Buffy Reboot?

talktidy

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I was wondering why Buffy was trending on twitter. I clicked the link and...

Joss Whedon will executive produce a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer show. According to Deadline, the "reboot" will be a contemporary version, "building on the mythology of the original." Monica Owusu-Breen will serve as showrunner.

Not sure how I feel about this. I adored the TV show, but I think this shows the paucity of imagination and nerve of the companies involved, with the present vogue for reboots. Lost in Space anyone? If it's done well, then I shall be on board, but it sounds as if it's going to be a straight up reboot and not featuring a different slayer, which I think I would prefer.
 

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Why would he reboot his own groundbreaking show?

Why not do the "next gen" thing with a new slayer - allowing the opportunity for cameos from the old guard?

Does he really think he can catch that lightning in a bottle twice?

Doubt I'll bother watching if it comes to pass, TBH; I enjoyed the original, but it would take some very, very serious convincing to entice me into a reboot, plus I've grown a bit tired of Whedon himself. (That, plus modern TV in particular seems quick to drop the ax. Why invest the time or energy when there's better-than-even odds it'll never get its full run potential?)
 

Kjbartolotta

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1) It's awesome they're casting a black woman as the lead. 2) No. Reboots are bad. Tell new stories.

ETA- 'Next gen' would be great, btw.
 
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SWest

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Ditto the ambivalence.

I was glad Whedon did not get Wonder Woman.

Marti Noxon gets the greater credit for how fabulous TV BTVS turned out (the movie was not as good, by a long shot, and fronted a lot of sexist mess).

I know every line from every episode of all seven seasons, and I'd love to be wrong, if only for old time's sake. The resurgence of blood-sucking culture demands an answer, and a weekly dose of life-is-simultaneoulsy-horrible-and-hilarious would help.

:popcorn:
 

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So Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite show of all time.

I'm torn on the idea of a Buffy reboot, but no matter what, I don't think that this is the right format for it: a rebooted television show produced by the same person who brought us the original. If rebooting, it's gotta be a new format (movie?) or a new take on it, and I don't think that Joss has grown enough with the American audience on matters of feminism. Having a "black Buffy" isn't enough of a change for a reboot (and feels like it's capitalizing on diverse casts like they're a trend, while not trying too hard to make something new). If you look at the shows that have been rebooted, they feel very different from the originals. Joss shows feel like Joss shows, and I don't think that setting it 20 years later will make enough of a change. I suspect it will be just similar enough, yet different enough that I'll find it annoying, rather than amazing and/or nostalgic.

I wouldn't mind, however, something different. Focus on a brand new Slayer; there are many to choose from in 2018. Or Buffy rebooted as a(nother) movie (but, like, awesome). Or a brand new Slayer in a movie!
 

Kjbartolotta

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Or Buffy rebooted as a(nother)

At first I thought you said Buffy as a mother, which would be another tantalizing idea. New Slayer, SMG is living her best mom life and jumping in to make sure things run right.

But we can dream...
 

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At first I thought you said Buffy as a mother, which would be another tantalizing idea. New Slayer, SMG is living her best mom life and jumping in to make sure things run right.

But we can dream...

That would be fun!

SMG plays the mother of a biracial Slayer, trying to assert how she knows best, "You think i don't know what it's like to be sixteen and a girl and the Slayer?", while the new Slayer is all, "No. I think you don't know what it's like to be sixteen. And gender-fluid. And biracial. And a Slayer." (If we're going to go for it, let's go for it!)
 

Kjbartolotta

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Even better than what I was thinking. (Which wasn't anything, but that's rad)
 
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frimble3

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Trouble is, it's not just casting the Slayer - it's her whole gang that made it perfect. How do you re-create the chemistry without just making newer versions of the same characters going through the same old scripts?
Lightning in a bottle.

Pity they couldn't get the original actors/actresses back, playing the same characters, 20 years on - some with kids, some with regular lives, some who couldn't get over the whole 'Slayer' era. Then, a Hell-mouth opens.
 

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Hm. I have a number of contradictory reactions to this.

1) Loved Buffy. Loved rewatching it with my kid. Same universe? Hard to resist at least giving it a shot.

2) Whedon has some...interesting approaches to his female characters. Sometimes he nails it. Sometimes they're so problematic I want to throw things.

