Buffy Reboot Announced; Armed Thugs Coming For Your DVDs

Last night, the internet gasped so widely that its brain fell out its mouth when it was announced that Warner Bros. is moving forward with a film "reimagining" of Buffy the Vampire Slayer a mere seven years after the classic TV series went off the air. Careful readers will remember that this reimagining was originally announced ten minutes after the Star Trek movie made a fortune, but everyone else seems to have forgotten about it until this week.

Original series creator Joss Whedon will not be involved in the reboot in any way. The 1992 Buffy movie was directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, who Wikipedia tells us discovered Whedon's screenplay and financed the original film, giving her the right to authorize this appalling hijacking which will go down in history as the greatest crime committed against thought in the modern era.

Or everything will be okay. No one can take away your memories.

The new script is by apparent Buffy fan Whit Anderson, who has been talking a lot about the battle between "duty and destiny, that tug between what you’re supposed to be doing and what you want to be doing." I would love to give you a better take on what to expect from Anderson, but unfortunately if IMDB is to be believed she has not written any produced work before.

But never mind what I think. What does Joss (Dollhouse) Whedon think about all this? As it turns out, he expresses his ambivalence like so:

This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths—just because they can't think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my Avengers idea that I made up myself.

…..Apparently I am seldom informed of anything. And possibly a little slow. But seriously, are vampires even popular any more?

….I always hoped that Buffy would live on even after my death.  But, you know, AFTER.  I don't love the idea of my creation in other hands, but I'm also well aware that many more hands than mine went into making that show what it was. And there is no legal grounds for doing anything other than sighing audibly. I can't wish people who are passionate about my little myth ill. I can, however, take this time to announce that I'm making a Batman movie.  Because there's a franchise that truly needs updating. So look for The Dark Knight Rises Way Earlier Than That Other One And Also More Cheaply And In Toronto, rebooting into a theater near you.

Leave me to my pain!  Sincerely, Joss Whedon.

It should be noted that the Whedon-produced Dark Horse Buffy comic will still be coming out as all of this is going on, so die-hard fans of Original Recipe Buffy will still be able to get their fix while the Twilight Generation enjoys Ultimate Buffy in the other room. Just something to keep in mind before losing said mind.

Comments

  1. Are those his real quotes? Because I gotta say that he pretty much dismissed his own material if he did without realizing it.

  2. He may be doing "comedy jokes" to cover up how legitimately annoyed he is.

    Not that I would know anything about that. 

  3. He said in one brilliant interview that as a result of this he’s going to retitle The Avengers "The Dark Knight Rises Way Earlier Than That Other One And Also More Cheaply And In Toronto." I think he was kinda very angry…but keeping it bottled up. 

  4. @thenextchampion Probably get flamed for it, but I have to say that those comments make Whedon sound like a douche. I have no idea if this will be good or bad… and neither does he.

  5. @Jimski: Oh well…..I know from you, actually more of retweets since I’m blocked, you’re the master at that.

    I read the full comment on another site and….yeah it does sound like he is half joking, but he’s half serious too. Still lines like: "I don’t love the idea of my creation in other hands" and "Are vampires still popular anymore?" is gonna make people question (like myself) whether he’s joking or not. I mean if I was a writer doing HIS Buffy comic with HIS ideas as the basis point….I’d be pretty pissed seeing that comment right about now.

  6. Dear Armed Thugs:

    Go ahead and try it!

    Best Regards,

    Kyle!

  7. I am pretty sure there is a rule, when discussing any topic on the Internet, that you are not allowed to remember anything that happened more than 1 week ago.  Or maybe you can remember things if they add to your outrage, but not if they would give you perspective and calm you down.

    Personally, I see no reason for this to exist, but I don’t quite understand why it’s an outrage on principle.  If Spider-Man can sustain infinite reboots, why not Buffy?  "Spider-Man is older" doesn’t really HELP the case, and all the original-creator-should-be-involved-or-it-doesn’t-count indignation would be interesting to Steve Ditko.

