (the first worlds to be terraformed ) are Sihnon , a mostly East and Southeast Asian –themed planet, and Londinium , a world with mostly American and Western European influences. The alliance of the two worlds leads up to

2300-533: Is also evidence that the Alliance may have some elements of a technocracy , as in a flashback within the episode " Safe ", Simon Tam's parents chastised Simon's fear for River as potentially threatening his future, including the possibility of becoming the medical-elect, presumably the equivalent of an elected Technocrat representing the Medical sector. In Serenity , the movie set in the Firefly universe, it

2400-424: Is an American screenwriter, director, producer, comic book writer, and composer. He is best known as the creator of several television series: the supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) and its spinoff Angel (1999–2004), the short-lived space Western Firefly (2002), the Internet musical miniseries Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008), the science fiction drama Dollhouse (2009–2010),

2500-464: Is given to support this, especially in the series as opposed to the movie. He notes an example where the Alliance gave medical aid to a Serenity crew member, and then let the ship go, and contrasts it with the implausibility of similar treatment being afforded to the rebels by an Imperial Star Destroyer from the Star Wars milieu. Pelkey says that even in the movie with its "dark revelation," there

2600-476: Is not described. Some Alliance officers are seen with naval ranks, such as Commander , and others with ground force ranks such as Colonel and General . During the events of the 2005 film , the crew of Serenity discover the truth behind River Tam 's insanity; she had discovered the truth behind the Reavers , in which the Alliance had inadvertently created the first Reavers in an attempt to create peace on

2700-406: Is programmed to accomplish various assignments, on her journey towards self-awareness. As stated by Whedon, Dollhouse was about "the sides of us that we don't want people to see", sexuality and, on some level, a celebration of perversion , which he equates to obsession , "the thing that makes people passionate and interesting and worthy". Despite low ratings in its first season, the series

2800-400: Is revealed that the Alliance is run by a Parliament , as well as a prime minister . This invites the possibility that the Alliance is a constitutional monarchy and Westminster parliamentary system with the inclusion of technocratically elected members, where outside of the central planets, oligarchies through lordships represent local colonial governance. It appears that this Alliance was

2900-548: Is to keep his crew alive and to keep his ship flying. As Firefly writer Tim Minear stated in an interview: "It's just about getting by. That's always been the mission statement of what the show is — getting by." In Serenity , Mal says of himself: "[If the] Wind blows Northerly, I go North." Mal was raised by his mother and "about 40 hands" on a ranch on the planet Shadow. Though Mal usually seems more practical than intellectual, he occasionally surprises his friends by displaying familiarity with disparate literature varying from

3000-572: The Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Avengers (2012) and series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020), and the science fiction drama The Nevers (2021). After beginning his career in sitcoms , Whedon wrote the poorly received horror comedy film Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) – which he later adapted into the acclaimed television series of the same name – co-wrote the Pixar animated film Toy Story (1995), and wrote

3100-510: The Marvel Cinematic Universe . Created by Whedon, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, the show involves individuals who possess powers within the spectacle of science fiction, while also focusing on "the peripheral people ... the people on the edges of the grand adventures." The character Phil Coulson was resurrected after his death in The Avengers to helm the show. Whedon spoke about certain complications that factored in with making

Malcolm Reynolds - Misplaced Pages Continue

3200-646: The New Wimbledon Theatre area. By 2020, production was completed on five episodes before being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic , only resuming in September of that year to complete six of the season's ten-episode order. On November 25, 2020, HBO announced that Whedon had exited the project. In July 2020, Justice League actor Ray Fisher accused Whedon of showing "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable" behavior toward

3300-541: The Union of Allied Planets , is a powerful fictional corporate supergovernment and law-enforcement organization in the Firefly franchise that controls the majority of territory within the known universe. It consists of Sihnon , a mostly East and Southeast Asian –themed planet led by the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Londinium , a world with mostly Northern American and Western European influences led by

