from Chris Buchanan: Thanks again for all your support!

Hellloooo, Browncoats!

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Chris Buchanan, right hand man to Joss (which is paradoxical because he's actually left-handed) and one of the producers of the BDM. I'm also known as "Affable Chap" on the OB. And my mom still calls me "Christopher" when I'm in trouble.

It's great to be guest hosting the official SERENITY blog whilst Dusty sorts out some personal legal issues that have arisen here on the Universal lot. I'm amazed by the extent that the Patriot Act comes into play when someone accidentally "borrows" a big star's golf cart. I also had no idea that Universal had such a secure "detention facility" as part of their studio tour. Live and learn, I guess.

The past week has been another long week of flying for the cast and crew alike on our beloved ship, SERENITY. I could describe in detail the ins and outs of the latest version of our little Firefly-class boat, but I think you'll want to wait and see the epic tour of SERENITY Joss shot on Super 35 instead. I'll just give you some impressionistic snippets from the set:

Things heard:

• "SUMMER!"
• Jurassic Park theme. Over and over and over.
• "I did not murder him"
• Nathan singing.
• Cast members muttering in Chinese.
• Ongoing political debate between certain unnamed cast members.
• A bunch of cheers as we screened our first clip of the movie.

Things seen:

• Our crew gathered around the wooden table in the galley, just like old times.
• Tight pants. (No, not just those on the Captain.)
• The beginnings of a wicked cool new saloon.
• Ice Cream.
• Blue Sun hooch.
• Stars, smoke and fire.
• An extremely buff, shirtless crew member working on the ship.
• Visitors to the set with mouths agog and the magnitude and beauty of our boat.

Every day when I go on set, it really brings home the fact that we've kept SERENITY off the scrap heap and put her back in the black where she belongs. And by "we" I mean all of you, too. Thanks again for all of your support!

As a small gesture of fan payback, we are marking the launch of official SERENITY marketing and promotional efforts with a very special panel at this weekend's Comic-Con in San Diego, CA. I wish we could simulcast the entire thing worldwide on the Internet, but we can't, so you'll have to rely on fellow Browncoats to spread the word. And, trust me; you'll want to hear it all!

For those of you in the San Diego area this weekend, Joss wanted to make sure you had the pertinent details of his appearance at Comic-Con this coming Sunday with the entire cast of the show:

What: Joss Whedon/SERENITY panel
When: Sunday July 25th, 1-2pm
Where: Room 20
Who: Joss, Nathan, Gina, Adam, Summer, Jewel, Ron, Alan, Sean, Morena

We will also be screening the first footage from SERENITY shown anywhere! The panel will be followed by a signing session in room 28DE, where there will be give-aways for those of you interested. (Like you're not interested!)

I'll be there, too, with our editor, Lisa Lassek, and our visual effects wizard, Loni Peristere and our respective posses. Stop by and say "hi."

Best,
Buchanan

PS: Good news for Dusty, Nathan just sent over a stack of signed photos to the "tour" department. Apparently, they trade just like currency in parts of Universal City. Fingers crossed, DB will be back soon.

from jeremy

Lunch ended, River left (apparently to go talk to some some rather vocal shrubbery, which I didn't know anything about until today.) And soon we were headed back to the set for more.

I'm sad to report that some of the details are already fading, this flu or cold that I picked up (probably on the plane ride home), no doubt isn't helping.

Best as I can remember, the next shot was actually chronologically BEFORE our first shot of the day. This gave them a chance to open the cargo bay doors and have moving background people. Probably some kind of establishing shot, because I don't think any of our BDH were even around. And yes, this meant that we were stuck up inside the tunnel of death again, and we were supposed to wait even longer before coming out. So yet again, I couldn't really see or hear much of the action...dammit! But I did peak out once or twice to watch them open and close the big, fully operational, cargo bay door. Very cool.

Several takes later and it was "check the gate". Next up they wanted to shoot some close ups of the various booths, with various background players walking/biking around. Maria told all of us in the "death tunnel" to go back to holding. At this point I was tired of missing every thing so I dutifully disobeyed. And just planted myself in an out of the way corner and watched the action. (I'm probably never going to work in Hollywood again... but I noticed I wasn't the only one with that idea.)

The first scene was a shot where some dude was attempting to hit on a hooker (I think) and there was a bunch of chinese chatter back and forth. Next up was Saxton's close up, where they shot some footage of people buying and selling stuff in her booth. A few minutes later the extras that had done what they were told were on their way back to the set, it was soon to be our turn for a close up. But first they set up a shot with a bicyclist riding past all the booths. This was took quite a few takes, and it was fun to watch Joss and the DP work out the details. This probably took nearly 30 minutes.

During that time I also chatted with Katie and Jenn about their various experiences in Hollywood. They both turned out to be very experienced and have had leading roles in several indie films. Katie said that this was the most organized movie set she had ever been on, including other big Hollywood pictures. She said, never has she been told at check in the specific makeup and hair artists for each extra. I also spent a while chatting with the reptile owner/wrangler. Turns out he's the guy that brings all the reptiles onto David Letterman. Sorry I forgot his name.

Next up it was finally our turn. The original plan was for me to do the same old walk down the ramp, but with the camera coming into our tunnel. Then Maria decided that she wanted a close up of my tattoo in a shot, so she set up a different and much better position for me. They set me up for the shot, then noticed that the hot lights in the tunnel of death had caused my tattoo to come loose in a few places, so she sent me back into the tunnel. Damn! There went my fifteen seconds of fame.... But wait, just as I was settling back into my same old position, here comes Jake, my makeup artist up the tunnel to repair my tattoo. Man that was fast, he must have been psychic or something. Jake spent a few minutes repairing my tattoo and Maria put me back into the better shot. (Thanks Maria, sorry for disobeying your orders all day!)

The crew then spent a good 20-25 minutes trying different setups with the camera and various props for the shot! Eventually ending up with a tracked shot. I want to keep the details a secret for my local friends and family to find out when they go see the movie (one more way to make sure they go). But let's just say it included me, a very large lizard of some kind, and a pretty girl.

