Whedonesque : Comments on 13562 : Astronauts get hooked on Firefly.

This is just so very cool!

Thanks for the photos. Kudos and thanks to all involved!

I imagine Joss and the cast and crew of FF/Serenity must all be very very proud!!

Chindi | June 27, 23:38 CET

Serenity in space!!

gossi | June 27, 23:46 CET

Wow, those pictures of the Firefly discs floating make me extremely happy. I'm not sure why, but that is amazing. WTG!

death is my gift | June 27, 23:47 CET

Shiny!

Geeky - but geeky cool...something we should all understand, I guess. Sort of like that neologism 'adorkable.'

igj | June 27, 23:48 CET

So freakin' cool!

El Diablo Robotico | June 27, 23:49 CET

Too cool :)

zeitgeist | June 27, 23:57 CET

That first picture is now my desktop wallpaper, because that is quite possibly the coolest thing in the history of ever.

lexigeek | June 28, 00:04 CET

The awesomiest awesome-y awesomeness of all awesome things.

danregal | June 28, 00:14 CET

FYI, there are larger versions of those pictures, posted to various boards. I will get the larger ones accessible on breakingatmo.com as well, I jusdt haven't had the chance.

The One True b!X | June 28, 00:14 CET

"We're all just floating..."

(tee hee)

joss | June 28, 00:16 CET

Yay! Firefly in spaaaaaaaace!

electricspacegirl | June 28, 00:16 CET

tee hee, indeed!

Septimus | June 28, 00:20 CET

Oh, seriously cool!

TheDivineGoat | June 28, 00:27 CET

That makes me so happy.

If River saw that girls hair, she'd be running away.

hitnrun017 | June 28, 00:40 CET

How cool is that!
Great job to everyone who made this happen.

Syren | June 28, 00:43 CET

So, now I sit around waiting to see if we ever hear the first reaction of an astronaut in orbit to watching "Out of Gas".

The One True b!X | June 28, 00:45 CET

This is beyond bright and shiny. :)

Ok is it me or in that 2nd photo does that guy kinda remind you of Wash.

[ edited by RavenU on 2007-06-27 21:52 ]

RavenU | June 28, 00:49 CET

Shiny!

I don't know why (must be that irony thing...), but I just remembered the following line:
Wash: "Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!?"

Numfar PTB | June 28, 00:50 CET

Worth a proud manly giggle or two, innit? As nifty a thing as I have ever seen. I felt a sortof "sci-fi writers through the ages who've longed to go into space themselves a la Heinlein et al." gestalt for a moment... if you know what I mean, and I hope you do...

Thanks to all who made this coolness possible.

QuoterGal | June 28, 00:54 CET

Ruttin' shiny.

Craig Oxbrow | June 28, 01:08 CET

Extra specially shiny!

Meltha | June 28, 01:09 CET

This makes me ever so very happy! Those pictures made my whole day a million times better!

PS OMG Look! No gravity!!

[ edited by mifeng on 2007-06-27 22:15 ]

mifeng | June 28, 01:14 CET

PS OMG Look! No gravity!!

Maybe the secondary grav boot's shot.

The One True b!X | June 28, 01:19 CET

Ain't nothing wrong with the grav boot. I saw the problem plain as day when I's down there on my . . .

waitaminnit.

(clears throat) I'm pretty sure the grav boot's not the problem.

mockingbird | June 28, 01:22 CET

And here it is on the TV blog affiliated with The Oregonian.

The One True b!X | June 28, 01:25 CET

joss, you have a right to giggle. That has got to be a great feeling. I seem to have a silly grin on my face and I had nothing to do with it.

newcj | June 28, 01:50 CET

Hey, Firefly in space! WOAH.

ormaybemidgets | June 28, 01:57 CET

Silly grin, indeed! That is so great!

samatwitch | June 28, 02:07 CET

This has just made my day.The photos are great, can't really say anything that hasn't already been said.

feigenbaum7 | June 28, 02:20 CET

This brought a huge grin to my face. Cool indeed!

Kessie | June 28, 02:20 CET

Another silly grin here. What cool pix.

palehorse | June 28, 02:23 CET

I quoted this before, but I think it's worth repeating:

WASH: That sounds like something out of science fiction.

ZOE: We live in a space ship, dear.

Gag Halfrunt | June 28, 02:33 CET

That just seriously is the coolest thing ever. I so would love to go into space - been a fantasy since childhood, which I know will never be realised. But seeing those Firefly and Serenity discs floating all weightless, really out in space, just put the biggest, silliest grin on my face.

Like I said. Coolest thing ever.

Kiddo | June 28, 02:42 CET

Too cool for school, even sp-school. Made it Boss, top o' the world ;).

So, since this was posted the DVDs have been around the planet. Coupla times. How hard does that rule ? Cos i'm thinkin' hard (and I generally try to avoid that ;).

Should've sponsored the discs, say a penny a mile. After a couple of weeks we'd have ... well, enough to fix the world anyway.

