Case in point. –>
There’s a new story sweeping the world of geekdom this week: helpnathanbuyfirefly.com. That’s right. Fans of Joss Whedon’s cult classic TV show, Firefly, are once again campaigning to get their favorite show (and ship) off the ground once more. In addition to the website, the campaign has its own Facebook page (with 46,732 likes at the time of posting) and Twitter account (with 1,021 followers at the time of posting).

It all started several days ago when Nathan Fillion, who starred as the fearless and fierce(ly attractive) Captain Malcolm Reynolds, gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly about the Science Channel acquiring the rights to air the original series. Fillion stated: “If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to Firefly, make it on my own, and distribute it on the Internet.” Other cast members and writers responded to Fillion’s comment with assurances that they would love to work on the show again.

Fanboys and girls around the world went wild with excitement, and the very next day the campaign’s website was born. Earlier this morning, CNN picked up the story. So far, nothing other than generating buzz has been done, as the anonymous campaign directors are working out a way to actually make Fillion’s comment a reality. But, according to these two loyal Browncoats, they are only in phase one of their plan: to generate momentum and get people to pledge funding once the campaign gets off the ground.

Phase two, of course, is for someone like Fillion or Whedon to notice the movement, approve their effort, and actually agree to be the one to receive the donations and buy the rights to Firefly. Once that happens, they’ll actually set up a donation process.

Who knows if the campaign will actually succeed. Obviously, I’m rooting for it, and I’m ready to make my pledge as soon as they have that system in place. In the meantime, it’s fascinating to watch fan-generated campaign, empowered by social media, spread its wings and soar.