#Buffy Reboot

[lilyginnyblackv2]

I feel like you didn't even read what I wrote. Like, you saw "buffy" + "comics" and then let your dislike for them blind you to the rest of what I said.

I literally stated that the series could remain post-comics without them *having to* incorporate anything really. The comics end in such a blank slate place. They could make a passing mention to one or two things and that would be it. They wouldn't *have to* adapt or incorporate anything for the comics and this series to co-exist with each other is what I was stating here.

It's extremely doable for both post-series content (the comics and the new TV series) to just co-exist with each other. Buffy is going to be a minor character in this new series, so it's easier for them to not have her state anything that contradicts the comics all that much or at all.

That way it won't hurt the delicate sensibilities of all the comic haters, most of whom have never even read the comics themselves or who only read Season 8 (or part of Season 8) and don't have a full picture of the comics.

As for that last statement...that's so odd and so black and white. Adaptations exist. Manga are adapted to anime and live action series all the time. Books are adapted into TV shows and movies. Video games are too. It happens all the time.

I recently just saw a live action Chihayafuru movie was coming out, it takes place 10 years post-manga. Dante's Inferno is fanfic that has inspired and been adapted to various different mediums over the years (the most recent example has its framework being used for Hell in Dead Boy Detectives). Restricting art and media to such ridged framework isn't it, imo. That's limiting creativity and the way that things can be expressed and told.

Edit: Also, I forgot to add this, but using "fanfiction" as a term to put down the comics and its writing is both pretentious and rude. It's rude to fanfic writers and to all of the creatives that worked on the comics. Now back to what I was originally saying.

It's especially odd since, once again, like I mentioned in my post, they wouldn't *have to actually* adapt or acknowledge anything that happens in the comics. I talk about two things I wouldn't mind them retconning or working around if they wanted / brought them up - two things that really don't require any knowledge of the comics to understand - but none of those things even *need to be* mentioned. That's the point.

They'll probably do or say something that will contradict the comics like a minute into the new series, lol, and that would be fine. My post was just stating how it would be super easy for the two pieces of post series content to coexist, and doesn't necessarily have to be an "either/or" situation. Especially since so much time will have passed since the comics ended.

Anyway, I don't have anything more to add to this and I know you disagree with me on this so I'm ending this here and won't be engaging further. Otherwise, I think it will just turn into fandom wank levels of engagement, which I don't care to do. I will be transparent though and mention here that I will be blocking, only because I already see enough Buffy comics hate on the Buffy subreddit and would rather not see it here when I am on Tumblr too. I really like to curate my Tumblr experience. Anyway, that's all. Have a nice day!

Thoughts on the new Buffy series and the comics:

Over on Reddit a lot of people are looking at this new Buffy series and the comics as an "either-or" type of situation rather than a "both can co-exist" situation. Largely this is due to the fact that most Buffy fans haven't actually read the comics (or have only read all or some of Season 8), so they don't even have a clear picture of how the comics end. But it's honestly so easy and doable for this new series to be post-comics, make a small acknowledgement of that in some way (Buffy mentioning that she lived in San Francisco for a little while, etc.), but not require any actual knowledge of the comics in and of themselves. Like, having it so that the stuff in the comics still happened doesn't mean that these things have to be directly adapted or shown in the new series, especially because Buffy's character is going to be a mentor and not the main character in the series.

The Buffy comics seasons ended when Buffy was 30 and this series is taking place with a Buffy that is likely going to be in her 40s. 10 - 15 years is a long enough time for some major changes to have occurred. Given all of the issues with Xander's actor, it's unlikely that his character is going to be present in the series. A lot of people heavily dislike the Dawn and Xander relationship in the comics, but if the series were to introduce Joyce (the daughter of Dawn and Xander in the comics) they could easily either 1. retcon this a bit so Joyce's father is someone else (like a random dude Dawn met at college) or 2 is still Xander's, but have it so that Xander passed away sometime during those 10 - 15 years. Since Buffy isn't going to be a main character, we likely aren't even going to get that much in the way of Dawn anyway, unless they involve Joyce into this (she would be around 15 max in the series if they were to do that, so she would be the teen age range that the series often has the characters start off at).