It was really weird to think that Joss was in a corner somewhere watching ME on his monitor! At the time I wasn't too freaked out, but in hindsight... whoa! Three takes later and it was over, and Maria "wrapped" me, and told me to go back to holding and change.

I promptly disobeyed. I turned in my prop (a purse... err I mean a European carryall), then wandered deep into the background, under Serenity's engine and watched some of the filming on the sound engineer's monitor. They seemed to be shooting a big crane shot of Serenity's nose. After a while, I sneaked onto the ship for a quickie look around, I saw the main hallway, and "living" area. I hurried back out before I got yelled and moved a little closer to the action, to watch a few takes of the zebra chick walking around with Brian, Jenn and some other background. But mostly I spent time absorbing in the whole experience and taking a good close look at Serenity, especially the inside of the cargo bay. No worries, she looks very much the same, just a bit more detailed and a little larger. At one point I overheard a discussion about how Universal is planning on releasing an animated prequel to Serenity that will fill in the details between the end of the series and the movie. Wow, very interesting!!

About 30 minutes later, Maria noticed me, and asked why I was still in costume. I explained that I was waiting for a friend, and she told me to go back and change, then I could come back to the set. I decided it was probably time to obey and just as I was turning to leave, Chris Buchanan walks in! Since I know Chris and Chris knows me (I had a two hour meeting with him a couple weeks after the TV show was canceled. I was trying to save the show via Direct to DVD - see my site for details), I walked right up to him and said "Hey Chris!" Thankfully he remembered me, and for the next 30 minutes we chatted about the show.

I thanked him profusely for arranging this once-in-a-lifetime experience for these fans. I asked him (1) how it was going, was Universal liking it? Are they 100% behind Joss? (2) Are they making editorial changes and overriding Joss? (3) Is Universal going to be pushing this as hard as "Chronicles of Riddick" and "Van Helsig"? (4) Are they going to destroy the sets afterword? (5) I asked for clarification on the "springboard to a series" comment that spread around the internet earlier this year. I asked him about the DVDs and how my company could be involved. And we chatted about a bunch of other less interesting things.

His answers in brief were roughly as follows (Chris: I apologize if I remember anything wrong, as I'm having a little trouble differentiating between exactly what you said vs. my thoughts about what you said, so please correct me if I'm wrong):
(1) It's going very well, "Universal is very happy". They like what they are seeing. They are 100% behind Joss, the fact that they were willing to use the "legendary" Stage 12, for a middle to low budget Hollywood movie is highly unusual. Normally for a movie of this level, they would have sent production to Mexico or Prague. But they wanted to make sure Joss would have the best talent and resources available, so they let him use Stage 12, right in the heart of Hollywood. He proceeded to point out several people around the set, and what they had done in the past. I'm telling you people, we are getting the best of the best for our BDM. Thank you, thank you, thank you Universal!
(2) The studio execs are staying almost entirely out of Joss's way. (At this point in our conversation Joss walked up to his director's chair about 5 feet from us, and I think I caught an acknowledging nod from him at this comment from Chris.)
(3) Hard to say at this point whether Universal is going to push Serenity as hard as they have some other shows. But they would really like to create a new strong franchise. Even though Serenity isn't exactly the same league (budget-wise) as VH and CoR, it's about the only big summer movie Universal has planned for 2005. So they may end up promoting for lack of anything else. Cool!
(4) They will not destroy the sets when they are done filming, they will "fold" them. Which basically means they will fold the sets up into parts and store them for the hopeful sequels. Who knows, maybe they will just decide to film episode 2 instead of folding everything... Hey we can always ask for a second miracle!
(5) Which brings me to my next point, which is, what was meant by the "springboard to a series" comment, are we talking a TV series or a series of movies. Chris said he thought the reference was to a series of movies. The actors are all under contract for 3 pictures should the first one be a success. (Okay everyone, get busy with the guerilla marketing!!)

At this point, Maria walked by and noticed I was still in costume and she have me a bit of a dirty look but since I was chatting with basically her boss, she didn't say a word. Actually I'm probably painting Maria in a bad light, but actually she was amazingly organized, as friendly as was possible considering she was trying to keep 70+ extras all in the right place at the right time. She even did some directing.

As our conversation was winding down, I asked him if it was okay if I could walk into the cargo bay and he said 'sure', and he followed me in. We got into a discussion about the differences, between this and the original Serenity set, you could see them, nothing dramatic, just subtle details and finesse. You're all going to love it.

Chris was way nice to take 30 minutes out of his hectic schedule to chat with me and I want to thank him publicly! "Thanks Chris!"

Time to actually get out of my costume and back to holding room, where all of my fellow Browncoats were gathered around our table. Saxton whispered to us that we should stick around. I said goodbye to Jenn and Katie, and as soon as all of the normal extras... err background had left, Audrey took us back to the set where a very nice guy named Michael gave us a complete tour of the entire ship, hallways, cockpit, kitchen, infirmary and more... It was very very dark, but oh what an experience! The detail that goes into these sets is amazing. Brian and I even sneaked away from the group long enough to sit in Wash's pilot seat. Yes, I am officially a total Sci-Fi geek now! But I'm in good company... *cough* Joss *cough* (Yes Bob, I got to tour the ship!)

A couple of group photos in the cargo bay, and it was all over.

As we were walking out, I heard Saxton (?) say something about how she was flying, and I just smiled because I felt exactly the same way.

We chatted for a while with Victor, who was with us the whole time and is now an honorary Browncoat, then we drove back to the hotel. We then carefully pealed off my tattoo and drive it to the Glendale Kinko's and laminated it. (The Kinko's employee didn't even think that was weird... only in L.A.)

'Nuf said, I'm still flying. It was a mighty fine day indeed.

Jeremy

PS Pictures coming tomorrow. And a public apology to those that I owe posters to, I was supposed to get them sent off today, but between work, being sick, and writing this blog, I'm running a day or two late. Sorry!