3400-582: The United States of America (USA). It retains a mixture of both Western and Eastern cultures. English and Mandarin Chinese are commonly used languages, with most of the inhabitants under the Alliance being bilingual . Originally composed solely of a number of "core worlds", several years prior to the show's time frame the Alliance fought the Unification War to bring all colonized worlds under its control. The Independent Faction or "Browncoats" wanted

3500-416: The pilot until a dozen episodes later, resulting in some confusion from viewers. The series was also promoted as a comedy, not a science fiction drama, and placed in the infamous " Friday night death slot ". The show was praised by critics overall, but some objected to the fusion of American frontier and outer space motifs. Faced with these hurdles, the show had an average of 4.7 million viewers at

3600-614: The silent treatment if he and his brothers were not amusing or entertaining, or if they simply disagreed with them. He stated, however, that he was more afraid of his older brothers who constantly bullied him. At the age of 5, a friend (age 4) died by drowning in a pond on the Whedons' upstate property. His parents divorced when he was 9. Whedon cited his childhood trauma as having a direct influence in his relationships, addictions and behaviors into adulthood and has stated that he suffers from complex post traumatic stress disorder . At

3700-490: The toxic workplace environment he had allegedly created in many of his projects. Whedon has denied any wrongdoing, while acknowledging that he can be "confrontational". Born on June 23, 1964, in New York City and raised on the Upper West Side as Joseph Hill Whedon, he would later become a third-generation TV writer as a son of Tom Whedon , a screenwriter for Alice in the 1970s and The Golden Girls in

3800-424: The 1980s, and a grandson of John Whedon , who worked on The Donna Reed Show in the 1950s and The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s, as well as writing for radio shows such as The Great Gildersleeve . His mother, Ann Lee (née Jeffries) Stearns, originally from Kentucky , was an activist and a teacher at Riverdale Country School as Lee Whedon, in addition to being an aspiring novelist. Jessica Neuwirth ,

3900-431: The 1999 episode " Hush ". The 2001 episode " The Body " was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2002, and the fall 2001 musical episode " Once More, with Feeling " was nominated for a Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award and a Best Script Nebula Award. The final episode " Chosen " was nominated for a Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Hugo Award in 2003. All written and directed by Whedon, they are considered some of

4000-523: The Alliance agent McGinnis, answers the intercom in the episode "Ariel", he uses, 你好 ( ni hao ) rather than hello . The Alliance operates a fleet of massive spaceships , resembling huge floating cities, that act as both military and police in the space between the various planets of the Firefly Universe. Alliance ships have the registry prefix IAV (Interstellar Alliance Vessel): e.g., IAV Dortmunder and IAV Magellan . The pilot episode of

4100-488: The Independent " browncoats "). Crewmembers on Alliance starships wear gray uniforms resembling those worn by Imperial German Army from World War I ; officers and enlisted crew are identically dressed (except for headgear: officers wear hats, enlisted crew wear berets). In Serenity , Alliance crew members wear blue uniforms. The exact structure of the Alliance military, such as its rank system and branch organization,

Malcolm Reynolds - Misplaced Pages Continue

4200-493: The TV series Firefly , a cast bronze pistol was used, but for the film Serenity , a more detailed replica was created which had moving action and a blank pistol hidden inside, so that it could be fired in close-ups . Since this version was quite heavy, a resin replica was also constructed, which in addition to being less tiring for the actors to carry, could be thrown or dropped with less fear of injury. Nonfunctional replicas of

4300-461: The Vampire Slayer . The series depicts Buffy Summers , the latest in a line of young women called to battle against vampires , demons , and other forces of darkness. The idea came directly from his aversion to seeing the Hollywood formula of "the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror movie". Whedon said he wanted to subvert the idea and create someone who

4400-472: The Wings ", " Smile Time " and " Not Fade Away ", were nominated for Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form in 2003 and 2005. The WB Network announced on February 13, 2004, that Angel would not be brought back for a sixth season. Whedon said of the cancellation, "I believe the reason Angel had trouble on The WB was that it was the only show on the network that wasn't trying to be Buffy . It