By the end of Season 11 the supernatural and demon world has gone back to being an underground thing, and by the end of Season 12 Giles is back to being his older self and Buffy is single. Everyone ends the series on fairly good terms too, so it's a fairly easy clean slate to transition from if the series were to take place after it.

There is the whole "Buffy becomes a cop" thing in Season 12, which I hate, so I wouldn't mind if they either retconned that as well or had it where Buffy experienced just how corrupt the system truly was from the inside-out and left. In Season 7 we saw Buffy training and preparing the Potentials with a slightly more grey point of view than Giles and in Season 11 we see Buffy really existing in those grey spaces, so this wouldn't necessarily be new grounds for Buffy in that sense. But we've always seen Buffy touting the idea that dangerous humans should be judged by the police and other human based systems that are in place. An ex-cop Buffy would likely approach this differently as well and train a Slayer with a different mindset in regards to all that, and it would fit in with a lot of the modern day hot topics and discussions surrounding ACAB, police corruption, and police brutality. So I would be down for it.

Of course, at the end of the day I'm not expecting this new series to acknowledge the comics in any way (and that's fine with me), but I do think that this new series and the comics could peacefully co-exist with each other. The series could easily take place after the events of Seasons 8 - 12, and it would be very easy and doable for people with no knowledge of the comics to still enjoy the content. This doesn't necessarily have to be an "either-or" situation. There is so much potential here.

Regardless of what they decide to do with all of that, I'm excited to see what and how this new series will be!

[coraniaid]

If the reboot goes ahead, and SMG plays an older, wiser Buffy who shows up a few times to give advice and encouragement to the new Buffy (named after her, of course), I hope they keep her romantic life as vague as possible. The original Buffy didn't want to know too much (if anything) about Giles' dating history, or her own mother's, and why should the new one?

I hope the most we get about the last twenty years of our Buffy's life are some scattered hints that she's in a long-term relationship with somebody who used to be a vampire -- "a vampire with a soul?" the show's new Buffy can scoff -- but who became human again "decades ago" after fulfilling the terms of an ancient prophecy. I hope they have the original Buffy let slip that she met her partner when she was a high school student, but it took her a while to realize that they were the one. That they used to be evil but have since reformed and help her fight against evil and save the world. That they're the most important person in her life after her sister and her nieces. I hope the Bangel and Spuffy fans spend hours refighting old wars about which character Buffy is "meant to be with", both convinced that the show is building up a cameo by their preferred (now older and in-universe human) leading man.

I hope that, in the last episode of the first season of the new show, our Buffy's phone rings during a key bit of exposition -- in the library, ideally, because it won't be Buffy without one of those -- and she apologizes, saying that she has to take it because "that's my wife". I hope as she walks out of shot, phone in hand, we see her smile and we hear her say "hey, Harmony". And I hope the show never, ever expands on any of that again.

[clever-creature]

Do not mess with me, SMG....

[skyegraves21]

What if Spike is Buffy’s trophy husband at home and we just never see him Frasier style 😂

[beautifulwomenandcelebrities]

[spuffybot]

Just checking in on my Buffy friends…are yall well with this weeks news?!?!

[buffythevampireslayerquotes]

[confusedguytoo]

I hope the Buffy sequel gives us something for all the established characters, even if they don't or rarely appear. However I will start with things I'd like to see for the new Slayer. Forgive me if these seem basic. We have no idea of the character, so that part is basically world building

There are still plenty of Slayers. She's not the first called in years or anything like that

There are no Slayer schools. The point is to help Slayers survive but to also have a normal life. Uprooting them to train elsewhere wouldn't do that.

There are however Slayer camps they can visit for training during times off from school

Teen Slayers are paid a certain amount, more if they need it, but nothing in a way that encourages them to prioritize slaying compared to school

Young Slayers work alone normally, unless there just happens to be another in their area. However, "call for backup" in deeply ingrained in Watchers and Slayers. Oh yeah, they still call the group the Watcher's Council

teenage Slayers call going to work full time for the Watcher's Council as an adult "going pro"

being a "Chosen One" still invites targets and demon attacks towards teenage Slayers are more common than toward non pro adult Slayers

If you don't want to patrol you don't have to... but as mentioned above you are a target and it turns out Slayers get restless if they don't do any fighting at all for to long

Both governments of the world and forces of evil try to recruit/co-opt Slayers

*********

Now onto the Scoobies.