PPS To the powers that be. Thank you so much for this experience, it was one of the best days of my life. Am I beeing a bit overly dramatic? Yes I suppose, but it's very much the truth! And if you ever decide that you need any more extras, I'm always available.

Original post @ SerenityMovie.net...

from little ewok

Since Blinksgurl and Rosie already told this story, I'll cut past the stuff that happened before lunch.

We had just gotten wet at the soak zone, I saw Rosie on the phone, she was busy talking to someone. When I asked who is was, she said it was my mom. She told us we were gonna meet my mom at he end of the Jurassic Park ride, which is right on the corner where the tour bus goes, and is where the people walk back to Stage 12. We got down there, I was very wet, and the line was very long so we bypassed the crowd and went to an area where super long lines might have gone (this was obviously a very popular ride at one time). Now they have barricades telling you you don't have to go that far...that the line isn't that long today.

All the gates that exit to the back lot say 'alarmed' and one was open, but we resisted the urge to go through it! We ventured on to the curve where the tour goes, and we saw a big gate where people were going through but we stayed at our little corner and just watched any one going by. We saw a zebra-headed lady going into the porta-potty! Also a very muscular 'woman' too!! hehe!

Then my mom called and said she was coming, and I saw a blue haired lady walking up, and I thought, 'hey that blue haired lady is on the phone!"...it was my mom! Blinksgurl started taking pictures. She came up and talked to us for while, but wanted to get back to try to get Summer's autograph.

A little while later the phone rang again, and Rosie smiled and gave me the phone, I heard my mom say, "Summer, would you do me a favor and say hi to my daughter?" and I hear Summer say, "okay". It was so weird! I had my bush-mates tryin' go figure out who I was talking to...listening to Summer talk about how my mom's hair was the coolest hair here, and that was saying alot today! When she asked where I was, I said, "If I say in the bushes will it freak you out?". We talked for while, but she had to go, so she gave the phone back to my mom. She was sooooooo friendly!

After that we waited to see if we could see anyone, 3 guys who were dressed in 'Egyptian mummy type stuff' came up to us and said, 'can I help you? what are doing?'...they were being really snippy and rude...but we told them we'd soon and we'd be sure to check out the mummy ride! After awhile Bryan came and said he'd see what he could do about bringing someone over. After awhile he came walking up with Nathan, we talked for awhile and took pictures, after he left Rosie a couple of happy dances. I told her to be careful that no one saw her, just then Nathan came back with Alan! We talked with Alan and took pix, and while she was busy talking to Alan I noticed Bryan coming back over with Jewel, and when I tried to tell Rosie, she was 'shushing me', then a tram went by and Nathan and Alan waved...suddenly Jewel was standing there! She startled Rosie! So we all took pix again, and Nathan even got my camera to take pix for us! Then they walked off and I was saying how I wished I had a digital video camera, and Wiley said she had one, and Carol said this one has one, and started taking video Rosie, and the phone rang...right when Rosie got the word that we could come on the set!

Audrey came out and we showed her where the open gate was, and we came around. Rosie was following her and Matt and listening to what they were saying, so I was looking around to see what/who I could see...and there was Alan sitting on the step of his trailer and he smiles and waves at us! I tried to tell Rosie and she 'shushed me' again! By the time I got her attention we'd passed him! We got inside and toured the set...we were watching a monitor to see what they'd been filming, but they were stopped so we kept on going. Then we walked through were the infirmary was and I could see the cargo bay, and I saw Nathan and Summer and she was waving at us! I saw other people, but didn't realize that I was seeing set that my mom was on. There was so much going on!! I was talking to lady from the set and she was teasing about Matt being a tour guide, while we were talking I heard Blinksgirl say, "look there's Sean", so once again, I tried to get Rosie's attention...and yep, for the third time she SHUSHED ME! :P And walked out of the infirmary and asked, 'where was Sean?'! It was hi-larious! I never did see Gina or Adam. When we were walking out, Matt asked if there was anything else we'd like to see, but we didn't even know what to ask for, so we thanked him and he just left us at outside the door. If we'd wanted, we could have just walked where ever we wanted to, but Rosie said we had to be good...grrrrr...hehe...it was so great! When we were walking back I was teasing Rosie that she'd missed Alan the first time cuz she didn't listen to me when I told her, and she was excited and saying she didn't know he was there...and I said, careful, you don't know, he could still be around here...just then I turned around and he was right there talking on his cell phone! He waved bye and went back to the Stage we'd just come out of!

After that, we went back and had some of Dr. Emmet Brown's Chicken! (Doc Brown even walked by while we were eating!)

Rosie kept making up different songs about how hot Alan was!! BTW she is obsessed with is flat stomach!! She finds flat serfaces to compare his tummy to!

We hung around the park until my mom called to tell us they were done. We met them at the exit of Jurassic Park, then headed back to the motel to talk about our day!

Original post @ the Official Firefly Forum...

from jeremy

Very Minor spoilers ahead...

I'm back in Utah, and here is the first part of my blog...

Our call was 6 am, which actually made me happy, because I figured we were in for a long day. I wasn't wrong. We decided to arrive very early at 5:15, in hopes it would give us a chance to wander a bit first. Which turned out to be a good thing because we ended up doing quite a bit of unexpected wandering. Sasha had told us to report to Stage 12, but Stage 12 didn't seem to have very many people around, but it did have a big door open with none other than the nose of Serenity lurking within. We peaked in... Wow - Serenity in all her glory.

Eventually we found everyone else gathered at Stage 6, and Sasha met us there and we got busy with the paperwork. They had breakfast for us, which was good, because nothing is open that early. I'm going to mess up some names, but as I remember Saxton, Gingi, Erin (DG), Jim and Conrad were all there. Sasha seemed frustrated that people were showing up late, but soon discovered there was a traffic jam at the gate, glad we got there early.

After I was done with my paperwork, I was shuffled off to wardrobe. A few jokes a couple of mosquito bites and I was back in the Stage 6 holding room with all of the other extras. It was fun to look around as the area slowly filled with extras dressed in all manner of "Carnivale-like" costumes. Everything from transvestites to zebra headed hookers.

