New Buffyverse series on Audible with a focus on Spike

[alrightwithmoo]

Text version:

charismacarpenter I am so damn proud of friends @rebma_nosneb and @Christophgolden for providing a story within a beloved universe that is truly of service to my character, Cordelia Chase. If there was ever to be #justiceforcordelia this audio drama series told over 8 hours (in 9 episodes) on @audible provides it. And I'd very much like to lean into, amplify, and center that fact. After all, it's ultimately why I agreed to be a part of it. Also, I believed it would be redemptive of so many things for both me and the fandom. Who, above all, deserves that.



It’s going to be blatant Cordelia as a Mary Sue stuff then

*Her* character? Wow. Joss will probably make more money off this than she does.

 

[Dracula]

...this audio drama series told over 8 hours (in 9 episodes)...

That's almost the runtime of Buffy season 1 which was less than 9 hours.

We're really getting a 13th season in the Buffyverse. This is a dream come true.

 

[The Bronze]

Also, I believed it would be redemptive of so many things for both me and the fandom. Who, above all, deserves that.

Whedon might be public enemy #1 at the moment but I really don't feel the universe needs redeeming. Quite off putting alongside AU characters.

 

[Bop]

Also, I believed it would be redemptive of so many things for both me and the fandom. Who, above all, deserves that.

I think You're Welcome fits that bill.

 

[TriBel]

They can't afford Sarah, Aly, and DB.

Huh? It's Audible - an Amazon company. Amazon's the 5th richest company in the world. I'm fairly sure salaries for the above wouldn't make much of a dent in a market cap of $1.426 trillion. I presume they don't want to do it (and don't need the money).

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Huh? It's Audible - an Amazon company. Amazon's the 5th richest company in the world. I'm fairly sure salaries for the above wouldn't make much of a dent in a market cap of $1.426 trillion. I presume they don't want to do it (and don't need the money).

Either that or Amber Benson didn't want to write them into her story. Were Buffy, Willow or Angel involved then Cordy would be overshadowed (again).

 

[Faded90]

Huh? It's Audible - an Amazon company. Amazon's the 5th richest company in the world. I'm fairly sure salaries for the above wouldn't make much of a dent in a market cap of $1.426 trillion. I presume they don't want to do it (and don't need the money).

Amazon won’t be paying any of the salaries. They’re just the hosting site

 

[alrightwithmoo]

Huh? It's Audible - an Amazon company. Amazon's the 5th richest company in the world. I'm fairly sure salaries for the above wouldn't make much of a dent in a market cap of $1.426 trillion. I presume they don't want to do it (and don't need the money).

Audible doesn't own the rights to BTVS. They--or whichever company is producing it--will pay the fee to Fox/Disney the same way DH and IDW used to pay to publish Buffy comics. This will be a small budget affair, one that can't afford the biggest names in the Buffyverse.

I love radio plays and I think this is one way the verse could come back in a somewhat original way. This just sounds like another attempt at rebooting without rebooting and claiming it's the original timeline like that road trip comic book that come out not too long ago.

 

[Cohen]

Huh? It's Audible - an Amazon company. Amazon's the 5th richest company in the world. I'm fairly sure salaries for the above wouldn't make much of a dent in a market cap of $1.426 trillion. I presume they don't want to do it (and don't need the money).

Aly has been doing Penn&Teller for years now and just joined the newest season of Dancing With the Stars, so it’s not like she’s doing things for money these days…

 

[Dogs of Winter]

Text version:

charismacarpenter I am so damn proud of friends @rebma_nosneb and @Christophgolden for providing a story within a beloved universe that is truly of service to my character, Cordelia Chase. If there was ever to be #justiceforcordelia this audio drama series told over 8 hours (in 9 episodes) on @audible provides it. And I'd very much like to lean into, amplify, and center that fact. After all, it's ultimately why I agreed to be a part of it. Also, I believed it would be redemptive of so many things for both me and the fandom. Who, above all, deserves that.

This does sound like It will be Cordy fanfic especially as it was co written by her friend Amber Benson
If her character was ruined in S4 it wasn’t just the writing. She has to take a fair share of the blame. Her limited acting skills made it painful to watch - there were times when she looked like she was constipated
Funny how she often has a go at Joss and the writers for what happened to Cordy but never mentions her part in it !

