That talk of a Buffy remake last week provided plenty of gristle for the gnashin’, didn't it?
Turns out there was more than what was immediately apparent. Whedon, for all the shock and surprise he expressed in his open letter regarding the matter, was actually more in-the-know than he seemed to be. THR’s reported that he was offered, and actually refused, to be part of this new project.
I don’t think anybody ought to to fault him for not being totally forthcoming. If you read his statement and didn’t realize that a lot of it was phrased with tongue in cheek, then you probably don’t know the guy’s work well enough to be upset about a remake in the first place.
I’ve seen the original, of course, and a handful of episodes from the show, so I guess I'm quasi-knowledgeable about Buffy. However, isn’t a big part of the mythos supposed to be that the “slayer” is like the Pendragon, manifesting as different young ladies in different eras when the circumstances demand it? Wasn’t the premise of that Fray spin-off supposed to basically be Buffy 2099 (or Buffy Beyond, if you prefer?) So, and not to get too “meta,” but if a new slayer surfaces whenever the vampire threat looms, perhaps a new Buffy is needed to beat back the Twilight-spawned hordes? Just a thought.
Then the other slayer turned evil and hot slayer on slayer action ensued.
The first Buffy movie was pretty good in an early-90s-there's-nothing-else-really-to-rent-night way. Paul Reubens was easily the best thing about it.
And this story has been grossly misreported.
http://whedonesque.com/comments/25419
http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/06/12/joss-whedon-buffy-dollhouse-1/
Oh, and Buffy dies once early on creating another slayer position.
Basically, every time a slayer dies, a new girl gains the powers, this isn't random though as there are only certain destined girls in the world who can possibly be the slayer, which plays a large part in the last season.
At the end of the first season, Buffy is drowned by the Master, but is resuscitated by Angel. This, of course, fucks everything up, leading to the second season where it is revealed that because Buffy was technically dead, albeit for a few minutes, a new slayer was called, though new slayer dies and the character of Faith is introduced as the replacement slayer. Faith turns evil, Buffy beats her down, and Faith slowly returns to being good. Cut to the last season.
Now the First, who is basically the source of all evil, sets out on a Hitler final solution type plan: kill every girl who would ever become a slayer before they have a chance to. This culminates into a spell being cast by Buffy and pals to giving every potential slayer their powers instantly. So to sum it all up, there are now a million super powered girls running around the world killing vampires.
I'm not exactly sure why I was compelled to write all that out, as nobody really asked, but now you know and knowing is half the battle.
Edit: and now I realize hagridore wrote everything I said in a sentence >.< that's what I get for not reading comments thoroughly.
@handlas said:
Buffy drowned at the end of the first season and was "dead" for a matter of seconds before being revived. Thus, another Slayer was called. She was killed after only a few episodes, so a third a slayer was called, named Faith. Faith turned evil and eventually teamed up with the Mayor of Sunnydale.
@TheEggplant said:
Yeah, Season 7 got nuts. Also, if you delve into the "Season 8" comics, shit really gets crazy. Buffy is leading an international team of slayers.