I would give details on everybody's costumes, but it would be easier to look at all the pictures. Needless to say Saxton won't be hard to miss.

Soon I was called in for Makeup (?!). I was taken to a makeup trailer where a very nice guy named Jake proceeded to put a scar/tattoo on the back of my bald head. It was a bunch of chinese characters, so I had (and still have) no idea what they meant. Jake is an Academy Award nominated makeup artist. Recently did the makeup for the main character in Hellboy and many other movies. Prior to that he had done some work for Firefly, he did Kaylee's and Mal's bullet wounds. It was an honor to have this guy doing my "makeup".

As we were chatting, I suddenly realized I recognized a voice in the background. So I looked up in the mirror and there was Nathan chatting with another one of the makeup artists. I suppressed the urge to say hi and just listened in. A few minutes later he left, to be replaced by yet another familiar voice, it was none other than our doctor. The makeup was done all too soon, and I was back in the holding room. Everybody seemed pretty impressed with my tattoo, but I couldn't see it, so I just had to take their word for it.

For the next 2+ hours we all sat around chatting, waiting for our call. Eventually it came, we were all lined up against the wall for a final costume, hair, and makeup check. They then herded all of the 70 or so extras into the main Stage 12. They took us right past the nose of serenity, which looked to be the actual set inside, around a corner and onto the main stage.

The next few minutes were a blur of imagery, which took a little while to absorb. On our left were Serenity's cargo bay and doors. Standing just inside the cargo bay were several of our Big Damn Heros and none other than God...er Joss Himself was running around giving out directions. At this point I was floating. For those who were concerned about the look of the ship, she looks very very similar only more detailed and a bit smoother.

On the right were a series of brightly colored vendor stands, complete with live turtles, chickens, iguanas and other various overweight reptiles. Everything was heavy on the oriental flavor. Surprisingly it all actually felt kind of cramped, but Maria, the "background" wrangler and assistant DP, assured us it would look much larger on screen. There were blue screens all around the set, and we were told the whole scene would be digitally filled out.

Maria then started dividing us all up and giving us instructions. She sent me, my friend Brian, and two of the nicest prettiest background (and foreground) actresses in Hollywood (not counting Browncoats of course), Jenn and Katie, up this tall ramp surrounded by all manner of Chinese "stuff". Jenn and Brian were sent to the very top of the ramp and told to start walking once Jayne walked in. She then told Katie and me to start walking 3 beats after "action".

So for the next hour or so the four of us were stuck at the top of this ramp where we couldn't see much of anything. But we dutifully walked down that ramp and out to one of the vendor stands, take after take after take. Every-time I walked down the ramp, I saw Mal, Zoe, and Jayne walk past me to the right, often within inches of me, so I'm hoping I got a bit of camera time. Jayne never walked up the ramp so Brian and Jenn never managed to get out of the tunnel of doom.

I was really surprised the by slow/methodic pace of movie-making. What little Hollywood experience I've had has been TV related, and this was SO much slower. It's no wonder movies cost so much. But you get great results. Our BDM is going to look soo amazing!

At this point I hadn't really had much of a chance to see Joss doing any directing other than "action" every 5-10 minutes. Eventually we got the "check the gate" which means they got a good take and they were checking the camera's "gate" for hairs or dirt. (Thanks Katie for that insider lingo tip. On a related note, congratulations Katie, this was her final voucher and she's now officially SAG.)

We were then herded back to the holding room for a while. We took this opportunity to snap pictures of each other's costumes, and soon we were herded back to the set for the next 5 seconds of film. This time we were to count back 3 counts from where Joss kept saying "cut" on the last shot and start our new scene. Like I said, slow and methodical. But this was much better for me, because I was out of the tube of doom, and could actually see what was going on.

I was able to see that many of our fellow Browncoats had great positions, either in or near the vendor booths. And I could actually watch Joss direct, which was my number one goal of the whole experience. Most of the time Joss was behind his monitor, over between the cargo bay doors and Serenity's starboard engine. As soon as he yelled "cut" he would usually come running over to the area being filmed, talk to the DP. Cup his hands into the famous "film frame" shape and make minor tweaks and changes and run back to his chair for the shot. Pretty much what you'd expect from a Hollywood director. But very cool to actually experience. Sadly, Joss didn't seem to require as many takes on this shot and all too quickly Maria was herding us all back to the holding area for lunch.

Lunch was very tasty. All of us Browncoats gathered around our Browncoat tables away from the cool people tables, and talked about our experiences so far. Gingi and boyfriend had some interesting stories about getting in Adam's way. Suddenly we notice that Summer and a few friends are sitting at a table about just a few feet from our Browncoat table. So DammitGirlie screws up the courage and walks over and points out all of us Browncoats. Summer is so nice about the whole thing. She thanks us all for coming and being a part of it all. My memory fails me on any specifics, but she seems genuinely pleased to have us all there. I bit more chit chat between our tables, and we let her get back to her lunch.

A few minutes later, we all notice that Nathan and Jewel are chowing down on their lunches, just a few tables down from River. So I gather up a few of my firefly movie posters, screw up some courage and walk over to them and introduce myself. I showed them the posters, they took them gladly, I pointed to all of the browncoats at the table, which started a bit of a cross room exchange. They were both more than friendly. I'm not one to usually get very star-struck, but I felt myself tripping over words, so I just thanked them, and let them return to their lunches. I then walked over to Summer again and offered her a poster. Sadly I was still a bit tongue-tied, so I just thanked her and moved on. In hind site it seemed like she wanted to talk some more, but my brain was foggy and it's probably good I didn't push my luck. Later, when Jewel and Nathan got up to leave, Nathan hollered over to our table and thanked us again.

Summer remained for quite a while after that, chatting with her friends, the entire time keeping the poster in her lap and even using it as a megaphone a couple of times. Eventually as she was getting up to leave, Saxton asked for a few autographs and Summer seemed more than happy to oblige. Several others got autographs, but I asked for a picture with her instead.

