Fantasy Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Vampire - Part 3

[Lily Adler]

Buffys been treated like trash since the initial spin offs failed surprisingly. But we dont meed a reboot, we need prequel/sequel series expanding on other Slayers.

Who owns the rights now? Disney?

 

[Primal Slayer]

Who owns the rights now? Disney?

Yep and they definitely aint gonna do anything with it. We'll just be stuck with sub-par comics for the rest of eternity.

 

[Lily Adler]

Yep and they definitely aint gonna do anything with it. We'll just be stuck with sub-par comics for the rest of eternity.

Dawn and Xander forever.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Disney Channel and Disney+ will happen one day.

 

[Sawyer]

Buffy Season Eight was one of the most significant comic events of my youth and I loved the first few arcs, but my interest tapered off before that season even wrapped and the fact that Dark Horse kept the whole thing going until Season 11/12(?) is still insane to me.

 

[Marvolo]

Yep and they definitely aint gonna do anything with it. We'll just be stuck with sub-par comics for the rest of eternity.

Which makes no sense. Buffy is a superhero property. It has the strong female aspect going for it, it could easily have a multi-racial cast of any sexual orientation, and the protagonist can grow from high school years to adult years. It seems like the sort of thing Disney would want to exploit and milk.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

And just like Gargoyles, Buffy could fit in the MCU. She and Cyclops are cousins after all.

 

[Marvolo]

And just like Gargoyles, Buffy could fit in the MCU. She and Cyclops are cousins after all.

Buffy and Blade and Morbius in a film together...

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Buffy and Blade and Morbius in a film together...

The Slayer and The Daywalker… it has a ring lol.

 

[henzINNIT]

Reminds me of all the memes back in the day of Buffy and Blade appearing in Twilight ha.

It seems inevitable that the Buffy IP will be reborn at some point. Surely Buffy has quite a lot of potential now, considering how dominant super-heroes have become. I guess it's not high on the list considering all the stuff Disney have bought. Another studio might be eager to have Buffy, but Disney have plenty of heroes.

Buffy Season Eight was one of the most significant comic events of my youth and I loved the first few arcs, but my interest tapered off before that season even wrapped and the fact that Dark Horse kept the whole thing going until Season 11/12(?) is still insane to me.

Yeah same. I wasn't a big comic book reader (still not) but I was all in for Buffy season 8. I had the trades and the single issues with whichever my favourite cover was. It was a bit outlandish but pretty fun to start with. I didn't make it to the end of the 'season'. I did check in every now and then to see what was happening later.

I liked issue #20 that used the animated show artwork.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Buffy Season Eight was one of the most significant comic events of my youth and I loved the first few arcs, but my interest tapered off before that season even wrapped and the fact that Dark Horse kept the whole thing going until Season 11/12(?) is still insane to me.

It brought on a whole new genre of sorts for comics that is rarely spoken of

 

[metaphysician]

I think part of why nothing has been done with Buffy lately. . . basically, its thoroughly developed enough as a broad thing to make a straight reboot awkward, but its also run its course in a way that makes continuation equally awkward. If you reboot to square one with a new Buffy newly become a Slayer, you would alienate a lot of fans who compare it with the previous version, or like aspects that aren't in the show yet and might never be. If you do a canon continuation. . . well, frankly almost all the existing characters are completely unusable; they either have firmly finished their character arc, or else have transformed into some monstrousity of awful writing that doesn't deserve direct continuation. That leaves you with "distant time skip and entirely new cast with odd cameos and references", at which point you start begging the "So how is this really different from any other urban fantasy show" question. There just isn't a good angle for New Buffy, at least not one palatable for the modern TV business.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I think part of why nothing has been done with Buffy lately. . . basically, its thoroughly developed enough as a broad thing to make a straight reboot awkward, but its also run its course in a way that makes continuation equally awkward. If you reboot to square one with a new Buffy newly become a Slayer, you would alienate a lot of fans who compare it with the previous version, or like aspects that aren't in the show yet and might never be. If you do a canon continuation. . . well, frankly almost all the existing characters are completely unusable; they either have firmly finished their character arc, or else have transformed into some monstrousity of awful writing that doesn't deserve direct continuation. That leaves you with "distant time skip and entirely new cast with odd cameos and references", at which point you start begging the "So how is this really different from any other urban fantasy show" question. There just isn't a good angle for New Buffy, at least not one palatable for the modern TV business.

We have Fray. And its been almost 20 years since the finale, thats plenty of time to do a sequel and make changes that doesn't require the OGs. But we also have prequels. There's plenty of life in the franchise

 

[Lily Adler]

 

[Sithborg]

I think the main reason they haven't touched Buffy is that it is viewed a Whedon's creation. That doing something without Whedon would not be accepted.