  8. I’ve never really understood the hate for remakes.  I simply ignore most of them.  If I want to watch Buffy (and I never have), I’ll simply pick up the much heralded DVD’s.

  9. @ TNC – Doesn’t Whedon work on the comics with those writers?  i could be wrong but if he does, that is completely different then a full remake/reimagining of his Buffy.

  10. And speaking of short memories, raise your hand if you knew someone who refused to watch the Buffy TV show because it was ripping off the movie.  (Raises both hands and both feet).

  11. I think that his anger is pointed at Kuzui, and not the idea of the remake.  Part of the contract that he entered to get Buffy made originally was that the Kuzui’s would have primary video ownership over Buffy and all derivatives, like Angel and Spike.  Or at least Iremember something like that…

  12. I don’t think I’ve ever said, "What?" more dismissively than I did the day my friend invited me over to watch a TV show based on that Kristy Swanson movie.

  13. Unnecessary but not terribly surprising. This has been floated around for a long time, though, since the success of the original show, so this is going to be one of those "I’ll believe when I see it" things. Like Bryan Singer’s rival reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, the news on that suddenly stopped.

    I’m not sure why I never watched Buffy when it was on the air, since I recall rather enjoying the movie. (Though having watched it recently, it’s pretty bad.) And I was always a fan of movie to TV show franchises. Hmmm…  

  14. @TNC The Buffy comic is his baby, he’s involved in it. Other writers are involved sure but it was the same thing with the TV show.

  15. @gobo/ed209af: No, I’m saying that he’s talking bad about people talking his work and turning it into their own. Which is ironic because he supervises the Buffy comic which he doesn’t even write anymore.

  16. @TNC – He’s kidding. Asking whether vampires are popular is a joke. Obviously. 

  17. Cheers to this! I loved the old Buffy movie, but I thought the show was crap! I’ve enjoyed some of Whedon’s other work, but I miss the camp factor of the the original flick. Maybe they’ll bring that aspect back!

  18. He didn’t make up the Avengers, either.  Is also a joke.

    But seriously, Whedon has a long history of making (and I say this with love) pissy comments about collaborations he was involved in that didn’t go the way he wanted them to.  It’s his right to say that stuff, but he also knows how the business he’s involved in works, and if he has the perspective to joke about it, more power to him.

  19. @TNC It’s not ironic at all. He’s still guiding the ship even if he’s not writing individual issues. Buffy Season 8 is still "his" in every way the tv series was. I’d be upset too if I’d put over a decade of work into something and have someone take it and remake it while I was STILL working on it (albeit in a different form)

    It’s also clearly a joke, especially if you read the whole thing. I’m sure everyone who has worked with him gets that it’s a joke if most of us (who have never met him) recognize it as an obvious joke.

  20. If you look at Rubel Kuzui IMDB page, she has made a living primarily off Joss’s creativity, It’s truly a case where she has no orginal ideas of her own.

    @Oh Caroline, I think Joss bringing an idea and then continuing the idea in a TV series is different then a rip off. I mean the guy wrote the script and came up with the idea. It’s his idea!!! The show continued from where the film left off. I personally watched the series before the movie, and would have never watched the show if I had watched that movie first.  Marvel hired writers to do a reboot, not a contributor to the book. Rob Legato helped develop the camera system for James Cameron’s Avatar. I don’t expect Rob to run off and make an Avatar film because he helped contribute to bringing it to the big screen.

    A remake like Battlestar Galattica, at least was no longer relatable a younger generation. Buffy isn’t that far out. Star Gate continued on from where the film left off.

  21. this turns my stomach about as much as a thing can. i’m struggling to keep the "you don’t know anything about it" and "how is more buffy, even if it’s different buffy, a bad thing?" thoughts at the forefront.

     i’m not nearly the "whedon is my co-pilot" fan i used to be, but his comments are exactly why i love him.  yes, he’s bitter, and really, who wouldn’t be?  but he also recognizes that there is nothing he can do and that the entertainment industry is pretty much built on recycling popular ideas.

