Lost Projects We're Hoping to See - BtAS

Every time someone brings up Ripper, I almost salivate. It's like the proverbial Pavlov's dog syndrome, can't help myself ... I miss ASH. Just think a Ripper series would be a huge hit.

[ edited by Tonya J on 2008-11-24 18:55 ]

Tonya J | November 24, 18:46 CET

Yes, right after Raiders of the Stone Rings, methinks....

DaddyCatALSO | November 24, 18:53 CET

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Animated Series was first planned back in 2001, when both Buffy and Angel were still on the air and flying high; it was meant to tell stories from the middle of the first season, back when everyone was still in high school and Cordelia being bitchy was more a concern than Buffy's death-craving, Spike-fucking super-angst.

This person clearly loved Season 6 most of all.

Given that Giles was always at his best when he was at his darkest, rather than being used as a comic foil, the series sounded like a terrific idea

Reading that hurt a little.

but given how Fox folded, mutilated, and spindled Firefly, chances are good that Dollhouse won't last long

That is a beautiful use of language there. But I'm going to have to ritually origami a copy of The Onion now to protect the series. Stupid AV Club, jinxing my tv.

Sunfire | November 24, 18:59 CET

I sort of thought that, myself. Way to be supportive of Dollhouse. At least give it a chance to live for Christ's sake before you write it off.

Tonya J | November 24, 19:05 CET

Hey, let's leave that can of suspiciously wormy stuff up on the shelf unopened. I thought that line was hilarious. It's the AV Club. #31 is Jesus coming back, so I take this all with some snarky salt.

Sunfire | November 24, 19:12 CET

I feel somewhat ambivalent about the Animated Series. Mostly because 1) The storylines would have remained in high school. My favorite seasons were 5 & 6. So I'm not sure what kind of material would have been explored going back to good old Sunnydale High. 2) I'm not big with the animation...usually. 3) How much involvement would Joss really have had with that kind of medium? (I'm not questioning his ability. He's proved himself quite capable in every medium he's written for thus far. I'm just wondering the level of his involvement.)

As for the Ripper Project...Jeeze. That one's been a real tease. But I will continue to hope. And I agree. Darker is more interesting. Although, there is something calming about Giles when he’s thinking sensibly, tea cup in one hand and research book in the other.

As for Projects I've wondered about...What happened to the abandoned "Wonder Woman" project? I haven't been in the loop for very long. Can anyone fill me in on that one?

Rebekah | November 24, 19:30 CET

Basically, Joss spent something like two years or whatever it was trying to make the studio happy with a Wonder Woman script, but the studio didn't actually know WTF it wanted in a Wonder Woman script, so Joss and the studio parted company and the studio, in theory, is still trying to do Wonder Woman, still with no particular indication that it knows what it wants.

The One True b!X | November 24, 19:38 CET

But who would believe a studio would EFF Joss over? That's obsurd.

Thanks for the info Bix. I should've figured.

Rebekah | November 24, 19:48 CET

... and then boys and girls, because the mean, old studio couldn't decide what to do, it abandoned the project and it floated right back to Brother Joss, who took his original script and made a right, fine neato movie out of it. The End.

At least, in my worldview.

Tonya J | November 24, 19:49 CET

Amen, Tonya. Amen.

Rebekah | November 24, 19:53 CET

Here's Joss's take on it. Also one of several interviews here. So are they still working with the script they bought instead? Anybody know what's happened since?

Wonder Woman is totally on my personal list. A new Fugees album is slightly above it though.

Sunfire | November 24, 19:55 CET

I'd just like another Donna Tarrt novel let alone a film. And a Serenity sequel too. And Joss' Dracula musical. And the second Buffy movie. All those Whedon projects that never came to fruitation :(.

Simon | November 24, 20:37 CET

I don't recall if we've had any discussion recently about the chances of Ripper being made, but in The Write Environment's Joss-interview, done in February, 2008, Joss says:

"Well, Ripper fell victim to a lot of things, most of them contractual... at this point, all I know is I'm gonna do something with Tony for the BBC - and I don't know what it is... Actually, I kinda do know what it is, but I haven't figured it out enough to tell anybody... but I think it probably won't be Ripper."

