I dont think I'm okay with the Buffy Reboot.

[BuffyIsMyAlways]

Okay, here's my opinion on it. To me, Buffy and Angel are perfect shows. Buffy was advanced, deep, metaphorical, funny, emotional, dark, and meaningful......I can't think of anymore adjectives that describe it. I just love it. I'm always left wishing there was more of the show I love so much.....but that doesn't mean I want it to happen...I know that doesn't make sense. I want more but I dont?

What I mean is, I'm sad each time I get to Chosen on a rewatch. I'm sad it's over, I wish I could press next episode on Hulu or pop in another disc from my box set. I wish parts of the canonical comics were on screen with the actors we all know and love instead of drawings and speech bubbles.

What I dont want is someone risking ruining the legacy that the show left behind, just because it's the trend nowadays to reboot or remake old shows and movies. The show will never be ruined for me, but throwing something like this into the mix is not what anyone asked for I'm pretty sure.

I have heard a number of different rumors in regard to this new show, and some contradict others. I have heard that the new Slayer/Main character will be black, and I love this idea kits great, whatever it doesn't matter to me what color anyone is. I've heard rwo different stories about this. One was that this is going to be Buffy herself, and I'm not okay with that. Changing every aspect of the already established character is NOT OKAY for me. The other story is that this will be a new Slayer NOT called Buffy. I like that Idea a lot better, and if this is the case, I hope they dont goahesd and call the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Now there are some ways where I will be a little bit more open to the idea of a new show in the Buffyverse:

1. I will be more open to it if it is a brand new Slayer or at least a main Slayer of a certain area (keeping the canon of Buffy activating all of the slayers at the end of the series). This one would have to come after Buffy's time, and I'd hope they'd mention events that happened in Buffy's time and Buffy Summers herself and the legacy she left behind on the way Slayers work. I'd rather not this new show feature any characters from the original show unless the same actors are willing to return to play them. I do not want new actors trying to live up to original actors.

2. In regards to the new main character being black, it made me think of the black Slayer we already know of, Niki Wood. I would love too see a lot more of her back story. She was a struggling single mom in the 1970s all while being the slayer. It's a good plot for a show or limited series at least because we know her fate. There's not much info on other than how exactly she met her fate and who her son grows up to be. I'd like to see it, however the only issue I just realized is that obviously at some point in that story they would need to portray her death. We all know already that she is one of the two slayers that Spike killed. As I mentioned earlier, I am absolutely not okay with anyone else playing any of the characters...ESPECIALLY SPIKE OMG. If they brought James Marsters in, and did some wonders with special effects because he's definitely aged since Buffy, go right ahead. But DONT bring in someone new, AND DONT change how she died. The continuity is not to be toyed with. I already had to deal with that issue with Bates Motel. I had seen the original film multiple times, and fell deeply in love with the show, and was so excited when timeline of the show and the movie finally met up with each other, and they went and changed the storyline on me and I was annoyed to say the least.

If it happens, I just want them to do it justice and not butcher it they way that I've heard they butchered Charmed. I've never seen Charmed but I heard the remake is not good.
I dont think I will ever be fully okay with it, but when the time comes, I will give it a chance. If I hate it, I'll pretend it doesn't exists like I did with half of the comic book storylines LMAO.

Thanks for listening. Please let me know all of your opinions!!

 

[one eyed chicklet]

I've been very vocal on my opinion that I really doubt it is going to happen. To me, it seemed like they were just testing the waters to see what the response would be as nothing has been said since about a year ago. I'm starting to think that the response wasn't big enough because most people who like Buffy are in their 30s and 40s and the show will be centred around teenagers, who by the most part, haven't seen it.

If it to go forward, I would much rather it is set in the past, that way they don't fall into the trap of whether to consider the comics as canon and having to match the fantasy of it, especially since not that many Buffy fans have actually read them. I am also totally up for seeing more of past slayers and I just love historical settings, that way they can also use racism and sexism as part of the plot without people complaining about PC culture (and personally if it's a show set now and its basically just like people thinking she can't do stuff because she's a girl or black it does sound annoying).

In regards to the new main character being black, it made me think of the black Slayer we already know of, Niki Wood. I would love too see a lot more of her back story.

Having a teen mother/young mother as a main character isn't something we really see that much on TV especially ones aimed at teenagers. It would be an interesting starting point.

I dont think I will ever be fully okay with it, but when the time comes, I will give it a chance. If I hate it, I'll pretend it doesn't exists like I did with half of the comic book storylines LMAO.

