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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 17:18:13 GMT -5
Posted by Rae:Thought this article was kinda neat and I don't think I ever saw it listed on slayage.com (where I usually find the gig matrix articles)... Perhaps I'll post the same questions they went through on the main board to see our respones. www.gigmatrix.com/screen/screen_buffy_endgame_1.shtml
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 17:19:32 GMT -5
Posted by Rae:Originally posted by ldelrossi: Hi - there is a thesis about Spike at the address below. Quite long and somewhat scholarly. I bet the poet in Spike would enjoy being the subject of someone's dissertation. www.channelingboards.com/SpikeThesisSorry, I am no technopagan and do not know how to make a direct link. Lori
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 17:44:04 GMT -5
Posted by Karen:Television shows worth making time for By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY Even in the sleepiest season, it's worth setting your alarm for a few TV appointments. www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2003-11-20-appointment-tv_x.htm9:00 Angel,WB; The O.C., Fox Yeah, I know, most of you aren't going to watch Angel. Which is a shame, because new blood from Buffy and an altered format have made Angel TV's best fantasy. And speaking of fantasies, why do people complain that The O.C. doesn't reflect the "real" Orange County? This buoyant teen romance doesn't even reflect the real Planet Earth; that's its appeal. Certainly, both choices are more appealing than West Wing, a soap opera shell of its former self. The cast is still fabulous, which makes Wing's decline at the hands of its new producers all the more painful: It's like watching a great Thoroughbred being ridden by a spoiled child.
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 17:48:52 GMT -5
Posted by Betsy:
Who's Who in the Vampire World of 'Angel' Thu Oct 16, 2:11 PM ET (Yahoo Entertainment News)
By ANTHONY BREZNICAN, AP Entertainment Writer
Who's who on the TV series "Angel":
ANGEL
Actor: David Boreanaz
Bio: Renowned in folklore as a monster with the face of an angel, this 250-plus-year-old was a drunken lout before becoming a vampire. Gyspies cursed him with a soul, which turned his memories of mayhem into torment. He has vowed to atone for his past wickedness but is always teetering on the edge of relapse into his evil alter-ego. Still has a weak spot in his unbeating heart for Buffy Summers, the vampire-slayer from Sunnydale, Calif. Now he's the head of a multidimensional evil corporation.
Boreanaz says: "He has a sense of confusion right now and doesn't understand why he's been given this opportunity to run a huge evil empire. He wants to mix it up as best he can. He may be pushing a little too hard."
SPIKE
Actor: James Marsters (news).
Bio: William the Bloody, also known as Spike, was one of Angel's murderous lieutenants during his evil no-soul days. After numerous failed attempts to kill Buffy, the vampire slayer, they fell in love and he got his own soul restored. Spike appeared to incinerate in an apocalyptic battle in Sunnydale. Now his ghost, connected to a mystical amulet, has turned up at Angel's headquarters in Los Angeles.
Marsters says: "Frankly I get to NOT be the lovelorn puppy anymore, which is a relief. He got whipped, man, so he's back a little closer to the Spike that we originally met. He's just having fun making people's lives hard."
FRED
Actress: Amy Acker (news).
Bio: Angel and his gang rescued Winifred Burkle from a parallel demon dimension, and now the pretty, timid physicist helps them explore the science side of the supernatural. Despite her shy nature, she has had occasional romantic flings with her various colleagues.
Acker says: "She's kind of the slut, it feels like. (Laughs) I've kissed every guy on the show."
GUNN
Actor: J. August Richards
Bio: Charles Gunn was a homeless streetfighter who organized a small army to fight the vampire menace in Los Angeles. Angel befriended him, but Gunn never fully trusts any vampire — they killed his sister. He recently underwent a magical procedure that made him hyper-intelligent — but with unseen side effects.
Richards says: "He didn't listen to anybody, he was hotheaded, but now he's learning to be one of a team."
WESLEY WYNDAM-PRYCE
Actor: Alexis Denisof (news).
