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24 July, 2001
Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel
Joss Whedon spoke at this year's San Diego Comic Con. He sent in a report with loads of info for fans.
After the New Line presentation came the Joss Whedon (creator of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer") Q&A session, which yielding a quite lot of information, but mostly for Buffy fans.
Dark Horse will be doing a mini-series based on the heretofore-unknown adventures of Oz (Austin Power's Seth Green) in the Himalayas, where he learned to control his inner werewolf.
Although he has no particular objections to inter-show crossovers now that Buffy and Angel are on different networks, it won't happen for a while. Joss plans to use this mutual exclusivity to prove Angel's mettle as a standalone show, mentioning that, up till now, it has often been in Buffy's shadow.
His biggest regret about Buffy? That they "never had enough money to make The Initiative look cool." Good point there - what was meant to be a huge government operation looked more like, in Joss's words, "a couple of guys hiding in the bushes with guns."
On the Buffy animated series: "As of (Friday), the animated series is finally a go." He also stated that the show will be produced (at least in part) by comics giant Jeph Loeb (Batman: The Long Halloween, The Fantastic Four and Daredevil: Yellow).
How will Buffy change because of the change in network? "It's gonna get more 'Wrestle-y'" Joss quips. Then he confirmed that, "Nothing about the show will change because of the network." Any changes in the show, in tone or story wise, will be the sole result of the writers' plans.
He has no news about the long, LONG-awaited DVD release of Season 1, although I heard elsewhere that it is due out in Region 1 this fall. He hypothesized about the delay for a moment, stating that he feels the wait probably has something to do with the fact that the show goes into syndication next year, and that someone doesn't want the two releases to harm one another's business.
On whether or not the series will last more than the contractually obliged two seasons on UPN: "I treat every year as if it were our last… just in case." He deals with the show's future on a year-to-year basis.
On when The Host will become a regular cast member on Angel: "I'll only answer that question if it's phrased as a song." And then the questioner belts out a note like only The Host can, and it's revealed that it was none other than the cast member himself. He quickly ran out of the room, however, so I didn't get his picture. Damn. Love that guy, though. It brought the house down.
On next season's announced "Musical Episode" of Buffy: "They're all terrified, and it makes me laugh."
On future feature films: Joss said that he is "looking to make a feature." He has "an original in mind and something that I am probably not supposed to talk about." While, yes, that's an interesting news tidbit, I confess that it pissed me off. I wanna know NOW, dammit! Sigh… moving on…
On the rumored Anthony Stewart Head BBC series: It's still in the developmental stage… but I think it's going to happen." He added that if it goes through, the pilot will shoot in early spring, so it will be at least a year before we see a series premiere.
On Lindsey's, Angel's nemesis, potential return: He has "no idea when" we will see him again. Probably next year, but the reason he left is because he is busy with other projects.
Did UPN give Buffy's writers creative freedom? "Absolutely. In fact we wouldn't be there if we didn't (have it)."
On whether or not Buffy's death in the season finale will result in a new Slayer being chosen: "I'm working on the assumption now that the line runs through Faith (the other Slayer)… but if we get a good idea (forget I ever said that)."
On making the heartbreak of the 100th episode, which shattered my fragile mind for several hours after having watched it: "Our mandate was, 'Make them cry! Make them cry!'"
On the direction of BBC show: "More like classic ghost stories," as opposed to kickboxing demons.
On the theme of the upcoming show: "If I had to choose the word, it would be Loneliness."
On the UPN 2-hour premiere this fall: "Marti Noxon and David Fury wrote it together." It started filming last Thursday. (Yay!)
And finally, the question we've all been asking for three years: "Will Amy EVER be de-ratted?"
(For those of you scratching your heads about this one, back in the Buffy high school years a recurring character named Amy, a witch, was about be burned at the stake by the parents of Sunnydale when she turned herself into a rat and escaped. Willow found her and was seen trying to "de-rat" her several times, but this entire sub-plot seemed dropped in the last season and a half. And now, the answer.)
YES!
Joss doesn't know when or even how, but Amy will be de-ratted sometime in the next year. He figures he "owes it" to the actress to bring her back. Now my question, will she have aged in rat years or people years when she returns? I mean, will she be in her fifties, or early twenties, or what?
You can read the entire report from the Con here.
What do you think? Talk about it on the Forums