  22. Rob Legato doesn’t own Avatar.

    I’m not sure what the backstory with the Kuzui thing is, whether Joss did it as a work for hire or sold the rights, or what.  But I haven’t heard any allegations that the Kuzuis are doing anything inappropriate under the business arrangement she has with Joss Whedon. 

    It’s kind of amazing that I feel like we have to go over the basics of business whenever this kind of thing comes up.

  23. This goes one of two ways, it turns out awesome and I’ll buy the DVD and put it next to my Buffy collection. or it sucks and I ignore it just like I ignore the first Buffy movie. Either way I’m interested. 

  24. The Kuzuis own part of the rights, that was the agreement to get it made. However, they’ve been kept from doing it in the past because they weren’t Whedon. It’s very similar to the Thunderball/Never Say Never Again situation – The scriptwriter sued to get rights to the script, but couldn’t keep any of the James Bond universe details. 

  25. @Kelly  Part of my perspective on this is, despite Buffy having been made, good heroine stories are pretty thin on the ground.  And yes, I would DEARLY like someone to have an original idea and make a film based on that, but when even a Wonder Woman or Batgirl can’t get made, I’ll take what I can get, to some extent. 

  26. Rob Legato helped develop the camera system used to do the 3d capture for Avatar

  27. @Prax   But, like, nobody’s saying Whedon was cheated or oppressed or coerced, right?  He made the deal to get the movie made.  Then he didn’t like the movie, and when the terms of the contract allowed him first refusal to develop it for TV, he made the version HE wanted to make.  I happen to like both, and I like the central character, so sure, I’ll give another story about her a shot. 

    Am I the only one who thinks *comic book fans* getting het up about this is weird?

  28. @ohcaroline Nope,it makes for great forums. I just hate to see a great cult classic mined into so early in it’s twilight. It’s hasn’t  been a decade since the show’s been off the air.

  29. @ohcaroline – exactly. I think Whedon has a good sense of the situation, too. He’s ‘sighing audibly,’ but he seems to realize this is just ‘business as usual.’ 

    Really, honestly? I can’t get too upset. I mean, Whedon was incredibly fortunate to be able to turn the Buffy concept into a TV show, run that TV show, and then eventually run the comics. The film industry doesn’t really favor the writer, and there are a gazillion scripts that are purchased outright — and the writer never gets to see them again.

  30. If Whedons not involved it will flop. I agree with him on this, make new stories instead of trying to resurrect old ones. Its kinda desperate. I loved Buffy. I have every season. I was even an extra on an episode! Some things need to be over and done with (thats why i don’t read Buffy comics). Is it possible to jump the shark before the pilot is released?

  31. @wallythegreenmonster: The new thing is a film not a series.

  32. @caroline. i’m with you. i think that’s why my rational side is winning over my gut reaction of "my buffy! you can’t have her!"

    and now that i’ve gotten over that, i’m curious if other main characters from the tv show will feature in the movie.  new spins on spike, angel, willow, giles would make me a very happy campre.

  33. @Kelly  My guess is that those other characters belong to Joss and his company.  So other than Buffy and maybe her mom and some version of the Watchers, we won’t be seeing any of those.   It does make me wonder how they’re going to replicate an equally interesting supporting cast.  

  34. The TV show was basically a reboot, too.

    It’ll be fine. Either it’s terrible and quickly forgotten or it’ll be great. We have nothing to lose by this. Buffy is a strong enough character to forge a legacy outside of Joss. Fans should consider this a compliment, not an insult.

  35. @conor–ooops. I read that wrong. But i think that makes it worse. The only way i think it could work is if Buffy is dead and a new slayer emerges. A new character in that universe…maybe. I just can’t see anyone else as Buffy. 

  36. i want the Buffy Animated series i was promised.

