https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-...yer-to-be-remade-21-years-after-first-episode

As a fan of Buffy, I'm kinda upset. Why reboot it at all?

 

I suppose it was inevitable, given how many reboots there are these days, but Buffy seems like a prime example of a setting that could easily be continued without rebooting; I haven't really followed the comics since the show finished, but with the whole "into every generation a new Slayer is born" thing, they could surely do something with that? Or Fray, Fray was pretty cool.

 

Buffy was so iconic that this could be disastrous. The cast had such great chemistry, the dialogue was so snappy that it will be very difficult for anyone to live up to the same standard. Let's be honest: the Buffy universe, in the world-building sense, is not the hook of the series. It was always about the characters and the quality of the writing. So rebooting it with different characters and different writers but set in the same world is latching on to the weakest part of Buffy.

Presumably, since this is a reboot not a continuation, there will once again just be one Slayer, since the activation of all the potential Slayers in Season 7 hasn't happened. That, at least, is the right decision IMO. Activating all the Slayers was a great finale but it rather kills the premise of the show, and seriously unbalances the good-evil balance.

 

The original Buffy series happened in an entirely different television landscape. What's the new Buffy going to do that hasn't already been covered by the original series, the spinoff Angel, True Blood, the Vampire Diaries and its spinoff the Originals, Supernatural, Shadowhunters, etc.

Contemporary fantasy/horror dramedy for young adults isn't a barren genre anymore. I think there was even a Disney vampire show.

 

A straight reboot of is lazy as fuck, but whatever. As long as they don't rehash the OG story with the same chars, I'm fine with it.

 

If it’s being done by anyone but Whedon I’d be against it. But I trust in Whedon.

 

Might work even better. The first two seasons of Buffy were fairly cheesy and a bit lacklustre, but Josh has a ton more experience in making both characters and plot interesting from the start now so it's likely to be pretty good from the outset.

 

I have an awful feeling that this will be terribly SJW-y. The original Buffy was great because it was casually progressive. Of course the hero is a woman, why wouldn't a hero be a woman? Of course this character is a lesbian, why wouldn't she be? Oh, by the way, here's a terrific story with great humour and character development.

But modern progressive TV shows parade it around like progressiveness is the entire point of the show. I'm just picturing the female lead just shouting "DID I MENTION I'M BLACK AND A WOMAN? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT, EH?" every time she dusts a vamp.

 

Given the TV shows Josh puts out, where women are actual characters and not just soap boxes, that is incredibly unlikely. He's built his career around making ensemble casts believable and relatable. He's not going to throw that out the window to remake an old series.

 

Wheedon is actually only a executive producer he is already working on other shows and has to much on his plate, so this is probably going to suck especially if it's only going to be a reboot.

 

On the subject of a possible progressive slant, Whedon got knocked down with his marriage. If he's looking for a way back in, this is the golden opportunity. Of course, one would hope he understands that it's not worth it to try and appease the progressives.

That said, I did enjoy both his Avengers movies. I've never seen Buffy or Firefly. I might check out the pilot for this, if nothing else.

 

Once I'd have agreed, but Whedon's comments and attitudes on social media over the past few years have been growing more and more in line with the Tumblresque mob mentality. My opinion of him as a person has plummeted massively. He may well continue to have a more tasteful approach in his actual work, and I'll definitely at least stick my head through the door on anything new he puts out.

 

This doesn't bode well for the show. Virtually all the more memorable episodes of the original series were when he was writer and director. But I am an avid Buffy fan and will wait and see. I just hope they are true to the source material and don't try to make this yet another political/Tumblr soapbox.

 

Yeah, one of the inevitable risks of consuming older media is running up against "Wow, that did not age well" moments. Reminds me of when me and some friends decided to watch some classic Adam West batman episodes after he died. While many of them were campy fun, there were also several cringe moments from things that seemed horrendously sexist or racist to someone watching in 2018.

 

I believe it's a reboot in the sense of "same premise, different execution". That is: the supernatural setting is the same, as is the idea of a Slayer, but it's set in a new time period with new characters and new plotlines, with the events of the original not having taken place.

 

Didn't Whedon get exposed for being a cheating dickbag a while back?

 

Yes, by his wife. Tangentially, not the first Twitter feminist to be exposed for similar stuff.