Bio: A failed "watcher," one who is trained in occult lore and sent to oversee vampire slayers, Wesley became a rogue demon-hunter with a penchant for bad luck and pratfalls. Primarily a bookworm, numerous brushes with death have made him more streetwise in his battles with monsters.
Denisof says: "He's the sort of moral compass. In the early days, he thought he was tougher than he really was. Now he actually IS tougher."
LORNE
Actor: Andy Hallett
Bio: This green-skinned, two horned demon is a seer who can read a person's aura when they sing, which can reveal their futures, memories, problems and cures. He left his demon-universe because it was too violent, heartless — and lacked show tunes.
Hallett says: "He's a little bit of Dean Martin (news), in terms of the hosting ability and schmoozing with the characters, with this lounge-lizardy feeling, of course."
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 17:50:20 GMT -5
Posted by Betsy:
Angel Flies Lighter 2003 - 10 - 30
Jeffrey Bell, co-executive producer of The WB's Angel, told SCI FI Wire that the vampire series is significantly lighter in tone this year, its fifth. "Oh, I would say it's several degrees lighter, but then again, we're not hosting an apocalypse this year," Bell said in an interview. "When you host an apocalypse, people are not real happy. It's very hard to go do some funny story when the sun has been blotted out and a beast has ripped out your innards and killed 5,000 people and there have been earthquakes and whatnot."
Bell said that choices made early last season forced the writing staff to turn out darker episodes. Now, Bell said, with Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) in a coma, Connor (Vincent Kartheiser) given a new home, and Angel (David Boreanaz) and the Fang Gang ensconced in their new digs at the law offices of Wolfram & Hart, Angel is much more in keeping with the episode-to-episode tonal changes of the first three seasons.
"Last year, we realized Angel and the guys didn't win many episodes," Bell said. "At the end of every episode, it was like, 'Oh, and they go get their ass kicked.' This year, we're able to mix it up much more. There are victories. People are saved. There are also losses and people not being saved, but it's not all losses and people not being saved. We're trying to look at the gray area of the situation, which is, 'OK, we're trying to do good for an evil corporation, and we're trying to do it from within. That means we're going to turn our heads about the minor things so that we can do the larger good.'"
Bell cited the upcoming "Life of the Party" episode as a good example of a lighter Angel episode. "[It's] just a full-on romp that's a lot of fun," Bell said of the show, in which Lorne (Andy Hallett) attempts to throw the ultimate Wolfram & Hart Halloween party. "That's the fun of being on a show like Angel, that the tone can change not just from week to week, but scene to scene within an episode. We can have something terrible happen at a very funny moment, and we're trying to exploit those opportunities as much as possible."
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 17:55:59 GMT -5
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 18:00:01 GMT -5
Posted by Nan:There's an online journal called "Refractory." And it has essays presented at a Buffy Symposium last November. Their publication, online, was in March--long before we knew (I think) that ScoopMe was gonna close.
So although I had this bookmarked, I don't know if we S'cubies ever took particular note of it.
It's not all that easy to navigate. You have to click on the given essay's listing, which takes you to the abstract, which is followed by a "more" link that takes you to the actual essay. Took me a try or two to get this.
Anyway, here's the URL. If this is material you've already seen, presumably you'll know that when you start reading. If not, it's very GOOD reading and I thought it might be worth bringing (again?) to your attention.
