Perhaps Joss Whedon was born to brave new avenues in television. After all, his father and grandfather were both televisions screenwriters. His mother was also a teacher and a writer, so I can only imagine the creative flow that moved through the Whedon household, stimulating young Joss’s mind from the very first moments he could formulate creative thoughts of his own.

Today, Joss Whedon is a household name. Seeing as he is responsible for some of the most iconic television series of the last twenty-two years, it’s no wonder.

Whedon’s first big hit as a television writer was on the popular 1980-90s series, Rosanne.

He contributed to four episodes of Roseanne in 1989, before moving on to write three episodes of Parenthood in 1990. In 1992, Whedon took a break from television writing to work in the film industry. He wrote screenplays for popular films like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story and Alien Resurrection before returning to television in 1997.

Despite the successes of his earlier writing career, Whedon’s true status as a cult-TV writer didn’t occur until 1997, with the kickoff of the popular WB series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, inspired by the 1992 film of the same name. The success of BtVS led to an animated series, a spin-off series, Angel, and a series of comic books for both Buffy and Angel.

In 2002, Whedon kicked off another series that took viewers by storm; Firefly. The space-western, while popular with viewers, only made it through one season, despite avid protest from fans. After the series cancellation, Whedon wrote and directed Serenity, a Universal Studios film that coincided with the Firefly series.

2008 saw Whedon’s first Internet-exclusive production, the musical tragi-comedy, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Starring Neil Patrick Harris as aspiring super villain, Dr. Horrible shares his wicked plans through his Internet blog.

Whedon’s love and excitement for quality science fiction continued in 2009, with the airing of the FOX series, Dollhouse. Sleek, sexy and chock-full-of science fiction, Dollhouse follows the adventures of human doll, Echo, who is programmed to help wealthy patrons live out their fantasies.

Nominated for both an Academy Award and a Saturn Award for Toy Story, Whedon did not actually begin to win awards for his work until the mid-2000s. Since 2005, Whedon has won Eisner, Streamy, Nebula, Prometheus and Emmy awards, and was given the Humanist Chaplaincy from Harvard in 2009 for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism.

With his finger on the pulse of science fiction fans, at this point in his career it seems as if Whedon can do no wrong. As a sci-fi fan, I hope that trend continues.