Joss Whedon
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Joss Hill Whedon (born June 23, 1964 in New York) is an American writer, director, executive producer, and creator of several television series, most famously Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly. He has also written several film scripts and several comic book series. He was educated at Winchester College in England and received a film degree from Wesleyan University in 1987.
Television work
After moving to Los Angeles, Whedon secured his first writing job on the television series Roseanne. After several years as a script doctor, he went back to TV, where he created three cult TV shows. In addition to writing and directing, Joss has had a couple of cameos in his shows Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, and had a guest role in an episode of Veronica Mars.Whedon has been described as the world's first third-generation TV writer. He is the son of Tom Whedon, a successful screenwriter for The Electric Company in the 1970s and The Golden Girls in the 1980s, and the grandson of John Whedon, a writer for The Donna Reed Show in the 1950s.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Years after having his script for the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer filmed (the interpretation by director Fran Rubel Kuzui having been poorly received by critics and audiences), Whedon revived the concept as a television series of the same name. Buffy the Vampire Slayer went on to become a critical and cult hit, with the episode "Hush" (written by Whedon) receiving an Emmy Award nomination for outstanding writing in a drama series in 2000.
Whedon wrote and directed the musical episode "Once More, With Feeling", which featured the show's cast in singing and dancing roles and also received an Emmy Award nomination. The show ran for five seasons on The WB Network before transferring to UPN for its final two seasons. Though it premiered on Mondays at 9pm, Buffy ran since the middle of the second season on Tuesdays at 8pm. (In the aforementioned musical episode, Buffy makes the Brechtian comment, "Dawn's in trouble. Must be Tuesday.") According to an interview with Marti Noxon, the writing team for Buffy gave Joss the affectionate nickname "Our Fearful Leader".
Angel
Angel was a spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, featuring her vampire-with-a-soul boyfriend as the title character. It was created by Whedon in conjunction with David Greenwalt. Debuting in September 1999 on the WB, the show was broadcast after Buffy on Tuesday evenings; but when Buffy switched networks in 2001, Angel aired in a number of different time slots, and occasionally managed to attain the ratings of its predecessor. The WB cancelled the show in May 2004 while it was in its fifth season.Firefly
In 2002, Firefly, which Whedon produced with Tim Minear, was canceled by Fox after only 11 episodes had been aired, out of intended sequence, from a total of only 14 produced (including the original two-hour pilot, which was the last episode to be aired on Fox). Whedon had been writing a movie script based on the TV series for Universal Studios for about a year when the Firefly series was released on DVD. The excellent sales of the DVD set ensured the movie would be produced, and in early 2004 Whedon announced that his proposal for a Firefly movie had been greenlighted by Universal. Shooting started in July 2004, and the film, Serenity, went into wide release in the United States on September 30, 2005 to widespread critical and fan acclaim, but mediocre results at the box office. As of February 2006 Serenity's worldwide earnings were about $0.2 million short of the film's $39 million budget, but it is expected to make a profit with DVD sales. The treatment that Firefly received at the hands of Fox executives has caused Whedon to state that he refuses to work with Fox again, under any circumstances.Movies
Whedon has written or co-written several movies including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story, ' and Titan A.E.. He was nominated for an Academy Award for ''Toy Storys screenplay.He also wrote uncredited drafts or rewrites of Speed, Waterworld, Twister and X-Men, although, with the exception of Speed, little of Whedon's work remained in the final drafts of any of these screenplays. In interviews, Whedon has disowned some of these films. He has said that he had a good script for Alien: Resurrection, which was spoiled by its director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Though some devoted Alien fans see it the other way around). His Waterworld script was thrown out, and only two of his lines were kept in the final script of X-Men[link]. Even the Buffy movie bore little resemblance to his original screenplay. [link] According to Graham Yost, the credited writer of Speed, Whedon wrote most of its dialogue (see examples of credit conflicts in the WGA credit system).
Most recently he wrote and directed Serenity, based on his television series Firefly.