www.sfca.unimelb.edu.au/refractory/journalissues/index.htm [/color]
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 18:01:33 GMT -5
Posted by Nan:From Thestar.com Buffy spinoff Angel continues to thrive By Rob Salem 2004 - 02 - 2nd Feb. 2, 2004. 01:00 AM URL for whole article: www.buffy.nu/article.php3?id_article=3130Gilmore Girls all talked out Buffy spinoff Angel continues to thrive ROB SALEM Sometimes you jump the shark. And sometimes the shark jumps you. And sometimes you’re smart enough to just stay the hell out of the water, sit on the beach and read a good book. The American networks’ mid-winter "sweeps" period gets off to an early start this week on the youth-skewed netlet, The WB, with Very Special Episodes of two successful signature series, Gilmore Girls and Angel. The first is a classic example of a once-great show that has now "jumped the shark" (Internet-inspired terminology for "past it"). The second is a spin-off series that started off inside the shark, and has somehow managed to muscle its way out again and swim off to bluer waters. Gilmore Girls, (tomorrow night on WPIX at 8 and KTLA at 11, Wednesday on Global at 9), kicks off what is ostensibly a two-part story, linked only in reality by the dubious return of Milo Ventimiglia’s broody Jess, who left an entire season ago to be spun off into his own series, which somehow never quite got around to actually getting made. Angel, a series spinoff (from Buffy The Vampire Slayer) that did succeed, against all odds, celebrates that fact, and its recent, fifth-season rejuvenation, with a thematically pivotal 100th episode (Wednesday at 9 on WPIX, 10 on CKVR and midnight on KTLA) that also brings back an absent friend, resolving once and for all the final fate of Charisma Carpenter’s comatose Cordelia Chase. <discussion of Gilmore Girls cut> But enough doom and gloom. Time to talk vampires, demons and lawyers, and the unlikely fifth-season beyond-the-grave resurrection of Angel, this week celebrating its centennial episode - the magic number required for five-night-a-week "strip" syndication, in other words, residual money, the Big Ka-Ching. The show has benefited greatly this year from the focused attentions of its creator, Joss Whedon, who, with the conclusion of the originating Buffy and Fox’s unconscionable cancellation of his visionary sci-fi series, Firefly, is now devoting his full attention to Angel, transferring the action to a law firm of the living dead and adding that fan-favourite Buffy biter, James Marsters’ Spike, to the already eclectic mix. I mean, is there another writer on the planet who could come up with a line like, "The dead nuns we can deal with, but the firm’s out $10 million in bail costs ..."? Or another show even remotely capable of accommodating it? "I do feel there’s a new energy this year," Whedon acknowledges. "You know, just coming off with kind of a new paradigm, the idea of putting them in the heart of evil and making it look really nice ... obviously, bringing in James and shaking up the cast a little bit ... having the mission statement of making the show accessible to people who haven’t seen it before really kept us on out toes." "I’m having fun kind of going back to the original Spike," allows Marsters, "which is really kind of a weird thing to say, because the character got a soul, which would have made me think I’d be going in a whole new direction. But I am enjoying not being `whipped’ anymore. "And so I can go back to, you know, what the character kind of did originally, which is go up to the lead of the series and say, `Hey, you’re going to die. You’re a fool,’ and just be the grit in the wheel that way. "I’m enjoying myself and this cast like never before ... and I think that’s showing in the work, too." #nosmileys
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 18:06:28 GMT -5
Posted by missbuffy:
Found this a couple days ago (I can't find where) and was just wondering if this is the issue with Spike on the cover that everyone keeps talking about, or is it something different? I did a quick look for the Buffy SFX at Chapters, but didn't find it.
----
Buffy: an SFX special edition
Sci-fi top seller releases one-off unofficial Buffy collector's guide
Future Publishing's flagship sci-fi magazine and European bestseller, SFX, is this month releasing a special one-off title dedicated entirely to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The SFX unofficial Buffy collector's guide counts 116 pages and is complemented by a high-quality, 24-page 'portfolio' including a specially selected range of photographs featuring the main Buffy cast.
Billed as the 'definitive, 100% guide to all matters Buffy', this SFX special edition contains a foreword by Buffy's creator / producer, Joss Whedon as well as interviews with all the main cast including Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Boreanaz, James Marsters, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head and more.
Also included in the unofficial Buffy collector's edition is a complete guide to all 144 episodes of the show - each one reviewed and rated. The magazine further offers a unique Buffy timeline, the fashions and the music of Buffy and an interview with Joss Whedon.
Additional content includes a retrospective on the original Buffy movie and how a film flop became a TV hit and a feature on what happened before the Buffy cast were famous revealing embarrassing pics of the stars in their pre-Buffy roles.
