An Introduction To Joss Whedon
When you look at the prime movers in genre television over the last decade and a half, one name is going to come up a lot. Joss Whedon (full name Joseph Hill Whedon) was born on June 23rd 1864. He attended Winchester College in England and went on to receive a film degree at Wesleyan University in 1987.
While Whedon is probably still best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series, his range encompasses films and comic books as well as television. Nor has he been satisfied simply with writing, but has expanded to both directing and producing his work as well. Whedon’s first television writing job was neither science fiction or fantasy related. In fact he wrote for the television sit-com Roseanne. His first foray into genre came with the movie Buffy The Vampire Slayer in 1992.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
While Joss Whedon wrote the script for the movie, by his account the resulting movie barely reflected his concept for the movie at all. Several years later Whedon got the opportunity to revive the concept as a television series for The WB network. While all the core elements of 1997 show can be seen in the movie, Whedon’s interpretation of the characters and situations is radically different.
The show rapidly moved from being centered largely on Buffy Summers to being a much more ensemble show. By the end of its run Buffy had established a large group of regular characters and an even larger core of recurring characters all of whom had ongoing story lines.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran for 5 seasons on The WB before transferring to UPN to run for a further 2 seasons. Whedon wrote several of the episodes himself and also went on to direct some episodes. The show featured a number of stand-out episodes including “Hush” during which the cast are all struck dumb, The Body (where Buffy’s mother is found dead) and Once More, with Feeling which was a musical episode featuring several dance and song numbers.
The popularity of Buffy the Vampire Slayer resulted in a spin-off series featuring Buffy Cast member David Boreanaz as Angel.
Angel
Angel debuted on the WB in 1999 and was placed in a slot following Buffy on Tuesdays. After Buffy switched to UPN in 2001 Angel was moved around to several different time slots. While it was never as popular in the ratings as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its loyal audience followed it from time slot to time slot.
As with Buffy, Angel soon evolved into an ensemble show, but it was always much darker than Buffy in tone and mood. The central character of Angel was never able to escape from the terrible acts that he performed before his should was returned to him and the theme of atonement was never far from the surface.
Angel ran for five seasons and was canceled in May 2004 despite decent ratings.
Firefly
In 2002 Joss Whedon branched out from the Buffyverse to produce the science fiction show Firefly for Fox. Although it earned some critical acclaim, Firefly was very short lived. Fox canceled it after only 11 episodes had been aired and never bothered to show the remaining 3 episodes that had been shot.
Convinced that there was life in the sci-fi western concept of Firefly, Whedon wrote a movie script based on the series called Serenity. In 2003 a DVD set of all 14 Firefly episodes was released and sold remarkably well for such a short lived series. The success of the DVD encouraged Universal Studios to green light Serenity. Now thoroughly convinced that he wanted to keep total control of his story, Whedon wrote, directed and produced the movie. Serenity was finally released in September 2005 to good reviews but only mediocre box office earnings.
Other Movies
Joss Whedon has also worked as a writer for hire and wrote the scripts for Toy Story, Alien:Resurrection and Titan A.E. While he was nominated for an Oscar for Toy Story, Alien: Resurrection and Titan A.E. were not nearly as well received. In addition to this Whedon also worked on drafts or re-writes for Mortal Kombat, Waterworld, Twister, X-Men and Speed. Most of his work on these movies never made it onto the screen.
Despite the mixed successes of his movie work, Whedon is riding high right now and has signed to write and direct the Wonder Woman movie for Warner Brothers.
Most recently he wrote and directed Serenity, based on his television series Firefly, and has been signed to write and direct Warner Brothers’ 2007 adaptation of Wonder Woman.
Comic Books
Apparently attempting to master two mediums is not sufficient for Whedon as he has also branched out to writing comic books. Whedon is apparently a long time fan of comics (which wouldn’t surprise anyone who had watched Buffy) and he initially worked with Dark Horse Comics to create Fray a mini-series set in the far future of the Buffyverse.
Whedon is currently in the middle of a run writing Astonishing X-Men for Marvel Comics. The title was actually created specifically for Whedon and has been one of Marvel’s top selling comics since it debuted. Astonishing X-Men has was nominated for several Eisner Awards including Best New Series and Best Writer.
Common Themes and Elements
There are certain themes, styles and elements that come up again and again in Joss Whedon’s work. Perhaps the most immediately obvious is the dialogue. Whedon’s characters almost all engage in snappy banter which, while certainly not realistic, is something that most of his fans (myself included) particularly enjoy.
Another common element is the strong female characters which populate his shows. Buffy of course was the hero of her series, but in fact that show took things even further and we were presented with several powerful female characters and an unpowered male character who repeatedly needed rescuing. Similarly powerful women can be found in Angel, Serenity and Alien: Resurrection.
Writer - Filmography
1. Wonder Woman (2007) (announced)
2. Goners (2006)
3. Serenity (2005)
4. “Firefly” (2002/I) TV Series
5. Titan A.E. (2000)
6. “Angel” (1999/I) TV Series
7. Alien: Resurrection (1997)
8. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997) TV Series
9. Toy Story (1995)
10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Director - Filmography
1. Wonder Woman (2007) (announced)
2. Serenity (2005)
3. “Firefly” (2002/I) TV Series
4. “Angel” (1999/I) TV Series
5. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997) TV Series
Producer - Filmography
1. Wonder Woman (2007) (announced)
2. “Firefly” (2002/I) TV Series
3. “Angel” (1999/I) TV Series
4. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997)
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