 

[Faded90]

This does sound like It will be Cordy fanfic especially as it was co written by her friend Amber Benson
If her character was ruined in S4 it wasn’t just the writing. She has to take a fair share of the blame. Her limited acting skills made it painful to watch - there were times when she looked like she was constipated
Funny how she often has a go at Joss and the writers for what happened to Cordy but never mentions her part in it !

While I fully believe Charisma was treat terribly offscreen I’ve actually never bought that Cordelia being ‘ruined’ was because of her issues with Joss. I have absolutely no doubt the writers genuinely thought they were writing amazing edgy tv. Buffyverse writers weren’t hugely creative when it came to character development, characters usually ‘went dark’ or they floundered. They did the same with Willow, Dark Willow also like S4 Cordelia being by far the actresses weakest acting. Dark Willow had some of the absolute worst writing in the Buffyverse and she was shown to
Be about to murder the titular characters kid sister. Yet there is absolutely no doubt that AH remained a Joss favourite throughout

I’ve also always thought it was Greenwalts love for Cordelia in S3 that killed the character as much as S4. He literally wrote her as being so unbelievably good and pure that she ascended to become a higher power - putting her above every single Buffyverse character in terms of how they were viewed as heroes (for essentially actually doing very little compared to the others). Like where else is there to go with a character when that happens? You’ve just made someone a white wearing, glowing, all knowing all seeing pure selfless hero - what do you possibly do with them then?

 

[Skanky Vamp]

You’ve just made someone a white wearing, glowing, all knowing all seeing pure selfless hero - what do you possibly do with them then?

Tons of places and could have gotten some really good storylines. Some of which the show touched slightly in S5. But having an "all white" character and then them learning that nothing can be all-white and they have to work in shades of grey would certainly fit with the narrative of the show. But the moral conflict between the all-white Cordy and the shades-of-grey Angel could have been really good (if well told).

 

[hoponlilmama]

Meh, Cordy should never have made it past Buffy season 3.


Never say never … with alt realities in play, that might be the next installment 😉

One can only dream, right?! 😀
Very doubtful Alyson would join on for any future projects though..

 

[Hunga Munga]

I don't subscribe to the Charisma pity party . My impression from reading every interview I could find , was that Charisma was a bit of a nightmare to work with .She needed her own acting coach ,was not a quick worker, pushed back on everything , didn't seem to respect her contract , changed her appearance willy nilly . She may have ended up being treated quite poorly but only after making her own bed to lie in . She did still get 7 seasons of work out of it , which she is apparently not grateful for 😀 .

 

[Cohen]

I don't subscribe to the Charisma pity party . My impression from reading every interview I could find , was that Charisma was a bit of a nightmare to work with .She needed her own acting coach ,was not a quick worker, pushed back on everything , didn't seem to respect her contract , changed her appearance willy nilly . She may have ended up being treated quite poorly but only after making her own bed to lie in . She did still get 7 seasons of work out of it , which she is apparently not grateful for 😀 .

I don't know. Holly (Piper) loves her from Charmed. They worked together on an ABCfamily film and on Charmed. Though I do know she and Sarah did not get along well at all.

 

[alrightwithmoo]

While I fully believe Charisma was treat terribly offscreen I’ve actually never bought that Cordelia being ‘ruined’ was because of her issues with Joss. I have absolutely no doubt the writers genuinely thought they were writing amazing edgy tv. Buffyverse writers weren’t hugely creative when it came to character development, characters usually ‘went dark’ or they floundered. They did the same with Willow, Dark Willow also like S4 Cordelia being by far the actresses weakest acting. Dark Willow had some of the absolute worst writing in the Buffyverse and she was shown to
Be about to murder the titular characters kid sister. Yet there is absolutely no doubt that AH remained a Joss favourite throughout

I’ve also always thought it was Greenwalts love for Cordelia in S3 that killed the character as much as S4. He literally wrote her as being so unbelievably good and pure that she ascended to become a higher power - putting her above every single Buffyverse character in terms of how they were viewed as heroes (for essentially actually doing very little compared to the others). Like where else is there to go with a character when that happens? You’ve just made someone a white wearing, glowing, all knowing all seeing pure selfless hero - what do you possibly do with them then?