Dave Golder is editor of SFX magazine. Commenting on this unofficial Buffy collector's edition and SFX brand extension, Golder says:
"Not only was Buffy witty, exciting, and full of emotional resonance, but it opened up a whole new audience for fantasy TV. It's been a firm favourite with our readers throughout its run and will be sorely missed. The SFX unofficial Buffy collector's edition is our tribute, in SFX's inimitable style, to this truly excellent series."
The SFX Buffy special edition comes packaged in a cardboard slipcase, is priced at £4.99 and goes on sale 4 September 2003.
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 18:09:12 GMT -5
Posted by missbuffy:Origianlly found on reason online www.reason.com/0308/cr.vp.why.shtmlWhy Buffy Kicked Ass The deep meaning of TV’s favorite vampire slayer Virginia Postrel When Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on the WB Network in 1996, American culture was in trouble. Americans were bowling alone, pursuing individual interests to the detriment of the communal good. Business leaders were celebrating creativity and neglecting discipline. Nike’s "Just do it" ads were teaching young people to break the rules. Hollywood was turning out "nightmares of depravity." Americans had forgotten bourgeois virtue. Freedom and affluence had made us soft. We were self-indulgent moral nihilists -- materialistic, selfish, and impulsive. We might have been having fun, but we’d created a culture no one would fight for. At least that’s what the wise men said. On September 11, 2001, they shut up. Ordinary Americans, it turned out, were not only brave but resilient and creative, even lethal, when it mattered. Buffy was right all along. For those who somehow missed its cult success, Buffy tells the story of an unlikely hero -- a pert, blonde teenager whom fate has destined to be the Slayer, the "one girl in all the world" endowed with the supernatural strength to protect humanity against the demon hordes. Buffy would rather be a cheerleader and prom queen, but a normal life is not to be. "No chess club and football games for me," she says. "I spend my free time in graveyards and dark alleys." The show, which ended its seven-season run in May, began as a reification of the horrors of high school. What if that ambitious cheerleader wannabe really was a witch? What if the girl no one paid attention to really turned invisible? What if the swim coach really would do anything to win? What if sleeping with your boyfriend made him act like a different person, turned your Angel into a cruel and vicious monster? The mere existence of Buffy proves the declinists wrong about one thing: Hollywood commercialism can produce great art. Complex and evolving characters. Playful language. Joy and sorrow, pathos and elation. Episodes that dare to be different -- to tell stories in silence or in song. Big themes and terrible choices. In the show’s most wrenching moment, Buffy kisses her one true love and saves the world by sending him to hell. Buffy assumes and enacts the consensus moral understanding of contemporary American culture, the moral understanding that the wise men ignored or forgot. This understanding depends on no particular religious tradition. It’s informed not by revelation but by experience. It is inclusive and humane, without denying distinctions or the tough facts of life. There are lots of jokes in Buffy -- humor itself is a moral imperative -- but no psychobabble and no excuses. Here are some of the show’s precepts, a sample of what Americans believe: Evil exists. Evildoers deliberately inflict pain on others. Sometimes they do so because they enjoy watching others suffer. Sometimes they do so to assert or gather power. Often they seek both immediate pleasure and long-term gain. Whether they seek to rule the world or to humiliate high school losers, evildoers lack empathy. They lie. They manipulate the vulnerabilities of others. The truly evil are abetted by the weak and venal, who assist them out of fear, ambition, anger, or hate. The servants of evil are evil as well. Redemption is possible. The once-evil can change. Vampires can reclaim their souls. Catty alpha girl Cordelia can learn to be nice. But true redemption exacts a price. Penitents must face what they’ve done. They must suffer. Faith, a second Slayer (long story there) who "went all evil and started killing people," must willingly go to prison for her crimes. Andrew, the nerd manipulated by grandiose dreams of godhood, must admit that he, not some outside force, killed his best friend. There’s no cheap grace in the Buffyverse. Evil must be fought -- sometimes literally, with lives and weapons. Most evildoers are beyond redemption. They are certainly beyond persuasion. War is stupid and wasteful and cruel and