(technically though, they're "all just falling" ;)

Saje | June 28, 02:45 CET

I wanna be an astronaut!!!!

Kiddo | June 28, 02:48 CET

That might just be the coolest thing I have ever seen!

I got such a warm fuzzy feeling and a strong sense of "rightness" looking at that picture.

Mycroft | June 28, 03:03 CET

Brilliant!

kerfuffle | June 28, 03:03 CET

Big silly grin over here.

m'cookies actual | June 28, 03:06 CET

Best Pictures Ever

rivergirl | June 28, 03:06 CET

OMG! girly giggle here froma manly man of sorts. Joss should be so proud and yay to the astronauts...I am so emailing those to all my friends etc...

kurya | June 28, 03:23 CET

*grins* This makes me all kinds of happy. Soooooo made of awesome.

Lunakitty | June 28, 03:30 CET

That just seriously is the coolest thing ever. I so would love to go into space - been a fantasy since childhood, which I know will never be realised.

Never give up hope, Kiddo!

ohbejoyful | June 28, 03:55 CET

Never give up hope, Kiddo!

The first job I ever wanted as a kid, when people start asking what you want to be when you grow up, was an "outer space moving van driver". I drew pictures of it, me behind the wheel of a van that had rockets instead of wheels, helping to move families into orbit.

I blame being 4 years old or so and sitting with eyes wide and jaw gaping at the 1974 re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The One True b!X | June 28, 04:07 CET

This is why astronauts beat cavemen.

Pointy | June 28, 04:21 CET

LOL, Pointy.

Did anyone else just open the boxes of their copies, just to look at them?

Just me, then.

dreamlogic | June 28, 04:51 CET

I had such a big smile on my ace looking at these Astronauts with our show floating by them. I was filled with pride.

Anyone want to place bets now that the next shuttle is named Serenity?! Woot!

madmolly | June 28, 06:21 CET

Hoho, man, that's awesome. Made my day.

TychoCelchuuu | June 28, 06:32 CET

Wouldn't it have been awesome if Firefly was filmed in outer space. Can you imagine how big Captain Mal's hair would've been? Also after looking at those photos: is everyone actually happier in space or is that the non-gravity working wonders? I want to go up there darn it!

Archaeopteryx | June 28, 06:44 CET

Wow.

Ameer | June 28, 07:17 CET

I would like to add my "shiny!", but also an, "It's about time!"
This is wonderful and weird...like "when dimensions colide" weird...science fact and science fiction all wrapped up around each other.

teachndoc | June 28, 07:23 CET

Browncoats. Our fandom is out of this world. hee!

TamaraC | June 28, 07:38 CET

Hate to go all caps, but this is AWESOME.

UnpluggedCrazy | June 28, 08:22 CET

Can we now refer to the ISS as the Big Damn Space Station? :D

Adamwankenobi | June 28, 08:46 CET

It's like I'm up there, too. How strange is that?

RhaegarTargaryen | June 28, 08:50 CET

I'm biting my lip to keep my dorky grin from breaking my face. How awesome is this?!?

edited to add: I've always been a minor kind of space geek. Never went that huge into it, but did read a couple of books as a kid and loved the utter romanticism of it -- it's the last great unexplored frontier, etc. -- and this was all brought back to me when I read Warren Ellis's Orbiter trade a few months ago. The whole idea that the show is now in space makes me shiver; not to mention, Warren Ellis (whose feelings about space exploration are passionate) will be sooooo jealous. This is all kicking to go read some books -- oooh, and finally see the HBO series, From the Earth to the Moon.

[ edited by dottikin on 2007-06-28 05:56 ]

dottikin | June 28, 08:51 CET

More hee or maybe hah. I decided - primarily, I think, because I was procrastinating on work I needed to finish, and secondarily because I am a big dork - to search Joss' post & Early's line "We're all just floating..." into google, and got some very interesting results, including this one:

"[US Astronaut John Phillips]... responding to one student's question--how does the robotic arm function in zero gravity--Phillips took a moment to correct a widely held misconception about the spacecraft's environment. 'There is gravity,' Phillips explained. 'That's what holds us in orbit, so let's not use the term 'zero gravity.' A lot of people use it, but it's not really right.' In past ARISS contacts, other ISS crew members have described it as 'microgravity.' Phillips said the robotic Canadarm2 has to be really flexible, but it doesn't have to be very strong. 'It's not like a crane because it doesn't have to lift heavy weights,' he said, "because we're all just floating together here in orbit.' "

And this musing from someone named OnionPatch on democraticunderground.com:

"All the stuff going on in the world, all the suffering...for what? What is the purpose of it all? Yes, I know, I know....to learn, to evolve but to what? Toward what? What happens in the end when we're all just floating around happy in enlightenment? Is that it? It sounds almost boring to me. What about love? Why love? Why must we feel such love for our family if we are just supposed to be non-attached?"

