Should there ever be a Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot/remake?

[Grendelsbayne]

I mean, they have the freedom. No one's saying they shouldn't have the right to make the show. But I do think that there's a meaningful relationship between the artwork's era and the audience's era that can make a retelling a better idea. And sometimes it's not about skill -- sometimes you can have very skilled artists, but they just don't bring anything new to the table. Gus Van Sant is an extremely talented director, and Vince Vaughn, Anne Hache, Juliane Moore, Viggo Mortensen, and William H. Macy are all extremely talented actors, but the 1998 Psycho remake brings nothing new to the table to make it worth the while of making it or watching it.

We've already seen at least one reimagining of Buffy in the form of the recent comic book reimagining, and looking at the summaries for it... it just seems gimmicky. "What if the Master, but it's Drusilla?" "What if Robin Wood, but student?" "What if Xander, but vampire?" Like, hey, maybe it's good, I dunno. But the world's full of good art, and nothing about it seems new enough to be worth reading.

A Buffy remake needs to bring something new to the table and not just be a variation on a pre-existing idea for it to be worth making in my view, or worth watching.

Yes, that's why I said skill and vision, not just skill. Having one without the other - that's the difference between good art and great art.

As for the rest of this, this is still all talking about how something 'shouldn't be made' based on nothing but the fear that it won't be worthwhile. There's still never any way to know what's going to be worthwhile without actually letting it get made.

I get people have busy lives and there's too much art in the world to ever see it it all anyway, so if something gets made that doesn't sound worthwhile to you, then obviously don't watch it. But people are way too quick and way too persistent to knock the very idea of something just because they can't possibly conceive how it could be in any way worthwhile. If you're not at least in the room with the people making it (or thinking about making it) then the simple fact is you have no idea whatsoever whether it will be worthwhile or not. And even a lot of the people in that room, including at least some of the time the main creatives themselves, won't know for sure until they've actually finished making it, either. So the whole concept of 'this doesn't need to be made' is just nonsense.

 

[Danja]

Gus Van Sant is an extremely talented director, and Vince Vaughn, Anne Hache, Juliane Moore, Viggo Mortensen, and William H. Macy are all extremely talented actors, but the 1998 Psycho remake brings nothing new to the table to make it worth the while of making it or watching it.

The man did a shot-for-shot remake of it.

What was the point?

We've already seen at least one reimagining of Buffy in the form of the recent comic book reimagining, and looking at the summaries for it... it just seems gimmicky. "What if the Master, but it's Drusilla?" "What if Robin Wood, but student?" "What if Xander, but vampire?" Like, hey, maybe it's good, I dunno. But the world's full of good art, and nothing about it seems new enough to be worth reading.

Marvel does it all the time with its "What if?" stories (Disney+ now has a "What If?" SERIES featuring Peggy Carter as Captain Britain!)

DC has its "Elseworlds" stories ("What if Batman was a knight in King Arthur's court? What about a steampunk Batman?")

A Buffy remake needs to bring something new to the table and not just be a variation on a pre-existing idea for it to be worth making in my view, or worth watching.

What is post-TOS Star Trek if not variations on a theme (a ship flying through the galaxy)?

Deep Space Nine and Picard were the only two series to break away from it (for a while) and the fans trashed them for it!

DS9: "Where's the ship? It doesn't go anywhere! It's too dark!"
Picard: "Why is the show on Earth? Where's Starfleet? The show is called Star Trek! Why aren't they in space?"

 

[wayoung]

Looking at this thread and thinking about how Joss would be paid hand over fist for any new series and how that would be a no go for a lot of people, and remembered how he complained about the Kuzui's getting $$$ and top EP credits for the show even though they had nothing to do with it because of the movie.

 

[JD]

We've already seen at least one reimagining of Buffy in the form of the recent comic book reimagining, and looking at the summaries for it... it just seems gimmicky. "What if the Master, but it's Drusilla?" "What if Robin Wood, but student?" "What if Xander, but vampire?" Like, hey, maybe it's good, I dunno. But the world's full of good art, and nothing about it seems new enough to be worth reading.

I read the first digital collection a while back, and it was actually really good. It did take things in something new directions, but I wouldn't necessarily calling it "gimmicky", it was just the usual kind of twists they like to do in remakes or alternate universe stories.
One thing I found kind of funny about them was that Whedon did have at least some role in the story and concept, and when the series started his name was in huge print on the front cover. But then as things started to come out about how horrible he actually is, his name kept getting smaller and smaller.
The more I'm thinking about this, the more OK I actually am with a reboot. Yes, Whedon and his unique approach to the writing did play a big role in what made the original so great, but there are other great writers out there with a quirky style, and it could be fun to see the series approached from a different perspective.
One thing I would want would be a female showrunner, I think that would be a big way to get a new perspective on the story.

 

[Sci]

I read the first digital collection a while back, and it was actually really good. It did take things in something new directions, but I wouldn't necessarily calling it "gimmicky", it was just the usual kind of twists they like to do in remakes or alternate universe stories.
One thing I found kind of funny about them was that Whedon did have at least some role in the story and concept, and when the series started his name was in huge print on the front cover. But then as things started to come out about how horrible he actually is, his name kept getting smaller and smaller.
The more I'm thinking about this, the more OK I actually am with a reboot. Yes, Whedon and his unique approach to the writing did play a big role in what made the original so great, but there are other great writers out there with a quirky style, and it could be fun to see the series approached from a different perspective.
One thing I would want would be a female showrunner, I think that would be a big way to get a new perspective on the story.

I mean, there can always be variations on a theme. But there's a point where all I can think is: "Why bother?"

If that works for you, knock yourself out. But unless the differences start to be big enough, the degree of differences from the original just isn't enough for a remake (rather than sequel) to warrant my attention. It just feels creatively unmotivated, just an attempt to keep doing just another version of the Same Old Thing instead of just letting it end organically.

Marvel does it all the time with its "What if?" stories (Disney+ now has a "What If?" SERIES featuring Peggy Carter as Captain Britain!)

DC has its "Elseworlds" stories ("What if Batman was a knight in King Arthur's court? What about a steampunk Batman?")

Yeah, and I just don't care enough to read them or watch them most of the time.

What is post-TOS Star Trek if not variations on a theme (a ship flying through the galaxy)?

Having a completely different set of characters with a completely different set of relationships helps.