necessary. "People die," says Buffy. "You lead them into battle, they’re going to die. It doesn’t matter how ready you are or how smart you are. War is about death. Needless, stupid death." The next day, she goes to war. And good people die. Evil never goes away. Individual evildoers can be defeated; the current manifestation of evil can be destroyed. But, says Buffy, "There’s always more." We don’t get to choose our reality. Life’s not fair. There’s no point in whining. "I hate this," Buffy tells her small band before their final battle. "I hate being here. I hate that you have to be here. I hate that there’s evil and that I was chosen to fight it....I know a lot of you wish that I hadn’t been either. This isn’t about wishes. This is about choices." We do get to choose what we do. Buffy doesn’t choose to be the Slayer, but she chooses how to be the Slayer. She chooses to have friends and to share her mission with them. She chooses to wear cool clothes. She chooses to improvise, to break rules, to find loopholes. If prophecies decree that no sword can slay a certain demon, she gets a rocket launcher. She is pragmatic, creative, and incredibly effective. "It flies in the face of everything we’ve ever -- every generation has ever done in the fight against evil," says Giles, her former Watcher and father figure, when Buffy lays out her plan in the finale. "I think it’s bloody brilliant." Life’s pleasures are precious. Buffy maintains her sense of humor, her great hair, and her love of ice cream. She has fun with the friends she loves. The jokes and playful language are as essential to the Buffyverse as the earnest sentiments they cut across. "So what do you guys want to do tomorrow?" Buffy asks her best friends as they walk to their final battle, a battle none expects to survive. "I was thinking of shopping, as per usual." Banter ensues about shoe cravings and the right look for a guy with an eye patch. "Aren’t we going to discuss this?" asks Giles, befuddled and a tad disapproving. "Save the world, and go to the mall?" Well, yes. That’s the world they’re fighting for. --- Virginia Postrel is the author of The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness, which will be published in September by HarperCollins.
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 18:39:55 GMT -5
Posted by DaveCrenshaw:
Why "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" will be the next Star Trek JHM columnist Aaron Gordon Michael returns with an intriguing look at why Paramount's "Star Trek" franchise is currently floundering while Joss Whedon's "Buffy" is perhaps poised for a back-from-the-dead revival.
You know, back in the day, I was quite the little Trekkie, voraciously watching the reruns, attending a few conventions, wearing the pointy little ears, and eagerly dragging my unsuspecting (and uninterested) parents to see the films. This fascination with Starfleet was more intense than my other interests, and as I got older, I filled my time with Star Trek novels, Star Trek games ... even a few Star Trek Star Charts (which, looking back, is quite funny in itself: an idiot in the field of science studying an astrological chart of planets ... that don't exist. Now you know why I write instead of being an engineer!)
This Trek love continued through the brilliant "Next Generation" television series, the ever-more-tepid "Original Cast" movies ... even through Sisko's scenery chewing on "Deep Space Nine" and the waste of Kate Mulgrew's phenomenal abilities on "Voyager." But, around the early nineties, Star Trek-as-obsession morphed into Star Trek-as-tradition, as I began tuning into the shows more out of rote than out of unbridled passion. This mindset change is partially due to personal growth. The awkward, geeky boy had been replaced by a confident, over-the-top adult ready for sex, drugs and rock and roll! What can I say? Ear-wearing dorks don't get past the bouncer.
And yet, my own Trek into Sin is only part of the dimming of the Star Trek enterprise (yeah, THAT'S a theory! Star Trek the franchise is failing because some anonymous writer got laid. Maybe if more current Trek writers were getting some ...) I'm certainly not going to rehash what has been covered in the media ... but Star Trek has lost some of its energy as a franchise due to the diminishing quality of the scripts, an over-saturation of the market (both of things Star Trek and of things Sci-Fi), and a lack of innovation regarding the look-alike/interchangeable series. Plus, Star Trek had ceased being a fan-based cult a long time ago. With six television series (including the animated Trek), 10 films, countless games, and even more countless products, Star Trek is less a fledgling movement than a cash cow ... less about quality, more about profitability.
