NEWS: A Whedon-Less Buffy? Say It Ain’t So!!!

CULTURE: A Whedon-Less Buffy? Say It Ain’t So!!!

by Damon Martin

Star Wars without George Lucas?

The Godfather without Al Pacino?

Jay and Silent Bob without Kevin Smith?

Any of those scenarios would just seem wrong wouldn’t they? Well, that brings us to Monday’s announcement from Warner Bros. that they will be reviving Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a new film that will have no direct connection with the previous movie or television show – and also no connection whatsoever with character creator and long time Buffy writer Joss Whedon.

You read that correctly: The man who created and guided the Buffy-verse will have nothing to do with the latest incarnation set to hit the big screen as soon as 2011.





[Willow in Doppelgangland]

The person given the task of bringing Buffy back to life will be newcomer Whit Anderson, who apparently is a lifelong follower of the series. At this point Anderson’s script is still at the concept stage; Regardless Warner Bros. decided to greenlight the project without so much as consulting Whedon.

“I didn’t really watch much television at all, but I always watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That was the one show I would watch when I got home. I just loved this character,” said the inexperienced Anderson in an interview with the L.A. Times.

Prior to Monday’s announcement, it had long been rumored that Warner Bros were working on a project that would see the original Buffy cast reunited for a big screen version of the small screen classic, with Sarah Michelle Gellar leading the way, alongside a cast that included Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Anthony Stewart Head, and David Boreanaz.

This latest announcement seemingly puts the final nail in the coffin with regards to a re-launch with the original cast. The fact that there will be a Geller-less remake is bad enough, but then to not involve Whedon almost seems like a slap in the face to any true Buffy fan.

When contacted for a comment about the new film, Whedon, who is a nerd’s nerd, reacted with grace and wit, instead of the outrage and venom most fans have met the news with:

“I always hoped that Buffy would live on even after my death. But, you know, AFTER,” Whedon said in an e-mail to E! Online’s Kristin Dos Santos. “I don’t love the idea of my creation in other hands, but I’m also well aware that many more hands than mine went into making that show what it was. And there is no legal grounds for doing anything other than sighing audibly. I can’t wish people who are passionate about my little myth ill.”

Since Whedon won’t, I certainly will.

If Whit Anderson truly was a fan of the Buffy that fans have come to know and love, she would leave the character in the hands of the man who created her in the first place. Anderson herself, compared what she is doing with Buffy to what Christopher Nolan was able to do with the Batman franchise on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Sadly, Anderson simply must not get the point when it comes to the Buffy franchise that she is about to soil. It’s one thing for Batman, a character created more than a half-century ago, to undergo a change in personnel. But, right now, Buffy is best served by Joss Whedon and his cast, who are still in their prime and at the top of their game.

Sarah Michelle Gellar had apparently been in talks with the studio about reprising her role as the vampire slaying chick with an attitude, and other cast members had expressed an interest in reviving the series in movie form. Now, the Buffy that fans have come to love may never return to the screen.

Some will say give this new Buffy film a chance. If it were anything else, I might say let’s keep an open mind and see how it turns out. But this incarnation deserves nothing less than an outright boycott from the true fans that have followed Whedon’s vision for many years. Personally, I’d take a stake to the heart before I’ll support the new version without Joss “I am Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Whedon being involved.

Ugh. If "fans" really want the property to be taken at all seriously, then they absolutely must "allow" for alternate hands to guide it.

Think about the Arthur cycle. Dozens of people wrote Arthur stories, but time is never wasted by debates such as "that Parsifal isn't canon because it isn't in Le Mort" or whatever. Popular fictional figures should be strong enough for different people to write them, wouldn't you agree? It's not as if the current "canon" of Buffy was all written directly by Whedon anyhow.

Finally, the fact that you led with "Star Wars without George Lucas?" is at least ironic. There are many Star Wars fans that already like the idea, and at least as many of that group that would be just fine with any new project that doesn't involve George directly.

But, uh, keep following Whedon's "vision," y'all.

So SMG has realized she's a one trick pony. She wanted to distance herself from Buffy at the end of the series. I guess she got tired taking on shitty roles and voice over work.

Umm . . . it's just a TV show, you know.

Very serious. Listen, if Whedon had no interest in carrying on the show or the original work he did on Buffy I'd say that's one thing. But he's carried on the show in a comic book that is dubbed "Season 8" of the show that ended a few years back. He's obviously still relevant when it comes to his writing and work, so for Warner Bros to just go ahead with this project like he doesn't even exist is what irritates me.

