OK.
I’m in deep now. Only seasons 1-4 of Buffy is on DVD. However, Angel seasons 1-3 is available so I bought them all today (Ouch! my charge card is hurt). Buffy seasons 5 will be released in october (I think this has to do with syndication on FX, since seasons 5+6 is on VHS allready…).
What I’m curious about, since it’s not on TV here, and not on DVD/VHS is Ripper. A cheap way of cashing in on a character? A good Show?
I mean I like Giles. He’s more than just a supporting character. But good enough for his own series? Hollywood is greed, sometimes combined with great art/entertainment. But is Josh Weadon getting too greedy?
Well, don’t feel too left out. It’s not on TV, much less VHS or DVD, anywhere. They haven’t actually made any episodes yet, and it’s not 100% certain that they ever will. Production was pushed back so Joss Whedon could focus on his new, non-Buffy starship show, Firefly, which premieres this fall in the US. Despite having to re-write the pilot (part of the reason Ripper got put on the backburner), early buzz on Firefly is pretty strong.
Does Giles even warrant his own show? Judging by the first three seasons of Buffy, I wouldn’t have guessed whiny broodmeister Angel could carry his own show, yet Angel is fantastic, almost as good as the original, and the character has grown by leaps and bounds since leaving Sunnydale. If Giles, already one of the most interesting characters on the show, improves to a like degree… Well, all I know is, if they make it, I’ll watch it.
Well, I’m no big fan of “Angel,” but it’s not because of the characters. My big problem with it is that it’s all over the map. It’s either way too dark and heavy-handed, or way too goofy. With “Buffy” they tend to keep a pretty good balance between the soap opera, the comedy show, the action show, and the sci-fi/fantasy show. The format of the show was pretty well-established from the start, they’ve carried it through with relatively few slip-ups, and they seem to have a good feel for when stuff is going to far in one direction and when it’s time to reel it back in.
“Angel” just seems desparate to capture the same thing that “Buffy” has, but it’s never clicked for me. The most recent episode I saw (it was Cordelia’s birthday and she had a vision that sent her into a coma with a wise-cracking demon and an alternate reality where she’s a big TV star) seemed like a people getting together and checking off the things that work in Buffy. Main character goes through startling transformation: check. Alternate reality: check. Spooky demon who turns out to be a hip, zany wisecracking fun guy: check. But then it was all crammed together and none of it worked.
Anyway, the point is that Ripper could work if they took the right approach, which I imagine would be to steal as much from the Hellblazer comic book as they can without getting sued. (They already have, for the most part, as Giles’ super-secret origins on “Buffy”.) The key is getting the format down from the start – is it mostly a mystery show? Drama? Comedy? The characters will follow from that. Now, Miller’s post is the first I’ve heard of Firefly, so I guess that’s the thing to watch instead.
[brief hijack]
Speaking of “Buffy,” I was cleaning out some files and found this file, which is a parody webpage I made for a goof at the end of the season-before-last and then forgot about. Since there seem to be a few fans of the series on this board, maybe y’all will get a kick out of it.
[/brief hijack]