Canceled halfway through its first season after being given a lousy time slot and having its episode order shuffled like a blind man running a street corner three-card monte, Joss Whedon’s sci-fi/western hybrid Firefly has become the prolific writer and director’s most enduring creation. The show gained a massive cult following after the release of its sole truncated season on DVD in late 2003 resulting in Serenity, a big-screen continuation of the Firefly story that brought back the show’s principal cast and marked the feature directorial debut of Whedon, currently behind the camera on next summer’s The Avengers. But Serenity turned out to be a box office disappointment and plans for further sequels were scuttled, despite the movie’s strong DVD sales and renewed interest in the original Firefly series. Since the release of Serenity, Whedon’s creation has endured mostly in the printed form but fans have long pushed for the show’s return to television or the big screen. None of their efforts have been successful, until now.