Animating Buffy: Words with Jeph Loeb Circa 2002, Part 1
Aug 04As I’ve mentioned enough to seem like a clinging namedropper, I used to write for the Official Buffy the Vampire Slayer magazine. I think I mention it a lot because it was really cool and really fun and maybe the best job ever right out of college, but maybe I mention it so much because I’m desperate to hang onto a slight wisp of geek cred that’s well past its sell date.
This is a piece I wrote in 2002 for the mag after it was sold off to Titan over in the UK; I freelanced for them for a good while, before moving on to other things. As long as I don’t get a C&D, I’ll post occasional bits like this until I run out of them. Inspired by the YouTubeing of the Buffy Animated demo reel (or part of it?), here’s a piece I wrote about Buffy Animated when it was young and possible, featuring quotes aplenty from exec producer Jeph Loeb.
Tomorrow: The interview leftovers that never saw print.
Just as the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, so also is the road to television success paved with the ink and paint-drenched corpses of pathetic cartoon spinoffs. Usually, that’s because those who did the spinning couldn’t leave well enough alone. When Fonzie and the Happy Days gang became a cartoon, did they need to hang out with a time-traveling babe in her spaceship? Or when Laverne and Shirley got animated, did they need to join the army–with a talking pig as their superior officer?
Fortunately, when Buffy the Vampire Slayer joins the ranks of live-action shows adapted to animation, there will be no time-traveling babes or talking pigs–well, unless you count Anya or the late, lamented Principal Flutie. Buffy Animated will rely solely on what has made Buffy so successful in live-action for the past six seasons–humor, horror, and heaping gobs of character.
“As with everything with Joss [Whedon], it begins with character,†says Jeph Loeb, who shares executive producing duties on Buffy Animated with Whedon. “He’s interested in telling a story–and it’s generally about Buffy–about how Buffy feels about a particular subject. From that comes the metaphor–which monster, demon, vamp or situation best allows us to exploit that character moment?â€
Buffy Animated Trailer FINALLY Online
Aug 04Sarah caught this and Twittered it…I’m gonna blog it real quick too…
Via Comic By Comic and Ain’t It Cool, the fabled demo reel for the Buffy Animated Series…and a quality article to fill in more blanks.
I’ve been waiting for this to leak onto the interwebbe for years. Sweet!
QUICK UPDATE: Okay, so after reading the article I linked (yes, I linked it before I read it–I’m not made of time) I noticed this intriguing quote from Ms. Jane Espenson:
My understanding is that what has been voiced and is being animated is a presentation – a ten minute chunk of one of the scripts that we wrote years ago. So it is Joss’s pilot, but it is being used as a demonstration piece as much as anything.
Hmm…the YouTube clip is about 3.5 minutes…does that mean there’s 6.5 minutes of this stuff someplace?! Somebody leak!!!
Also, not sure what the date is on that article, but it mentions the project being revived while Joss was on the set of “his movie,” which I’m taking to be Serenity…was that in 2005 that it filmed? So it’s been three years since then…wonder if there are any updates. I have to believe that if Futurama can be reborn on DVD thanks to a rabid fandom, Buffy would have a great shot too.
I interviewed Jeph Loeb way back when on the series, for the Buffy magazine, back when it was done stateside and I worked full-time for it. I’ll have to see if I can dig up my notes, or at least the article itself.
I've seen our end and it is the Internet
Aug 02I know it’s hypocritical to a degree, but I’m going to complain about the Internet on the Internet.
Cyclops: Follicularly Blessed, So Why Hide It?
Jul 31Today, I finally had a very important nerd breakthrough. I figured out exactly why the versions of Cyclops’ costume wherein his head is completely covered bother me so much.
Unpopular Opinions: I Hope That IS Emma Frost
Jul 29Our pal Rich at Comic by Comic has some Wolverine trailer footage up. Go see.
Also, over at io9, a detailed screenshot breakdown.
Done looking? OK. So lots of griping going on about which characters they’ve plunked into this movie. Now usually, I am not exactly slow to join the Bitching Chorus, particularly when it looks like MEAN OLD HOLLYWOOD has taken our precious geekiana and made it ALL WRONG.
But you know what? I hope that is Emma Frost.
“But it doesn’t make sense for…” Don’t care.
“But unless there’s a Hellfire Club explana–” Don’t care.
“But it completely fucks with all forms of continuity and changes The White Queen FUNDAMENTALLY and…” Don’tcaredon’tcaredon’tcare.
I want to see Emma Fucking Frost in a movie and I don’t really care how she gets there. Bring it.