One of the projects on my personal list is, of course, the Goners movie - there's actually a few of us, spread out across the 'net.

Or as Charmuse has called us: "One. Stubborn. Fandom."

QuoterGal | November 24, 20:42 CET

What. Is Ripper unofficially dead in the water due to red tape?

Sunfire | November 24, 20:46 CET

Balls.

Rebekah | November 24, 20:49 CET

Does it take a special kind of stupid to be a network/studio executive, or is it just the regular kind in a three-piece suit? Personally, I'm guessing leaning toward the "Mommy-and-Daddy-sent-me-to-Harvard-so-naturally-I'm-a-creative-genius" flavor.

Note to execs: just because you have a fancy business degree doesn't mean you know squat about art.

[ edited by quantumac on 2008-11-24 21:23 ]

quantumac | November 24, 21:17 CET

Sunfire: "What. Is Ripper unofficially dead in the water due to red tape?"

Sure sounded like it to me.

Also in the WE Joss-interview, Joss indicated that he had completed two versions of his WonderWoman script, which I had somehow missed - when in February, 2007, he said, "One: There is no definitive 'script' for you guys to dig up. I did a draft that had all the big moments but was structurally wonky, then an outline for a much tighter version, but by that time the end was already in sight, so I never got to do the final definitive draft of the movie I would have made."

-- I somehow didn't absorb that two drafts existed - I fixated on "outline" and no "definitive draft." I'm sure the scripts don't capture the new structure that Joss would've incorporated in the next draft, but at this point, I'd be well interested in that/those earlier draft(s).

From the WE interview:

"I did write a script... I wrote two scripts - two drafts, and then they said, 'Write an outline before you write the next draft.' I did that, suspecting that they may be just trying to get out of paying for another draft because they just didn't like what I was doing. But I knew the story wasn't quite right. The moments, the arc felt very good; the mechanics of the story felt a little wonky. So I went back and worked out the outline to the point where I thought this story absolutely flows and contains all the reasons why I'm writing this. And they looked at it and they said, Well, yeah, not so much."

QuoterGal | November 24, 21:29 CET

Well, yeah, not so much.

Translation for wank studio execs' thinking process (whining noises): "I don't geeeet iiiiiit. Make it less, I don't know, explain with shorter words, pleaaaaaase."

[ edited by Tonya J on 2008-11-24 21:34 ]

Tonya J | November 24, 21:34 CET

; >

I always picture the producer from the Coen Bros. Barton Fink, Jack Lipnick:

"We're only interested in one thing, Bart. Can you tell a story? Can you make us laugh? Can you make us cry? Can you make us want to break out in joyous song? Is that more than one thing? Okay!"

and

"I run this dump, and I don't know the technical mumbo-jumbo. Why do I run it? Cause I got horse sense goddamit, SHOWMANSHIP!"

*sigh*

QuoterGal | November 24, 21:44 CET

Lawdy, QG, there are over 100,000 posts in those Goners threads. Maybe it should be "One Gabby Fandom." :)

jcs | November 24, 21:49 CET

I feel somewhat ambivalent about the Animated Series. Mostly because 1) The storylines would have remained in high school. My favorite seasons were 5 & 6. So I'm not sure what kind of material would have been explored going back to good old Sunnydale High. 2) I'm not big with the animation...usually. 3) How much involvement would Joss really have had with that kind of medium?

1) It would have been the past-that-never-really-was with Dawn featuring prominently, in a kid's Saturday morning cartoon setting. If you want a taste, there was a comic done in the style that's in the second volume of the Buffy Omnibus.

3) Judging from the comic books? A whole lot.

What. Is Ripper unofficially dead in the water due to red tape?