I've always thought the ludicrousness of the Saint Cordy storyline was the point. AtS always played on the ideas that self-importance leads to everyone's downfall and that's ultimately what happens to Cordy. The PtB often played into Angel's ego and they did the same to Cordelia. How full of yourself do you have to be to think that after a few years of do-gooding you've earned a spot in a higher form of existence?

The writers were setting it all up at the beginning of S3 when they had Angel teaching Cordy to fight, which was was S4 was originally meant to be, Angel having to kill her in a callback to S2 of Buffy.

Post automatically merged: Sep 15, 2023

I don't subscribe to the Charisma pity party . My impression from reading every interview I could find , was that Charisma was a bit of a nightmare to work with .She needed her own acting coach ,was not a quick worker, pushed back on everything , didn't seem to respect her contract , changed her appearance willy nilly . She may have ended up being treated quite poorly but only after making her own bed to lie in . She did still get 7 seasons of work out of it , which she is apparently not grateful for 😀 .

I think she got a bit of a raw deal at the end, especially with S5, but I don't believe she was ever targeted or fired for getting pregnant. The writers were wrapping up Cordelia long before they heard of her pregnancy.

 

[burrunjor]

I don't subscribe to the Charisma pity party . My impression from reading every interview I could find , was that Charisma was a bit of a nightmare to work with .She needed her own acting coach ,was not a quick worker, pushed back on everything , didn't seem to respect her contract , changed her appearance willy nilly . She may have ended up being treated quite poorly but only after making her own bed to lie in . She did still get 7 seasons of work out of it , which she is apparently not grateful for 😀 .

Yeah but it's not just a Charisma pity party.

Gal Gadot, writers on Buffy and Firefly, exes of Joss Whedon, Ray Fisher, Jason Mamoa, Emma Caulfield, Amber Benson, James Marsters, Michelle Trachtenberg and her loved ones, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, members of the production team, all either backed up what she said 100 percent or talked about their own horror stories about Joss, who dismissed them all as him being too nice. Joss also unknowingly admitted to being a narcissist by saying about his current wife that he finally met someone he loved more than himself and said he had to shag around or else he would feel guilty about not doing it with attractive women unlike his wife!

I must admit that Charisma doesn't do herself many favours with her social media presence. She is guilty of a lot of Trump derangement syndrome in her posts. A friend of mine who is a fan, was also blocked by her and she sicced her followers on him because she said that white people can't experience racism and he questioned her on it. Then there is her calling Tulsi Gabbard a coward, simply because she didn't show up to help impeach Trump. Honestly it's disgraceful for her to call a former soldier a coward, but to do it because Tulsi didn't take part in what was just the elites wanting to get rid of Trump for their own stupid reasons, makes her look like a political moron too.

With this in mind I can understand some people thinking that maybe Joss had to deal with her being a nightmare, but ultimately there is no one else who says Charisma was abusive or horrible on set even from Buffy and Angel, never mind any other show she's worked on. Her having trouble with her lines due to anxiety meanwhile, well that's not so unreasonable. Plenty of actors have had that trouble and get round them in various ways.

Patrick Troughton (sorry to get it back to DW.) but he was the same. He almost never learned his lines, and instead just took a basic outline of the script and improved his way around it. This led to a clash when he worked with Jon Pertwee who was very by the book. Even then however Pertwee wrote his lines around the TARDIS console to help remember them, and they had to make accommodations for him in regards to him not being able to remember technobabble and scientific jargon. For instance his catchphrase, REVERSE THE POLARITY OF THE NEUTRON FLOW came about because of that. It was a quick way of avoiding technical stuff.

With this in mind Joss could have worked out something like this to do with Charisma but instead he seemed to come down hard on her and make her anxiety worse.

Of course again this doesn't mean that Joss should be cancelled (I hate cancel culture overall) or that Charisma wasn't being vindictive in sticking the boot in, but still it's certainly not one way or the other.