Now, I'm not going to beat Paramount Pictures down for trying to squeeze Trek for every dime its worth ... they are simply attempting to do their job, by making the most profit with the least amount of overhead (indeed, it sounds a lot like the contemporary Disney method). Instead, imagine ten years into the future. Where Trekkies are replaced by ... Scoobies worshiping at the altar of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. That's right: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, already a cult hit, has the makings to become the next Star Trek phenomenon. (On the television series, Buffy and her demon-killing friends refer to themselves as the "Scooby Gang," or the "Scoobies." And, in a weird example of pop culture synergy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, the actress who portrays Buffy, also portrays Daphne Blake in the "Scooby Doo" movie franchise.)
Much like the original Star Trek series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer is an original before its time. Kirk and Spock didn't truly find an audience until the show hit syndication in the 1970, and once it did, Star Trek became the primary model to build a science fiction series upon. Battlestar Galactica, V, and even Star Wars owe a huge debt to Gene Roddenberry's yarn about a future utopia. In essence, the network audience wasn't ready for this unique take on space fantasy ... but a few years later, legions of fans, who were catching the repeats locally, were eager for more.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer has seen the beginning of this trend. Rarely getting a sizeable audience on the small networks (WB, UPN) which aired it, Buffy has nonetheless built a huge fan base in repeats on the FX cable network, in addition to traditional syndication. Frequently over the past two seasons, the two-hour Buffy blocks on FX met or out-rated the new episodes airing on UPN. (I didn't even tune in until midway through their sixth season ... and now, I'm hooked.) Plus, Buffy The Vampire Slayer has already been used as the archetype for a fantasy-based series. Dark Angel was Buffy-as-Brunette. Smallville is Buffy-as-Superman. Alias is Buffy-meets-Bond. Charmed is Buffy-With-Babes. And, much like the Trek knock-offs, most of these series will fade into Buffy's background, resurfacing on the Sci-Fi Channel, or as a question in a game of Trivial Pursuit.
The original Star Trek became a phenomenon because of the fans. Trekkies moved Star Trek far beyond the realities depicted on the show, taking the basic themes and expanding them, writing fan fiction, creating uniforms from felt and dreams ... all the while organizing conventions to meet other members of the cult. Now, while Paramount may have overdone the amount of products currently licensed with the Star Trek name ... early on these licensees were inexpensive to obtain, rarely discussed, and frequently resulted in homegrown products.
Similarly, Buffy The Vampire Slayer is more than the sum of its television episodes. Don't misunderstand me: 20th Century Fox has plenty of official merchandise available to scratch your Buffy itch (and they're making plenty of cash off the Buffy license.) But there are now BuffyCons: literally a Star Trek convention featuring the Buffyverse. There are unofficial books about the series, and quite a few academic treatises about the effect of Buffy on pop culture. Despite the ratings (and the near-impossibility of classifying the show), Buffy The Vampire Slayer has arrived ... and more and more Scoobies are signing up daily.
Finally, Star Trek succeeded through "The Next Generation" because its creators found an ideal balance between art and commerce, thereby protecting the franchise from losing its luster. Too much of a good thing is still too much, and with each successive episode, each repetitive film, Trekkies have learned that mediocrity ... in abundance, becomes monotonous. With series creator Joss Whedon maintaining firm control over Buffy (and its spin-off, Angel), much like Gene Roddenberry did for Star Trek until his death, its unlikely that Buffy The Vampire Slayer will be tainted by the money masters at 20th Century Fox anytime soon.
So, the signs are there. An innovative show, building an audience in repeats, with fan clubs the world over, is poised to take the mantle from Star Trek and create a new version of that old phenomenon. However, if Buffy's handlers don't heed Star Trek's lesson, 20th Century Fox may lose Buffy's potential. For example, it's extraordinarily wise that there isn't a new Buffy spin-off this year. In fact, once Angel is off the air, Joss Whedon and 20th Century Fox should take a decade or so off, and just let the franchise cook in its own juices. Keeping fans waiting for new filmed material was a perfect fit for Trek; overloading fans with new episodes is what's killing it.
