Joss Whedon Developing 'Anti-Trek' Sci-Fi Series

Joss Whedon, creator of UPN's Buffy The Vampire Slayer, yesterday announced he is working with the Fox television network to produce an "anti-Star Trek" science-fiction series to debut next Fall.

Set five hundred years from today, the series will follow the adventures of the crew of a "small, incredibly mobile spaceship whose aft end lights up," Whedon told Variety. The ship's distinguishing feature gives the series its title - Firefly.

The concept was inspired by the aftermath of the American Civil War. "I wanted to make something that's about a guy who fought for the South, lost and doesn't like anybody anymore," Whedon said. "This show isn't about the people who made history; it's about the people history stepped on. It's about their lives and their struggles to keep their ship alive - as well as the search for meaning in a very dark place."

Firefly was described by Whedon as an "anti-Star Trek" with no prominent alien races - only humans. "There'll be scary-ass humans. I can make people that are scarier than anything you can put in latex."

Although set in space, the series has a similar message to Whedon's successful Buffy The Vampire Slayer. "Life is hard. People are good when they want to be. And the universe is a big, scary place just like high school."

Whedon will write and direct the two-hour pilot episode and serve as executive producer on the series, which has been given a 13-episode commitment by Fox. The Sci-Fi channel, which airs genre programming such as Farscape and the upcoming Babylon 5 telemovie, has expressed interest in running same-week repeats of the series.

A third-generation writer, Whedon is the Emmy Award-nominated creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spin-offs Angel, Ripper and Buffy: The Animated Series. He also wrote the films 'Alien: Resurrection,' 'Titan A.E.,' and 'Toy Story,' for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

The original Variety article can be found here.

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