prolific.org

One of the many perks of running Whedonesque.com, is…

Hang on. There aren’t a lot of perks, really, other than the pleasure of being boss of a site that’s well respected and much quoted. Yeah, we got invited to the Serenity premiere in Los Angeles. But I live in Amsterdam. Which means I never get to go to premieres, conventions, screenings or other meetings. When the Paley Center in New York invited us for a panel discussion on television and online fandom, one of the USA based mods got to go, but I could not. And unlike many of our members, I’ve never met any of the actors, or Joss.

All of this is perfectly fine with me. Yeah, I run the site, but I also run U2log.com and a couple of other sites. I’m not the biggest fan, I don’t keep up with all the news, I don’t know episode titles by heart, I couldn’t tell you which of the writers wrote what. I like communities, but I don’t get too involved. (My pet theory is that people who like to run online communities are actually all mysanthropists deep down.) I consider this a good thing. A little distance from the subject matter is essential. It helps keep me objective. And possibly sane.

I do receive a fuckload of annoying PR in the Whedonesque inbox, all about stuff that means nothing to me, not being American, not living in America. And probably wouldn’t mean anything to me if I were American, living in America. But I digress.

Perks. I has one. A kind soul gave me access to the Dollhouse screener, which contained an unfinished version of ‘Ghost’, the first episode. In case you’ve been living in cave, Dollhouse is Joss Whedon’s new television series for Fox, starring Eliza Dushku and Battlestar Galactica’s Tahmoh Penikett. You can read a synopsis of the show on Wikipedia. It is set to premier on February 13.

I remember catching my first glimpse of Buffy on TV (it was the sixth episode of the series’ first season: ‘The Pack’) and feeling compelled to keep watching it, unable to flip to another channel. Like being drawn in by Bob Ross’s hypnotic voice.

Continued after the jump, contains spoilers

I’m sorry, but the first scene made me laugh so hard I couldn’t take the rest of the story seriously at all. Because Barrowman running in and shout-acting ‘Stop, nobody touches him until I get back, is that clear…’? That wasn’t television. That wasn’t a musical. That was the local elementary school’s 6th form’s first rehearsal of the drama teacher’s play.

Verdict: Really, really bad Buffy, without the making sense.

Yay, it’s started. Oh look, a fish in a car.

God almighty, the scene with the granny is edited. So. Slow. Ly.

Jack’s not here. It’s like the Scoobies without Buffy.

That Blowfish is straight out of the RSC. Is that a gun which I see before me?

Ah, Jack’s back. Ianto’s jealous of the Doctor, poor thing.

Oh. The Marsters. Not a fan. Not of the cheeks. Not of the acting. Sorry.

Hee, just when you’re thinking that’s so ‘help me Obi Wan Kenobi’… there it is.

Yeah, yeah, kiss already. Why not fall through the floor as well?

… campy banter, blah blah.

Intimate scene between Gwen and Jack. For a second there I thought he was going all Roy Batty on us. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate…

You know I’m really starting to doubt Barrowman’s ability to act a lead (drama) part. Perhaps if they did a musical episode?

Aw, Rhys proposed. He’s sweet.

See? Once a rapist, always… oh sorry, wrong ‘verse. Heh.

Talking about rapists… this verse has got its own. Oh hi, Owen. When’s he hooking up with Tosh then?

Run, Ianto, run.

Has Marsters had some work done? The eyes look weird.

Oh noes, he’s killed Jack. Good old… immortal Jack.

How fast did the Scoobies drive to get back to Jack so quickly?

Ooooh, there’s the stopwatch. Get it?

Huh, what, rift? W’happen?

Hey, he can’t go out in the sunlight, he’ll go woosh!

I have no idea what’s happening.

What did he say? He found who?

Hmm.

Buffy and BSG writer Jane Espenson says:

“First off, is life in Jane Austen’s England any less
exotic and strange than life on Galactica or Serenity? But the real
parallel is a set of characters who seem completely fresh and real and
identifiable no matter how alien the world they’re inhabiting.

You know what current show I also see as having this quality? Friday
Night Lights. It’s a gorgeous show that consistently reminds me of
Battlestar Galactica and Firefly — it creates/reflects a real world
filled with lots of real and complex characters with consistent but
constantly-changing relationships, shot as if the camera just happened
to be catching slices of real lives… the fact that FNL is set in
small-town Texas instead of on a spaceship doesn’t matter one bit to
me. Both worlds are a little bit strange to me — what does it matter
that one requires artificial gravity and other artificial turf?”

That’s for every person I’ve met in my life who told me ‘Ugh, I don’t like SciFi, it’s not real.’ And for every person who isn’t watching Friday Night Lights or Battlestar Galactica, and should.

I saw the movie Serenity this weekend. This is my ‘review’.

Serenity is the Joss Whedon film based on the shortlived Firefly TV series. Last Saturday, I joined the fans at browncoats.nl, for a very special screening at the UIP office here in Amsterdam. It was the perfect way to see it. The film hadn’t been subtitled yet, there was no intermission and the audience didn’t talk or cough or kick my chair or munch popcorn or neck. So that was fab. There weren’t any cast members, like at many of the USA screenings, but that’s ok, I wouldn’t know what to say anyway.

I’ll post my non-spoilery thoughts here and then spoilers after the break and I’ll probably invisitext them too, so you’ll have to highlight them with the cursor.

First of all, for those reading this that do not know, I was a big Buffy & Angel fan and I run Whedonesque.com, a website dedicated to all things Joss Whedon, the writer / creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel. Having said that, the people that post on my site are the real fans. I can name some episode titles, but not all and I have no idea which writer wrote which episode. Basically, I was heavily invested in the whole watcher/slayer thing and Scooby friends/family vibe. That spoke to me.

Unfortunately the Buffy series didn’t explore that enough and became more about ‘who is doing the Slayer today’ and ‘female empowerment’ (barf), so I really didn’t care much for the final two seasons. Secondly, I liked Firefly, but didn’t love it like I loved BtVS and Angel. So yeah, I’m a fan, I run the website, but it isn’t life or death to me, you know what I mean? (Those with no experience in any fandom at all will have NO idea what I’m on about.)

When Firefly first aired on TV, I had a hard time connecting with the characters. There were so many, I didn’t have an immediate favourite and I didn’t fancy any of them either. Since then, I’ve watched the series a few times and I’ve grown quite fond of it. But still not in a ‘oh god, I adore these people and they’re telling my story’ kind of way.

Shortly after seeing the film on Saturday, I posted to Whedonesque about it and the minute I posted, the site and most of my other sites went offline. Which completely sucked for all the obvious reasons, but also because it meant I couldn’t talk about the film when I was still completely pumped up about it. So here is what I wrote:

Well, let’s put it this way. I went in with a lot of real life stuff on my mind and a pretty low mood.

I forgot all about it when the film started and I didn’t think of it for one second during, and for about 30 minutes after it ended I was still blissfully forgetful of said real life stuff. I was in a different world for the entire film.

That Joss. He brings the funny. And the scary. And the sad. And the poignant. And the relevant. All in one ‘big damn movie’!

So if you liked scifi, Star Wars, etc… you’ll be surprised, because this film has real acting, real dialogue, real emotions. If you don’t like scifi, you can still go see Serenity, because this film has real acting, real dialogue, real… you catch my drift. Go see it on opening week. Take your friends. Because when enough people show up for opening week… we’ll get sequels. God knows, we may even get a ‘cancelled’ TV series back on the (not so) idiot box.

Continue if you don’t mind spoilers… (highlight to make the text visible)

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