Joss Whedon talks Buffy.
"It really does represent a huge (part of my life), the biggest journey I've ever taken, the longest journey I've ever taken, and the first journey I ever took as an artist that was truly my own".
This is a related piece to the Serenity interview that was posted here four days ago.
January 08 2006
You need to log in to be able to post comments.
About membership.
I just love how Joss is still so willing to talk about Buffy, and with so much pride. Often, creatives like him just want to talk about the latest thing they're involved with, instead of revisiting a past accomplishment. He always comes up with a new and interesting way to explain his work, too. I loved his "levels" remark.
Buffy is and always will be, for me, the greatest television show ever. It warms my heart that Joss still cherishes it and credits it with so much importance in his life.
Willowy | January 08, 20:12 CET
Rogue Slayer | January 08, 20:32 CET
Lioness | January 08, 20:33 CET
I'll get me coat...
zz9 | January 08, 21:11 CET
ChosenGuy317 | January 08, 21:13 CET
note to lurkers: above is a joke, a joke, merely a joke
Yep, this must have been during the same chat as that earlier interview. I hope these quotes are reliable transcriptions, because they are interesting and certainly seem Jossy-good. Thanks for both links! :-)
billz | January 08, 21:42 CET
Could someone please tell me where this Jewel Staite joke comes from. It seams a bit odd does it have a funny background.
acidflash | January 08, 23:47 CET
This is the pertinent thread.
Edit for typo
[ edited by Paul_Rocks on 2006-01-08 22:16 ]
Paul_Rocks | January 09, 00:15 CET
Definitely a lover interview, and I totally agree with Willowy. It irks me so much every time you see Tom Cruise or someone talking about their latest project and how it's the best thing they've ever done, when I'm wondering how it could have got so much better from their last project, which they also claimed was the best thing ever. Joss treats each of his shows with respect and is willing to talk about each of them in depth. What a great guy.
Razor | January 09, 00:29 CET
RIPWesley | January 09, 01:14 CET
UnpluggedCrazy | January 09, 03:25 CET
I'm right now into my second time through the complete series in the correct order, and I'm just awed by the achievement that is Buffy. My first glimpse of Buffy came years ago when my room-mate rented the movie video and I caught about 10 minutes worth. I'd read Dracula and was familiar with other vampire literature, including most memorably a play-in-progress that put the character into postwar America, where van Helsing was a female Dutch resistance fighter. The idea of a more modern update where the inevitable vampire nemisis happened to be a California valley girl struck me as cute, if limited. When some years later I heard that it was being turned into a television series I wondered how anyone could take what seemed essentially a one-joke concept and string it out into a series. I didn't try watching it because I didn't watch much television. I'm not even sure I owned a tv at the time.
Fast-forward several years later, I owned a tv and vcr and was in my local video store (not named "Best Video" for nothing), looking for things that could distract my attention while using a home fitness machine. I'd already worked my way (literally) through Masterpiece Theater's "Forsythe Saga" (old series AND new), "I, Claudius" and the entire "Brother Cadfael" series. (Okay yes, I'm pretentiously literary). I'd noticed the BtVS video collection many times and my curiosity was piqued by remembering it referred to as a uniquely intelligent show, so I gave it a try. Nothing to lose except the $4 rental fee.
I had no anticipation of the impact it would have on me. No television series has ever drawn me in the way that show did. After renting every one of the boxed video sets (not the most recommended route for watching Buffy), I bought a dvd player solely so I could watch every episode. Then I bought every episode, year by year, along with the associated Angel years (and eventually of course Firefly.) I had whole lost weekends of Buffy, where I sat down and watched hours on end, staying going until 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning. Then I'd go on-line and search out every article or commentary on what I'd just watched that I could find. I described, in detail, every story arc and character development to my boyfriend who was a bit bemused by this new obsession. He now owns all of Firefly but is not allowed to watch Buffy or Angel outside of my presence.
(A while ago I happened across an article on Salon.com about men and sexbots in which the male author described women's ideal man as one who will snuggle with you while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Got that right!)
