“Naked Nathan Fillion” segment of “Firefly: Browncoats Unite.”

Are you a tried and true Firefly fan whose favorite color is brown and owns more than one brown coat? Have you been waiting a decade to see more stories about Mal and his crew? “Firefly: Browncoats Unite” is a friendly documentary for those people who have followed the one season of Joss Whedon’s dark science fiction series but it’s bound to disappoint fans. If you’re not clear on what Firefly has to do with Serenity, sit back and let me tell you the story to prepare you for the “Firefly: Browncoats Unite” reunion documentary on Nov. 11 on 10 p.. (ET/PT) on the Science  Channel.

“Firefly” was a short-lived TV series that aired on Fox in 2002. Taking place in the year 2517, think of this as an anti-Star Trek. Earth is overcrowded and people have emigrated to other solar systems. There was an effort to unite the civilizations on different planets, but the government isn’t called the Federation, but the Alliance. The Alliance is two different powers from earth–China and the United States. The principal character , Mal, was a volunteer for the losing side of the Unification War, fighting with the Independents, also known as the Browncoats. Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) owns “Serenity”  which is named after Serenity Valley, the site of a pivotal battle where Mal was a sergeant.  When the series starts, the war is over and Mal has become a mercenary, stealing and selling good on the blackmarket.

Mal’s second-in-command is Zoe Alleyne Washburne (Gina Torres) who fought with Mal during the war. She’s independent and good with weapons, but she is marries to Serenity’s pilot, Hoban “Wash” Washburne (Alan Tudyk). Wash is the voice of reason and often breaks tension with light-hearted comments.

Mal’s love interest is a consort, a high-class prostitute with a secret, Inara Serra (Morena Baccarin).  Nothing becomes of their romantic arc given the short-lived nature of the TV series (one 14-episode season).

As the independent mercenary, Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin), is like the guy named Sue. There’s always a moment of shock when you see Adam Baldwin answering to the name Jayne. He seems dumb but gives hints that he’s hiding his true intelligence and he’s not without a tender side–he sends home money to his mother and once receives a silly knit hat from her that he wears with pride.

Instead of a trusty man taking care of the ship with lots of techno-babble jargon, we have Kaywinnet Lee “Kaylee” Frye (Jewel Staite)  who is more intuitive in her approach to repairing the ship and is joyfully lustful. Kaylee is giving up on lust in favor of love when she crushes on the medical researcher and trauma surgeon with a talent for sabotaging his own romantic intentions, Dr. Simon Tam (Sean Maher).

Simon Tam smuggles his sister River Tam (Summer Glau) on to the ship. River was kidnapped by tortured in a secret Alliance facilty that has left her mentally damaged. She is psychic but this is not the only reason the Alliance seeks her at any cost.

As the voice of morality and compassion, Derrial Book (Ron Glass) joins the crew. Called a Shepherd which is in this era equivalent to a preacher or pastor, he seems to have too much knowledge about illegal activities and warfare to have always been just a holy man.

Besides the Alliance, dishonest business men and related unsavory characters, the nine crew members fight against the Reavers. What coule be more fearful than a human that eats flesh? The Reavers aren’t officially recognized by the Alliance and deemed to be mere myths that are used to cover up the combat, rape, torture and murder performed by outlaws. Yet during the brief series, we see them as repulsive people who self-mutilate and eat strips of their own flesh.

The last time the crew of Serenity,  a Firefly-class spaceship, hit the screen with a new venture was when Joss Whedon directed a feature length movie called “Serenity.”  The movie was a direct result of the fans, who weren’t numerous enough for Fox to continue the series, but vocal enough to push Universal to give a go-light to the movie. Two of the nine crew members die during that movie. In the DVD commentary director Joss Whedon clearly states Mal isn’t supposed to be a hero and he sets up the character of Mal early in the movie when Mal shoots two people dead: One to save him from being a victim of the Reavers.  Whedon stresses this is like the Star Wars controversy with Han Solo. We don’t need to ask who shot first.