Original post @ SerenityMovie.Net...

from saxon1014

Okay, let's see what happened next?

After saying thanx to Summer I think we all went back into Stage 12. I know I had given Audrey the info about getting someone to vouch for Rosie, Ewok, Carol and Wiley to come onto the set. She said she'd see what she could do. I also told her about the cakes being delievered at 2. She didn't know about them. We went back to work, and I was sorry that I didn't take the chance to get Jewel to autograph my drawing and t-shirt...*sigh*...oh well.

When we were on the set, they were doing alot of different stuff, moved the camera angles, had two of the new characters doing some stuff right next to where me, my new 'husband, and Conrad were...and they did it over and over and over...it was fun...except for the smoke!

During one of the 'waiting times' Audrey came over and told me the cakes were there, and asked if I had my camera...I said no, it was back in the holding area...she said, 'oh, well, maybe someone will get a picture of it'...ack! I'd thought about putting the camera in the purse, but it was stuffed with a big towel...so I hadn't! She also asked me for the names of the ones who wanted in, so I gave her everyone's names. We had no idea they'd been there...or had their 'close encounter' till later!

Finally, they let a bunch of us go back to the holding area...and I was so tired that I can't even remember much about that time...After a long while I called Rosie and they told me about meeting the gang and touring the set! It was great. Then my 'husband' Marv told me the wanted us back on the set....but when we got there they told us we were 'wrapped' and could go. I had just emptied the purse out and put my t-shirt, phone, camera and pen in it (the towel was SOOOO heavy), so I pulled my stuff out and returned the purse...I told the guy I'd bring the towel right back over. I went and put my stuff away, and got the towel...most everyone who had been on the same side of the set as me was 'wrapped', so we all made our way back down the process of getting back to 'normal'. I had my wig removed (so my hair looks really terrible in the pix we took afterward!), changed out of my costume and went back to the holding area. Audrey had told us she would give us Browncoats a tour of Serenity! We had to wait till everyone was done though, which was good, since Gingi, Jim, Brian and Jeremy were still busy. I told Audrey how great the day had been and took her pic, I said the only thing I regretted was not getting to talke to Adam and get the autographs of the BDHs I'd missed at the LA Con. She said (and this kills me), "oh, you should have mentioned something, I'd have set something up". By then all the 'stars' had left for the day! We'd seen them on the set before we left, and they were all posing for pix and then were obviously saying bye, hugs, kissed and handshakes! ack!!

After all the Browncoats were back in regular clothes, we heard Audrey getting an intern to show us around. We thanked her for everything, and she left us with Michael to take us back into Stage 12. The lights were down, and the 'ship' inside was pretty dark. When we toured the Angel set, it was really dim, but this, in some places was pitch black!

I'll say this...I now understand what everyone is saying about Serenity being the same, yet different. The changes are so very subtle, but they are there, and for the better! I was surprised how areas looked very small, yet, when we got the pictures back , it looke like they were taken in an open space! I'm always amazed how someone can envision these things and make them appear the way they do on camera! The most well lit area was of course the cargo bay...and it was huge! It looks even bigger in the pictures!

I cracked up when I saw the pix of me...my hair is really whacked...but I have this half crazed look on my face! I was totally excited by this! It was awesome to see 'Jayne, Mal, Zoe, Kaylee, Simon, River and Wash', but walking onto Serenity ROCKED!!!

We all posed for a shot at the cargo bay door. Then said goodbye. I noticed we had a 'stray' with us...one of the other BG guys, Victor tagged along with us!! Yay!! Another recruit!!

I've told Gingi and Jim they have to tell their stories, but they don't know how to put it down with out being spoilerish, they are so new to the FF world. I gotta say, I don't think telling you what the 'set' was about will 'spoil' anything...I heard NO dialog...well, except some Chinese! But for those who don't even want to know where and what we were about, I told them to put 'possible spoiler' warnings on the post.

After we left, Victor told us that we could go through that open gate to enter Universal Studios, so we did and called Rosie, we were at Jurassic Park, so we rode it and they met us at the exit. After that we had to split up to get our car (we had to go back through the gate to a different parking area). We couldn't find our car for the longest time (the stair said 'stair 5', but we were on the 2nd level!). So Rosie and the girls beat us back to the room. We order Chinese Food (Rosie got Bao it was GOOD!), and giggled and went over our day. Rosie was going to take notes for me, to help me remember, but we couldn't find any paper! :P

I wanna thank Rosie SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for everything she did for us! Ewok would have missed out on an excellent adventure if Rosie hadn't come down to the park and took her with them. It turned out that they got more one on one time with the 'stars' than we did! How cool is that?

I better get, I'll try and remember more later...I'm exhausted!

I still feel like this was all a dream!

Original post @ the Official Firefly Forum...

from saxon1014

*sigh*

I don't know where to begin...I feel like Dorothy being swept up into the clouds, landing in OZ and then suddenly sent back to Kansas!

Got up at 4 am (at a motel right next to Universal). We (me, Gingi aka Coffeewench & Ewok aka Jessi & Jim) got up and around in time for Rosie to call and say she would be there in a few minutes. 5am, Rosie and Carol arrive at our room...hugs, goodmornings and last minute details, and the 'extras' (oh, sorry, Background) are off!