  37. What I love about this whole thing is that it’s a reboot of the MOVIE, not the series, which was actually popular.

    Whatevs. I was mad at first, but then I realized how silly that was. The show, in all it’s glory, will still be there, and if this new thing is an abomination, hey, I don’t have to watch it!

    Now… if they rebooted Firefly without Joss, we’d be having a very different conversation.

  38. "Fans should consider this a compliment, not an insult" 

    — EXACTLY

  39. TOO SOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  40. @ohcaroline-I do not know exactly how much those other characters belong exclusively to Whedon, as the Kuzui production company was a part of ‘Angel’ and they were listed as Executive Producers for the series.  But it is a Hollywood production contract, so who knows exactly what it contains…

  41. Yeah, me neither!  Though I almost think I’d rather see a new supporting cast than trying to duplicate the same dynamic. 

  42. Buffy without Whedon ? That is just retarded .

  43. Maybe they’ll get Britney Spears to play Buffy!

     Old joke for the JW Buffy fans.  (But it’s the name I’m going to use for my next City of Heroes character!)

     They have a writer, no director, and they’re in Hollywood.    Chances of filming frame one of any film at all at this point are probably less than 5%.   

     They should go ask that girl from the Scooby Doo movie what she thinks about the idea.

     

  44. I have my comics and I have my TV show so I’m still happy. It seems on that Warner wouldn’t ask Whedon to helm it but he is a bit busy nowadays.

    Let’s just say that I’m a bit annoyed and that it’s very unlikely I will be partaking of this reimagining.

  45. Never seen an episdoe.

  46. The Kuzuis sold the rights recently. They were trying to reboot but this new film is not by them. Also, the TV series was not really a reboot as Joss continued on from where his original script left off. I don’t fault them for wanting to make a movie using this property. Hopefully it can be more like the Star Trek reboot than a pale Twilight copy.

  47. As Will Wheaton might say, "Hope this film dies in a fire."

    Doesn’t Warner Bros. have something else to mangle like a character they actually created.

  48. The TV series is really and truly not in continuity with the movie in any meaningful way.  Buffy used to live in LA and she had a watcher who died, and the myth is more or less the same.  Otherwise it’s different.  

  49. I would say the transition from film to TV was sort of a soft reboot, with a dash of retcon.

  50. the TV series was the beginning of the end for me and pop culture. i liked the first film, ha!

  51. I will continue to use my strategy of waiting until 50 or so websites have reviewed it before going to see it

    Untill then, Im just going to ignore

  52. The Buffy TV show was a "reboot" or "reimagining" or whatever, so it’s kind of weird to see everybody get all bent out of shape over a reboot of a reboot. But whatever. I love the show. I have all the seasons on DVD. If this movie is awful, it won’t make my DVDs any less terrific. If the movie is great, I have another version of a property I love to enjoy. Either way, my life will continue. 

  53. @Asteraceae – Can I assume from your presence here that you’ve since reconciled?

  54. Yes, what @flakbait said.

  55. @CaseyJustice not really but i try to keep tabs on all my ex-lovers

  56. My apologies to taking a jab at  Fran Rubel Kuzui, aparently Warner has bought the rights from her. So we may be getting a Warners  re-make.

  57. I think my issue with this is that its not like the reboots of V or Battlestar.  Both of those reboots were done long after anything with the properties had been done (to my knowledge).  In this instance (Buffy), the creator is still involved with the property and being excluded.

  58. I’m actually excited to see what happens! I lost interest in season 7 and I can’t stand those new comics! They just remind me of fanfiction too much, so I wouldn’t mind seeing someone play around with it.

    And the buffy movie wasn’t all bad. pike rocked man and young christie boner kicked some ass!

  59. Me? Involved? Buffy? Not even if she was naked and on the floor of my living room! ;p

  60. Whoo I read, Although Warners bought the rights from Fran and Kaz Kazui, they are still involved with  the reboot on the series.