NathanFillion

Last night's Halloween-themed episode of Castle, starring a spry as ever Nathan Fillion, featured a few surprise winks to Joss Whedon and Firefly fans. Not only was Buffy referenced in an episode involving vampires and werewolves, but Fillion even dusted off the ol' brown coat and boots to dress up like Firefly's Captain Mal Reynolds.

The get-up was part of novelist/detective Frank Castle's "space cowboy" costume, but those of us who attend Serenity midnight showings on a regular basis know that Fillion and the show were giving a huge shout out to Firefly fans.

Head after the jump for a clip of Fillion reliving his Alliance-fighting glory days on Castle. And, yeah, we really, really miss Firefly too.

Need more Dr. Horrible in your life? Newsarama has the skinny in a new interview with writer Zack Whedon (Fringe). Does that last name ring a bell? He's the brother of Dr. Horrible creator Joss Whedon, and he just happens to be the man behind Dark Horse Comics' latest "One Shot Wonder" -- an original Dr. Horrible story!

The new comic is an origin story that delves into Dr. Horrible's childhood and first encounter with Captain Hammer. Drawn by Joelle Jones, Whedon promises the comic captures the essence of the popular web series, despite no characters breaking into song on the printed page. Meanwhile, plots have been outlined and songs have been written for the next batch of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog webisodes. It's just a matter of Joss and Zack, along with brother Jed Whedon, getting together sometime in the coming months to work out the script.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris as a super-villain who keeps a video blog about his life, love, and constant run-ins with Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), took home a Grammy this year for its impressive, musical-comedy soundtrack. The "One Shot Wonder" series from Dark Horse tells self-contained stories based on Dark Horse's most popular properties, including Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian, Hellboy, and Joss Whedon's own Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Actors say a lot of things, and they talk about a lot of roles they'd love to tackle. But when Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle) said recently to the folks at IFC that he'd love a shot at playing Ralph Hinkley in a remake of The Greatest American Hero. The original show ran three seasons on ABC in the early '80s, when I was very young. And yet, so much of it has stayed with me through the years.

That iconic costume, the flailing arms and legs whenever Ralph was flying and his complete failure to grasp how to properly use the alien, super-powered suit he picked up in the desert. It was a wonderful blend of humor and drama and superheroics ... at least to this young mind.

That concept is definitely strong enough to support a revival, and I think Fillion is a great choice for the role of Hinkley. He's not overly muscular, he's about the right age and he already has plenty of genre credentials, which means a built-in audience.

Need that perfect gift for the Browncoat who has everything? Got an extra couple thousand dollars laying around? Quantum Mechanix is offering pre-orders for their gorgeous 1:180 scale Serenity Firefly-class replica starting on October 30th, 2009.

The beloved spaceship, last seen in Serenity, the film version of Joss Whedon's Firefly, is limited to a mere thousand pieces, and signed by "Captain Mal Reynolds" himself, Nathan Fillion. It's selling for a cool $2,495, but what do you get for all that dough? Three customization options ("Crazy Ivan" mode, docked or undocked shuttles, open or closed reactor shutters), a remote control to activate realistic "hard burn" engine lights, 32 different lighting effects, eight tiny crew figurines visible in the ship's bridge, hand-painted graphics (no decals!), and your very own in-person session with a highly trained Companion! (Please note that the personal visit by a trained Companion is not guaranteed by Quantum Mechanix, and may solely be the wishful thinking of this author. Especially for that price.)

The Serenity model is absolutely loaded with bells and whistles for the hardcore collector, and comes with its own display stand so you have somewhere to put it when you aren't flying it around your room by hand and making spaceship noises with your mouth. Each unit is hand-made by actual cinematic special effects artists employed by QM when they aren't out there building models for movies.

Honestly, with today's economy, Serenity: The Big Damn Replica may be a fairly sound investment. If not, then you've got something truly spectacular to display in your foreclosed home.