I want them to have a mostly happy lives since Joss isn't around.

This is a successful group

Everyone of the core group is still alive

Buffy is not married at the moment of the show, but she might have been in the past.

Buffy has at least one niece or nephew.

Xander has been divorced at least twice. It's a commitment issue. He's committed to Willow, he's committed to Buffy, he's committed to Slayers in general. This doesn't leave a lot of room to be committed to a wife.

Willow is currently married... to Tara

Tara was resurrected by bad guys in an attempt to manipulate Willow

This event is still talked about among members of Watcher's Council as "the stupidest idea evil has ever had"

Faith did the whole Faith on a motorcycle spinoff idea for a year or two

This turned out to be totally unnecessary as Angel had pulled strings to get her pardoned as one of the first things he did while in charge of Wolfram & Hart so she was not wanted by the law

Buffy and Faith did hook up briefly. When new people hear about this and also their history, everyone assumes it was during their teenage years. This seriously irritates Buffy

[willowmosby]

I couldn't call my self a die hard Buffy fan and not make a some comments about the news of a potential reboot.

1) nothing is set in stone, I mean it's clearly more than a whisper but it looks like it's still pretty far from being in existence so I'm not really stressed or excited

2) I don't really see the down side to there being a reboot, at worst we all collectively can label it nonsense if we don't like it- I mean I don't know anyone who really treats the comics as cannon. At best it's a really meaningful show just like the original was. In fact just the possibility of a reboot might get new people to watch the show! And in the middle ground well, as much as I love -and I really do love it- the Og Buffy has its own flaws so I think we as a fandom will learn to live with some miss steps.

3) I think the names I've seen attached to it (Nora and Lila Zuckerman and Chloé Zhao) actually give me some hope. They have all been involved in projects I've liked. I can't say I've seen all of their filmography but over all If the names I've seen are working on it I trust that some interesting tv will happen. Maybe not like life changing but Pokerface, agents of shield, suits are all good shows and hey I'm one of the people who liked The Eternals. Additionally I think we should be hopeful for female show runners given the nature of the show and current climate of the world.

So yeah I guess I lean more positive but we will all just have to wait and see.

[yibeimolihuacha]

Please, do not continue BtVS.

Go make a cartoon, an anthology about other slayers, a series set in the same universe, but PLEASE don't bring SMG's Buffy back.

She had her perfect ending. She finally became free. Don't drag her back into this hell again, please, I am begging.

[dorksidefiker]

Things I want to see in the new Buffy series

Buffy dealing with the fact that NO OTHER SLAYER has survived as long as she has.

A deep dive into the Watchers and their history of exploiting and frequently setting up Slayers to die. I know that the Watchers were supposed to be all but wiped in that last season, but having them all in one central, easily blown up location doesn't jibe with how they'd HAVE to operate in order to have eyes on the most number of Potentials possible. The High Command might be dead, but unless someone took the time to track down and eliminate every field Watcher out there, there'd still be plenty of Watchers in the world. Watchers with their hooks in a BUNCH of the Slayers Buffy awakened at the end of the original series.

Justice for Cordelia Chase.

Spike and Angel to turn up as puppets. Smile Time 3!

[missliivy]

The only thing that can justify Buffy getting a reboot instead of a GOOD HD remaster is 1) Fuffy (unlikely, Eliza is basically retired) OR (slightly more likely but still unlikely) having Tara pull a Buffy and come back from the dead.

