Is Joss giving up on Buffy?

[Blaze]

Not literally (because he's still involved in the comics), but do you feel like Joss is slowly giving up on what used to be his baby. It seems like the quality of the comics have went downhill a bit and it also seems like he doesn't know what to do with some of the characters. Do you think he still cares as much as he did before and is simply running out of ideas, or do you think he doesn't care enough anymore to be really involved in the comics. Or maybe he's just to busy on other stuff and Buffy took the back burner? (I mean, the guy really is busy, I wouldn't blame him).

 

[Kean]

I think Joss gave up on Buffy the second after he created Malcolm Reynolds.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I think he's clinging on, but has mostly given up.

He knows the audience is still there (though getting smaller with each issue) so probably feels like he has to do more stories but doesn't have the time, so oversees the project but doesn't give it the full attention.

I also dont think he's very good at multitasking. Angel was always Greenwalts pet project, and Whedon basically left Buffy to work on Firefly, but I also have to wonder how busy he really is, like the only project he's really working on at the moment is Avengers 2 right? I mean he works on SHIELD in name only really, it's run by Jed and Maurissa, the comics were run by Chambliss last season.
Obviously I've never written a script, but other people do work on multiple project more activlely

 

[brinkster130]

Buffy was his baby (so to speak) so he'll always have a soft spot for the Buffyverse and he is clearly having a hard time fully letting go; but yes he has (for the most part) fully checked out of the Buffyverse and moved on to other things.

It's a completely normal thing to happen, it was a story he invested a lot of time and energy in; naturally he'll want to explore other projects. Plus, BEG brings up a good point, Joss isn't particularly skilled in the multiple projects going at once arena.

I wouldn't be surprised if after season 10 of the comics Joss takes some time off from or completely turns the Buffyverse over to his team. That being said, I think he'll always look back on Buffy with passion and will continue to interact with the fan base as long as they are interested.

 

[white avenger]

I don't think that Joss has actually given up on Buffy, it's just the candle has only a limited number of ends to burn on, and he's to that point and way beyond at the moment. Someday, when he has time to catch his breath and go back to working on his own creations, rather than someone else's, I think that he'll bring Buffy out, dust her off, and create a whole new series about Slayers, vampires, and assorted things that go bump in the night. And when he does, he'll be able to command such a budget, just on the weight of the name "Joss Whedon" that he'll be able to produce an epic movie that will make "The Avengers" look like a low budget fan movie.

That, or he'll sell the rights to Walt Disney, and they'll screw her up just like they did "John Carter."

 

[Ethan Reigns]

I think Joss will always look back at Buffy as the pinnacle of his career and greatest accomplishment and if the comics are included, he will see it as his longest-running project. But the return on investment is dwindling. This site is the premiere Buffy forum but is still has fewer than 10,000 members and ten years later there are far fewer active members. I think he will also recognize that the comics are a step below the TV show in terms of popular appeal, plot integrity and relationship building. He will continue to oversee the comics franchise as long as people are willing to buy them, but he has other irons in the fire right now and he has let the comics slide in terms of quallity.

His subsequent projects were nowhere near as successful. Firefly achieved critical acclaim but only lasted one season. The movie of Serenity was good but not a blockbuster. Angel lasted five seasons and could have gone one more. Dollhouse lasted two seasons even though it was less of an artistic success than Firefly and it seemed to be in stealth mode - there was no industry buzz and no popular following. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on currently but I don't see any of the cleverly nuanced relationships that made Buffy a success, and frankly, the whole secret agency story line is getting a bit old.

Four spinoffs were planned, Angel (which was the only one actualized), Spike, Faith and Ripper (Giles the early years). Faith was replaced by Dollhouse. The rest did not get greenlighted by the networks.

I think Joss is going to try to find another success like Buffy, but the formula keeps eluding him. I think he used up his best ideas with Buffy and Firefly, still had some good ones with Angel but his subsequent work has not been anything that would grab the average viewer and make his show a must-watch.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I think Joss has moved past Buffy. I think he's still very proud of the show and character (as he should be), but he's moving in a different direction. And that's fine; he shouldn't pigeonhole himself into the supernatural genre. I just think he has kinda outgrown Buffy a bit.

 

[Veyron]

I'd like to think that Joss will surprise us all by coming out with something brand new to do with Buffy within the next two years or so.

It's a pipe dream of course, but I'd love to think that he's working on something, maybe a screenplay for a movie or a set of scripts for TV - something, anything...

In reality though Buffy is probably on the rear most of back burners that Joss has available to him as I'm more than sure he's working on many, many projects simultaneously.