4500-767: The cast and crew of the film, going so far as to invite Whedon to sue him for slander if he believed the allegations were untrue. A virtual panel for the 2020 at-home San Diego Comic-Con focusing on Whedon's work was cancelled following Fisher's statements. The following month, it was reported that WarnerMedia had begun an investigation into Whedon's behavior during the production of Justice League . Jason Momoa posted in support of Fisher, writing about "the shitty way [they] were treated" on Justice League reshoots and saying that "serious stuff went down". In December 2020, WarnerMedia announced that its investigation had concluded and that "remedial action" had been taken. Alliance (Firefly) The Alliance , formally known as

4600-456: The character and Nathan Fillion: "Mal is no Neo redux; he's closer to Indiana Jones , if absent Harrison Ford 's rakishly handsome looks and star magnetism. Like the rest of the cast, Mr. Fillion is a charming performer, but he borrows rather than owns the screen, which dovetails with Mr. Whedon's modest aspirations for this film." Joss Whedon Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon ( / ˈ w iː d ən / WEE -dən ; born June 23, 1964)

4700-890: The ensemble superhero film The Avengers (2012) and its sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). He also co-wrote the DC Extended Universe superhero film Justice League (2017), for which he also served as director for re-shoots, replacing Zack Snyder (who retained directorial credit). Whedon has also worked as a composer (notably for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode " Once More, with Feeling " and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog ) and comic book writer, both for comic book continuations of television series he created and for established franchises, such as Astonishing X-Men . Beginning in July 2020, multiple actors, producers, and writers spoke out against Whedon following

4800-455: The episode " Out of Gas ," Serenity ' s warning messages over the intercom are repeated in both English and Cantonese. The Chinese spoken is based on Mandarin (intermixed with Cantonese), but the pronunciation is heavily corrupted from the real-world language by the actors. Chinese appears to be the superior language in Alliance society as it is used for written public communications and for polite address between strangers. For example, when

4900-420: The film had "imperfections", begrudging its quality in comparison to that of The Matrix and The Godfather Part II . Nonetheless, he felt he "pulled off" the endeavor of making a summer movie reminiscent of those from his childhood. In March 2012, Whedon stated that although television involves more compromise than film: I think, ultimately, gun to my head, TV is the place. Being able to spend years with

5000-524: The film. He received a co-writing credit for his contributions to the film, which was released in November 2017. Despite reshooting a majority of the film and largely changing the tone from what Zack Snyder had originally intended, Snyder retained sole credit as director of the film. After Snyder's original cut was released in 2021, fans began to refer to the theatrical cut as the "Whedon Cut" and "Josstice League". On July 13, 2018, HBO announced that

5100-494: The final was made with domestic-farmed deerskin. The cuffs are actually the sleeves folded back, evoking the style of Oriental robes with their silk linings. Two coats were made for the character, one called "Number 1" coat and another called "The Hero" coat. The Number 1 coat's bullet hole is drawn in, while The Hero version has a detailed cut and sewn repair. As with the gun, replicas of Malcolm Reynolds' coat have also been made available commercially for fans. Malcolm's main mission

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5200-598: The first broadcast episode, " The Train Job ". refer to an "AngloSino" flag on the IAV spaceship Dortmunder and on the stolen boxes. The Alliance flag shown in the pilot is a blending of the American and Chinese flags, having the blue field and the red and white stripes of the United States flag and the red field and yellow stars of the Chinese flag . Two versions of this flag, one with 13 stripes and one with five stripes, appear in

5300-416: The gun are commercially available for fans and collectors . GBB Custom Gunleather was tasked with creating Mal's gun holster, which was made out of oak-tanned carving leather. The character's coat, a relic of his time as a Browncoat , was a collaboration between Firefly costume designer Shawna Trpcic and Jonathan A. Logan, a leather artist. Trpcic sketched her idea and a cloth mockup was created before

5400-414: The melding of American and Chinese influences in the Alliance, most people in the Firefly universe are equally adept in speaking both English and Mandarin Chinese ; some characters on the show speak Chinese at times (usually when using obscenities, so Whedon wouldn't have to bleep anything out and ruin the suspension of disbelief), and many signs are printed in both English and Chinese. Additionally, during

