Entertainment
How A Firefly-Style Sci-Fi Series Got Five Seasons And No One Noticed
By Jonathan Klotz and Joshua Tyler | Published
The 1990s and the early 2000’s delivered tons of wild, fun, televised science fiction, but that seemed to fade away in the 2010s. It was replaced by super serious programming like Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse, with little lighthearted adventure left for sci-fi fans.
One show, though, dared to be different. It bucked the trend and delivered a series of fun space adventures, quietly earning five full seasons in the process.
Lost in a haze of twenty-teens angst, almost no one seemed to notice, but it’s time to change that. This is Why Killjoys Failed.
Firefly wasn’t the first series to use the sci-fi-Western mashup, but it did popularize it. To this day, it is what people think of when they hear “space western.” Decades later, it has become common for sci-fi shows to incorporate aspects of Westerns into their world-building and storytelling. Though it lacks the dusters and six-shooters, Killjoys captures that same spirit of the old West.
Following a trio of bounty hunters that are constantly outgunned and often on the run from one group or another, it doesn’t hit like Firefly, but scratches the same itch. A Killjoy is a bounty hunter. In the first episode, we meet our “heroes,” Dutch and Johnny, as they take a kill warrant for Andras on what seems like a routine mission.
It turns out, though, that “Andras” is actually Johnny’s brother D’avin, so instead, they find a way to nullify the kill warrant. D’avin joins them as a brand-new member of the Killjoys and, thus, becomes the audience surrogate for learning about the rough-and-tumble business.
That’s only the first two episodes of Killjoys, which soon falls into a rhythm of episodic adventures combined with the usual mythology arc playing out in the background. Unlike some sci-fi shows that can’t find the right balance, this SyFy original keeps things moving from the word “go.”
The Killjoys are working as officers for the RAC (Reclamation Apprehension Coalition), one of many factions in the universe. It all revolves around Old Town, an industrial city essentially controlled by The Company, a massive conglomerate that has a stranglehold on trade and commerce. You can see where the conflict in Killjoys is going, but as with any series about life on the edge of society, allegiances can change with the wind.
During its run on SyFy, Killjoys received widespread praise for the surprising depth of its world. Unlike Firefly, which didn’t have time to explain much of the workings of the Inner Planets, this series delves deep into politics, subterfuge, and secret plots involving immortal super soldiers.
Why Killjoys Failed
Killjoys never really got the credit it deserved during its run, but the SyFy channel treated it well. It was canceled after 5 seasons, but SyFy allowed it to finish on its own terms, something genre television almost never gets.
Despite getting five seasons, Killjoys never really blew up big on the radar of most science fiction fans, and today, only a few years after the show ended its run in 2019, it’s all but forgotten. What happened? Why isn’t it a bigger part of the conversation?
The thing about Killjoys is that it’s very much a spiritual successor to not only Firefly but also Farscape. In an era of super serious sci-fi, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and remains fairly light-hearted throughout.
However, that is both a positive and, to some, a negative. Killjoys never reaches the emotional depth of its contemporaries, like The Expanse or Dark Matter. And we have to admit, it’s reflected in the show’s acting, which is passable but doesn’t go beyond “B-tier sci-fi series.”
To some, that’s a good thing. If you start watching the show for a good time that’s exactly what you’ll get. You get a lot of it too, as there’s plenty to binge.
One of our favorite things about Killjoys is the fun that the crew had with the episode titles, which are all either puns or references, from “How to Kill Friends and Influence People” to “The Hullen Have Eyes” and, what we hope is a purposeful reference to Blake Lively’s greatest line-reading of all time, “Wargasm.” That immediately lets you know the level of seriousness the show maintains, and you’re now either excited to check it out or want to stay far, far away.
As a show on television in an era of super serious TV, an era in which people were so against even the notion of comedy that Hollywood stopped making them, it’s easy to understand why Killjoys may never have seen the success it might have deserved.
Entertainment
Super Bowl LX performers: Who is singing the anthems
The Super Bowl LX halftime show featuring Bad Bunny and the Super Bowl pre-show featuring Green Day may be taking up all the attention when it comes to Super Bowl performances — and rightfully so! Everyone is looking forward to what the internationally known artists will do or say regarding President Trump and ICE.
However, other musical artists are performing at this year’s Super Bowl as well.
Charlie Puth to sing national anthem
Kicking the show off with the U.S. national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” is the Grammy-nominated singer Charlie Puth. Puth’s debut single, “Marvin Gaye,” featuring Meghan Trainor, was a Billboard chart hit upon its 2015 release. Puth has since had other hits, including “We Don’t Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez),” “Attention,” and “Nothing But Trouble.”
