Joss Whedon

[laconicchick]

Laconicchic, TRUE fans of Joss know that no one is safe from a horrible, painful and sudden death in his shows! He killed Buffy's Mom!

Good point. And I'd add Tara to that list as well (and whoever he killed at the end of Buffy; it's been so long now and I was so disgusted by the show at the time that I've forgotten).

The Tara thing is especially familiar (I'm thinking in particular here of the banner ad fiasco over at TWoP a few years ago -- oh, the insane hilarity) in that I think a certain segment of the fanbase felt mad and betrayed and like Joss had no right to kill her. And Doyle! I didn't watch Angel a lot, but I stopped for good when he died (not because I felt betrayed or anything, but because he was really the only thing I liked about that show).

(On the subject of Jossverse fanfic, I have been DYING for some Kaylee/Zoe post-Wash death but NO ONE has written it. I guess I can see why. I also want Zoe/Wash/someone else but that is hard to come by.)

I don't know, I think Joss is hit-or-miss for me. I never watched Angel, I was hardcore into Buffy from about season 4 to when it started to really suck (I didn't get into it sooner because I... I don't know why. Was young? Thought it was dumb?), and I loooooove Firefly now, as I mentioned. I do think he has a knack for creating interesting characters around interesting concepts, and I really think it's the characters that I love most. I could not care less about Angel or Cordelia and so I didn't watch Angel.

But I still think he's a bit drunk on his own (somewhat-deserved) hype.

[slanderous]

What I never got about the Browncoat thing is, well, it seems like an awfully common color, so how would you be able to tell a brown coat from a Browncoat?

(Just teasing, fans! )

On another but related note, I think that the term "character assasination" gets thrown around a lot with regard to Whedon's characters (from what I remember of the TWoP forums, esp. during the last two seasons). There's a not-entirely-unreasonable perception that some of the characters that populate his worlds and mythologies are inconsistent in their arcs and development, and that part of this has to do with "behind the scenes" politics. Willow's u-turn from passive aggressive, increasingly power-hungry witch to "magicks" junkie is often cited as one example. Both fans and haters of Spike can bring up any number of inconsistencies in his arc (some of which are attributed to the Number Two Head Cheese, Marti Noxon).

Having loved BtVS until it started to suck, and enjoying Angel mostly for David Boreanaz's chicken fear, and watching the entire Serenity run on DVD while painting my brother's bedroom, I've come to the point where Whedon's writing style is just too predictable and precious for me to take.

I am interested in how Wonder Woman is going to go -- any news? I have a hard time seeing anyone but the amazing Lynda Carter in the role, with her twirling twirling twirling! And I'm hoping that the script isn't littered with too many pop culture references.

[mostlyharmless]

Slanderous, Whedon has said that he got so over the pop-culture reference thing but it was "part" of the Buffy show so he kept it up. So WW should be safe...

Killing off characters makes great entertainment. What if Maximus didn't die in Gladiator? Would the movie have been as good? God help JK Rowling if she does kill off HP in the end!

Whedon has killed off many characters, but he's also let many more live. Spike was supposed to die after twelve episodes, Faith was going to kill herself in season three, Anya was only a one-episode guest star and so on. You cannot plan seasons of a show exactly but have to adapt along the way. Willow sudden change in storyline came out of left field and I believe they must have been planing something else for the last season but had to change track as there were threads that went somewhere but then just ended.

[Deleted]

sugarhigh said:

wtf is a "space western"?

Star Wars?


(I know nothing about Joss Whedon, I'm just reading because crazy, out-of-touch-with-reality fans amuse me. Not that I'm saying anyone here is, but since you're talking about the crazy fans...okay, I'll shut up now)

[mostlyharmless]

Star Wars?

Whedon has described Firefly, the TV show, as "The Adventures Of Han Solo If He'd Never Met Luke Skywalker". In other words, no big, hereoic, "defeat the evil empire" stuff, just some people living on the edge of civilisation and doing some pretty dodgy stuff to survive and make a living.

We forget that the "Wild West" of most movies existed at the same time as a thriving, 'modern' New York with law and order and so on. The fronteer wasn't just physical, it was at, and beyond, the limit of the rule of law, the rules of society and so on. It was this aspect that Firefly was based on, the horses and so on were there for a reason, and a good logical reason IMHO, but that wasn't what made it a western. It was people operating at the edge of civilisation, where it was kill or be killed.

[Millis]

From Kristen on E!:

A friend just saw Nate Fillion, Summer Glau and Gina Torres coming out of one of the exec buildings at Paramount where they are putting together the new CW unit.

Hmmmmm? Will Firefly fly again?

I can't tell you how excited I would be!

[laconicchick]

CW?

[bitsygirl]

I think it's the new channel that will amalgamate the WB and UPN channels.

[laconicchick]

Oooh, interesting.

[realitybug]

I *HATE* BTVS so I never saw the big deal with the guy in the first place.

To me, that show is horribly overrated.