As of May, 2006, Whedon has two announced film projects under development. He has been signed to write and direct Warner Bros.' adaptation of Wonder Woman, and Universal Pictures has greenlighted a spec script by Whedon titled Goners which he will also direct. [link]. It is not known which film he will make first.
One aspect of the storyline of the recent film bears a strong similarity to a plotline in Whedon's comic book Astonishing X-Men: the notion of a cure for mutation. Another theme in the film -- that of a angry, black-eyed, veiny woman threatening to destroy the earth out of her own trauma-induced rage -- bears an uncanny resemblance to the climax of Season Six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Comic books
Whedon, a lifelong comic book fan, is the author of the Dark Horse Comics miniseries Fray which takes place in the far future of the Buffyverse. Although the miniseries took literally years to finish, it was a great success. Whedon has mentioned returning to Fray at some point when there is time in his busy schedule.Like many other authors from the Buffy TV show, he also contributed to the show's comic book version: He wrote the main storyline of the five-issue miniseries Tales of the Vampires and three stories in the anthology Tales of the Slayers, including one featuring Melaka Fray from Fray.
Whedon is currently writing Astonishing X-Men in Marvel Comics' popular line of comics about the X-Men. The title, recreated specifically for Whedon, has been one of Marvel's best-selling comics as of 2005 and was nominated for several Eisner Awards including Best Serialized Story, Best Continuing Story, Best New Series, and Best Writer. One storyline from this comic, the notion of a cure for mutation being found, was also an element in the third X-Men film, X-Men: The Last Stand.
The three-issue miniseries , based on the Firefly series and leading up to the film Serenity, was released June through August 2005. Co-written with Brett Matthews and pencilled by Will Conrad, the first issue featured covers drawn by John Cassaday, J. G. Jones, and Bryan Hitch, as well as other artists for the second and third issues. The first two issues sold out and went to a second printing.
More Serenity comics are planned for the near future, and will be based in the Firefly continuation of the series. Likewise, Whedon and other former BtVS writers are planning to launch a new ongoing Buffy series that would take place after Chosen and be considered the canonical 'season 8'. Both projects will be published by Dark Horse.
Common themes and motifs in Whedon's writing
Feminism
Whedon identifies himself as a feminist, and feminist themes are common in his work. The most obvious example is the apparently weak teenage girl who is actually extremely strong and powerful, seen in Buffy, Firefly, and Serenity. Feminist scholars have given Whedon's work both positive and negative assessments. For his part, Whedon credits his mother as the inspiration for his feminist worldview. When Roseanne Barr asked him how he could write so well for women, he replied, "If you met my mom, you wouldn't ask." [link]The character Kitty Pryde from the X-Men comic was an early model for Whedon's strong teenage girl characters: "If there's a bigger influence on Buffy than Kitty, I don’t know what it was. She was an adolescent girl finding out she has great power and dealing with it." [link] Many of Whedon's young female characters make similar discoveries. Whedon has now come full circle, writing the character of Kitty Pryde in the Astonishing X-Men comic.