Of course, the Forrest Gump thingy turned up frequently: "I don't know if we each have a destiny or we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze. But I think maybe it's both."

And finally, this lyric from PlayRadioPlay:

We shared conversations on
How we're all just floating
Through space and nothing matters
I'm looking for a pattern...

And there was so much more... I think I've discovered a new internet method for creating an (off-topic) dadaist-existential poem. Um, in honor of Joss' floating accomplishment.

QuoterGal | June 28, 12:15 CET

They're still falling though.

*takes his grumpy, pedantic, early morning arse off to the coffee machine ;)*

Saje | June 28, 12:30 CET

They're still falling though.
Yes, as anything does while orbiting anything, for what by our lights is nearly eternity. Are we going to have to have another long discussion about position and its possible meanings and un-evenpossibly-meaningfullness? I'm game.

dreamlogic | June 28, 13:26 CET

Nah, it's OK, i've had my coffee now ;).

(though technically, since the ISS is in low Earth orbit, it'll fall back to Earth much earlier than eternity, without outside intervention i.e. firing boosters etc. Damnit, I think I need more coffee ;)

Saje | June 28, 14:22 CET

Drink your coffee, Saje.

How about, "They're all just floating [as they're falling]" with the last part understood in the sentence like the "you" is in the sentence "Go to the store." Then you can just join us in our grin-fest. Cause its really nice sitting here...grinning...

I guess I should get ready for work.

newcj | June 28, 15:31 CET

This just defines totally awesome, it may be the coolist thing ever in the history of the universe. Made my day :)

Shey | June 28, 15:35 CET

So orbiting is like Buzz Lightyear's flying--"falling with style."

ETA correction of customarily botched pop culture reference.

[ edited by Pointy on 2007-06-28 13:03 ]

Pointy | June 28, 15:51 CET

Remember to digg the story:
http://digg.com/space/Pictures_of_Firefly_and_Serenity_DVDs_on_the_International_Space_Station

Pumps | June 28, 16:26 CET

Oh i'm grinning too newcj, if splitting hairs were work, i'd be whistling while I did it, possibly with added jaunty skipping (manly skipping obviously, like the SAS do).

Actually, the grinning may be partly due to caffeine toxicity but still, happy. If 'Firefly's the "little show that could", i'd say it's just got to the top of one hell of a mountain ;).

Saje | June 28, 16:40 CET

I wonder what else is in that DVD library up there.

kurya | June 28, 19:13 CET

ok.. so, did anyone send the photos to the PTB at Fox and say "ahem... take note!" ???

Those photos are just so very cool! and thanks to Swanny for taking the DVDS into Space, and to MAIII and B!x who kept a lot of ppl informed about the progress...

"tee hee" indeed.

[ edited by Chindi on 2007-06-28 20:18 ]

Chindi | June 28, 23:17 CET

Pop Candy.

TV Squad.

The latter got it from the former, and the former got it from me because I emailed it to Whitney yesterday.

The One True b!X | June 28, 23:53 CET

That's so neat. And very meta-- DVDs about a spaceship being watched by people on a space station. As an aside, I wonder if astronauts spend a whole lot of their personal time taking photos of various objects floating like that? I don't think I'd be able to stop.

Sunfire | June 29, 00:17 CET

It reminds me of Zoe saying to Wash "you live on a spaceship, dear".
I love having my favorite sci-fi accepted by the people who are really in outer space!

embers | June 29, 01:04 CET

It reminds me of Zoe saying to Wash "you live on a spaceship, dear".

I wonder if they have gotten that far in their viewing. Milk could still shoot out of your nose in space...

Oh i'm grinning too newcj,

Yeah, I knew that. I was just funnin ya.

newcj | June 29, 03:51 CET

I knew you knew, newcj, and I suspected you knew I knew you knew but I now don't know if you actually knew that ;-).

Saje | June 29, 15:02 CET

This is off the front page now, but FYI: breakingatmo.com is on IMDb today, on their "hit list". The site has taken in more than 11,000 hits already today.

The One True b!X | June 30, 01:12 CET

"I knew you knew, newcj, and I suspected you knew I knew you knew but I now don't know if you actually knew that ;-).

Yeah, I did. Newmuddyupthewaterscj is another name I am considering. ;-)

newcj | June 30, 01:22 CET

WHEW!

They DO have the whole Serenifly.

I was worried. It would be bad if they didn't also have the movie.

I know when I first saw it (not all that long ago, BTW; newbie here), when I realized I'd just watched the last ep, I screamed for the longest time.

Then I just sat there saying "But ... but ... but ..." for several hours.

Although it doesn't resolve all of the Threads-Driving-Viewer-Crazy -- SUB-TLE HINT -- still, at least it's not so much like being driven over what turns out to be only 1/5 of a bridge.

So I'm pleased they have the entire unit.

Hope they enjoy.

I know I have (just started another viewing last night -- probably my 4th).

tehabwa | June 30, 05:44 CET

June 27 2007