Where "Star Wars" fans go when they grow up.

That's a kinder description of the "Nerd Prom" that lined up at 5:00 PM for a 10:00PM sneak preview of the unfinished Serenity movie.

Whedon is trying a new marketing approach, letting the beloved "browncoats" see the film in progress. And the Weekly Standard has a comprehensive piece on it.

"Firefly went on the air two years ago," [Joss] Whedon continues, "and was immediately hailed by critics as one of the most canceled shows of the year."

Everyone laughs.

"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. . . . In Hollywood, people like that are called unrealistic, quixotic, obsessive. In my world, they're called 'Browncoats.'"

"This movie should not exist," he continues. "Failed TV shows don't get made into major motion pictures--unless the creator, the cast, and the fans believe beyond reason. . . . It is, in an unprecedented sense, your movie.

"Which means, if it sucks, it's your fault."

[..]

What made Firefly stand out was its odd, romantic characters and gutsy, strange writing. The dialogue tended to be a bizarre puree of wisecracks, old-timey Western-paperback patois, and snatches of Chinese. The stories were mostly simple genre exercises: train heists, double-crosses, duels at dawn, running from the law. And they allowed the crew--which included a fugitive doctor (Sean Maher), his psychic sister (Summer Glau), a missionary (Ron Glass), a cute mechanic (Jewel Staite), and a courtesan (Morena Baccarin)--to bump and occasionally grind against each other in amusing ways. The chemistry was irresistible.

I link 'cause I am a browncoat, but also because I once predicted that a "long-tail" approach might spread to movies from music and journalism. This project is driven by the fans in a new way.

Since the fan screenings began, Firefly DVD sales have shot up the genre charts at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. In July, a Dark Horse Serenity comic book, written by Whedon, will hit shelves, and the Sci-Fi Channel will soon start broadcasting the 14 Firefly episodes--all of them, in order.

Sept 30, I'll be at the Nerd Prom. See you there. Trailer.

On the web Posted by jk at June 24, 2005 1:07 PM