Times have changes, so we will see.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

We have Fray. And its been almost 20 years since the finale, thats plenty of time to do a sequel and make changes that doesn't require the OGs. But we also have prequels. There's plenty of life in the franchise

Fray has a lot of potential with the right creatives and a few more Buffy connections. Put writers like David Fury, Jane Espenson and Doug Petrie on it.

 

[Lily Adler]

I think the main reason they haven't touched Buffy is that it is viewed a Whedon's creation. That doing something without Whedon would not be accepted.

Times have changes, so we will see.

And that could be justification not to do it still since he's damaged goods.

 

[Dr.]

Ramblings on a hypothetical reboot (or spinoff)…

Not exactly a newsflash: a core strength of Buffy was its writing and skillful balance of drama/action/horror (on the one hand) and comedy/wit/rapid-fire dialogue/pop culture allusions (on the other). You appreciate what a difficult feat this was when you look at similar genre shows that seem to be emulating the “Buffy template” — and fail at the attempt.

So what are the odds that a reboot/spinoff (sans Whedon) would be able to “catch lightning in bottle” again? Well, one strategy might be to not even try. I.e., while a new iteration would be inspired by the original source material, there wouldn’t be any attempt (wisely?) to slavishly copy its unique formula. In practice, this might entail going more dark/serious (which is kind of a trend anyway ) and dialing back the comedy. But would that work? Was the essence of Buffy its story content (Slayer mythos, etc.) — which could, quite plausibly, find new life in a reboot? Or was the essence its form (the aforementioned skillfully balanced writing) — which may be of a specific circumstance, time and place and (therefore) defy replication?

Also… do we assume that a reboot would be a movie (/w sequels) or a streaming series — and not old-school network TV? And would that dictate (for the better… or worse?) a different style and approach to the material? Moreover, Gellar’s “fan casting” of Zendaya (or someone of equivalent celebrity) would likely preclude network TV as a venue.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I could see them putting a reboot/revival as a Disney+ program. That would fit.

 

[henzINNIT]

One problem with any reboot is that Buffy is built on its characters over its lore. It's called Buffy afterall. Without those characters it is mostly just... a vampire show. Its cult status might be off-putting too. Buffy isn't a definite draw for general audiences, and its fanbase is small, passionate, and likely hostile to something that would replace the original.

 

[Lily Adler]

Would Dawn be part of a reboot?

 

[obredaan]

Would Dawn be part of a reboot?

I've been following several reactors who are currently watching Buffy and its hilarious the reactions when Dawn shows up out of nowhere.

 

[metaphysician]

Would Dawn be part of a reboot?

Don't see why, unless they decided that Buffy would have a younger sibling from the getgo. Which. . . might be called Dawn, but wouldn't actually be the Dawn as-in-character-and-plot that the original show had. Because Dawn as she existed, wouldn't have any logical reason to even exist for several seasons ( yes, you could pull the pin on Glory much earlier than originally, but that has its own dire problems ).

 

[Lily Adler]

Don't see why, unless they decided that Buffy would have a younger sibling from the getgo. Which. . . might be called Dawn, but wouldn't actually be the Dawn as-in-character-and-plot that the original show had. Because Dawn as she existed, wouldn't have any logical reason to even exist for several seasons ( yes, you could pull the pin on Glory much earlier than originally, but that has its own dire problems ).

Have Glory and Dawn's origin be a multi-season mystery story arc?

 

[Primal Slayer]

One problem with any reboot is that Buffy is built on its characters over its lore. It's called Buffy afterall. Without those characters it is mostly just... a vampire show. Its cult status might be off-putting too. Buffy isn't a definite draw for general audiences, and its fanbase is small, passionate, and likely hostile to something that would replace the original.

I'd say that Angel, Fray, and the comics have proven that the lore is a very big part and can survive without Buffy being the driving factor. The whole Vampire Slayer lore gives a rich history to explore and people love a good universe.

Would Dawn be part of a reboot?

Don't see why, unless they decided that Buffy would have a younger sibling from the getgo. Which. . . might be called Dawn, but wouldn't actually be the Dawn as-in-character-and-plot that the original show had. Because Dawn as she existed, wouldn't have any logical reason to even exist for several seasons ( yes, you could pull the pin on Glory much earlier than originally, but that has its own dire problems ).

She was going to be part of the animated series "reboot" showing how she altered history. I'm surprised she was left out of the comic reboot. So she could definitely be in a reboot and have a similar origin that is revealed.

 

[TheFuture]

A bit late on The Gift vs Chosen as series finale talk, it's a tough one.

From the main character perspective the Gift for me everything was just built perfectly, from Buffy embracing her (tragic) destiny to the Spike relationship being where it should of always been (sorry I'm not a Spuffy fan!).

Other characters benefited from the additional 2 seasons but it should be the main character who should matter most, who I felt took too many hits in those seasons for the worse.