5500-547: The mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier , and suggested that James Gunn make Guardians of the Galaxy "weirder" after reading an early draft. Whedon said it was unlikely that he would return to make another sequel, stating that he "couldn't imagine doing this again". He remarked that not having created his own fictional universe in over five years felt wrong and intended to use

5600-476: The most effective and popular episodes of the series. A. Asbjørn Jøn , an anthropologist and scholar, recognized that the series has shifted the way vampires have since been depicted in popular culture representations. Since the end of the series, Whedon has stated that his initial intention was to produce a " cult " television series and acknowledged a corresponding "rabid, almost insane fan base" that subsequently emerged. In June 2012, Slate identified it as

5700-566: The most exciting kind of film-making". Critic Roger Ebert observed, "Like Brave New World and 1984 , the movie plays like a critique of contemporary society, with the Alliance as Big Brother, enemy of discontent". The film received the 2005 Nebula Award for Best Script , the 2006 Prometheus Special Award , and was voted the best sci-fi movie of all time in a poll set up by SFX magazine. There have since been multiple rumors regarding sequel possibilities. The limited three-issue comic book series called Serenity: Those Left Behind ,

5800-525: The most written about popular culture text of all time. "[M]ore than twice as many papers, essays, and books have been devoted to the vampire drama than any of our other choices—so many that we stopped counting when we hit 200". Whedon, a lifelong comic book fan, authored the Dark Horse Comics miniseries Fray , which takes place in the far future of the Buffyverse . Like many writers of

5900-603: The movie is about ... the more power that we have, the less human we are." Whedon discerns that Age of Ultron "is an odd film" that proved challenging when it came to finding the rhythm between both its calm and exciting moments. Drawing parallels to a symphony, he wanted to bring about "grace in the middle of ultimate chaos". Whedon also served as a creative consultant on the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe leading up to Age of Ultron . He rewrote some dialogue for Thor: The Dark World , directed

6000-482: The network had obtained the rights to The Nevers , an "epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world", on which Whedon was going to serve as writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner. Production on the series started in July 2019 in London where scenes are filmed at Trinity Church Square and

6100-434: The organization Brand commands. After Universal Pictures acquired the film and distribution rights from Fox, Whedon began writing the screenplay for Serenity . Transforming the series into a film, he says, "... was the hardest piece of writing I've ever done ... It had to be self-contained and work as a movie, which meant I had to cope with problems like introducing nine main characters who'd already met!" The script

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6200-417: The other writing credits. Whedon said it was a "glorious surprise" to him to discover how well they worked together. After having attended meetings with companies discussing the prospect of producing something for the Internet and faced with negative feedback on his ideas, he realized that as long as the strike was still in progress, acquiring corporate funding was an unlikely prospect. Whedon himself funded

6300-473: The outer worlds to remain autonomous and attempted to resist Alliance control. The war raged for several years, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides, until the Alliance emerged victorious. An armistice was signed between the Alliance and the Independent Faction, thus ending the war and securing Alliance control over the entirety of the system. The scripts for the pilot, " Serenity ", and

6400-471: The people who made history, but the people history stepped on—the people for whom every act is the creation of civilization". Firefly was written as a serious character study, encompassing what Whedon called "life when it's hard". He went on to elaborate that it was about "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things". Fox chose to play the episodes of the series out of order, running " The Train Job " first, and not airing

6500-455: The pilot which was going to be developed for The WB Network. During the series' early expansion, efforts were made by the network to mitigate Whedon's original concept. "Corrupt", a precociously optioned second episode, was entirely abandoned due to the gloominess written into the script. The tone was then softened in the opening episodes, establishing Angel Investigations as an idealistic, shoestring operation. It follows Angel , who works as

6600-574: The planet Miranda. Malcolm Reynolds resolves to reveal this to the universe, and after a lengthy battle with the Operative , succeeds in doing so, ruining the Operative's faith in the Alliance's methods and revealing the existence of the Reavers (plus the true colors of the Alliance) to the system at large. Before he departs, the Operative tells Mal of how much trouble he had caused the Alliance (in

