Firefly

10 of 10 places · 24 of 24 stories

• 20th Century Fox Studios

  10201 W Pico Blvd, Century City, Los Angeles

  • The pilot

    Production of the two-hour pilot, “Serenity”, begins on 20 March 2002. It reportedly costs more than $8 million.

  • Rented chairs

    Set decorator David Koneff rents the pilot’s furniture, planning to buy it if the show goes on, and dresses the ship in wood and fabric rather than the usual spaceship finishes.

  • A covered wagon

    Whedon wants a small, working ship like a covered wagon, borrowing from John Ford’s Stagecoach; rooms are painted for their people, rust for Kaylee’s engine room and blue for Simon’s infirmary.

  • “The Train Job” goes first

    Fox judges the pilot unsuitable to open the series, so “The Train Job” is written and made as a second pilot. It airs first, on Friday 20 September 2002.

  • Cancelled

    Fox cancels Firefly in December 2002, after 11 of its 14 finished episodes have aired. Whedon had planned seven years.

  • The pilot airs last

    The two-hour “Serenity”, meant to be the first episode, is broadcast on 20 December 2002, after the show has been cancelled.

  • Browncoats

    Fans, calling themselves Browncoats after the losing side in the show’s war, raise money for an advert in Variety and send postcards to UPN asking it to pick the show up. It does not.

  • An Emmy

    Firefly wins the 2003 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series.

  • In order at last

    The Science Channel begins showing Firefly on 6 March 2011, in the intended episode order.

• Paramount Ranch

  Cornell Road, Agoura Hills, Santa Monica Mountains

  • Core and Rim

    Firefly is set in 2517 in a new star system: the Alliance holds the central planets, while the outlying worlds of the Rim have little government and look like the American Old West.

  • Not Yucca Flats again

    Whedon did not want to go back to Yucca Flats every other week and call it an alien world; on a small budget the planets kept Earth-like air and colours, and Carey Meyer said the exteriors often felt too Western.

  • “Safe”

    IMDb ties the episode “Safe”, aired on 8 November 2002, to Paramount Ranch.

• Sable Ranch (Sand Canyon Road)

  Sand Canyon Road, Santa Clarita

  • Sand Canyon Road

    IMDb lists Sable Ranch, a private film ranch on Sand Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, among the show’s locations.

• Alabama Hills

  Movie Road, west of Lone Pine, Inyo County

  • Granite at the edge

    IMDb lists the Alabama Hills among Firefly’s locations: boulder country under the Sierra Nevada, where Gunga Din and Tremors were filmed too.

• Universal Studios, Stage 12

  Universal City, Los Angeles

  • The box set

    The DVD set comes out on 9 December 2003; by September 2005 it has sold about 500,000 copies. Whedon says the sales helped light a fire under the film.

  • Green light

    Universal green-lights the film on 2 March 2004 with a budget under $40 million.

  • Stage 12

    The ship is rebuilt on Stage 12 over 14 weeks; filming runs from 3 June to 17 September 2004.

  • 30 September 2005

    Serenity opens in North America at number two, with $10.1 million, and takes $40.4 million worldwide.

• Templin Highway

  Between Interstate 5 and Castaic Lake, north of Santa Clarita

  • The Reaver chase

    Mal’s escape from the Reavers after the bank job is shot along Templin Highway in five days.

• Diamond Ranch High School

  100 Diamond Ranch Dr, Pomona

  • Miranda

    The empty colony on Miranda is Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona.

• The Huntington

  1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino

  • River’s class

    The film opens on River in a schoolroom; it was shot at the Huntington in San Marino.

• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

  200 Palm Canyon Dr, Borrego Springs

  • The funeral

    The film’s funeral is shot in the Anza-Borrego desert.

• San Diego Convention Center

  111 W Harbor Dr, San Diego

  • Screenings with no name

    From May 2005 Universal shows a rough cut, unnamed, to fans in 10, then 20, then 35 North American cities; every screening sells out within a day, the last at Comic-Con.

  • Can’t Stop the Serenity

    On 23 June 2006 fans hold charity screenings of the film in 47 cities, raising more than $65,000 for Equality Now.