Firefly

Pre-Screening Message: The Transcript

Triple-Nickel Ironside Company, 555th Independent Battalion - Boston

There have been many requests for this speech and I checked with Haken before posting, so here is the more or less complete transcript of Joss’ message to the fans that is showing before the screenings of Serenity in the U.S...enjoy!

— - Hi, my name is Joss Whedon. Before we begin the special screening, I have a little story I want to tell you. It’s about a TV show called Firefly.

Firefly went on the air a few years ago and was instantly hailed by critics as one of the most canceled shows of the year. It was ignored and abandoned and the story should end there, but it doesn’t, because the people who made the show and the people who saw the show (which is...roughly...the same number of people) fell in love with it a little bit...too much to let it go, too much to lay down arms when the battle looked pretty much lost. In Hollywood, people like that are called ’unrealistic’ ... ’quixotic’ ... ’obsessive’.

In my world, they’re called ’Browncoats’.

Whether you’ve watched the show, or saw the DVD’s, or whether you’ve never set foot in the Firefly universe before tonight, the fact that you’re here means that you are part of something...something that is a little bit remarkable. This movie should not exist. Failed TV shows don’t get made into major motion pictures unless the creator, the cast, and the fans believe beyond reason.

It’s what I’ve felt. It’s what I’ve seen...in the DVD sales, the booths at the cons run by fans, the websites, the fundraisers... all the work the fans have done to help make this movie. It is, in an unprecedented sense, your movie...which means, if it sucks, it’s your fault. You let us down, but let’s not dwell on your failures because the work is not done.

I have to finish making it. Obviously not quite the final cut and you will notice some placeholders in music and effects, but we’re very close. Once we are finished, we have to get people to see it. Now, obviously the studio is going to do their thing. There will be ads and trailers and all that joy, but this movie doesn’t have stars and it doesn’t have a giant mega-budget or even a simple salable premise. What it has is us, the people who believed unreasonably.

If this movie matters to you, let somebody know. Let everybody know. Make yourselves heard. If you don’t like the movie, this is a time for quiet, silent contemplation. But, when the unfinished credits roll, if you still call yourself a Browncoat, remember the millions of people who don’t...who might.

I want us to do this together. The cast is going to be appearing wherever they can. I’m going to be blogging and stumping and whatever I can think of. We’ve got Can’tStopTheSignal.com up and running...I’m fairly certain. We’re all doing everything we can to make this the event that it should be.

Just remember, they tried to kill us...they did kill us...and here we are. We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty. Thank you for helping to get this movie as far as it has gotten.

Welcome to Serenity.