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"Buffy" to Rise Again? And "Dollhouse" Goes Down Under and Up
From the files of What Were They Thinking comes news that “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” may appear again on movie screens, but without Joss Whedon at the helm and without the television series’ favorite characters. Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter writes:
“Buffy” creator Joss Whedon isn’t involved and it’s not set up at a studio, but Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment are working with original movie director Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband, Kaz Kuzui, on what is being labeled a remake or relaunch, but not a sequel or prequel.
While Whedon is the person most associated with “Buffy,” Kuzui and her Kuzui Enterprises have held onto the rights since the beginning, when she discovered the “Buffy” script from then-unknown Whedon. She developed the script while her husband put together the financing to make the 1992 movie, which was released by Fox. [...]
The new “Buffy” film, however, would have no connection to the TV series, nor would it use popular supporting characters like Angel, Willow, Xander or Spike. Vertigo and Kuzui are looking to restart the story line without trampling on the beloved existing universe created by Whedon, putting the parties in a similar situation faced by Paramount, J.J. Abrams and his crew when relaunching “Star Trek.”
Linda Holmes explains at NPR’s Monkey See blog why this Very Bad Idea actually has little in common with the newest “Star Trek”:
It’s one thing to use a high-powered guy like J.J. Abrams to reboot Star Trek
more than 40 years after the original show debuted on television, almost 18 years after Gene Roddenberry’s death in 1991.
It’s entirely another to try to do a Whedon-less Buffy movie only 17 years after the original Buffy movie and only six years after the end of the beloved TV series, while Whedon is still not only alive, and not only still making wildly popular projects like 2008’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, but still quite possibly the most cultishly revered showrunner in television.
In response to the news, Whedon said, “I hope it’s cool.”
Meanwhile, in other Whedon-related developments, “Dollhouse” will premiere in Australia on June 9 on cable channel Fox8. The promotional trailer, shown here, highlights the underlying conspiracy and intrigue — a big step up from Fox advertising in the States that focused on the selling of Eliza Dushku.
Posted at 3:05 PM | Permalink | | 
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May 28, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Thanks for the Aussie promo! It brings to mind a question that keeps running thru my head when I see critiques of Joss’ stance that he’s a feminist. Do we need to hold him or FOX or both responsible for the selling of Eliza? There are some feminist bloggers who keep pointing to the marketing as some proof that Joss isn’t a feminist, but how much power can he really have, esp when the show was thisclose to being canceled?
March 14, 2010 at 10:11 am
Well, I certainly wish the US had marketed “Dollhouse” the Aussie way. Made Eliza look like an actress and the concept for the show sci-fi with an edge - more so like “Caprica” is being marketed versus “Charlie’s Angels” visit a dollhouse - which is somewhat redundant, huh?
As for the Buffy remake that won’t be a remake - tough assignment since the TV series and the movie covered Buffy’s first slayings…so the only spot to go is to do the tale of another slayer - predating Buffy. So good luck with that.