I think they missed a crucial element that colors all his work.

Pointy | March 17, 19:04 CET

I think the author has a very loose definition of red. There are a few characters in there that I would argue were blonde or brunette. For instance, I never thought of Tara as a redhead. She always seemed blonde (varying degrees of darkness, however.)

Whisper | March 17, 20:36 CET

I didn't really notice that Joss's hair is red for many years.

Pointy | March 17, 20:48 CET

You know, I just don't think of Buffy or Angel as Sci-fi.

menomegirl | March 17, 21:03 CET

I think there's a slight misunderstanding of the ratings situation. All the Whedon fans are doing their part, and always have, but, sadly, those numbers are not enough to keep the show(s) on the air.

k8cre8 | March 17, 22:16 CET

Yeahhh, I don't really associate Joss with sci-fi right off the bat either (despite Firefly), "fantasy" comes to mind first (although to be fair, there were sci-fi elements and whole sci-fi-ish episodes--although they still featured something mystical as long as they featured a slayer or a vampire with a soul--of both Buffy and Angel).

I guess Dollhouse pretty much balances the scales, two straight-up sci-fi dramas and two mystical/fantasy dramas. Although 12 seasons in one case and half a season of each (so far) in the other genre's case.

Kris | March 17, 23:42 CET

OK now correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it the case that Joss did extensive script doctoring on Toy Story, rather than turn the story into a script?

Also didn't Joss want to disassociate himself from the final product of Alien Resurrection?

And wasn't in the case that Angel was cancelled due to some exec screwing up with contract renewals, rather than anything else?

Then we get onto the fact that the person writing this article never even saw Firefly!

Seems like a pretty poorly researched article to me. Then again maybe I'm wrong about everything. Of course I'm not a journalist and paid to research things.

dev | March 18, 01:50 CET

I think the moral of this story is, "Be careful drawing conclusions, they might well be a bit shallow". Without Ripley and Call the aliens would likely have made it to Earth and we'd all be incubating our very own bouncing bundle of face-hugger joy BUT Ripley[2] and Call are both very much the product of "messing" with nature - so the moral of the story to me is, "Messing with nature is dangerous BUT it's what we've always done AND there are rewards for doing so".

Bit slight all in all as a case for 'Godfather of sci-fi' (especially given that about half the examples aren't sci-fi to begin with) but in fairness it felt more like a blog post than an article, seen in that light it's easier to be more forgiving.

(and I liked jlv's 'Seeing Red' post too but even though it felt kind of jokey in tone, some are pretty thin - Glory, Tara, Amy, Eve ?? And maybe you could make a case for Adelle as 'auburn' but surely not red. Interesting idea though)

Saje | March 18, 03:52 CET

How on EARTH can you write an article titled "Joss: Godfather of SciFi" and not have seen Firefly??? Are you KIDDING me? Was there no one else (a fan perhaps) to write such an article??


Blasphemy.

death is my gift | March 18, 06:59 CET

So what you're saying, Saje, is that they're not all canonical redheads. I think we should discuss this. Thoroughly.
;-)

Pointy | March 18, 07:10 CET

Yeah, Wash didn't have red hair.

DisChunk | March 18, 11:31 CET

Actually that list left off Oz (who was red most of the time, I believe and Seth Green actually is a redhead) and I would have added Kaylee actually - I think she had more of an auburn/russet thing going on than most of that list (I disagreed with about half of it (at least)).

DaisyButtercup | March 18, 13:53 CET

"Red hair (also referred to as titian) varies from a deep orange-red through burnt orange to bright copper." Discuss.

[ edited by Pointy on 2009-03-19 05:15 ]

Pointy | March 18, 21:14 CET

You're trouble you are Pointy ;).

I agree it's a spectrum (heh, geddit ? Eh ? Spectrum ? ... i'll get my coat) but I still say Glory, Tara, Amy and Eve aren't on it at all and Adelle is only arguably at the very fringe (hey, it's a jlv post we're commenting on, a succession of bad puns just feels appropriate ;).

(the general thesis makes a lot of sense though because i've long thought that, given the choice, Joss would rather that all his characters be Scottish and a high incidence of red hair would be consistent with that entirely plausible, reasonable, even obvious scenario)

Saje | March 19, 04:20 CET

But that's true of all great artists, Saje, which is why the law does not give them the choice.
;-)
Furthermore:
1. Any definition of anything that excludes Olivia WIlliams is ipso facto invalid.
2. The worst of puns is the best of puns. G. K. Chesterton said that. About Charles Dickens. I do not equivoke-ate.

Pointy | March 19, 07:07 CET