Listen, I hate the Twilight series, but think about the studios going forward witha Twilight movie or series with no involvement from Stephanie Meyers. It's her creation, and even though I'm not a fan, I'd understand the outrage.

That's basically what I'm getting at with this new Buffy. Whedon is Buffy...he wrote the original film, he wrote and was behind the entire TV show, and now he's behind the comic books of the same name. He's never detached himself from Buffy, so why not involve him is my biggest argument???

I liked this part of Whedon's response:

Unless she had a special (and very very very rare) clause written into the contract when she sold the movie rights, she didn't actually have anything to do with the movies. That's how the business works. Whoever owns the specific rights to the property gets to decide when, how, and if to use it. There is a good chance that Whedon no longer owns, if he ever did, the film/tv rights to Buffy.

Oh yeah that part I totally understand. I'm just saying that Twilight going forward without Stephanie Meyers having some hand in the story, plot, whatever would be similar to this. If they were at least basing this on a Joss Whedon story from the comics, but using a different writer or whatever, I think it would be less crappy than what it seems we are getting with this new version of Buffy.

Um, it was a movie first, which Joss wrote the original script for (not the campy shithouse it turned into).

I mock this thread with my monkey pants.

But my argument is that Whedon isn't dead nor is he flat out refusing to work on a new Buffy project. If that was the case and the interest was there, I'd say have at it. Some people that create something move on and don't really want to go back and do more with something they feel they've already finished with. It's clear that Joss Whedon is still involved and interested in working on things Buffy related, so that's why I think this new project is so much the worse because they didn't even bother to ask him or consult with him.

If he came out and said 'yeah, they talked to me about it, but I just had no interest at this time in doing another Buffy series' okay fine. But he had no clue when the announcement was made that they were even doing the project. That's my issue.

I think a lot of Buffy fans are bummed about this news. I mean Kristin Dos Santos from E! Online titled her original article about the new Buffy movie "Worst Idea Ever? Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot - without Joss Whedon"

LIsten, I'm not losing any sleep over it or anything but yeah I'm bummed because Buffy was one of my favorite shows of all time, and I would love to see a big screen version with the original cast written and directed by Whedon. It's been teased for years and then for this to happen, it's just a big let down that's all.

Except that he explicitly gave people permission to fuck with and take from his stories - he encouraged it, in fact. Similarly, with serial comic books, authors go in fully aware that their work is going to be screwed with in the future, but I think there'd be similar outrage if someone wanted to do a sequel to, say, Jimmy Corrigan without the involvement of Chris Ware. Joss Whedon clearly isn't comfortable with this, so I think a bit of outrage on his behalf is fine. I mean, I hate what George Lucas has done to Star Wars, but it's his stories, he came up with them, and for someone to shut him out would be a bit galling.

I'm not overly concerned about it, myself. I just think it's dumb. Buffy wasn't a particularly great idea in and of itself - it was the execution. Whether you liked the show or not was almost solely dependent on whether or not you liked Joss Whedon's voice and perspective. That was what made it special. Take that away and you have a rather generic quasi-feminist horror premise. Which is fine, but it's pretty much a blank slate. If the new writers try to imitate Whedon, it's going to come across as a weak version of something better. If they don't, they're running a big risk of alienating the fanbase. It's quite the tightrope they have to walk, and in the name of what, exactly? It just seems like a huge risk to take.

It's still just a TV show/movie/whatever the hell it is.

Stop forcing coyotemike to comment (repeatedly) on things he doesn't care about, everyone!

I was never a fan of the original series but after reading this story, it's possible they are coming out with Reboot in order to kick off a newer, younger series and draw fans in again.

If that is the case, then I can see where the studios would reassign all positions to save money and of course keep all of that profit for themselves without properly paying the talent.

It's not like that would be news to anyone.

I see your point about not getting it but I'm also commenting as someone who had no interest in the series. Still, I don't think it's fair to insult someone's interest in it just because you or I don't share it.

I'm pretty sure everyone has an interest or two that other people would look at and go, "Huh?!?"

And yet you chose to comment.

What I am really trying to figure out is this phenomena of people becoming so attached to a TV show that things like this cause reactions like this article and the one that spawned it.

When their own (and by 'their', I include myself) lives are so devoid of joy and meaning that the only way to retain any semblance of sanity in the face of a soul-crushing existence is to lose oneself in the alternate reality provided by a TV/book/comic book/movie franchise.

Well played, Sir!

I'm sure saying "it's just a TV show" will help you get to the bottom of it.