I send us to the wrong gate, and we have to cut back to the right one, just to see that a BUNCH of cars are backed up at the entrance. We give our IDs to the gal at the gate, she says Jim's and Gingi's are on the list , but mine is not! We have to pull off to the side of the road and use a special phone to get someone to vouch for me. The do, and I get my pass. We park, and are off to find Stage 12. We find it and are told to go to Stage 6 for check-in. I meet Audrey and Sasha. This is the 'holding area' that we will come back to off and on all day. They are serving breakfast and it smelled GREAT! There are other 'background people' there.(Gingi was told not to use the "E" word, as 'extra' is somewhat insulting...Background is more 'professional'!!). Most of the guys are eating already. I was told to go to Wardrobe first to get dressed. I do. Then, I'm told to go to Make up, but the line is very long. So I am then to told to go get my hair readied for my wig. I go into a trailer and the gal starts pin curling my hair to my scalp. Then she puts a tiny little nylon cap over all and pins that to my head/hair. VERY ATTRACTIVE!! *right* I sure don't wanna meet up with anyone I know...or anyone I'd like to know...right? So, of course I see DVD guy Jeremy walk by!! lol! I remind of of who I am, and get back into the make up line. Gingi is there, in her costume talking to other BG (background), one cute gal is a fan/extra, she's doing BG work but is also a fan of the show! It was funny how most of the folks had no idea what the show was, and most didn't care. A few who had heard of it were asking questions though, so that was cool.

The line is really long for Make up, so Gingi says she's going to go see where Jim is, and goes off into the holding area. Just then, who should walk up, all unshaven, bed headed, wiping the sleep from his eyes? ALAN!! He is walking right toward me, looks up after rubbing is face and makes eye contact with me! I say "Hi Alan", and babble something about being a fan, and how great is it to be there, he is very nice and shakes my hand. I mention another fan named Rosie that he might remember from a couple of weeks ago, that he also met her at the LA Comic Con...and he cuts me off and say, 'Oh yes, we took a picture together!', I say, that she says "hi" and that she wanted me to give him some copies of the pix. I say I'll try to find him later and she says 'great' and tells me how nice it is for us to come down and all...so nice...he shakes my hand and says "nice to meet you Saxon" (I guess I introduced myself...I keep forgetting I have a REAL name!!). He walked up to the wagon/trailer where they were making omelettes, while I was all giddy...even with the wig cap on my head!!

Gingi comes back and I tell her all about it...then, since the line is still long, I am sent to get my wig on. I go into the trailer and I am sent to Randy's chair. He was really nice and funny...he checks my wig cap, while I look around...the trailer is full of pix of images that are defining the 'look' they want the different characters to have. There are bits of hair in little baggies on the wall behind me. Braids, ponytails, odds and ends of all sorts. All of a sudden I see the wig Randy has for me!! OMIGOSH!! Now, I'm dressed in a karate type burnt orange gi, with a beige kimono over it, so I'm figuring I'm gonna get a little black short cropped number right? Well, it's the extact style I imagined, the 'asian' cut...but it is NEON ELECTRIC BLUE!! He secures is to my head, making jokes about it not hurting, 'yet', saying to let him know if anything is bothering me, since I'll be in it all day. He says, 'they said we'd have a little blue haired lady, but I didn't envision this!' Now I have this short little blue thing on my head, and I'm thinking well, it could be worse...and before the thought can gel in my head, he starts to 'tease' the hair, making it stand up in spikey points! He 'rats' it all over, and gathers sections up and puts bright orange pipe cleaners on the ends of the spikes! He takes a necklace with bright orange plastic flowers on it and fastens it to my head like a headband of sorts...oh yeah, there go my plans of blending into the background! Randy tells me that the last picture he worked on for Universal was "The Grinch" so he was tryin' not to give me "Who" hair...uh-oh...I told him it was sort of 'Willa Flintstone meets Jayne Jetson", and he says, "yes, if Willa Flintstone and Jayne Jetson had a love child, you'd be it!!". I thank Randy, and all the other hair dressers go on and on about how cute it is.

Then I go back to make up. After all the wait for make up, all they do is give me 'lips'! Oh well. They tell me I'm done, and can get some breakfast now. *yeah right, I got these dark red 'I Love Lucy' lips goin' on! I didn't want to get a full omelette, so I look to see what else they had and ended up with a slice of watermelon and about a teaspoon of oatmeal that wasn't very liquidy at that point! I'm sure most of the women there did not get breakfast unless they did so before the went off to all the stops!

Things start getting fuzzy here...so I'm sure I'm gonna report out of order...I can't remember when I saw Gingi's hair....I think it was before I got mine done...ack...I'll have to ask her. I just remember her face!! OMIGOSH! It was hi-larious! I think she was still waiting in the make up line at that point. Yeah, she hadn't gotten her hair done yet either...so she was sent off to get her hair done. I walked into the 'holding area' and Jim caught site of me...it was the looks are priceless...when I passed Jeremy, I just said, 'keep walkin' mister'...he was grinning from ear to ear!

Anyway, I saw a lady with one of the pointy asain hats on, so I figured it must be Erin (DG), so I asked, it was, we hugged, and I met her husband and also Conrad and Brian (Jeremy's friend who came with him from Utah). We all visited while I carefully ate my melon.

There was a gal there from DC who'd won an auction for a 'walk on'! Some of the professional BG people were sitting with us at the 'fan' table! Gingi came in and wow'ed everyone with her hair!! She got her make up done and it was awesome too! My kid dyes her hair red, and has just done it, so it was kind of a bright dark red...it's cut short, in layers...when she walked in, I thought for sure they'd added hair! They teased it and spiked it straight UP! They added silk flowers in the front across the top like a head band...it was soooo cute!!

Jim was in his 'space biker' stuff, and we all just visited for a while. Erin and her hubby and I took some pix.

I went over to thank Sasha for all her help...she is very sweet and YOUNG! She gave me a big hug! I took some pix of her. SHe had on a cord Zoe-type necklace (except it was longer) on and I commented on it...she didn't know anything about it! She she just liked it! I took a pic of that! I also told her about the cakes being delievered at 2, she didn't know about those either!

Just as I was discussing the show with a guy who was sitting there, Erin cam up and said we should walke out past the smokers and see who we might see...so, we started out...just as Audrey came in and said we were gonna have some announcements! *drat*

We are told that we are going over to Stage 12, and that we need to have our costumes and stuff 'checked'. So we get into a 'line up' of sorts. One gal motions to another and she somes and tells me to take off the outter kimono. So now my costume is just just the orange and black pants with the burnt orange karate gi. AND the hair!! Some of the people have been assigned definate 'roles' and they are pulled out. The rest of us go on over to Stage 12. We walk past the trailers/dressing rooms...seeing names like 'Inara', 'Mal'...on them!!