Mashable Top Stories
Brandi Carlile to perform patriotic song
Next up, singing “America the Beautiful” is singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile. Carlile has a whopping 11 Grammys and two Emmy awards. Her biggest hit was 2007’s “The Story,” but she is also known for songs like “Broken Horses” and “The Joke.”
Coco Jones to sing Black national anthem
Grammy Award-winning R&B artist Coco Jones will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has become a Super Bowl staple since 2021, when Alicia Keys performed it at the event. Singer and actress Ledisi performed the song at last year’s game.
Entertainment
How A Star Wars Set Malfunction Caused A Cast Member To Meet Jesus
By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Would you believe that arguably the most recognizable figure in the entire Star Wars franchise once ran into Jesus? This was no Jedi, although it’s admittedly fun to imagine what the Son of God might have had to say to someone else who could come back from the dead as a powerful ghost. No, the Star Wars character in question was R2-D2, and he had an accidental meeting with the divine when a remote control malfunction sent him to the set of Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth tv movie!
A long time ago (1977, to be precise), in a desert far, far away (Tunisia), two very different filmmakers were working on two very different projects. Franco Zeffirelli (best known for his Oscar-nominated Romeo and Juliet) was working on Jesus of Nazareth, which blended the four Gospels of the biblical New Testament into a single TV movie. Meanwhile, fresh off the success of American Graffiti, rebel filmmaker George Lucas was working on Star Wars, a movie that would effectively define his life while reshaping pop culture history as we know it.
Meeting The Maker
Aside from the involvement of James Earl Jones, these projects didn’t have much in common, and Lucas and Zeffirelli generally stayed out of each other’s way despite their sets neighboring one another. That all changed thanks to a scene requiring R2-D2 to be piloted using a remote control. While actor Kenny Baker was often inside the droid for scenes where R2 had to stay relatively still, there were some scenes in which George Lucas simply needed to move the little astromech from Point A to Point B.
In this case, Lucas intended for R2-D2 to exit a scene by rolling out from behind a sand dune. To do this, they intended to use a remote control, but the unit malfunctioned. Therefore, instead of stopping where the filmmakers intended, R2 just kept going until (as if guided by a higher power) he ended up on the set of Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth.
Fortunately, the runaway astromech didn’t cause any damage to the set of the Jesus TV movie, something that we can only assume would be some kind of sin. These days, the whole incident has become a bit of amusing trivia for Star Wars fans to share among themselves. At the time, though, R2 encountering a savior from heaven was just one more reason that filming this sci-fi blockbuster had become a living hell.
When Droids Move In Mysterious Ways
Reportedly, this is one of many incidents in which the droids weren’t doing exactly what the filmmakers needed them to do. On top of that, the droids were powered by exotic batteries that were hard to replace, and those batteries were soon drained in the hot Tunisian sun. Making matters worse, the truck storing R2-D2 and other droids once caught fire, damaging valuable props and costing George Lucas money he couldn’t really afford to spend.
Fortunately, it all worked out: after all these onset issues, Star Wars became one of the most successful films ever made. There are many reasons for this, including its perfect cast, killer effects, and charming story. However, we can’t discount the possibility that the movie’s success is a product of divine intervention; after all, his excursion to meet Jesus proves R2-D2 is a droid with friends in very high places!
Entertainment
Who is the Super Bowls Black national anthem singer Coco Jones?
“Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black national anthem, has been sung at every Super Bowl since 2021, when Alicia Keys performed the song.
This year, at Super Bowl LX, Coco Jones will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
So, who is Coco Jones?
Mashable Top Stories
Coco Jones is a Grammy Award-winning R&B artist. In 2024, she was nominated for 5 Grammys and won one award for Best R&B Performance for her platinum-certified song “ICU.” She earned two more Grammy nominations in 2025 and was nominated for Best R&B Album at this year’s award show.
The artist’s father, Mike Jones, is a former pro football player. Jones was an NFL linebacker who played for the New England Patriots, St. Louis Rams, and Tennessee Titans.
If you’re not familiar with Coco Jones as an R&B artist, she might look familiar to you if you watched the Peacock series Bel-Air. Jones is the actor who played Hillary Banks on the drama that reimagined the Will Smith sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. As a child actor, she was also a well-known Disney Channel star, appearing in So Random!, Good Luck Charlie, and the Disney Channel Original Movie Let It Shine.
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