Apropos...
Nov. 24th, 2010 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakRegarding the reboot Buffy news: my initial reaction was the same as to the reboot Alias news earlier this year: so close in years to the original I really can't see the point. Moreover, since, as I understand the relevant articles, the idea is a film without Sunnydale or the Scoobies, one would think that if they just want a film about a Vampire Slayer without having to deal with show ensemble continuity and don't want any copy right law suits, why not basically go the Fray route and make a film about a future - or past - Slayer? I could see the point then.
(As for the lack of Joss involvement: depending on the stance on Mr. Whedon, I have seen reactions on my flist from "how dare they!" to "who needs him anyway?"; my favourite reaction was the one by Joss himself, though, which was as witty as could be expected, down to poking fun at himself re: the Avengers, and the Knight Who Rises Cheaper Than The Other One In Toronto.)
Now, I loved BTVS. Also AtS, and given I wrote far more Angel fanfiction than Buffy fanfiction, I sometimes wonder whether I loved the spin-off more, but not really, in terms of sheer viewer affection; the Los Angeles ensemble simply seemed to have more untold stories. Which is one of the several reasons why I never bothered with the comics, btw - I was okay with Chosen as the end after seven years of character exploration and thought the stories I wanted to hear about these particular characters were told, and for the most part, very well. (Well, I did want an epilogue for Buffy and Dawn, which I wrote, City Girls, but that was for my personal satisfaction and Rome nostalgia, not because I thought the story was incomplete without it.) The Buffyverse at large, however, certainly has more stories I'd be interested in hearing - all that Slayer history, for starters - so I'm not sitting here crying "blasphemy!" but wondering about missed opportunities.
Incidentally, I did see the original Buffy movie years after the show, in the US while staying with a friend. It made for an interesting compare and contrast, because over the top Donald Sutherland and Rutger Hauers aside, you could see the gem of some ideas later dealt with in more depth by the show, and also the subtle but important differences casting and direction can make. For example: the scene in which Buffy, having staked her first vampire, returns home is as far as dialogue and actions are concerned virtually identical to the flashback Joss wrote in Becoming, the season 2 finale: Buffy comes home, after a brief exchange with her mother goes to her room, stares into the mirror while we can hear the sounds of her parents arguing, and the reality of this being what her life will now be sinks in. However, in the film Joyce is a caricature of an airhead mother, entirely oblivious, whereas show!Joyce might not now exactly what happened to Buffy but is concerned because clearly something did. And with all respect to Kirsty Swanson, SMG simply is much, much better at showing Buffy's vulnerability and awareness in the staring-in-the-mirror scene. What I'm trying to get at, I think, is this: no, a well done Buffy tale doesn't necessarily need Joss and the old writing staff. (IMO it's no coincidence that the best episodes of season 7 came from newbie Drew Goddard; the rest of the writing staff, including Joss, were simply getting exhausted at that point, and it showed.) But it does need a scriptwriter or scriptwriter(s) of equal talent, and it does need really good actors. Otherwise, as good as the basic idea that started the entire story originally (Joss' concept of making the blonde in the alley who gets killed first in a horror movie the girl who hunts the monsters) is, it won't work, no matter whether you title it "Buffy" or something else.
(As for the lack of Joss involvement: depending on the stance on Mr. Whedon, I have seen reactions on my flist from "how dare they!" to "who needs him anyway?"; my favourite reaction was the one by Joss himself, though, which was as witty as could be expected, down to poking fun at himself re: the Avengers, and the Knight Who Rises Cheaper Than The Other One In Toronto.)
Now, I loved BTVS. Also AtS, and given I wrote far more Angel fanfiction than Buffy fanfiction, I sometimes wonder whether I loved the spin-off more, but not really, in terms of sheer viewer affection; the Los Angeles ensemble simply seemed to have more untold stories. Which is one of the several reasons why I never bothered with the comics, btw - I was okay with Chosen as the end after seven years of character exploration and thought the stories I wanted to hear about these particular characters were told, and for the most part, very well. (Well, I did want an epilogue for Buffy and Dawn, which I wrote, City Girls, but that was for my personal satisfaction and Rome nostalgia, not because I thought the story was incomplete without it.) The Buffyverse at large, however, certainly has more stories I'd be interested in hearing - all that Slayer history, for starters - so I'm not sitting here crying "blasphemy!" but wondering about missed opportunities.
Incidentally, I did see the original Buffy movie years after the show, in the US while staying with a friend. It made for an interesting compare and contrast, because over the top Donald Sutherland and Rutger Hauers aside, you could see the gem of some ideas later dealt with in more depth by the show, and also the subtle but important differences casting and direction can make. For example: the scene in which Buffy, having staked her first vampire, returns home is as far as dialogue and actions are concerned virtually identical to the flashback Joss wrote in Becoming, the season 2 finale: Buffy comes home, after a brief exchange with her mother goes to her room, stares into the mirror while we can hear the sounds of her parents arguing, and the reality of this being what her life will now be sinks in. However, in the film Joyce is a caricature of an airhead mother, entirely oblivious, whereas show!Joyce might not now exactly what happened to Buffy but is concerned because clearly something did. And with all respect to Kirsty Swanson, SMG simply is much, much better at showing Buffy's vulnerability and awareness in the staring-in-the-mirror scene. What I'm trying to get at, I think, is this: no, a well done Buffy tale doesn't necessarily need Joss and the old writing staff. (IMO it's no coincidence that the best episodes of season 7 came from newbie Drew Goddard; the rest of the writing staff, including Joss, were simply getting exhausted at that point, and it showed.) But it does need a scriptwriter or scriptwriter(s) of equal talent, and it does need really good actors. Otherwise, as good as the basic idea that started the entire story originally (Joss' concept of making the blonde in the alley who gets killed first in a horror movie the girl who hunts the monsters) is, it won't work, no matter whether you title it "Buffy" or something else.