Yeah, from what I've read, specifically problems with character rights, from guess what.

dreamlogic | November 24, 21:57 CET

(Oh, hell, jcs, that ain't even all of 'em.

Yup, we likes our yakking. In the absence of a film, we have generated a world.

We still wants a Goners-film though, though it appears to have gotten tricksy - We Wants Our Preciousssss. Join usssss...)

QuoterGal | November 24, 22:05 CET

I don't understand, QuoterGal. How can you have a fandom about something that's dead in the water & never existed? The way things are going, it just seems painful to invest in something beyond afterthought.

And how can you have 10,000 posts when it doesn't exist?

I just don't get it. But I applaud the enthusiasm & determination. If I were a true fan, it'd be something to aspire to.

korkster | November 24, 22:30 CET

But korkster, think how they can avoid all those shipping arguments & disagreements about which season is the best. It's a perfect fandom!

jcs | November 24, 22:36 CET

korkster: "I don't understand, QuoterGal. How can you have a fandom about something that's dead in the water & never existed? The way things are going, it just seems painful to invest in something beyond afterthought.

And how can you have 10,000 posts when it doesn't exist?"

Thisaways.. and many more, some no longer in existence.

(It's true, jcs - no shipping wars, and we never fight about what's canon, 'cause at this point, almost anything could be.)

"Home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names, and impossible loyalties!" - Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, preface, First Series

QuoterGal | November 24, 23:42 CET

But korkster, think how they can avoid all those shipping arguments & disagreements about which season is the best. It's a perfect fandom!

Ha! I hadn't thought about it that way before. I'm gonna become a gonerian (?) and insist that the sequel would have been wayyy better than the original movie and that two as-yet non-existent characters should totally hook up, if only there weren't another pesky non-existent character coming between them all the time.

I'd just like another Donna Tarrt novel let alone a film.

I know! It's so frustrating that she takes ten years to write a book... but I guess the end results are always worth it.

ET erase superfluous random words that invaded my sentences

[ edited by catherine on 2008-11-25 00:21 ]

catherine | November 25, 00:20 CET

(Off to pick up Donna Tarrt books at library. I love the recommendations I get here.)

kazzmere | November 25, 00:47 CET

I think it's Tartt, actually, double-t instead of double-r, and she is fantastic. She's only written two novels, The Secret History and The Little Friend, and they are both huge and amazing. Enjoy :)

catherine | November 25, 00:54 CET

I would love to see Ripper and/or Buffy Animated get made just as I would love a Buffy movie or any onscreen verse continuation.

Buffyfantic | November 25, 01:08 CET

catherine: "the sequel would have been wayyy better than the original movie and that two as-yet non-existent characters should totally hook up, if only there weren't another pesky non-existent character coming between them all the time."

Heee, I can't find the thread but we've already had that argument. :-D silvius is particularly fond of the sequel.

ETA: Personally I would love to see the series about a group of people making horror B-movies. That's just the thing that would catch on these days. :)

[ edited by cabri on 2008-11-25 01:30 ]

cabri | November 25, 01:26 CET

I really don't like the way he seriously implies or assumes that Dollhouse is gonna fold so that Joss can focus on other projects. Let's all make a promise to be positive about Dollhouse from now on!!

[ edited by WheelsOfJoy on 2008-11-25 07:26 ]

WheelsOfJoy | November 25, 07:26 CET

Normally I'm a very realistic person, but when it goes to Buffy world I grab any kind of foolish hope for mre things. I still believe in the Spike/Illyria movie, Ripper is on my list too, I signed the petition for the ressurection of the animated series, and now I have one more obsession the new Buffy movie.
Should this came after or before the Fray one?

Brasilian Chaos Man | November 25, 15:50 CET

The title made me think of ABC's Lost... which had me confused.

Personally while I'd love more Buffyverse, I prefer to forget that these were ever a possibility due to extreme heartache.

[ edited by BrownCoat_Tabz on 2008-11-25 22:58 ]

BrownCoat_Tabz | November 25, 22:58 CET

November 24 2008