(http://www.salon.com/health/sex/urge/2000/02/26/sexdolls/index.html for those interested.)
How to explain to those outside the Buffy circle why this silly-sounding titled thing is so powerful, how it is so much more than a "one-joke concept." The writing IS exceptionably smart. It's funny, and clever and the stories delight with unforseen twists ("Oh the evil live puppet is actally the good guy - didn't see that coming"). It sucks you in with it's wit and then it sucker-punches you in the gut with the pain and the loss and the needing. It's a show about inhuman monsters that's really about the most human of needs, the need to be connected to others.
Buffy, Angel, they're shows about demons and superheroes the way Hamlet is a play about ghosts, Macbeth about witches and prophecies, the Tempest a story about sorcery, and A Midsummer Night's Dream is a fairy tale.
barboo | January 09, 05:24 CET
Lioness | January 09, 06:05 CET
Now, oops, how do I edit my own post to remove the unsightly typo? I'm sure I read how to do it at some point, but can't find the instructions.
barboo | January 09, 09:33 CET
Perhaps you're too new to edit your own post. Check the whedonesque rules. But, why edit your glorious post?
phlebotinin | January 09, 19:01 CET
He tries to impress a new co-worker and boss of the game-testers (played by the actress who did Velma in the Scooby Doo films, [Linda Cardellini - ed.] a little connection to Buffy herself there since SMG was Daphne). The quote is something like "I just got the new season of Buffy, I was going to go home and watch the bonus features" then the woman responds by saying something along the lines "that hasn't even come out yet has it" and JP responds "yeah, I know some people in high places".
Actually I'm probably really cropping the quotes and ruining the joke, and so as to not plagiarize all that is copyrighted and trademarked by happy madison, MTV, Level 1 films, or whoevers bankrolling the film and owns the rights to the part. I probably misquoted it bad enough as it is, but check it out - even if just to see a little fun being poked at us Buffy-lovers, and in some cases such as my own obsessors, and interesting that it's being said to a actress who starred with Buffy actress Sarah Michelle Geller in both Scooby Doo flicks. As for the moderators, feel free to edit and remove my post if I broke rules I was unaware of, just trying to share the bit with fellow whedonesquer UnpluggedCrazy. Thanks :)
RIPWesley | January 10, 05:23 CET
SoddingNancyTribe | January 10, 05:29 CET
There was just this typo that was being all glarey, y'know. No big.
barboo | January 10, 08:11 CET
Congratulations, phlebotinin. Is that why you haven't been around much lately? ;) We've missed you on Flickr. I do agree with that premise, though, including AtS, "Firefly" and "Serenity", of course.
barboo, that was beautifully said. I had a similar experience - and epiphany - when I discovered "Buffy" just over a year ago. (I was a "Firefly" fan from the first airing of "The Train Job".) I bought all the DVD sets and cruised through them in about two and a half months, while taping and watching "Angel" every day. (I now have all the AtS DVDs as well.) I never get tired of watching - or discussing, sometimes at great lengths - Joss's shows, and I'm glad he doesn't either. I'm watching BtVS S6 right now - in between showings of "Serenity", of course. :)
samatwitch | January 11, 01:38 CET
I've just moved on to BtVS S6 again. Finished "All the Way" and "Once More, with Feeling" last night. Knew that "Once More" is utterly brillaint (David Fury singing about getting the stain out, with singing/dancing chorus has to be absolutely one of the funniest scenes ever in the history of television), but I hadn't remembered how funny "All the Way" was. I remembered it as being more melancholy with poor Dawn's first kiss being a vampire and all, but it was just full of lol bits.
I've now gone so far in Jossness as to rent and watch "Speed." I remember when the movie came out, the reviews saying how snappy it was with the dialogue. And it was. Although character-wise, not in a league with any of the series.
barboo | January 11, 02:41 CET
I have my Buffy and Angel DVDs lent out to 2 sisters 16 & 18 (and their dad who is also watching it!) and to a 42 year old and I so long to get them back to watch my favourite episodes again. But it is ok. I prefer to introduce people to the Wonders of Whedon.
Lioness | January 11, 06:38 CET