Buffy TVS Reboot Confirmed
- Thread starter StCoop
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Well that but any show where Whedon doesn't have a more hands on deal with it is going to create concern as well. He seems to be connected to this show but deep down I think people want him writing scripts and looking over the entire thing like he did on the first show. Without it their is going to be sceptics. I think maybe not as many if the new showrunner had also worked on the old shows but even then people would have doubts. I think people really just want the show to sound like his typical show and are afraid less of casting and stories but the dialogue. Whedon shows are always famous for his style of speech. Without it the show won't feel the same even if in theory it is connected to the old universe.
Jason
To be fair, Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who and Mission: Impossible all did it. Making Jim Phelps the villain aside, they all seem to be going rather well.
Do we actually know how involved with this Joss Whedon actually is? Monica Owusu-Breen is the showrunner, so she'll be the one making most of the creative decisions, and Whedon will probably be busy with The Nevers, so I can't really can't see him being that involved.
So I have a feeling anybody expecting to this to be "Whedon show" is going to be disappointed.
We already got seven years of Joss Whedon's Buffy, so now I'm curious to see what Monica Owusu-Breen's Buffy is like. The biggest mistake she could make is trying to just repeat what Joss did with his version, she should just do her own thing with it.
So I have a feeling anybody expecting to this to be "Whedon show" is going to be disappointed.
We already got seven years of Joss Whedon's Buffy, so now I'm curious to see what Monica Owusu-Breen's Buffy is like. The biggest mistake she could make is trying to just repeat what Joss did with his version, she should just do her own thing with it.
Vampires and the need for Slayers to kill them seems to be a constant in the Buffyverse. All they have to do is say the new character is a slayer and there was a famous one who destroyed her hometown.
He was only kinda involved with Dollhouse and not involved at all with Agents of SHIELD after the pilot. If he does more than guest direct and/or co-write the pilot I'll be shocked.
And really disappointed. His work on the Buffy comics before he had to leave to focus on his Avengers movies/Captain America: The First Avenger re-write (Season 8 and a nice chunk of Season 9) were by far the worst runs of those particular comics. Clearly, like Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas before him with their creations, he's told all the good Buffy stories that he had in him to tell. I'm hoping that Owusu-Breen will be this franchise's Michael Piller/Ira Steven Behr/Dave Filoni. New ideas. New characters. New adventures.
And really disappointed. His work on the Buffy comics before he had to leave to focus on his Avengers movies/Captain America: The First Avenger re-write (Season 8 and a nice chunk of Season 9) were by far the worst runs of those particular comics. Clearly, like Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas before him with their creations, he's told all the good Buffy stories that he had in him to tell. I'm hoping that Owusu-Breen will be this franchise's Michael Piller/Ira Steven Behr/Dave Filoni. New ideas. New characters. New adventures.
Plus Willow's spell in the series finale means that we could focus on a new slayer without any downer "Well, Faith's dead." undertones. That finale (plus the fifteen year time gap) provide a lot of creative freedom.
The finale doesn't show LA overrun at all. It shows a few hundred demons in an alley. The comics did say LA as a whole was dragged to hell during those events, but iirc they later 'it was all a dream'ed that. In any case, a continuation will not be bound by what the comics did, so unless they specifically want a continuation where everyone now knows about demons, LA probably was not overrun.
Personally, I'm still hoping for the reboot more than the continuation. Sure, there are plenty of ideas that could work as a continuation and I'd certainly give it a chance, but for me these characters ARE the heart of the franchise. I WANT to see a new version of Buffy and Willow and Xander and Giles. Change them, give them different stories, by all means, but please don't ignore them.
It looks like the Buffy revival will focus on a new Slayer
The new Buffy showrunner says she won’t try to “replace” the original Buffy.
By Constance Grady@constancegrady Jul 26, 2018, 3:00pm EDT
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/7/...revival-reboot-monica-owusu-breen-joss-whedon
The new Buffy showrunner says she won’t try to “replace” the original Buffy.
By Constance Grady@constancegrady Jul 26, 2018, 3:00pm EDT
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/7/...revival-reboot-monica-owusu-breen-joss-whedon
I assume any new version will take the opportunity to deal with issues of today - fake news, the alt-right, gaslighting, whataboutisms, doublethink, illegal immigration, separating parents from children, plutocracy, media bias, social media, cyber warfare and other interference by foreign states, and so on - translated into terms of an endless struggle against the forces of darkness. I'd be fine with that. As long as it's not just about making the transition from teenage to adult life.
I'm curious why you assume that would be the case? Not knocking the idea but I'm not sure what you're seeing that is driving that assumption.
Well they did do issue's but I don't think it was a current events type of show. It was more about universal truths of going from kid to a adult while also being about female empowerment. They did do a internet one once in season 1 and they were the first to do what you could call "Toxic fandom with the Trio in season 6. Granted the show wasn't being made in the 60's part II era we are currently in. I'm not sure they ever had anything to say about Clinton or Bush while it was on. Not so so much as one cigar joke or hanging chad and I don't even think 9/11 was ever even mentioned. In fact I think the first 9/11 mention in Sci-FI might have been "Farscape" when Chrighton got back to earth in the shows final season.
Jason
Whedon and Marti Noxon have gone on record saying that Season 7 was an Iraq War allegory. Also, Warren in Season 6 was clearly an abusive misogynist. As was Preacher Caleb in Season 7, a comment on the rampant sexism within many conservative religious movements.
As a matter of fact, almost all the Big Bads were either religious figures (The Master, Glory, Preacher Caleb/The First Evil), abusive men/boyfriends (Angelus, Warren) or patriarchal government institutions (Mayor Wilkins, the military's experiment Adam). Anyone that thinks Buffy wasn't political is kidding themselves. Just as much as the "keep your liberal social commentary out of MY Star Trek/Doctor Who/Romero zombie movies" crowd.
As a matter of fact, almost all the Big Bads were either religious figures (The Master, Glory, Preacher Caleb/The First Evil), abusive men/boyfriends (Angelus, Warren) or patriarchal government institutions (Mayor Wilkins, the military's experiment Adam). Anyone that thinks Buffy wasn't political is kidding themselves. Just as much as the "keep your liberal social commentary out of MY Star Trek/Doctor Who/Romero zombie movies" crowd.
Misogynist and religious nuts are one of those timeless things. I didn't know about the Iraq war allegory. It didn't really feel like that. Not sure I would call Wilkins or Adams really a knock on patriarchal government. Wilkins never did anything as mayor that wasn't connected to his big bad plot or his realtionship with Faith. Unasuming bad guys go all the way back to "Pyscho" and "Peeping Tom" before that and secret government programs and secret experiments is also a pretty timeless idea. When people say it wasn't dealing with issue's it's more of they weren't dealing with ,ripped from the headlines type of issues. The show wasn't the supernatural version of "West Wing." Granted sometimes with old shows they feel like they could almost see in the future with how relevant something they did like "Babylon 5" with President Clark and "Buffy" with the Trio but I doubt they were thinking of those issues back then much in the way we think of them today.
Jason
Exactly. Stories are about issues because they're about people, who have issues.
The show definitely liked to do the allegory thing and it did have an agenda from time to time, but it was never an 'issues' show.
That's not to say the new one can't be.
That's not to say the new one can't be.
As others have pointed out, topical issues were heavily disguised as allegories and usually weren't explicitly called out. I agree the original show didn't delve deeply into social commentary but it doesn't mean the new one won't include such elements - the temptation must be there given recent history. The new show must have a different dynamic to distinguish itself from the old one and give itself some vitality. My guess might well turn out to be incorrect but that won't be the first time I've been wrong.
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