NOW, I gotta say, I'm pretty much confused and befuddle from here on...too much too see...and my brain is small, or possibly missing!

Hopefully others will report better than I am at this point. We went into the studio, were given our props (I got a purse), gave our names (we would be checked for all props before we left) *they are on to us!* And then we had to all gather in the huge stage area...Erin and I get behind, and don't know where to go...we thought they went to the left....but we start that way and can't see anyone...so we go back...and they aren't that way...we go back and forth, giggling like school girls and then are told to go the other way, where we find them. Apparently we did go the wrong way...we took a short cut. *darn it* and missed seeing some stuff!

Oh well...

We walk around in front of the 'nose' of Serenity! (Gingi keeps calling it the Melennium Falcon!). We walk into a very 'busy' area. Lot's of stuff in a very tight space. I don't want to go into to any detail that might be considered spoilerish, but I will say that everything is taking place at the 'front door' of Serenity. We all mill around while one of the 'helpers' (sorry, can't remember her name or title), tells each person where to be, what they will be doing. I'm tapped on my arm, and told, "here, I got you a husband"! I'm introduced to Marv. He is a regular BG guy, been doing it since February and was very funny and nice. I'm told what I will be doing, and see that Conrad is gonna be there with me! Yay, two Browncoats in one 'set/scene'! Right next to us is DG and her hubby! I look around to see if I can see Gingi and Jim and I see her RIGHT AT the door of Serenity! She grins and mimes "we're a couple!!". She was so worried that she and Jim would be seperated. We stand around and every time one of us Browncoats caught sight of one of the BDHs we'd pass the word along...trying to be quiet and discrete! Gingi and Jim were RIGHT there, were they all were at, since they were going to be exiting the ship! Everyone was there except Morena and Ron. Gingi keeps trying to motione over to everyone, you know, with her eyes and face...not wanting to point and yell at me, "Mom! There's Adam! or Nathan"...I couldn't see where she was looking most of the time!

Any way, they do a 'safety' annoucement, warning everyone of an incline that has gravel and is very slippery. Then they tell us that they will rehearse the scene, and then shoot. It was all a blur to me, thank goodness we had Marv, who explained what to listen for! He knew just where the camera was and told me to get 'as much face time as possible without looking at the camera'...I told him I didn't even know WHERE the camera was!!

When they had us waiting to watch how the scene would be played, I saw that Gingi and Jim were being told to walk right out across the paths of the 'stars'!! Oh man! That was freakin' awesome! They practiced a bunch of times. I've told Gingi she needs to write up here memories...cuz most of the stuff she did I didn't see, since it was going on in a different area than me. I do know that she within arms reach of Adam and Nathan!

We rehearsed and shot our scenes, and Marv, Conrad and me had fun saying silly stuff under our breath! Conrad said he was glad his wasn't a mime...it was annoying now being able to speak out loud, yet try to fake a conversation. I noticed that we got pretty good of just repeating our movements over and over.

The ONLY down side to the experience was the smoke! They had lots of smoke, coming from three sides of us! It didn't smell bad, I thought it was insence, but the guys who came and lit it and replaced it said it was walnut shells. It was literally in Marv's and Conrad's faces...I kept stepping away...I was worried Gingi might need an inhaler, but she wasn't that close to it.

Things went on in a blur...rehearse, then shoot, change a bit, rehearse shoot.

It really is shiny that I can honestly say that as to plot and script, I'm still pretty much spoiler free! I know what the scene is, but don't know for sure what the story line is around it, ya know? Watching Joss work was awesome! You can see that he 'sees' this whole story in his head. And it's all being broken down into tiny little puzzle pieces, and he gives out each piece to his troop of crew, and they do their thing and each piece gets made. Awesome!

I think we all went outside then...I think...I can't be sure, cuz I saw Adam walk by and my brain left.

All the Browncoats told me to talk to him, but he was walking toward the trailer/dressing rooms fairly briskly and I didn't want to bother him. Everyone said I'd regret not speaking up...but none of them made a move to talk to him either!! We saw him twice...and I didn't speak up either time...yeah, I do regret it, we didn't get another chance the rest of the day!

One of the times when we (the BG) were all walking out, I noticed a really pretty girl walking next to me...it was Jewel! She walked out with our group...and I thought, I better say something this time! I turned to see if anyone else in our group saw her and no one had, I told the guys to say something, and they wouldn't! I looked and she was pretty far ahead, so I figured I'd blown it, but she stopped to fiddle with her boot, so I said something about her "waving to the fans to confuse them" in reference to her blog entry. And she cracked up. I told her I was from the 'green board', and introduced myself. She was very nice and thanked all of us for coming out! These folks are awesome. As I walked away, Conrad taps me on the shoulder, like 'shame on you!', I told him 'well, where were you? You guys are supposed to keep me from accosting....*just as Alan walks past me*...the TALENT" *as I motion at Alan, he turns and grins!

Okay...I think this is where we had lunch. It was fantastic! We were told to please sit on 'that' side of the room and get our food from 'that' side (two stations were set up, one for BG, one for Cast/crew). I said it was like high school, and we weren't allowed to sit at the 'cool kid's' table! All of the Browncoats sat together, and as I sat down, Gingi said, 'mom, there's Summer'. She came and sat right across from us, on the 'cool kids' side. It was funny letting the guys know she was there...I think Jeremy's brain went off line for a couple of seconds there! :P

Erin told me to speak to her...since I let Adam 'slip by'...I told her I'd spoken to Jewel, so it was her turn! She went over and very nicely told Summer who she and we were...Summer was so nice! I'll let DG fill in these blanks. We also saw that Jewel and Nathan came in to eat, but none of the others did.

Well, we had a really long lunch break, and I was waiting for a chance to get Summer to autograph my t-shirt and the drawing I'd gotten at the LA con, I'd told her about it and said she was jealous cuz she thought it was such a beautiful drawing!

