Jensen asks Whedon what the fans have meant to him. What happens next is one of the most emotionally moving moments I’ve seen at Comic-Con. Whedon struggles, or seems to, for the right words.

Somebody in the crowd yells out, “We love you!”

Whedon hears this, struggles some more.

And the crowd begins to applaud, and stand up. Soon the entire room is given an ovation. The cast stands up too. It’s possibly the most perfect way to end the panel.

Whedon takes the microphone. “Only an idiot would try to follow that with a sentence,” he says.

That’s precisely what I was thinking, but then Whedon follows with this:

“When you come out of a great movie you feel like you’re in that world. When you’re telling a story you’re trying to connect to people in a particular way. It’s about inviting them into a world. The way you’ve inhabited this world, this universe, you have become part of it. When I see you guys, I don’t think the show is off the air. I think there’s spaceships and horses — the story is alive.”