Firefly

If the Trekkies and "Star Wars" fans are Ford and Chevrolet, then "Firefly" fans are Chrysler. Or Saturn. Or Jet Blue. Or maybe I should be making an analogy with the Republicans, Democrats and the Green Party. Serenity fans

Whatever. The point is, fans of the Joss Whedon science fiction series, who call themselves Browncoats, have gone from not existing three years ago to showing up in impressive numbers at WonderCon. This comes after they had a large part in convincing Universal Pictures to make the unprecedented move of taking a television series that was canceled in its first season and turn it into the feature film "Serenity" — which is based in the "Firefly" universe and was recently released on DVD.

I gave that film a really good review when it came out last year, and a few "Firefly" fans criticized me anyway. Then I suggested they were a bit insane. Then I apologized.

Anyway, it was nice to finally meet some local Browncoats, who further proved to me that they’re not the least bit scary. To the contrary, three NorCal clubs — SF Browncoats, Sacramento Browncoats and Silicon Gulch Browncoats — are holding raffles and a silent auction for two of Whedon’s favorite charities. (That gray suit behind Arielle’s head in the photo was worn in the movie. It looks like it’s about a 38 Regular, although I didn’t get a chance to try it on.)