3) As for his male characters? Re-watching Buffy with my daughter a few years ago really brought home some of the truly hair-raising aspects of Xander's character, all wrapped up in this witty, heroic kid that we somehow still really liked despite the fact that he was pretty much a creepo-stalker.

4) Whedon himself has his own problematic content. And yeah, all your faves are problematic, etc. But still.

Mostly, though, I have utter reboot fatigue, and tend to assume such things will be awful until I hear otherwise from a large number of viewers.

I really wish the money they're putting in to this was going to new voices and new stories, but I understand the economics, and if this series brings in cash, that'll give them more of an ability to produce unknowns. In theory, at least.
 

Max Vaehling

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All good points everybody's raising. I'm still not against it because:

This isn't for us. Who lived with the show while it was on, fondly remembering how much of a game changer it was at the time. (A legacy it hardly lives up to itself if you re-watch it with today's eyes.)

This is for today's kids. Who wouldn't watch a 20+-year old show with cheap CGI and an all-white main cast unless their parents made them. If the new show manages to address today's sentiments and storytelling needs the way the original addressed those of 1997ff, why not. I'd probably prefer if, rather than rebooting the show they continued the old mythology with new characters, but that's okay. It's not for us.

Of course, they'd still have to reconcile Whedon's recent ... image problems.
 

talktidy

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My guess? Because a couple of years ago, the rights holders tried a reboot (of the movie, if I recall) without him and the fan reaction backfired on them.

When I looked at the reaction on twitter, it appeared to be predominantly "why?", "no!", and "god, no!"

Interesting whether that lack of enthusiasm will have any effect on the show runners. If contracts have already been signed, then obvs not. I would suspect that response must have disappointed, though.
 

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3) As for his male characters? Re-watching Buffy with my daughter a few years ago really brought home some of the truly hair-raising aspects of Xander's character, all wrapped up in this witty, heroic kid that we somehow still really liked despite the fact that he was pretty much a creepo-stalker.

4) Whedon himself has his own problematic content. And yeah, all your faves are problematic, etc. But still.

Yeah, my last season 1-2 rewatch really surprised me with how creepy Xander came across at times. He crosses the line from boy-next-door to something that could have easily turned stalkerish. The problem with it being that he's supposed to be the "heart" of the trio, so moments like trying to take a peek of Buffy undressing in a mirror are normalized because he's "such a great guy." Also they get forgiven, as in where Buffy thanks him for not undressing her when she's under a love spell (that he had a witch cast, albeit not with Buffy as the intended target). Xander is also one of the most anti-feminist parts of the show, and as Joss has said he's the character he most identifies with...

If you read the letter he wrote his ex-wife about his affairs (which I just read recently), the way he reflected himself in Xander and the way his lust manifests for all these powerful women is really obvious and disturbing.

All good points everybody's raising. I'm still not against it because:

This isn't for us. Who lived with the show while it was on, fondly remembering how much of a game changer it was at the time. (A legacy it hardly lives up to itself if you re-watch it with today's eyes.)

This is for today's kids. Who wouldn't watch a 20+-year old show with cheap CGI and an all-white main cast unless their parents made them. If the new show manages to address today's sentiments and storytelling needs the way the original addressed those of 1997ff, why not. I'd probably prefer if, rather than rebooting the show they continued the old mythology with new characters, but that's okay. It's not for us.

Of course, they'd still have to reconcile Whedon's recent ... image problems.

Yes, it's true enough that Buffy's target audience was teens, and it's been 20 years since its original target audience were teenagers. First season, especially, has some pretty painful special effects, even for those of us who love the show. Things that were novel in the original are not novel to today's audience. And I agree that even for me, looking on the show with today's perceptions of feminism and diversity, I'm not sure that I could take a teen today and show it to them with a "look how feminist it is!" Even with Willow's relationships, teens might wonder why it takes an entire season between when it's spelled out that Willow loves Tara and their first on-screen kiss. It was amazing at the time! Willow and Kennedy's sex scene was the first f/f sex scene on broadcast tv. Will today's teens find that amazing? Does that even mean anything in a world where some people only get tv through Hulu or Netflix or Amazon, rather than watching it live on tv?