6700-617: The proceeds made from Avengers: Age of Ultron for such ventures. In January 2016, Whedon announced that he will no longer work with Marvel. Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige would be cited in MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios , released in October 2023, that he would never work again with Whedon. To create Much Ado About Nothing in 2012, Whedon established Bellwether Pictures . He filmed it in black-and-white on digital video over

6800-401: The project investing just over $ 200,000 and earned more from it than he did directing The Avengers . He enjoyed the independence he gained from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog as it provided him the freedom to include content without the expectancy of lessening it on behalf of the runtime. He and Jed composed the music, parts of which were influenced by Stephen Sondheim . The miniseries

6900-523: The reins as a writer to Warren Ellis . One storyline from the comic, the notion of a cure for mutation being found, was also an element in the third X-Men film, X-Men: The Last Stand . In February 2009 Astonishing X-Men #6, which depicted the return of Colossus to the title and concluded Whedon's first story arc, was named by readers as #65 in Marvel's Top 70 Comics of all time. Taking over after series creator Brian K. Vaughan completed his run on

7000-432: The same time hoping they'll go somewhere dark and face something awful. The things that I don't like are kids acting like idiots, the devolution of the horror movie into torture porn and into a long series of sadistic comeuppances. Drew and I both felt that the pendulum had swung a little too far in that direction. Whedon thought part of what distinguished it from other horror films was that people were not disposable – "As

7100-497: The science fiction horror film Alien Resurrection (1997). After achieving success as a television showrunner, Whedon returned to film to write and direct the Firefly film continuation Serenity (2005), co-write and produce the horror comedy film The Cabin in the Woods (2012), and write and direct the Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing (2012). For the Marvel Cinematic Universe , Whedon wrote and directed

7200-489: The season eight-story arc " Time of Your Life ". Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine was published from August 2011 to September 2013, for which Whedon wrote "Freefall, Part I–II" (with Andrew Chambliss ). As a result of the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Whedon was given the opportunity to make Angel , his 1999 spin-off series of the show. David Greenwalt and Whedon collaborated on

7300-467: The second episode (" The Train Job "), Whedon created a more "jolly" Mal Reynolds. Fillion shares his view on the motivations of the character he portrayed. Mal has lost so much that each character in the crew he has gathered on Serenity represents an aspect of himself he no longer has. "In Wash, he has a lust for life and a sense of humor he's lost. In Jayne, he has selfishness. In Book, he has spirituality. In Kaylee, he has innocence. Everybody represents

7400-459: The sequel to The Avengers , Avengers: Age of Ultron , following the deal with Marvel Studios , which expired in June 2015. On the matter of approaching a sequel, Whedon reasoned not to go "bigger" but "deeper", and likened it to digging with a scalpel to cause pain. He said of the film's characters, "Strong but damaged by power describes every person in this movie. It may, in fact, describe what

7500-406: The series reveals that the large city-ships carry smaller gunships; these are never named nor described further. In the episode " Bushwhacked ," it is revealed that Alliance ships have nurseries. In the film Serenity , there appear a fleet of sleeker, more streamlined warships, suggesting that the film had a higher CGI budget. Alliance ground troops are nicknamed "purple bellies" (in contrast to

7600-529: The series), Alien Resurrection and early drafts for Titan A.E. and Atlantis: The Lost Empire – but would subsequently express strong dissatisfaction with the released versions of the first three of these films. He co-wrote Toy Story , which earned him a shared Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He became one of the highest paid screenwriters when he sold his Afterlife script to Columbia Pictures for $ 1.5 million. In 1997, Whedon created his first television series, Buffy

7700-497: The series, Whedon became the second writer of the Marvel comic Runaways . Having already been a committed reader, he had a letter published in the first volume, which was included in the Volume 1 hardcover edition. He also wrote short pieces for Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man and Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1, and he was the subject of an issue of the comic book, Marvel Spotlight (alongside artist Michael Lark ). As part of

