diff --git a/client/index.pug b/client/index.pug
index 4f5a8e84..a40194f7 100644
--- a/client/index.pug
+++ b/client/index.pug
@@ -17,8 +17,13 @@ head
   if canon_url
     link(rel="canonical", href=canon_url)
 
-  if !noscript && process.env.NOSCRIPT_REDIR
-    noscript: meta(http-equiv='refresh', content="0; url='?nojs'")
+  if !noscript
+    noscript
+      if process.env.NOSCRIPT_REDIR
+        meta(http-equiv='refresh', content="0; url='?nojs'")
+      else
+        style.
+          .nojs-shim { padding: 15vh 24px; text-align: center }
 
   base(href=process.env.BASE_HREF || '/')
 
@@ -43,5 +48,10 @@ body(lang=lang, dir=dir)
       }
 
   if !noscript
+    if !process.env.NOSCRIPT_REDIR
+      noscript
+        .nojs-shim
+          p This block explorer needs JavaScript to run. Please enable it and reload the page.
+
     script(src=staticRoot+'app.js', async)
   != process.env.FOOT_HTML
diff --git a/flavors/blockstream/config.env b/flavors/blockstream/config.env
index bae7fb43..2e5e5be1 100755
--- a/flavors/blockstream/config.env
+++ b/flavors/blockstream/config.env
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ export ONION_V3="http://explorerzydxu5ecjrkwceayqybizmpjjznk5izmitf2modhcusuqlid
 export CUSTOM_ASSETS="$CUSTOM_ASSETS flavors/blockstream/www/*"
 export CUSTOM_CSS="$CUSTOM_CSS flavors/blockstream/extras.css"
 
-export NOSCRIPT_REDIR=1
+# show a "needs JavaScript" message instead of redirecting to the prerenderer
+export NOSCRIPT_REDIR=
 
 export NAVBAR_HTML=1