Seems like every time I see a <my favorite geek movie license was butchered> thread, someone sighs “if only they’d let Joss Whedon do this one!”
I watched a few episodes of Buffy, and I saw Serenity in theaters. Neither of them had me clamoring to let this guy write/direct anything else. I don’t hate him, but where’s the interest level coming from? Do people really think he has the Midas touch?
Cause Joss Whedon is a geek in general, as well as a comic book geek. He understands the material about a hojillion times more than the average Hollywood hack.
Extra bonus - getting the “if only Josh Wheaton had done this one” or any other misspelling. C’mon, if he’s your idol at least spell it right.
This thread? Seriously?
Whedon’s dialogue always sounds like the kind of stuff 11 year old boys say to each other when they play soldiers.
This thread would’ve been so much better if only Whedon had done it.
I know, this whole thread is a bad Seinfeld ripoff - but it’s been bugging me ever since someone suggested Whedon should’ve done X3.
Watch Firefly. Really great series.
I don’t think Whedon is some creative genius or anything, but he seems to have a knack for giving characters and the interactions between them a great energy (or whatever you want to call it), even if they’re in outlandish or silly scenarios. He makes them seem real and interesting. Not having that essential stuff is the number one failing of pretty much every geek-type movie ever.
See? That’s what I’m talking about. OhwaitImeanshutup.
Not really a fan of Buffy beyond getting hooked on it by my flatmate in my second year of university, and never watched Angel, but Firefly was really great. All his plot stuff is hokey as hell, but I generally regard that as superfluous to my enjoyment of anything unless it’s just outright terrible.
You’ve got to be a fan of sarcasm and grousing everyman heroism, and lots of it, but he does do it very well when he sticks to action-adventure. He’s got a good sense of humor, I think, and a unique stlye of doing dialogue. He’s a very schmaltzy dramatist though, I’d say. I could almost never feel sorry for any of his characters in that regard, because every single one of them is their own worst enemy. Except for maybe some rare occasions when Buffy is actually having problems being a hero and not just being socially retarded like everyone else.
Oh I definitely agree with this - he lays the angst on pretty thick. That would be his other failing.
Whedon writes good dialogue, which is kind of a lost art in modern geekery.
Unlike storker, I have seen all of Buffy, as well as Firefly, though not yet Serenity.
I will, however, say that he’s vastly overrated by geeks everywhere, and I am not happy about having him at the helm of Wonder Woman, as I have not seen anything that suggests he could do it justice.
Whedon is great at creating a comic like character, (Buffy, Angel, Jayne) or writing existing ones, (see Astonishing X-men) and his dialogue style fits in with certain comic universes.
I second Gallant’s point about him being a somewhat schmaltzy dramatist though. Also, a lot of time, his stories rely on the odd techno/magic babble as plot device #39 to resolve; and there are times where you notice him reusing a particular favourite idea of his over and over again.
Still, he did write and direct an entire musical episode on television that was connected to the plot at hand and never felt out of place within that universe.
Anders has shown deficient taste in, well, everything, so we can ignore that.
Whedon makes likeable characters who are flawed and recognisable. His dialogue is generally top-notch, the humour excellent, and generally plots aren’t all that predictable. What’s not to like? Is this some kind of OMG POPULAR!!!1 backlash?
Joss Whedon is a terrible human being. He thinks that the movie Buffy is bad, and that the show is good. Danny Devito in Twins.
The point of having a vampire slayer named “Buffy,” is that you would have an unwilling and unlikely heroine that would rather be shopping. She is supposed to be trying her best to be a vapid sloot, despite the horde of undead threatening to batter down her door. Balancing school, the tremendous social circle of a cheerleader, and the vanquishing of the unliving, all by herself is what makes her an interesting character.
It doesn’t work when she has a bunch of friends that she can rely on. It doesn’t help the concept that they all have magical powers too. Every time Movie Buffy acts to save a friend, she risks becoming a social pariah. Movie Buffy has worked too hard and gone to too many stupid Future Business Leaders of America meetings to have some drooling pus-sack get her suspended for having weapons in her locker. Also, Hellooo? Stinky people? Where is it written that just because you’re dead you can’t take a shower? That’s a sentiment that a vampire hunter named “Buffy,” from Southern California’s San Fernando Valley would echo, I expect. She wouldn’t care how many centuries ago some stupid vampire lord was created, there’s no excuse for walking around dressed like Prince unless you’re Prince. Shallow remarks and cutting insults, bitchiness from the cramps that the legions of the damned bring on.
That’s a much better character than a girl who fights vampires, has a lesbian witch friend, some guy who always has the easy answer, and whatever mythically diverse translation of the cast of a Madonna video that show ended up with. If I wanted to see that kind of shit, I’d go watch Charmed.
I like comic books too, but that does not prove that I should be in charge of anything.
In my opinion he can make a decent enough sympathetic villian but blow goats when it comes to making sympathetic heroes. I always thought Buffy was the worst character on that show, but by Season 6 and onward I wanted everyone on the cast but Anya and Andrew to die.
Yes, let’s have 6-7 series of exactly the same thing. Characters based on a teenage girl should never, ever change.
Stick to Sabrina perhaps? :)
That’s funny, because I saw all of Buffy and Firefly because I liked them. It’s just that Whedon’s not the holy grail of geekery, and that I think he’s a bad fit for the kind of Wonder Woman I want (which is the one I’ve read about lately).
It’s like raaaiiiiin…
Saved by the Bell :The College Years.