7800-404: The series. The alliance is formally described as the Union of Allied Planets in the episode " Ariel ". The Blue Sun corporation is a powerful conglomerate with much influence within the Alliance. Joss Whedon compared it with " Coca-Cola or Microsoft " and said that "practically half the government was Blue Sun." Their agents are "Hands of Blue." The Weyland-Yutani corporation from Alien

7900-500: The shooting script, he states that they had gotten multiple complaints from several worlds), and warns him that, although their regime is weakened, they will be after him in revenge. Author Stanley C. Pelkey notes the marked influence of the Western genre on the Firefly franchise. He says that in contrast to most westerns, the central civilizing force (the Alliance) is portrayed as evil. He goes on to say that little concrete evidence

8000-407: The show for Marvel, noting confusion between him and the company regarding the degree to which they wanted him to create it, citing their demand that he prioritize Avengers: Age of Ultron . He once expressed regrets for having brought back Phil Coulson, feeling that his death had lost meaning as a result, but later clarified that he did not regret this decision. Whedon returned to write and direct

8100-533: The show is seen from the viewpoint of those hostile to the Alliance. Whedon himself admits that sometimes, the Alliance is like the predominant view that the United States saw itself in World War II: doing "very good things", helping people and spreading democracy . At other times the Alliance can tend towards black ops and power-grabbing, although rarely more so than any real-world democracy. Due to

8200-521: The show, he contributed to the series' comic book continuation, writing for the anthology Tales of the Slayers , and also for the main storyline of the miniseries Tales of the Vampires . Whedon and the other writers released a new ongoing series, taking place after the series finale "Chosen", which he officially recognizes as the canonical eighth season . He returned to the world of Fray during

8300-448: The space western Firefly , starring Nathan Fillion , Gina Torres , Alan Tudyk , Morena Baccarin , Adam Baldwin , Jewel Staite , Sean Maher , Summer Glau and Ron Glass . Set in the year 2517, Firefly explores the lives of the people who while on the outskirts of society, make their living as the crew of Serenity , a "Firefly- class " spaceship. The series' original concept progressed after Whedon read The Killer Angels ,

8400-475: The story of which was written by Whedon, was released in 2005 as a tie-in to Serenity . Set between Firefly and the film, it was intended to connect the two storylines. Serenity: Better Days also spanned three issues and was written by Whedon and Brett Matthews . Whedon later co-wrote The Shepherd's Tale with his half-brother Zack . As a guest director, he contributed two 2007 episodes of The Office (" Business School " and " Branch Wars ") and

8500-482: The superhero team of the same name . Of his desire to take on the film, he explained that the core of the movie was about "finding yourself from community" and the togetherness derived from a group that ultimately doesn't belong together. It became the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time at the North American box office, and it received considerable praise from critics. In retrospect, Whedon thought

8600-441: The text "of debauchery" that brought out a core darkness, and said the visual nature of film influenced him to permeate a motif of sexuality into the script. Whedon wrote and executive produced the paranormal romance film In Your Eyes , the second feature by Bellwether Pictures. The film tells the story of Rebecca Porter and Dylan Kershaw who can feel each other's emotions, but are ultimately strangers. Whedon's script marked

8700-501: The time and was ranked 98th in Nielsen ratings . The series was cancelled by Fox before all of the episodes had aired. Whedon took to Universal Pictures as a means of achieving a continuation of the story. Following Firefly was Serenity , a follow-up film taking place after the events of the final episode . Serenity developed into a franchise that led to graphic novels, books and other media. New Scientist magazine held

8800-462: The treatment for the pilot, Fillion was eager for the role. Fillion was called back several times to read for the part before he was cast. He noted that "It was really thrilling. It was my first lead and I was pretty nervous, but I really wanted that part and I wanted to tell those stories." Los Angeles prop shop Applied Effects was approached by Randy Erikson to create Mal's main gun, a "Moses Brothers Self-Defense Engine Frontier Model B", and gave them

