Firefly

Hello, young lovers, wherever you are. This is Joss, coming to you live via technology. I thought it would be fair to give you all my little State of the Onion before I descend into the depths of the Warren to pound away at my keyboard, munch lettuce and ignore that annoying nerd Fiver who keeps saying something bad is coming, like he can tell or whatever. I’m excited to beat this Wonder Woman script into shape (and munch lettuce). Mostly, to be honest, I’m excited to (deliberately split infinitive) not be a Professional Serenity Barker. I love you guys, I loves me some Serenity cast, but I am yammered out. By Spain it just got surreal (I think Nathan and Summer will back me on that one). Selling is not my strong suit. Actually, my strong suit is Kevlar, but it bunches in all the wrong places.

So I have read much over the past weeks: we have Won! Lost! Triumphed! Failed! and have, of course, agreed with every single thing I read (one of the exhausting things about having no personality). But in the dark blue of early morning I do have some perspective, and it runs thus:

I’m very content. I think the movie is really good. That was hard to a)do and b) realize. The response has been terrific, the majority of the reviews extremely positive: people GOT IT. What’s more, an impressive number of people saw this movie who never would have, and even more still will. This is not spin: I know we didn’t do the expected numbers our first weekend, we didn’t have an unprecedentedly small drop-off the second (which was my personal fantasy.) I’ve been to some dark places, just like you guys. But the movie has legs, and people who loved it LOVED it crazy, the way love is supposed to be. Europe has been a nice boost (and a lung-splitting shout out to my UK and Aussie UIPeeps — they’re dears, and efficient as hell). We’ll keep soldiering on, until we can’t crawl and we find DVD to carry us. I see us kind of like the Shawshank Redemption without all the Oscar nominations (unless Best Feet becomes a catagory). People who were befuddled by the title or lack of premise hook will finally pick it up, and keep picking it up... They may miss out on the big-screen exitement, but they’ll see our little tale and take it to their hearts. Takes a while. Just like the show.

I’ve seen a couple of posts with Browncoats beating themselves up about not having done enough. I never want to hear that again. You guys have gone above and beyond above and beyond. The people who are above and beyond are looking at you guys and going "Man, don’t they ever quit?" Your efforts, and your investment (emotional as well as tickety) have done an enormous amount for this film and my battered heart. No more self-flagellation, unless it’s the healthy, what-every-young-person-needs-to-learn-about-their-body kind.

And what about Da Fyoocha? (And why did I need Arnold to say that?) I have no idea. It could be that this tale is told. Or it could be that down the line, dollars accumulate and some exec says, "let’s spin that wheel again." Or who knows. I’m not resting my hopes on it, but it’s not a concept I’ll ever close the book on. In case the 30,000 reporters I told didn’t get this message out, I love this crew like Nick loves Nora, like Hellboy loves Pancakes, like Bridgitte loves Bernie (and if you’re old enough to get that reference, my condolences.)

Thank you all. I’ll be in touch again, but I have an Amazon to rassle. Remember that this is not over; every dollar (or Euro) counts, every new convert is a friend for life. But don’t fret too much on what’s to come. Enjoy the remarkable things we’ve accomplished. You’re Big Damn Fans. Have some lettuce.

All love, Joss.