Plus, Buffy The Vampire Slayer has an ace in the hole over Star Trek: Sarah Michelle Gellar. It's easy to equate Roddenberry to Whedon, and series to series, but to compare William Shatner to Sarah Michelle Gellar isn't balanced. William Shatner is great as Kirk ... because Shatner's ticks, quirks, and general wackiness are part of our memory of the original, fun, campy Star Trek series. Sarah Michelle Gellar, on the other hand, is great as Buffy Sommers because Ms. Gellar is a phenomenal actress, conveying a three-dimensional person with each and every episode. Cardboard versus flesh and blood.
And since Gellar is pursuing movie work full time, the franchise may again be blessed: in ten years, should Sarah Michelle Gellar make good on her potential, building a film career that's both profitable and artistic, the return to the role that made her a star should boost Buffy's potential in ways that Shatner, funny though he is, couldn't hope to duplicate with T.J. Hooker, or any of his other non-Trek work. (Not that I don't like T.J. Hooker ... but it's no Rescue 911.)
Trek is dead, rotting under the weight of its own excessive success. But in its wake is a little show just starting to build momentum towards Trek-like greatness. So, eager readers, its time to get in on the ground floor of the next big thing. See Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Even if I'm wrong, you'll get to experience an exceedingly well-written, acted, produced and filmed work of art ... from a medium that rarely goes outside the box. And, if you're an old school Trekkie, watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer will rekindle a certain geeky, manic energy inside. Space may be the final frontier, but the voyages of the new generation will take place with The Chosen One. The Slayer. Staking staleness ... one brilliant episode at a time.
See all you Scoobies at the convention!
Aaron Michael Gordon is a 28-year-old professional advertising writer in South Florida. He wrote the short story "Depth," and the plays "Venus Descending" and "Emotional Alimony," as well as a variety of national and regional print/radio/television ad campaigns. You can reach him at aaroniuspolonius@hotmail.com
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Post by Sara on Mar 27, 2005 18:45:08 GMT -5
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Post by Wendy on Apr 27, 2005 7:35:45 GMT -5
TV Gal Mourns the Dead. "Most Honest Portrayal of Death: Joyce Summers on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer. From Buffy's numb and disconnected reaction to her friends' utter helplessness, this is the episode that got everything right." Spoilers for Lost at bottom of the page.(Added) Joss posts some personal thoughts about The Body in this thread. Joss Discusses "The Body" (Scroll down about 3/4 of the page) This is what he posted: Okay, I shamelessly admit to reading this entire thread, and actually (is this weird?) welling up a little myslef reading about certain moments. So I thought I'd share one with you guys:
I had the arc mapped out years before I made the ep, and I always knew it would be MY ep. But when it came around I was filled with ideas for expansion, movies, comics, and that "mom's death ep" was just my day job... One night we had friends over and I remember walking into a room by myself and suddenly realizing that the most important artistic challenge I might EVER face was the ep I was about to start writing. It was a little epiphany, how much this ep would mean to me and how much it would push me artistically. I've mentioned that it's based on some real experiences, talked about the aesthetics of the thing, the idea to not use music... but that one first moment of realization, the first terrible blush of the thing, that was extreme. Part of that excitement is having no idea how it will turn out. Now I do. Reading these posts means a huge amount to me. I would have posted this last night, but I (do you even have to ask?) forgot my password again. Thanks, all. -j.
joss | April 26, 22:09 CET
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Post by Sara on Jul 20, 2005 8:42:09 GMT -5
From the News-Journal Online:'Firefly' glows in the deep, deep black By C. A. BRIDGES TWENTY-FOUR/SEVEN
Last update: July 20, 2005
Starting Friday, July 22, at 7 p.m., the Sci-Fi channel will begin broadcasting the best science-fiction series ever made. Coincidentally, it will also be showing one of the best western shows and one of the funniest comedies. And it's called "Firefly."
Five hundred years in the future, a veteran of the losing side of a galactic civil war must find a way to survive on his own terms under the government's radar. With a small, quirky crew and a small, quirky ship, Captain Malcolm Reynolds takes on whatever job, legal or otherwise, that he can get. And one day he picks up something that the government wants very badly.