8900-525: The turning point for him and the Independents came with their physical and emotional defeat at the Battle of Serenity Valley on the planet Hera. On-screen information in Serenity shows him to have been attached to the 57th Overlanders Brigade. In the series pilot, Badger calls it the "Balls and Bayonets Brigade". A deleted scene in Serenity indicates that this was a nickname given to the unit. After

9000-642: The war, Mal acquired his own ship, a derelict 03-K64 Firefly -class transport. Mal named the ship Serenity after the Battle of Serenity Valley, the decisive battle of the Unification War. Fillion won the "Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award ;— Male" award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA for his role as Malcolm Reynolds. Fillion also won the SyFy Genre Awards in 2006 for Best Actor/Television and

9100-549: The works of Xiang Yu to poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge . Mal volunteered for the Independents army during the Unification War against the Alliance , gaining the rank of sergeant during that time. His loyal second-in-command Zoe was by his side for most of the war, surviving many dangerous conflicts with him. The show mentions three such battles, including the Battle of Du-Khang in 2510 (shown in " The Message ") and

9200-605: Was a hero. This conception came from "the very first mission statement of the show, which was the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it". The writing process came together from conversations about the emotional issues facing Buffy Summers, and how she would confront them in her battle against supernatural forces. Whedon usually directed episodes from his own scripts that held the most cathartic moments in Buffy's story. The series received numerous awards and nominations, including an Emmy Award nomination for writing for

9300-451: Was a show about grown-ups". An official continuation of the story came later in the form of a comic book series. Following the successful eighth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer , IDW Publishing approached Whedon about similarly producing a canonical sixth season for Angel . Angel: After the Fall released 17 issues written by Whedon and Brian Lynch . Whedon followed Angel with

9400-505: Was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters in 2013. There, he also studied under renowned academic Richard Slotkin . It was at Wesleyan he would meet Jeanine Basinger , a film scholar who became his mentor. After leaving Wesleyan, Whedon conceived the first incarnation of Buffy Summers , "Rhonda, the Immortal Waitress". From 1989 to 1990, Whedon worked as a staff writer on the sitcoms Roseanne and Parenthood . As

9500-495: Was based on unused story ideas for Firefly ' s unfilmed second season. On writing the dialogue, Whedon felt that part of it came from "getting to invent the language", which "once I had... reads like a kind of poetry". The narrative centered on Captain Malcolm Reynolds as the hero accompanied by River Tam acting as the catalyst for what he does. The score was composed by David Newman , and according to Whedon

9600-484: Was intended to "deglorify space — to feel the intimacy of being on a ship as opposed to the grandeur". He used two long steadicam shots for several minutes of the film's opening sequence to establish "a sense of safety in space". In 2006, it won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. The elements of science fiction that Whedon wanted to convey were essentially different in kind, and held "a sort of grittiness" and "realism", which he said, together, "get

9700-406: Was later repurposed into producing an EP . At the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, Whedon announced Twist , which was described as a comic book about "a Victorian female Batman". In 2017, Whedon directed Unlocked , a short film in support of Planned Parenthood . In May 2017, Whedon took over post-production duties for Justice League , including writing and directing additional photography for

9800-537: Was nominated and won numerous awards. Whedon was awarded Best Directing and Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series at the Streamy Awards , a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, and a Creative Arts Emmy Award in 2009. In 2009, Whedon created his fourth television series Dollhouse , and explored themes throughout the show that were initially present in an unproduced spec script of his called Afterlife . The series follows Echo, whose brain

9900-399: Was renewed for a second and final season. The reason for the renewal given by Fox's president of entertainment was to avoid any backlash that would have resulted from its cancelation. In reflection of Fox's disruptive involvement, Whedon lamented the loss of ideas with identity and moral culpability , saying they were dancing around them in the process which then devolved the series into

10000-469: Was runner-up for Best Actor/Movie . The character was named #18 in TV Guide 's "Greatest Sci-fi legends" list in 2004. In 2008, Empire ranked Mal as #34 on their list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters. In 2011, SFX Magazine voted Mal Reynolds #1 on their Top 100 Sci-Fi icons of the century. In her review of the film Serenity for The New York Times , Manohla Dargis had this to say about

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