Part of the fun in going to comic conventions is seeing the hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of people dressed up as their favorite characters from movies, TV and the page. And part of the fun in watching a TV series – or a web series, in this case – about comic conventions is seeing actual celebrities doing the same thing. For instance, check out this shot of Firefly actress Jewel Staite going all Captain Mal for Alan Tudyk’s Con Man.
That’s one of the most glorious things ever. For one, everyone should have a costume like this in their closet, just in case the Earth is ever attacked by reavers. Two, Staite looks so much more womanly now than she did when she starred as Kaylee, as she was only around 20 at the time, and it adds a nice layer of realism on the costume. Three, she’s pregnant, and if your faith in humanity isn’t restored in a weird way by thinking about Nathan Fillion’s buccaneer space captain with a bun in the oven, then I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know what to tell me, either.
I love the “Mal look” and don’t understand why it hasn’t taken off in day to day life here on Earth. Staite’s fangirl is at least the third TV character to pull this outfit off. Fillion himself brought the duds back for a Season 2 episode of Castle. That took place on Halloween, the original cosplay event.
Who did it better?
As stated earlier, Staite donned the brown coat for an episode of Con Man, a Vimeo On Demand series that Alan Tudyk created with Nathan Fillion. It follows former Wray Nerely (Tudyk), a former TV mainstay whose current career is basically tied to his past as a character on the cult sci-fi series Spectrum, and he unhappily makes his way from cons to comic shops to other similar events. His best friend Jack Moore (Fillion) was also on the show, but his ascent to stardom was much more positive.
Knowing that we’ll probably never get another season of Firefly with the original crew, Tudyk wanted to get all of the show’s cast involved in Con Man in some capacity. Obviously Staite had her cameo appearance. The crowdfunded Season 1 also has appearances from Gina Torres, Summer Glau and Sean Maher. Other familiar faces include Mindy Sterling, Sean Astin, Felicia Day, Casper Van Dien, Tricia Helfer, Nolan North, Leslie Jordan, Seth Green, James Gunn, Robert Patrick and more.
You can find the first ten episodes of Con Man on Vimeo, with the last three episodes releasing on Wednesday, October 21.
