I believe that this was an internal memo, not intended for outside release. It's the memo mentioned in that NYT piece.

Internal memo or not, when it was written, or at least distributed, Firefly was airing doing most of the things he talks about.

Right. That's the mission statement from early 2002, or part of it. It was included with the original pitch to the network. Not a press release, not intended as promotional material.

most of his points are things Firefly was doing/had just done makes him sound like a pompous ass, regardless of whether he decided to do this before Firefly aired or not.

Except as noted, Firefly was just a gleam in Whedon's eye at that point. If you really don't think it matters when it was written, I take it that you'd find it pompous if that was part of the Firefly pitch instead?

So was it leaked without authorization? Otherwise, it was distributed somehow through official channels at a time when it was no longer valid.

Did you read the blurb at the top?

It's been a long time since Mister X came forward with something juicy. Long time readers know he has uncanny timing when it comes to his appearances. That X has provided inside information on projects from several different studios, I can be assured he is not a plant for one specific company. Today, Mister X sent me an interesting document, one purported to be from the hand of Ronald D. Moore himself, that accompanied the teleplay to the powers that be at Studio USA and the Sci-Fi Channel and helped get the greenlight for the project. And yes, the miniseries is greenlit, folks. So, without further ado, Mr. Moore's Battlestar Galactica mission statement...

The part about "helping get the greenlight" should have clued somebody in that this was written before Firefly had starting shooting, much less aired.

I don't know what "official channels" you're talking about.

I was asking a question (which admittedly I would have found the answer to had I read more carefully). Since it's apparent it was an unauthorized leak, then there were no official channels.

When I read the article in the NYT about BSG it seemed pretty clear that the BSG guy and Joss came to the same conclusions about the space ship shows that had been aired previous to their own and what was wrong with them.

I don't think that means that either copied off the other or that these shows are very much alike at all.

If you really don't think it matters when it was written, I take it that you'd find it pompous if that was part of the Firefly pitch instead?

The point I was trying to make was if he wrote this or was showing it to people/studios after Firefly was already airing, then it is pompous and/or ignorant to talk about how you're going to revolutionize sci-fi by doing the exact same things as a series that was currently airing. If this was written/distributed before Firefly hit the air waves, then no harm, no foul.

Unfortunately we don't know when it was written/distributed. We only know when it was leaked, which was at the end of Firefly's run on the air. (And my mistake for not reading the rest of the article and seeing that it was in fact a leak and not a press release. I was only trying to find the mission statement and linked it as soon as I found it.) So I guess it's a moot point.

I think written versus distributed is actually kind of key here. At the time of writing, how would RM have known about FF? I mean, you know, unless he and Joss are buds.

I can see if people thought he'd written that memo specifically for public consumption and after FF aired that it would chafe (and perhaps that's what people thought at the time), but... I mean, that's not the case, if I'm understanding correctly the timeline Strega mentions. Its release was unfortunate, but I can't blame RM for that (unless he did it, which, I'm guessing not).

Anyway - my main point is the same. I suspect Ron Moore and David Eick don't attribute inspiration for BSG to FF because they didn't get their inspiration for BSG from FF. Betcha they think it's a great show, though.

I don't think Ron Moore and David Eick ripped of Joss Whedon.

I don't think so either and that hasn't been my arguement. I was just explaining why the mission statement rankled, particularly at the time it first hit the net.

From the NYT article, it sounds like the memo was written in December, 2001, or shortly after.