Dialogue
The dialogue in Joss Whedon's shows and movies usually involves rapid-fire wit, pop culture references both notable and obscure, and (especially in Buffy) the turning of nouns into adjectives by adding a "y" at the end of the word ("listy"). Other writers have often tried to copy or replicate this style, arguably not always successfully. Some viewers and critics thought that the writers of Buffy went to a high school to study the ways the students talk, but, according to one of the Buffy writers, "It's just the way that Joss actually talks." - (Season 4 DVD Commentary)Death
Many characters die in all of Whedon's shows, especially the long-running Buffy. Extras and minor characters die as expected in action-based shows and movies, but Whedon also kills off main characters. He usually encourages the audience to care about the character before their death as part of "doing [his] job". On the 'Serenity' DVD commentary, Whedon says that he'd rather have fans say 'Why'd they kill (that guy)? I liked him!' than 'Oh. He's dead. Turn the page'. Whedon frequently kills off fan-favorite characters right after something very good happens to them.Relationships
As seen in both Buffy and Firefly, nearly all of the romantic relationships Whedon portrays end badly, usually in a traumatic fashion. One member in the relationship will usually end up dying or turning evil, or the break-up will end up being horribly painful.Fatherhood
It is slightly notable that Whedon often portrays fathers in a negative light. Most of them are absentee. It is notable that while mothers often play a large role in his works, characters rarely mention or seem to be influenced by their fathers, aside from carrying grudges against them for either being abusive, or not being involved with their lives in any way.Spiritual and philosophical beliefs
When interviewed by The Onion AV Club on October 9, 2002, Whedon answered the question "Is there a God?" with one word: "No." The interviewer followed up with: "That's it, end of story, no?" Whedon answered: "Absolutely not. That's a very important and necessary thing to learn."[link] Whedon frequently identifies himself as an existentialist. In addition, on the Serenity DVD, during a Question and Answer session with fans of the Firefly series at Fox Studios in Sydney, he identifies himself as an atheist and absurdist. In the commentary for the fifth season Buffy episode "The Body", he says that he doesn't believe in the "sky bully".References
External links
| Buffyverse | ||
| Main | Canon | Index Chronology: Ancient | Modern | BS1 | BS2 | BS3 | BS4/AS1 | BS5/AS2 | BS6/AS3 | BS7/AS4 | AS5 | Future | Flashbacks | |
| Buffy | Characters (main) | Characters (minor) | Episodes | Plot | Comics | Film | Pilot (unaired) | Promo: History.. | Novels | Promos: Pre-"Bargaining" | |
| Angel | Characters (main) | Characters (minor) | Episodes | Plot | | |
| Spin-offs | Comics | Fan made productions | Fray | Novels | Spike movie | Undeveloped productions Buffy Animated | Card Game | RPGs | Tales of Slayer (prose) | Tales of Slayers | Tales of Vampires | Toys | Video Games Upcoming: Blackout | | | | | | Portal Through Time | Spike vs Dracula | | |
| Powers | Angel Investigations | Circle of the Black Thorn | Order of Aurelius | The First Evil | The Initiative | Monsters | Old Ones | The Powers That Be | Ra-Tet | Scooby Gang | Senior Partners | Watchers' Council | Wolfram & Hart | |
| People | Adam | Amy | Andrew | Angel | Anya | Buffy | Caleb | Connor | Cordelia | Dawn | Darla | Doyle | Dru | Eve | Faith | Fred | Giles | Glory | Gunn | Harmony | Holtz | Illyria | Jasmine | Jenny | Joyce | Jonathan | Kate | Kennedy | Lilah | Lindsey | Lorne | The Master | Mayor Wilkins | Oz | Professor Walsh | Riley | Spike | Tara | Warren | Wesley | Willow | Xander | |
| Places | L.A. | Sunnydale Bronze | Caritas | Hellmouth | Hyperion | Library | Magic Box | Pylea | Sunnydale High | |
| Music | Complete Tracklist | Use of Music in Buffy & Angel | Dingoes Ate My Baby | Film | | | Once More, With Feeling | |
| Key Terminology | "Demon" | "Slayer" | "Vampire" | "Watcher" | "Werewolf" | "Witch" "Child of Senior Partners" | Shanshu | Sunnydale Syndrome | Tro-Clon | |
| The Firefly series | ||
| Episodes | Serenity | The Train Job | Bushwhacked | Shindig | Safe | Our Mrs. Reynolds | Jaynestown | Out of Gas | Ariel | War Stories | Trash | The Message | Heart of Gold | Objects in Space | |
| Articles | Minor characters | Moons and planets | The Alliance | Blue Sun | Unification War | Serenity | |
| Terminology | Reaver | Browncoat | Curse words in Firefly | Companion | |
| Spin-offs | R. Tam sessions | | Serenity film | Serenity RPG | |
| Music | Firefly soundtrack | Serenity soundtrack | |
| Main characters | Derrial Book | Jayne Cobb | Kaylee Frye | Malcolm Reynolds | Inara Serra | River Tam | Simon Tam | Hoban Washburne | Zoë Washburne | |
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