Meanwhile as for this spin off, well to be honest it does sound like Cordelia fan fic, although hilariously it also doesn't sound like a fix it for her either, as this is an alternate Cordelia? The real one is still dead.

That said it may surprise us. Maybe as a result of Cordelia being the Slayer, in this reality everything has gone to crap. IE Drusilla now runs Sunnydale ala the Wish, and Cordelia is part of a band of rebels like the white hates, desperately trying to stop her, and the alt Cordy's redemption act could be her getting a chance to be a better Slayer in this new reality? Maybe in her old she shrugged her duties as she never grew up like Buffy, and let the vampire population get out of hand? Might make an interesting story if true, but a part of me wonders if it will just be Cordy is fantastic overall. I hope not but we'll see.

 

[nightshade]

Can we please stay on the topic of the new audio book there are plenty of threads already to discuss Charisma and Joss.

 

[Cohen]

Meanwhile as for this spin off, well to be honest it does sound like Cordelia fan fic, although hilariously it also doesn't sound like a fix it for her either, as this is an alternate Cordelia? The real one is still dead.

That said it may surprise us. Maybe as a result of Cordelia being the Slayer, in this reality everything has gone to crap. IE Drusilla now runs Sunnydale ala the Wish, and Cordelia is part of a band of rebels like the white hates, desperately trying to stop her, and the alt Cordy's redemption act could be her getting a chance to be a better Slayer in this new reality? Maybe in her old she shrugged her duties as she never grew up like Buffy, and let the vampire population get out of hand? Might make an interesting story if true, but a part of me wonders if it will just be Cordy is fantastic overall. I hope not but we'll see.

I think alternate realities are fun in this verse anyway. The main verse has already been explored thoroughly, and I enjoy a "what if?" Also Cordelia is a great choice to do the "what if she was a slayer?" because she was so much like, yet so very different from Buffy. We've kind of seen her take on the mantel of being a champion through the Vision Girl thing, but the slayer is a whole different world. So I think it will be fun and interesting. And original actors, so that will be cool too. Maybe we can even get an animated series from this??

 

[burrunjor]

Can we please stay on the topic of the new audio book there are plenty of threads already to discuss Charisma and Joss.

I was only responding to another post.

I think alternate realities are fun in this verse anyway. The main verse has already been explored thoroughly, and I enjoy a "what if?" Also Cordelia is a great choice to do the "what if she was a slayer?" because she was so much like, yet so very different from Buffy. We've kind of seen her take on the mantel of being a champion through the Vision Girl thing, but the slayer is a whole different world. So I think it will be fun and interesting. And original actors, so that will be cool too. Maybe we can even get an animated series from this??

I agree there certainly is potential to see how Cordelia would have coped with it. I have a feeling that she would have shirked her duties unlike Buffy as she came from a more privileged upbringing. Buffy's mother wasn't that well off, and was also in all fairness not the best mother. I mean I like Joyce LOL, but it's fair to say she had her problems, like not questioning why she had to wash blood out of her daughters clothing. Buffy really was an easy option for the council to lure away and groom, in a non sexual way of course into being their warrior, but even then they struggled because she was still too integrated into the modern world. Their ideal slayer is someone like Faith or Kendra (before Faith went rogue as they both had no real ties to the real world, family, friends and connections and could be easily removed from society and made to see the Watchers council as their family and life.)

Cordelia meanwhile would be a nightmare. Her parents however were rich, bought her cars when she was 15, pampered her, she had a huge circle of friends she was with all the time etc. It's easy to imagine her parents unlike Joyce would NOT have let any Watcher go anywhere near her, questioned where she was, have wondered why she had blood in her clothes, and it's doubtful that she would have sacrificed her popular social life to train or anything like that.

So yes I can see the Watchers giving up on Cordy and the vampire population getting out of control and in not being until she is in her 20s when she is forced to be the Slayer and has to learn it all herself because the council don't care anymore. That could be an interesting what if, but we'll see what they do with it.

If this works it could be another spin off akin to Angel. People are saying no Buffy means it's not proper, but Angel basically had no Buffy for five years and some people think it was better. It's also an interesting rag tag group of characters. Cordelia has no history with Tara or Anya and very little with Spike, so there's room for some new dynamics.