It will never be able to beat the original because we have seen it beforehand and cherish it so much. Kind of like with Star Wars and its older fans. Although I would like to think Buffy fans would be much nicer. And same, if I don't like it I won't consider it canon either - as I also like to do with the comics.

EDIT: To add to the young mother thing, it would be nice to see motherhood as not the end of a young woman's life, but as the beginning of something else. I think it would be nice for teen/young mothers to know that their life isn't over and have someone to look up to. I could see people taking it out of context though as encouraging teenagers to have children.

 

[brinkster130]

I highly doubt the reboot would do much to the legacy of BTVS. No one would confuse new Buffy with SMG Buffy, just like no one confuses SMG Buffy with Kristy Swanson Buffy.

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

As I've stated several times before. I used to feel this way like 5+ years ago. Now I kind of feel the opposite. I'd much rather see a reboot/re-imagining of the original series than any sort of continuance of the frakked up canon of the later seasons & comics. Now maybe if they can play with some of the canon of the later years & totally ignore the comics. Then that could be interesting. Guess we'll have to wait and see...

 

[Angel6]

I agree with @genghiskhan that I sincerely doubt it will happen. For me the ‘canon’ Dark Horse comics have already tarnished the legacy of the show so much that I would actively prefer a reboot to a continuation, because at least then it would be a separate continuity.

 

[one eyed chicklet]

For me the ‘canon’ Dark Horse comics have already tarnished the legacy of the show so much that I would actively prefer a reboot to a continuation, because at least then it would be a separate continuity.

I don't mind a continuation - as long as it pretends the comics didn't happen. I can't see them doing it that way anyway because you'd have to expect most fans had already read the comics, on this forum and out of it, most people haven't. I wouldn't mind something that is more like a prequel though, that way it is the same universe we know and love from the TV series and not the comics, without interfering with the canon at all.

 

[Taake]

I don't mind a continuation - as long as it pretends the comics didn't happen. I can't see them doing it that way anyway because you'd have to expect most fans had already read the comics, on this forum and out of it, most people haven't.

I don’t know, I mean I know it is just a book (series) but Slayer by Kiersten White, Joss approved and all, is a continuation where to comics are still part of the canon. I never imagined it before I read it, because I assumed the goal was a young fresh audience + old fandom, and that the majority of that group wouldn’t have read the comics, and they still kept it.

If the reboot happens, I hope they won’t repeat that, but there are no guarantees until we see it, I guess


On the reboot in general I’m of two-minds. Half if me dreads it because I don’t believe they’ll make anything half decent; half of me says go for it, yay, but please only bring back Buffy as a new character. I.e. If there’ll be Willow’s, Spike’s, or Giles’ etc they better be references or guest spots by the old cast. The Boom! Comics already show how hard it is to create a new character out of an old character, and especially to try to recreate the Magic of old characters, just slightly revamped for a new setting. ”What will be different in this version” is not good enough story telling for me.

 

[DeadlyDuo]

2. In regards to the new main character being black, it made me think of the black Slayer we already know of, Niki Wood. I would love too see a lot more of her back story. She was a struggling single mom in the 1970s all while being the slayer. It's a good plot for a show or limited series at least because we know her fate. There's not much info on other than how exactly she met her fate and who her son grows up to be. I'd like to see it, however the only issue I just realized is that obviously at some point in that story they would need to portray her death. We all know already that she is one of the two slayers that Spike killed. As I mentioned earlier, I am absolutely not okay with anyone else playing any of the characters...ESPECIALLY SPIKE OMG.

I think the easiest way around that issue would be to have the final minutes of her final episode be her seeing Spike from a distance (they can just show the back of his head) as he follows a would be victim into the subway and she follows after. We already know that ends with Spike winning so the focus of the series shouldn't be on her death but on her life and the lead up to that fateful night.

They recast Nikki in the orginal (the Season 5 Nikki was better) so another recast won't make that much difference. They could maybe have her mention the LMPTM encounter without actually showing it. I think the more problematic issue would be the casting of Robin. His adult self didn't endear himself to fans so the last thing you want is an annoying kid.

 

[thrasherpix]

I'm sympathetic and about the same.

And after Disney essentially ruined what was great about Kim Possible in the live action movie when they friggin owned the original (and seems because they want to follow a shallow trend despite that it made it less "woke" IMO than the original--and it's not nostalgia goggles because even new fans could see what I meant, and I also think the movie did the villains perfectly, and I'd been excited about it and remained so through about the first half of the movie) I'm now cynical of all attempts.

I think marketing just wants to use shows and movies to sell products so they follow trends (idealistic and otherwise) in a cynical fashion and don't care what they do to the story (which also explains some baffling editing in a lot of movies that they've been doing for decades now, because it couldn't be used to sell toys or whatever so cut it even though the story didn't make sense without it).