I took the time to call Rosie to check on Ewok, and they told me they were right near where we walk up to Stage 12, so I walked out to see them. They were right at the corner, behind/between some bushes! They went crazy over my blue hair! I told them what was going on with us. I'm not sure if Rosie gave me the info about getting backstage then or not...too blurry headed again. I went ahead and went back inside, cuz I wanted to be sure to get Summer's autograph. She finally finished lunch and I pulled out the drawing and t-shirt. She was very sweet! My camera would not work, but DG got a shot of me and her together. As we were finishing up, I saw that Summer was waiting for a guy that she was supposed to be going back with, I decided to call Ewok...just as I got Rosie, and asked for Jessi, Summer smiled at me, and I said, "Summer can you do me a favor and say hi to my daughter?" *I had told her that Ewok was over at the park with Rosie and her sister*...well, she just didn't say 'hi'...she started a conversation! It was awesome! The guy with her said they had to go, but she kept talking, so he said, 'walk and talk at the same time'...so we both started walking back toward Stage 12, she was telling Jessi how blue and cool my hair was, she asked her where she was, just as we turned the corner I said, 'she's right there', and she told Jessi to wave so she'd know which one was her'. (it was funny, cuz Ewok said when Summer asked 'where are you', she said, "if I say I'm in the bushes will it freak you out?"...Too funny!!

Anyway, she was so great...beyond great! The guy kept telling her she had to go, so I thanked her and she went off...Ewok was flyin' higher than Serenity!!

**I have to stop for awhile...my hubby is home and I haven't seen him since Sunday!**

more later!

Original post @ the Official Firefly Forum...

from cpf240

Ok, I am back home now, had a bite to eat, need a shower, and have a few minutes to organize some electrons into something readable. I don't know how much I can/should say about what went on today, but here are some things off the top of my head.

6 AM call time, got there at about 5:40, was told to go to stage 12. Find stage 12, told to go to stage 6, also know as "the holding area". Check in goes great, meet Sasha from Background Players, she is a very nice lady! Now its off to Wardrobe for my costume.

The Wardrobe trailer was crowded and had many little insects flying around. I found my costume and changed. After wardrobe. most of the men waited in the holding area while the women were getting their hair and makeup. There were some really incredible costumes, hair styles, and makeup.

While waiting for my turn with the makeup people, I found my fellow Browncoats! Saxon, Coffewench, DG, Rick, DVDGuy, etc. We spent most of our “down time” talking about the show, cluing in non-Browncoat extras, and just generally having a good time.

When called, I was taken over to one of the makeup trailers and handed over to a nice makeup artist named Heather. She gave me some mutton chops, definitely a new look for me! Heather was great! She would check up on me throughout the day to make sure the chops were holding up.

After some more waiting, we were taken to the set on stage 12. Upon entering the stage, we were given our props, and led around this huge wooden structure. As we walked around it, I looked into a doorway in the side of the structure, and what did I see? Simon’s Sickbay! Too Cool!

We were given our places to stand, and instructions on what we were supposed to be doing. I’m sorry, but I don’t know how much detail I should give here, so I’ll be sort of vague. From my position, I could see into the cargo bay of Serenity, the cargo bay door was open!

All but Inara and Book of our BDH’s were there. I was in the background in four or five scenes, each of which required several rehearsals and a few takes. Sadly I did not get to interact with any of the BDH’s, though I strongly suggest looking for Saxon’s post when it comes, as she might have something to say about someone she knows who “interacted” with our BDH’s!

After they were done with the first shots, we were lead out of the set. On our way out, what large, insect-shaped object did we walk around? None other than the full-scale bridge of Serenity! There was no glass in the cockpit windows, so we were able to see quite a bit, even though those windows were 10 to 15 feet off the ground. That warranted another Too Cool! We went back and forth between the set and the holding area a few times as they set up for new scenes, etc.

They had a very nice lunch set up for us in the holding area. I know some of you really do want *all* the details, but do you really need the lunch menu? Well, I’m not telling! And I’m not going to tell you what I did with the fork Jewel threw out… just kidding! We did see Nathan, Jewel and Summer eating lunch across the aisle from us, and some did go and talk to them. I’ll leave those details for the stories from those who were brave enough.

Sadly, most, if not all, of us were on the set when the cakes were delivered, and at this time we don’t know if anyone got a picture of them before they were devoured. There was nothing left by the time any of us got back to the holding area. I suspect Reavers got 'em!

After a long day we were sent back to return our props, costumes, etc. We signed out, then sat around and talked a bit. We were waiting for a nice P.A. to finish up some paperwork. Once that was done, the Browncoats were taken on a brief tour of the Serenity sets! Since they were closing down, it was dark in most of the areas, for example we could not really see into the engine room because it was so dark.

The first thing I saw was the door to Kaylee’s quarters! At the moment I am a little fuzzy on what order we saw the rooms in, but I know we saw the dining room, some little lounge areas, the guest quarters, cargo bay – with new and improved mule, Jayne’s weights, sickbay, and the guest quarters.

We were not allowed on the bridge, as there was some construction going on up there. This is when we all said good-bye and went our separate ways.

Is it really over already? I can’t believe it. I’ve waited over a month for this day to arrive, and already it is gone. What’s that they say about sweet sorrow?

Original post @ the Official Firefly Forum...

from Jewel Staite: Humongous cakes!

I think I may have spelled humongous wrong.

Just a quick note to say we all LOOOOVED the cakes that were sent to the set today. They were wonderfully creamy and fatty in every good sense of the word! They were devoured.

Also, all of the "browncoats" we met were incredibly sweet and kind. Thank you for joining us and we hope you had a fabulous day!

Thanks again....

Jewel

Original post @ Fireflyfans.net...

from Dusty Bottoms, your man on the inside: I feel like a big fat blog

"Note to self. Find out who this Dusty Bottoms is and destroy him, have him eaten and then kill him!"

-- Joss Whedon

Good Blog to you,

It appears that in just the few short weeks of my clandestine activities I've made some powerful enemies.

Read more at the official blog...