The In Praise Of Buffy Thread.

[Pyperkub]

Whoa - new Buffy (minus SMG/Xander/Willow and Joss Whedon) Audible coming:

Several cast members of the 20-year-old supernatural TV drama “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” are reuniting to slay again in a new Audible original, “Slayers: A Buffyverse Story.”

Original “Buffy” actors James Marsters, Charisma Carpenter, Anthony Head, Juliet Landau, Emma Caulfield Ford, Amber Benson, James Charles Leary and Danny Strong will star in the scripted audio original, with newcomer Laya DeLeon Hayes joining the cast, according to Audible.

Picking up a decade after the final 2003 episode of “Buffy,” the audio series “brings fans a fresh story and a new world, filled with horror, heart, humor, and surprises at every turn,” and follows Spike (Marsters) as he goes “deep undercover in Los Angeles, convincing the forces of darkness that he’s back to his evil ways.”

“While he attempts to track down a watcher for his eager new protégé (DeLeon Hayes), their paths collide with the veteran Slayer of a parallel reality where Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) never existed…a reality where Cordelia Chase (Carpenter) is the one-and-only Slayer,” according to the official synopsis.

But, Spike & Drusilla...

[Blackhawk]

I was confused by Emma Caulfield until the last paragraph.

[Blackhawk]

Poking back into the first couple of pages of this thread makes me want to watch Buffy again. I've seen it at least three, maybe four times, but it has been more than a decade.

[Kraken]

Poking back into the first couple of pages of this thread makes me want to watch Buffy again. I've seen it at least three, maybe four times, but it has been more than a decade.

I see from this thread that we just finished watching it barely over a year ago. It's a commitment of hundreds of hours, especially if you parallel-watch Angel, but still enjoyable.

IDK anything about Audible, but I can imagine myself listening to this instead of music on my morning walks.

[Blackhawk]

[t's a commitment of hundreds of hours, especially if you parallel-watch Angel, but still enjoyable.

Which is how I'd do it. And I've always intended that my next watch would lead directly into post-live-action seasons of both.

I need to finish my rewatch of Babylon 5 first, though. I'm midway through season 4.

[Kraken]

[t's a commitment of hundreds of hours, especially if you parallel-watch Angel, but still enjoyable.

Which is how I'd do it. And I've always intended that my next watch would lead directly into post-live-action seasons of both.

I need to finish my rewatch of Babylon 5 first, though. I'm midway through season 4.

Hah, I'm halfway through S3. I'd forgotten how well-plotted B5 is. Truly great sci-fi.

[Blackhawk]

Absolutively.

I'm doing what I'd be doing with Buffy - following a watch order that puts everything in the right order, including the movies and the other series (Crusade.) The release order got a little screwed up, as some of the more effects-heavy episodes took much longer to create than the ones that had less CGI, but took place later. , so they often dropped in a later episode before the earlier one. It resulted in things like characters referencing events that didn't take place until an episode or two later. The guide fixes that, based mostly on JMS's own recommendations.

[Isgrimnur]

I need to finish my rewatch of Babylon 5 first, though. I'm midway through season 4.

Ah, the final season. So good.

[Pyperkub]

Arise Thread - SMG returning as Buffy to Hulu?

‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Sequel Series With Sarah Michelle Gellar Returning Nears Hulu Pilot Order

Nora Zuckerman and Lila Zuckerman are writing the pilot, with Oscar winner Chloé Zhao attached to direct

[Kraken]

Those folks have some impressive credits. It's hard to imagine a Buffy reboot approaching the quality of the original show without Whedon and the cast/characters that made the magic happen. But I'll give it a chance if it ever sees the light of day. Or light of the moon, more like.

[Grifman]

I don’t see this working myself. Part of the magic of the original was how it captured the whole teen high school/college angst and vibe of the era. And then there was Whedon’s snappy dialogue which won’t be there. And finally there was the fantastic relationship and interesting characters of the Scooby gang. Will a more mature and adult Buffy work? And what of all of the thousands of Slayers Buffy crated at the very end of the last episode?

It’s hard to catch lightning in a bottle twice.

[YellowKing]

I'm looking forward to it. I don't need it to be as good as the original Buffy to still be entertaining.

I'm currently going through a Buffy/Angel watch order like the one Blackhawk mentioned. I finished Buffy back in the day but never finished Angel. It's definitely nice to go back to the mindset of my biggest worry being prom, and not the end of Western civilization.

[Unagi]

Uh. Okay.

[Blackhawk]

They did say that Buffy wouldn't be the main character. There's another slayer it centers around, and Buffy is there as a supporting character. Which is fine, and tracks with the series finale and references in Angel.