 

[Kairos]

I don't think he believes he has, but, well, the proof is in the pudding.

 

[Xin Rong]

I think he has definitely moved on from Buffy, he may have some involvement in the comics, but it's obviously minimal, given what he's letting happen within them.

 

[Lyri]

I think Joss gets distracted easily.

Three seasons on BtVS, he started Angel. Three seasons of Angel, he turned to Firefly. Firely he held onto and it took up a big chunk of his time because it was different and it was something new, with a new playing field (unlike BtVS and AtS which was the same verse) and new characters that he could play with. But then the show was cancelled and Joss got stubborn, refusing to let those characters go because he thought he had a winner. So we got Serenity, and after that, there really wasn't much else for him to do with that verse, apart from the odd comic that he doesn't really have anything to do with. After that was Dollhouse, which tanked because he tried WAY too hard. The we got the comics, and they held his interest for a while, until Avengers came along.

And now he's stuck. He's contracted into Marvel for who knows how long, developing SHIELD and helping to make sure all the movies tie together in a cohesive unit when it comes to the Avengers. He can't really stretch himself any farther than giving the briefest of outlines for the comics now.

So, no, I don't think he's given up on BtVS, I just think he gets bored easy and distracted by shiny things - like Thor's hair and Ironman. 😉

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I think he has definitely moved on from Buffy, he may have some involvement in the comics, but it's obviously minimal, given what he's letting happen within them.

I dont know, I still think the ideas are coming from him, and if hated how the comics were coming out he'd change them.

The problem with the comics, I think, is nothing stopping him. He has no budget and access to every character so nothing is holding him back, and creativity works well with restrictions not complete open control, there has to be some parameters in place.

He's mentioned stories for Buffy they couldn't do cuz of budget, and I'm glad they did have a budget cuz without it we'd have Mecha-Dawn and Willow flying about - and that is not the buffy we had on TV.

Same with the actor restrictions, as nice as that Tara returning from the dead in season 7 would have been, I'm glad Amber didn't agree to it, I think it would have been a total jump the shark moment.

Maybe the season 9 abortion storyline would have been cut by the network, which would have been so much better.

I wish they'd apply the same restrictions they had in the show to the comics, the verse has been defined by those restrictions through 12 seasons of Buffy and Angel, and they've thrown all that out just cuz they can, when Mecha-Dawn and flying people dont fit in with the show - but I think all of that is coming from Joss, he talks about stuff like that in interviews, the difference is now he can do it.

 

[Xin Rong]

I dont know, I still think the ideas are coming from him, and if hated how the comics were coming out he'd change them.

The problem with the comics, I think, is nothing stopping him. He has no budget and access to every character so nothing is holding him back, and creativity works well with restrictions not complete open control, there has to be some parameters in place.

He's mentioned stories for Buffy they couldn't do cuz of budget, and I'm glad they did have a budget cuz without it we'd have Mecha-Dawn and Willow flying about - and that is not the buffy we had on TV.

Same with the actor restrictions, as nice as that Tara returning from the dead in season 7 would have been, I'm glad Amber didn't agree to it, I think it would have been a total jump the shark moment.

Maybe the season 9 abortion storyline would have been cut by the network, which would have been so much better.

I wish they'd apply the same restrictions they had in the show to the comics, the verse has been defined by those restrictions through 12 seasons of Buffy and Angel, and they've thrown all that out just cuz they can, when Mecha-Dawn and flying people dont fit in with the show - but I think all of that is coming from Joss, he talks about stuff like that in interviews, the difference is now he can do it.

I agree entirely, but although the ideas may come from Joss, they're implemented by other people. I'm a sucker for continuity, and the mythology of the show seems to be undermined in the comics... I read a quote somewhere that the comics are basically fan fiction, and I can definitely see that. The Spike mini series for example, is just redundant, it could have been so much better, and it's basically irrelevant to the overall story. The same is true with the Willow mini-series, it messes with the ideas of magic and stuff that we've come to know.

 

[VisionGirl]

Someday, when he has time to catch his breath and go back to working on his own creations, rather than someone else's, I think that he'll bring Buffy out, dust her off, and create a whole new series about Slayers, vampires, and assorted things that go bump in the night. And when he does, he'll be able to command such a budget, just on the weight of the name "Joss Whedon" that he'll be able to produce an epic movie that will make "The Avengers" look like a low budget fan movie.

Fray! Fray! Fray! Fray!

That, or he'll sell the rights to Walt Disney, and they'll screw her up just like they did "John Carter."

God, don't say that!