In the movie, Zoe explains just the attitude here. “You know what the definition of hero is? Someone who gets other people killed.”

Mal doesn’t get people killed, not yet. But River will and Mal decides that River must leave the ship Serenity. The crew has already split up. The Shepherd is no longer on board; he’s at an outpost called Haven.  Inara is training consorts somewhere else. Yet someone forces Mal to take River and her brother Simon back. Mal explains their situation to the crew and Jayne says, “If you can’t do something smart; do something right.” That pretty much sums up the story here. The only other thing you need to know is that Wash has a famous line, “I am a leaf o the wind. Watch how I soar.”

The movie came out in 2005 and was well-received enough for Roger Ebert to give it three stars. Ebert and Roeper gave it two thumbs up. Whedon’s concept is a dark universe, space with a Western twang and a supposed Chinese presence that isn’t shown in the casting, but only some of the signage and swear words.

Since then the cast have gone on to other things. Fillion starred in Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” was Dr. Adam Mayfair on the ABC series “Desperate Housewives” from 2007 to 2008 (12 episodes)  and currently stars in the  ABC TV series  “Castle.”

Torres was in the Matrix series as Cas where she met Laurence Fishburne. They married in 2002. She voiced Maronda the Witch in this year’s “Hotel Transylvania” and was in 18 episodes of “Standoff” and 10 episodes on “Huge.”

Tudyk recently voiced King Candy for “Wreck-It Ralph,” and Milton on “Ice Age: Continental Drift.” He played Stephen A. Douglas on the movie “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” and Doc Potter on “3:10 to Yuma” in 2007.

Baccarin has been on “Stargate SG-1” for six episodes, “Heartland” as Nurse Jessica Kivala for nine episodes and is currently playing Jessica Brody on “Homeland.”

Baldwin made a five-episode appearnce on “Angel,” was on 13 episodes of “The Inside” and the same number of episodes of “Day Break” and was John Casey on the comedy spy series “Chuck” from 2007 to 2012.

Straite also appeared on “Stargate SG-1” in a recurring role as the head medical doctor Jennifer Keller. Baldwin had a two episode appearance.  She’s currently playing Raquel Westbrook on “The L.A. Complex.”

Maher did have a role on the TV series “The Playboy Club” and plays Don John on the movie “Much Ado About Nothing” which is directed by Joss Whedon.

Glau was a series regular on “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and will have the lead in the 2013 release “Knights of Badassdom.”

Glass, who had been a series regular on “Barney Miller” from 1975-1983 and in “Mr. Rhodes” for 17 episodes in 1996-1997 and the same number of episodes of “Teen Angel” in 1997-1998. He’s made numerous appearances on series, most recently on “CSI:NY” in 2011. He was one of the main characters in the 2012 animated feature “Strange Frame: Love & Sax.”

Fillion, Torres, Tudyk, Baldwin,  Maher, Glau, Whedon and writer /director Tim Minear were at San Diego Comic-con for a special panel and they are the ones who are sitting at a table during the special and talking about their Firefly experiences. Staite and Maher appeared at the New York Comic-Con panel.

Diehard fans won’t be disappointed by the cast reunion. They talk and joke, remember and discuss possible story lines that were never told and true fans will wish could be visited in the future. This group of people, including the writers, Joss Whedon and the most the cast seem to genuinely like each other and cherish the memories made during their brief time together. This feeling was also present during their panel discussion and their press presentation.

You’ll see clips and individual interviews and you’ll even get a secret about the cast, but what you don’t get is hope. This is all hard to explain without a spoiler, so while this documentary is worth seeing, it is a documentary that doesn’t dig particularly deep nor have shocking, surprising or newsworthy revelations. This is just a reunion, a small celebration. You’ll be glad you were there, but still wistfully wishing for more. The Firefly event begins at 7 a.m. on the Science Channel with the full series marathon and at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), the special 10th Anniversary Special “Firefly: Browncoats Unite” will premiere.