Back to this specifically, I know it's too subtle a distinction for many, but I'd love a Slayer who happens to be Black (and can certainly have problems because of that specifically), but not someone who is Black who can't have flaws (or to have stereotypical ones that feel tagged on rather than actually part of the character) to show how "woke" they are, and only then maybe throw in an actual story about an individual as an afterthought (if even that). If they avoided this trap to have a good, flawed, interesting (race itself doesn't affect how interesting they are to me) then I'd be okay with a Black Buffy (I'd be more impressed if they let a White girl who's the protagonist be in love with a Black man, however, that would take more guts than I think most writers--or at least those in charge of marketing--have, and I do mean main character rather than side character, though even the brief relationship between Gunn and Fred impressed me they went there if even only for a short while).


That aside, I LOVED this trailer (I only have a few trivial quibbles with it and more related with the first Slayer they show rather than the Black one called after, and if it continued I'd want the newly awakened Slayer to wonder how the hell she did that and had the muscle memory for it, later dreaming of previous Slayers that were now part of her):

I about cheered out loud when I first saw that. I'd rather her name NOT be Buffy, but I'd still be excited for it even if it was.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

My guess is, Fox was just trying to inflate it's value for the sale, and tossing a Buffy reboot out there was part of that, as were the Boom comics. I doubt there's any investor interest in Buffy without Joss, and Supernatural YA IPs are a dime a dozen as is. As for if, do I like it? Well, here's the question for all remakes, reboots et al, 1. How is it going to be different? and 2. How is it going to be better?

 

[DeadlyDuo]

@Angel6 It's the way he goes about things.

Firstly, it's the way he takes on Spike. It's understandable that Robin doesn't like him because Spike killed Nikki (though to be fair to Spike on that one, when a slayer and a vampire get into a fight, it tends to be a battle to the death with only one walking away hence why most vampires try to avoid the slayer), however Robin doesn't have an emotional reaction upon realising just who Spike is. Instead he coldly and calculatedly lures Spike into a trap (despite Spike having a soul and being a valuable member on Buffy's team) and the triggers him (so that Spike has no control over what he does). Robin claims that he doesn't want to kill Spike, just the monster that killed his mom, but in truth Robin probably triggered Spike so that he could claim self-defence. After all if Spike attacked him, then Buffy can't blame Robin for defending himself. This leads into the next point.

Secondly after Buffy realises what Robin tried to do and angrily tells him that she's basically not putting up with his crap because "the mission is what matters", Robin turns on her and kind of sets her up to fail. He's the one that tells her to take some of the potentials with her to the vineyard in order to "test them" and why it all goes disastrously wrong, he's the first one to jump on Kennedy's bandwagon which starts the mutiny and ends with Buffy being kicked out of her own house.

Lastly, he has a weird preoccupation with slayers which suggests something of an Oedipus complex. He invites Buffy out on a date (which suggests a romantic interest) yet when she "disappoints" him by defending Spike, he then switches his attentions to Faith and has sex with her in Buffy's bed. When Faith then tries to ditch him like she normally does with men she's slept with, he then emotionally manipulates her by criticising something she takes pride in (her sexual prowess) by saying it "didn't rock [his] world" then kind of targets her attachment issues.

 

[Anyanka Bunny Slayer]

After reading these comments, I'm really thankful that I never bothered with the comics! 😂

 

[FaithLehane16]

I'm to the point that I don't care for any reboot. It's as if Hollywood is running out of ideas.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

What I've heard about this, and what the showrunner has said is that it wouldn't be a true reboot of Buffy, but a show focusing on a different Slayer... whether happening post-Chosen where there are multiple Slayers or not, I don't know. I'll bet the sticking point is that the network thinks it's been too long for a spinoff to work, and they want a real reboot. But I don't see that happening, with Joss working on The Nevers, which seems to have a very similar concept to Buffy (especially with multiple Slayers).

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

My out, is that Vampires have evolved with increased competition. They've become like the vampires in Blade or Underworld. They live in organized covens, they train, they have familiars, they have deals with Humans. They make deals with other demons. They hunt the Slayer. Pretty young girls being dragged by masked Death-dealers into the back of a van in broad daylight are now common occurrences in most cities, so long as its a slayer, the police don't care. The long ages of velvet clad aristocrats giving garbled speeches to minions who are staring at their hands are over. The Slayers were hit hard by this, as Vampires never stop recruiting, whereas, there's only so many potentials, and have returned to the shadows. At least that's how I would do it.