[Max Peck]

If enough time has passed that they can make a new Buffy without Whedon being involved, how many years will it take for someone to make a new Sandman without Gaiman being involved?

[hepcat]

Did Whedon do anything beyond being a complete asshole to women (and men too, it seems)? I don't recall any claims of sexual abuse or physical violence. I'm not trying to downplay being an asshole, but I also have to wonder if perhaps his downfall was completely warranted. At least to the extent we've seen.

I think part of the reason the backlash was so swift and decisive was his trying to present himself as a feminist champion while being misogynistic on set to a lot of women (I believe there were numerous claims to such behavior).

[Blackhawk]

There were some creepy hints about him not being allowed to be alone with underage actresses (Michelle Trachtenberg, as I recall.)

[Max Peck]

My point isn't that there is an equivalency between Gaiman's sins and those of Whedon. It's just that if the entertainment industry feels that people will tune in for a Buffy treatment without Whedon, then how long will it take for them to feel that there's an audience for a once popular IP like Sandman, sans Gaiman?

[hepcat]

Sorry, I wasn't directly responding to you. It was more a general question about what caused his cancellation.

However this I will respond to

then how long will it take for them to feel that there's an audience for a once popular IP like Sandman, sans Gaiman?

I suspect it's who has the rights that will be final arbiter on things like this.

[YellowKing]

Straight from Buffy herself:

So….. you might have heard some news this week, but I realize you haven’t heard from me.

Three years ago, I got a call from my dear friend and mentor, Gail Berman. She told me that she wanted me to sit down with Chloé Zhao to hear her take on a potential “Buffy” revival. I was blown away that Chloé even knew who I was, but, as I’ve always done, I told Gail that I just didn’t see a way for the show to exist again. We’d always been aligned on that, but this time I heard something different in her voice. I eventually agreed to go (mainly just to meet Chloé) and our twenty minute coffee quickly turned into a four hour adventure. We laughed, we cried, but mostly we both talked about how much this show means to us.

While I didn’t agree to anything at that meeting, I did shock myself by agreeing to continue the conversation. These conversations did, in fact, continue over the next few years and eventually we added the incredible Nora and Lilla Zuckerman to our little tribe until ultimately, one day, we landed on an idea.

I have always listened to the fans and heard your desire to revisit “Buffy” and her world, but it was not something I could do unless I was sure we would get it right. This has been a long process, and it’s not over yet. I promise you, we will only make this show if we know we can do it right. And I will tell you that we are on the path there.

I feel so lucky to be on this journey with these four unbelievably talented women, all of whom love “Buffy” as much as I do. And as much as you do. Thank you to all the fans who never stopped asking for this. This will be for you.

This makes me feel good about the whole thing. Sounds like everyone involved are huge fans that want this to be the best show possible. And in SMG I trust. On the flip side, apparently Gail Berman was responsible for Firefly getting canceled so....boo.

[Blackhawk]

On the flip side, apparently Gail Berman was responsible for Firefly getting canceled so....boo.

On the flip of the flip side, she was also the producer for all of Buffy, Angel, and - more recently - Wednesday.

[Unagi]

Is there really a flip-side of being responsible for Firefly getting canceled?

[Zaxxon]

[Smoove_B]

Oh dear lord that's terrible.

[Grifman]

She had had a liver transplant recently - don’t know why - so that may have contributed to her death.

[Blackhawk]

Holy crap, that's unexpected. I took a break from Buffy, and have just gotten back to it this week. I'm half a season away from Dawn showing up.

[disarm]

She had had a liver transplant recently - don’t know why - so that may have contributed to her death.

If the liver transplant story is true, that means she must have been very sick in order to qualify, and the surgery itself is no joke.

Reading stories about this just now and seeing pictures of her from the last year really puts me in the position of thinking she was keeping a significant health issue secret. I see a lot of sick people in my line of work and she definitely had the look of someone with a chronic illness. She may have played it off as aging, but I strongly doubt that was the case.

[hepcat]

I'm seeing the usual claims of drug and alcohol addiction issues that seem to spring up after any celebrity death. Hopefully that isn't the truth here. But alcoholism would explain the liver transplant.

[Blackhawk]

It would also, sadly, fit with the early death of a child star.

But I'll wait and see before accepting it as fact.

[Blackhawk]

Some quick checking shows that she was an active participant in, and spokesperson for, several anti-drug organizations.

[A nonny mouse]

Some quick checking shows that she was an active participant in, and spokesperson for, several anti-drug organizations.

Yes, well. . .

MADD

MADD

But I dont think she was necessarily using and a spokesperson, but who knows.

[Blackhawk]

Thus my posting information, not conclusions.