So. The Movie.

It was so, so good.

I've never done the super-geek thing before. Well, not this bad, at least. I did dress up for Harry Potter once. But this time, we travelled about five hours to get to a movie, waited in line for five more hours, AND dressed up.

It was actually really fun. There were a lot of people there in costumes and everyone was really friendly and let us join in on their card games and board games while we were waiting (we forgot ours, oops!).

Seattle was really nice too. I kind of wish we had had more time, as I would have liked to gone on the underground tour, and I know Matt would've wanted to see the Boeing factory. But we did go to the Sci-Fi Museum, which was awesome, and check out the Space Needle. I think we'll have to go back again one day, when we're not in such a rush. Maybe take the Port Angeles ferry and drive through the mountains - I know how Matt loves driving the narrow twisty roads by Kananaskis. :)

Anyways - enough about possible future trips. Back to this one.

At the beginning of the movie, there was a short taped message from Joss. If you're a Firefly fan, just try reading this without tearing up a little. You could really see how much he loved this story in the tape - his voice even broke a little at the end. It just made the movie that much sweeter.

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.

Aww, I'm so happy for him that he got his movie made, reading that again. And also, happy for me, since I got to see it. :)

Now, the review: If you loved Firefly, you'll love the movie. It's hard for me to see this with fresh eyes and decide if non-fans would get it, but I will say that it's damn funny in ways everyone would get, even if they're not following the storyline as closely. I would recommend Firefly to just about anyone, as it's written so very well, so do yourself a favour and buy the DVDs, rent them, get them from Netflix. Heck, I'll even lend out my set to people I know.

It was kind of interesting seeing this movie and Star Wars less than a week apart; granted, Serenity was not quite finished, so some things may still change. Star Wars has flash and cool FX that will probably be better than Serenity's even when they're done, but Serenity has characters who sound like they're having real conversations that actual people could have.

Of course, Joss fans could have guessed that would be the case; the writing is what attracted most people to Firefly or Buffy. I will say, and this is venturing firmly into spoiler territory, so highlight to view: this is typical Joss, and he will not hesistate to turn you to mush, make you laugh uproariously, or rip your heart out and stomp on it. And that's why we love him.