My question becomes, is Joss the person to bring the new version of Buffy to life? Not even because of his image problems, but because he was the one who brought us the old version, and I haven't seen evidence that he's grown into someone who can produce something for today's eyes.
 

Will Collins

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Excited about this, but I really wish it was about a new slayer and set of friends, not a complete remake of what we've already seen.
 

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I'm conflicted about this as well. I'm was a huge Buffy fan. Like, went to the Posting Board Party in LA and visited filming locations. Some friends I made in the fandom are still buddies. I loved the quirky turns of phrase and how much time they all spent researching. I loved how it messed with its own rules.

I don't automatically hate reboots. Plays get redone all the time and can say new things to new audiences. I'm not ever going to be that 20 something fan again. My treasured memories won't be destroyed by a reboot (looking at you creepy pseudo Star Wars fans.) I wouldn't want to take what I experienced away from a new group of potential fans.

I'm afraid it will get started and have an awesome diverse cast but will fail because of reboot fatigue, Whedon's issues, and because there is so much more geeky entertainment now. Some executives will say "see what happens when we do a diverse cast? Failure, not doing that again."

If I were going to do I'd make it "Keisha: The Vampire Slayer" and set it during the 80s.
 

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I REALLY wish this was a show about Fray (future slayer) instead! Sad they're doing a reboot instead of a continuation, but looking forward to it anyway.
 

frimble3

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Yeah, a continuation: look at all those other trainee-slayers they showed us in the last season.
 

Brightdreamer

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Yeah, a continuation: look at all those other trainee-slayers they showed us in the last season.

Not to mention the graphic novel "seasons" (which I never read, but which I thought were still considered official canon.) Going the Disney "trash existing canon" route on his own franchise seems unnecessary. My guess is he wants to roll it back to the "one Slayer and her Watcher" idea, which invalidates the power of the series finale.
 

telford

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I've said it before and I'll say it again. You can't bottle magic and expect a fizz when you pop the cork. I hope I'm wrong but history says otherwise.
 

Max Vaehling

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My question becomes, is Joss the person to bring the new version of Buffy to life? Not even because of his image problems, but because he was the one who brought us the old version, and I haven't seen evidence that he's grown into someone who can produce something for today's eyes.

Agreed. Even if he's grown as a creator since Avengers 2, his one foot in the old franchise may actually hold him back.

Not to mention the graphic novel "seasons" (which I never read, but which I thought were still considered official canon.) Going the Disney "trash existing canon" route on his own franchise seems unnecessary. My guess is he wants to roll it back to the "one Slayer and her Watcher" idea, which invalidates the power of the series finale.

Yeah, they'd have to account for the changers made in season 7ff which would only lead to disappointment if they want the "one slayer in all the world" back.

Or they could date it back. Make it about a previous slayer, as @Masel suggested. (Eighties settings seem to be all the rage these days, right?) Maybe make it an anthology series à la TALES OF THE SLAYERS, with a new slayer every season, some established (Nikki! Oh, and totally Fray), some all new. But they'd have to live up to the prequel curse of not being able to change the world too much.
 
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Frankie007

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BTVS is still much too fresh to have a reboot. now if instead they did a continuation with a new slayer that often referenced Buffy....then yes please.

i'm extremely fine with a black slayer. just don't name her buffy summers. we already have a buffy. hollywood needs to be original again.

i'll still check this out, because nothing right now is really official until it airs on tv.
 

Laer Carroll

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I'm almost always willing to give a reboot or a sequel a chance. They might be awful, they might be great. Only the actual product is going to decide me.

I'm pretty skeptical about this one, but though it sounds kind of lame, just maybe it won't be.
 

Aerythia

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No.

Don’t mess with my teenage years. My memories of sitting, in floods of tears, at the end of “The Gift.” Of absolutely fancying the pants off Spike and learning, at about 14 years of age, what it meant to really want someone’s babies. Of questioning whether being gay was “wrong” as my strict Christian upbringing led me to believe, because Willow wasn’t a bad person, and if she loved Tara why was that such a bad thing?

As most have said. If Joss wants to revive it with a new slayer and new situations then ok. But given the word reboot keeps getting throw around, I imagine the worst. Some things are holy. BTVS is one of them :D.

Signing off,

Aery, in her 30s and wholly resistant to change!