In short. MAKE A GOOD REMASTER PLEASEEEEEEEEE

[coraniaid]

If the new Buffy soft reboot/sequel series goes ahead (which it may well still not; it sounds as though nobody's even picked up a pilot yet) and if they want to win me over (which they don't; I am not the target audience for this), I hope that it doesn't try to focus on attempting to be a definitive answer to the question of "what has Buffy Summers been doing for the past twenty years?". As I've said before, I think Chosen was a close to perfect ending to her story and I'm not sure it's possible to improve on it. She got to escape being the protagonist of the universe; she got to finally be destiny-free and make her own future. What more can anyone hope for than that? Set it in the world of the old show, sure, have the new Slayer be the child of Robin Wood or something if you must, but let the original characters' fates be as ambiguous as you can.

Instead of trying to recapture what made the original show work, or following up on decades old plot lines and characters, or awkwardly recreating fan favorite moments beat for beat, I hope they focus on a new Slayer and her story. One that makes sense for the 2020s in the way the old show made sense for the 1990s.

Apparently SMG will have a "recurring" role -- and if there's going to be a new show at all I'm glad SMG will be involved in some capacity -- but I hope that that's as a mentor figure to a new Chosen One (presumably also called Buffy? well, in-universe she can be named after her more famous counterpart, I suppose). I hope the reboot can try to be respectful of the original show's legacy -- the landscape of genre television has changed so, so much since Buffy first aired, in no small part thanks to Buffy itself -- while not trying to live solely in the old show's shadow.

I hope it does well enough to attract people back to the old show, and maybe encourages somebody to finally give approval to a second attempt at a HD remaster of that version of the show (a competently done one would be nice).

But, whatever happens, I don't think it can tarnish the legacy of the old show (more than anything we've since learned about Joss Whedon has already done, anyway), because -- if it does turn out to be bad, as if being honest I suspect it will -- we can just ... ignore it? Write it off as merely a possible future or an AU or just pretend it never happened at all; mine any interesting ideas it has for fanfic and ignore the rest. I don't think a Buffy reboot needs to happen, but I don't think it's the end of the world if it does either.

I've spent years not accepting the claims to canonicity of the post-Chosen comics and more recently pretending that the new Slayers audio drama doesn't exist; I can manage to ignore one more thing if I have to.

[clever-creature]

I do not want a buffy reboot in the slightest bit however how funny would it be for the series itsself to literally become the "came back wrong" trope.

Hulu is inevitably going to screw this up and dig up the desecrated reanimated corpse of my comfort show and puppet it around for money. But Damm it fits the shows vibe

[reginaphalangelobster125]

Random headcannon/imagine/something I just really want to happen

If there is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot it should have Buffy ofc and I think she should be running a school for slayers. If there must be a younger Slayer protagonist it should be Buffy and Spike's adopted daughter who's parents were killed by vampires leaving her an orphan at a young age. I can just see this happening. (idc how delusional I am) I may or may not work on a fic or something about this, not decided yet.

Anyways, just wanted to get that out.

[hellyeahbuffysummers]

"So….. you might have heard some news this week, but I realize you haven’t heard from me.

Three years ago, I got a call from my dear friend and mentor, Gail Berman. She told me that she wanted me to sit down with Chloé Zhao to hear her take on a potential “Buffy” revival. I was blown away that Chloé even knew who I was, but, as I’ve always done, I told Gail that I just didn’t see a way for the show to exist again. We’d always been aligned on that, but this time I heard something different in her voice. I eventually agreed to go (mainly just to meet Chloé) and our twenty minute coffee quickly turned into a four hour adventure. We laughed, we cried, but mostly we both talked about how much this show means to us.

While I didn’t agree to anything at that meeting, I did shock myself by agreeing to continue the conversation. These conversations did, in fact, continue over the next few years and eventually we added the incredible Nora and Lilla Zuckerman to our little tribe until ultimately, one day, we landed on an idea.

I have always listened to the fans and heard your desire to revisit “Buffy” and her world, but it was not something I could do unless I was sure we would get it right. This has been a long process, and it’s not over yet. I promise you, we will only make this show if we know we can do it right. And I will tell you that we are on the path there.

I feel so lucky to be on this journey with these four unbelievably talented women, all of whom love “Buffy” as much as I do. And as much as you do. Thank you to all the fans who never stopped asking for this. This will be for you."

-- Sarah Michelle Gellar

OMG, scooby gang