"Firefly" was created by Joss Whedon, who also created a blonde vampire-slayer you may have heard of. His sci-fi show was cancelled midseason, only airing 11 episodes. So why should you watch a half-finished science fiction/western from three years ago? Here's why:
It was cancelled by Fox, which shouldn't count.
Cannily realizing that viewers enjoy the thrill of the chase, Fox skipped the pilot, ran the second episode first, mixed up the rest, and waged a heroic battle to keep interest high by endlessly airing commercials about "Oliver Beene." Had "24" been handled the same way it would never have made it to "12."
Of course, after "Firefly" was canceled, Fox finally ran the first episode because TV executives like a good joke as much as anybody.
It could be the only science-fiction show ever with a Chinese/bluegrass soundtrack.
The lack of this is exactly why "Enterprise" failed.
It's a dessert! It's a floor topping!
In this future the farther settlers travel from the central Core planets, the more rural they get. So you get spaceships and computers, but you also get horses and revolvers and pretty floral bonnets. There's excitement and comedy and romance and crime and even an autopsy or two. No swapped soccer moms or entrails-eating for money, but I think the other networks have those covered.
You won't feel stupider afterward.
Regular television consumption will leave you with the inescapable conclusion that everyone in the world is a moron. People say stupid things, make stupid assumptions, and consistently fail to see obvious solutions because then the show would end 52 minutes too soon. You can actually feel your brain freezing up from vapor lock
The folks in "Firefly," good and bad alike, tend to do the same things you usually scream at television people to do, before you think to scream them, except when they're doing something even better. As it turns out that doesn't always help, but at least then you've got no one to blame but yourself.
Anyway, how much "Stargate" can you watch?
I mean, seriously.
No weird new science.
No time travel or glowy swords or teleportation or clones or dimensions or sonic bathrooms or food in pill form or anything that isn't an obvious extension of existing technology. Our heroes' ship "Serenity" is comparable -- in personality, performance, and gas mileage -- to my 13-year-old Tercel. ( Firefly, in case you are wondering, refers to the ship's type.)
Most importantly there are no aliens, bug-eyed, lobster-headed or otherwise. "Firefly" is about human-type people, and that's plenty interesting enough.
It has whores and preachers.
Ordinarily two professions that television shows run away from like scared little girls. People don't change much, even in 500 years, and both the thrill and mystery of sex and the challenges and comfort of religion will still be with us. I hope.
It'll get you ready for the movie.
Yes, the movie.
Thanks to massive DVD sales and -- well, let's go with "devoted," because "dangerously obsessive" sounds so negative -- fan interest, Whedon and all the original actors will gleefully return to fly in the big damn movie "Serenity," which is scheduled to be released Sept. 30. This does not generally happen with canceled TV shows, but it happened with this one.
You may notice I've said little about the characters. I haven't mentioned Mal's frightening pragmatism, Zoe's loyalty, Wash's sense of humor, Kaylee's sunny nature, Jayne's cheerful violence, Book's wisdom, Inara's sensuality, Simon's sacrifice, or River's peculiarities, and that's because trying to label any of them with a single description is useless. You really should meet them yourself.
So, now's your chance. See the shows as they were meant to be seen -- in order (!), with the three unaired episodes -- and enjoy a truly great science-fiction show.
And remember, every time you support a canceled Fox show, somewhere a network executive loses his wings
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Post by Karen on Oct 27, 2005 15:49:44 GMT -5
12:00 AM, 27-OCTOBER-05 Buffy Movies Straight To DVD?
Marti Noxon, executive producer of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its last seasons, told SCI FI Wire that the popular series' characters may live on in direct-to-DVD movies. "There are serious discussions going on about bringing some of the characters back and making a few movies that will go straight to DVD, but they will certainly be the quality they have always been," Noxon said in an interview.
Continued fan interest in a big-budget Buffy film has led creator Joss Whedon to consider a series of movies that would focus on some of the secondary characters, she added.
Read entire article here: www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=33030
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