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Buffy TVS to be (ugh) Rebooted

It might be a trainwreck but it will be interesting to see what they do. Whedon got seven seasons of Buffy + five of Angel + comics so it's not like he got screwed exactly.
 
I'm probably one of the biggest Buffy fans you'll find out there, and I've realized that I feel the same way about this new movie project that I do about the Glen A. Larsen/Bryan Singer Battlestar Galactica movie, in that I'm ultimately fine with it (the Buffy movie) going forward despite wishing that Joss was going to be involved; IOW, I'm going to give it a shot and keep an open mind, and not condemn it (the Buffy movie project) just because it doesn't have 'The Joss' attached to it.
 
I see no reason to get bent out of shape about Hollywood doing what Hollywood does, but I'm not likely to "give it a shot" simply because the word "Buffy" is in the title. The question is, if this were a generic vampire movie made by a few no-names would I pay money to see it? I'll let you know if and when it's ever produced and there's at least some publicity materials to judge by.

I doubt this will actually get made, BTW. Warners is fronting this production company some money to develop a script, and the producers have gone cheap on that score. That's a long way from a green light.
 
^ In fact, Joss's first word on the subject of the Kuzuis wanting to do a reboot was back in June of last year:
Joss Whedon said:
I believe [the producers] did ultimately reach out to my agent after the news broke[.] I think that's something better left untouched by me. So, I wish them luck.
 
Since the manner in which Star Trek was rebooted is so unique, I prefer to qualify it as a "time travel reboot." It uses an in-universe explanation to divorce itself from the earlier continuity. That way, they avoid a bunch of sticky "canon" questions but are still prevented from doing anything too crazy, like gender swapping any of the characters ala Battlestar Galactica.

According to this article Joss was approached by the Kazulis and turned them down. Which makes sense since he really has no need to remake something that HE IS STILL WORKING on albeit in comic book form.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Joss-Whedon-Was-Offered-And-Turned-Down-The-Buffy-Remake-21950.html

I say we take Joss' career full circle to where it was back in the 1990s. The Kuzuis get someone else to write the script, then they send it out to Joss for a quick joke pass.;)

I was a little excited about the prospect of an animated BTVS series that was supposedly in the works a few years ago

Yeah! I'm really bummed that wasn't made. The short test cartoon on Youtube is awesome!

Yes, but in this case, I'd be objecting to a remake of the 1992 movie even if the 1997-2004 TV franchise didn't exist. I mean, stylistically, there hasn't been a whole lot of changes between 1992 & 2010.

Uh... so rebooting the franchise is an age problem in 2010 but not 1997? Or would this be okay if the film was in some sense a loose sequel to the first movie that ignores the series entirely, a la Superman Returns?

Yes to the 2nd question. Some other examples of that type of loose sequel would include the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie, Dean Devlin's proposed Stargate II that would totally ignore the TV shows, and the 2007 CGI TMNT movie (a film so thoroughly agnostic in its continuity that there's even a strategically placed crack in the ooze cannister to obscure whether the company that made it was "TCRI" or "TGRI":eek:).

Alternatively, if this must be a Buffy origin story, I think it would be preferable to make this a vastly different Buffy origin story instead of redoing the Lothos stuff from the 1992 film.

The reason why no one objected to the reboot of the Batman movies after only an 8 year gap from 1997-2005 is because Batman Begins was so thoroughly different from the 1989-1997 movies. It was a change in style & tone.
There's no reason to assume the new Buffy film will be stylistically similar to the earlier Buffy efforts. In fact one could make a case it'll be less similar then Whedon's 1997 reboot of the franchise because, however unhappy he was with the original film, he did write it. It's possible as the first such Buffy title Whedon is in no way involved in it could turn out to be fundamentally far more stylistically different.

It's possible. However, if so, they have not yet indicated how. And there's only so far that you can change Buffy the Vampire Slayer before it starts to not make sense anymore. Right in the name you have a pretty distinct identity. The whole point of making a vampire movie where the hero's name is Buffy is to subvert the usual conventions of vampire movies. You can't do a standard "dark, gritty, realistic (TM)" reboot of Buffy because it's the absolute antithesis of what Buffy is.

There's a very rare breed of characters in our culture that can be reinterpreted in a bunch of totally opposing ways that are all equally valid. Batman & Sherlock Holmes are the two big ones I can think of at the moment. But Buffy Summers is certainly not one of them.

Generally, there are only 4 good reasons to remake something:
1. Major narrative changes.
2. Major stylistic changes.
3. Great advancements in modern production values that make the original quaint by comparison.

In the case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they've made no indications about what their plans are for #1. I've already explained why I don't think there could any good way to accomplish #2. And I don't think 1992 is long enough ago to really merit #3. At the very least, there are still some 1980s relics that should be further ahead in line than Buffy. (Whatever happened to those proposed remakes of Escape from New York, Highlander, & The Monster Squad? Where's the big screen CGI Care Bears?)
 
I really loved the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Animated series test that is up on youtube. I think it would have been a really great series. I think that Jeph Loep said there were a handful of episodes actually scripted.
 
I still think this is a pretty lame idea. But I was thinking earlier, if it's essentially just a remake of the original movie, but done in a more serious, darker tone (ie more of what Joss did have in mind) then it could be ok.

That's how I'd prefer to have it anyway. An origin story of Buffy as an LA teen, slightly airheady with her shallow friends, getting called and being a Slayer for the first time, her first Watcher etc. And sticking to the whole original concept of the turnaround of the old horror movie conceipt of a monster hunting down a blonde teenage girl, and then said girl killing it.

If it was just that I'll admit it could be a pretty good movie. As then there wouldn't be any need for a Sunnydale, or a Willow, or a Xander, or a Spike, etc, and it wouldn't feel so much like it was crapping on the TV show, which is I think to be fair what a lot of fans fear.

My only worry though is that to try and cash in on the Twilight craze they'll incoporate Angel somehow. It'd be bad enough recasting SMG, but I'd rather not see Boreanaz shafted as well tbh.
 
I can just imagine how cool it's going to be to live in a world where people say, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is a just a shitty "Twilight" rip-off" and THEY'RE RIGHT. :eek:
 
How in the hell would THAT be cool?!?

It tarnishes the memory and legacy of the REAL Buffy and THAT aint cool!!!

:eek:
 
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