In-Depth Interview with James Marsters (Spike)

A.V. Club has a wonderful in-depth interview with James Marsters talking about his Buffy days with great thoughts on fandom and his days filming the show.

Here he talks about his favorite episodes which are also fan favorites: "The Body," "Tabula Rasa," and "Beneath You." I especially enjoyed this insight into "Beneath You," the scene of Spike on the cross in the church and how hard it was to get the right amount of "shame" into that scene because Spike had earned back his soul:

What is your personal favorite—and least favorite—Buffy episode?

JM: Oh, I’ve got so many favorites. One of them is “The Body,” because: Wow. So different than other episodes. Really proving that the show can be just a very serious drama occasionally. And I had a week off, which, when you’re doing 12 to 20 hours of 22 episodes—I’m not joking—having the week off is life-saving. “Tabula Rasa.” That’s just an awesome show. Loved that one. I have very fond memories of the first one I was in. That was just such an intense experience. I think the director committed career suicide. He got so excited by what was happening in the episode, and birthing this character with me, that he started adding shots. And he was blowing budget, and Gareth Davies came down and told him, “If you don’t rein it in, you are never coming back on this show.” And he came to me and he said, “Look, they just told me I’m never going to be on this show if I don’t rein it in. I’m not reining it in. I don’t care. This episode is going to be amazing. And I’m going to get so much work off it in other places. But I’m going to make this really cool.” And he really did. I think part of the reason the character broke out quickly is because that first episode was so tight, as far as how many shots he got.

New Whedon Biography Gives the Scoop on Firefly

The new biography of Joss Whedon penned by Amy Pascale is being released today, giving us a world of new insights into the Whedonverse. I can't wait to read it!



Read the Firefly Chapter Here on io9

Excerpt:

"I wanted to play with that classic notion of the frontier," Joss said. "Not the people who made history, but the people history stepped on—the people for whom every act is the creation of civilization." And he wanted to do it on a spaceship.
That concept, he hoped, would elevate Firefly above the average sci-fi series. Though he'd clocked countless hours watching movies set in faraway worlds, most TV examples of the genre failed to engage him. Even his love of British television didn't extend to science fiction. "Never watched any British sci-fi," Joss says. "People were always talking to me about [Blake's] 7, Red Dwarf, even Doctor Who, and I just never watched them. I watched one episode of Doctor Who and I was like, 'Did they film that in my basement?' because it looked cheesy." His series aimed to be anything but.

Other tidbits:

• There are nine people in the Firefly crew because that was the number of passengers in the John Ford movie western, Stagecoach. 
• He named the show after the spaceship because he knew that any of the crew members might suddenly leave (or be fired)!!! 
• He wanted a "Preacher" on board to explore the theme of faith.
• Whedon identifies the most with Mal, but every character is part of his personality.
• He insisted that Zoe and Wash had to have a happy marriage, over the protests of the Fox executives who thought it would limit the drama.
•  Nathan Fillion's first impression of Whedon was "little guy in the corner, in a purple sweater with a rip in it. With scraggly hair and a scraggly beard."
• Fillion, who was turned down for the role of Angel in the Buffy series, had to audition 5 times for the role of Mal.
• Adam Baldwin said the director told him the character of Jayne was "not the sharpest tool in the shed."
• To prove his loyalty to both his Mutant Enemy production company, as well as the new show Firefly, Whedon turned down the role of director on the first Iron Man movie! 

Elisabeth Taylor was a Buffy Watcher

According to an interview with her great-grandson in People Magazine:

Taylor's great-grandson Finn McMurray remembers cuddling in her big bed, watching everything from her movies, Cleopatra and National Velvet to CSI and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "We'd watch bad TV and eat popcorn," recalls Finn, 15. "She was so much fun."

Bad? Well, Taylor made a few bad movies herself, and wasn't above a bit of kitsch - have you seen Cleopatra?

What did Sarah Michelle Geller think of this news? She's still a fan of Ms. Taylor:

All I heard in the article was Elisabeth Taylor watched Buffy. I don't care how she may have regarded it(even if she was incorrect)#ILoveLiz

— Sarah Michelle (@RealSMG) November 26, 2013

Geek Out with Felicia Day on YouTube

Felicia Day played a "Potential" in the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and went on to sing as the sweet character Penny on Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Of late she can be found on "Geek and Sundry" which is both an Official Website and an entertaining YouTube Channel.

Here she is on Twitter also: @FeliciaDay

There are loads of videos on the channel, so Check it all OUT! And Geek Out! Far OUT! ....Peace Out.



"Gastro Geek" is a cross between the Food Network show "Chopped" and SyFy's geeky monsterfest "Face Off" - contestants make monsters out of food and then Judges give them a VERY SERIOUS ARTISTIC critique. Featuring actors Alexis Denisoff (Angel, Much Ado About NOthing) and Colin Ferguson (Eureeka).

More Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Mania at Comic Con

Fans React to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Pilot (Minimal Spoilers)



Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actor's panel interview:



Marvel Highlights Reel:

What If The Avengers Had Been Made in 1978?

Ah, What if? Luckily someone clever had this idea and made the "1978 Movie of the Week Trailer" complete with a jazzy soundtrack and Paul Lynde as Loki, LOL.

Guardian UK Geek-Out Over Joss Whedon

Great fannish article about Joss Whedon From Guardian UK

Excerpt ~ on Buffy and Feminism:

Whedon... (created) his own universe: supernatural and sci-fi worlds populated by fast-talking, wise-cracking folk whose language has infiltrated our speech (if you find your vocab becoming rather suffix-y – if you've ever used words like "backstabby" or "kissage" – thank Whedon).

. . . What you can't miss about his oeuvre is its empowering depiction of women. Buffy, with her kickass reflexes and witty rejoinders, never needed rescuing by a guy – hell, she once stuck a sword through her boyfriend's chest. Was it hard, I wonder, to introduce a feminist icon into fantasy, a genre more associated with teenage boys with limited social skills? "It's like horror or, back when it was somewhat new, rap," Whedon replies. "It's a fringe art which means you will find the most egregious misogyny in there – but also the most subversive feminism."

Whedon has said before that if anyone wonders why he writes female characters the way he does, they need only meet his mother. Writing a female hero was a conscious decision "but if it doesn't come from the subconscious it'll just be a polemic, it'll reek," he says. "There's nothing worse than someone who thinks they're supposed to add a feminist or racial agenda that they're not invested in." Whedon himself was inspired by James Cameron – "He gave us [Alien's] Ripley and [The Terminator's] Sarah Connor when we desperately needed them, and he wasn't doing it with any stated agenda."

He admits, however, that the status quo may not have improved dramatically. He's keen not to lay a thick judgment on the Twilight franchise, but he admits the films "feel like a reaction against Buffy: 'OK, we liked the part where it was sexy, and there were love triangles, and monsters… We found her a bit grating.'

"Kristen Stewart is kind of captivating," he continues, "she can just stare at stuff and it works because I still want to watch it. But it does seem a bit passive. 'I don't know which beautiful boy to choose between!' is not exactly the struggle that every girl is going through."

S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers 2 ~ Rumors and Spoilers

Rumors and Spoilers are flying around - hard to know what to believe at this point.

Joss Whedon hinted at new characters in The Avengers 2

Joss Whedon hints Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are in Avengers 2: on.io9.com/gZqepaF
— io9 (@io9) April 25, 2013

From AceShowBiz

The 48-year-old filmmaker revealed that fans would get to see two new characters in the film.

"I've been writing and meeting with actors and we're starting to storyboard, all the preliminary processes. This is the part where it's all still fun," Whedon told Yahoo! Movies. "I've got these two characters, two of my favourite characters from the comic book, a brother-sister act. They're in the movie."

Without further details of the new additions, fans are left to guess who the pair might be, leading to speculation that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver may be the ones Whedon adds to the sequel to "The Avengers".

. . . the siblings, who are Magneto's twin children, first appear in the X-Men mythology as villains. Scarlet Witch, who wears wimple, has the power to cast hexes to manipulate probability. Her brother Quicksilver, meanwhile, is capable of moving and thinking at superhuman speeds.

And there's a rumor of a character's "resurrection" in S.H.I.E.L.D.

From Hit/Fix

...Today, an alleged spoiler went up online about the "Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." pilot, and specifically the fate of Agent Phil Coulson, played in "Iron Man," "Iron Man 2," "Thor," "The Avengers," and even the "Ultimate Spider-Man" animated show by Clark Gregg. His death was a major turning point for The Avengers as a team, and it helped unite them against Loki and the invading aliens. /Film seems pretty confident that their report is correct, and it certainly makes a logical sort of sense.

Once Coulson was announced as part of the series, I figured there'd be something like this included in the pilot. The report raises questions that I assume will be addressed in the series, but for now, this appears to be the truth about how Marvel plans to resurrect the character:

In the pilot, it’s revealed Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the ultimate super spy, faked Agent Coulson’s death on purpose to motivate The Avengers. Some S.H.I.E.L.D. members were in on it (including, possibly, Maria Hill played by Cobie Smulders) but The Avengers were not. Their security clearance wasn’t high enough. Coulson was forced to hold his breath as part of the ruse and that’s a point of contention among his colleagues  After the fact, Fury moved him to a remote location until things died down, and then he was reinserted into duty at the time of the show.

If this turns out to be the way they handle things, it should create some serious tension between Coulson and the heroes who believed him to be dead. It's also going to create some trust issues for Nick Fury.

Whedon & Company at WonderCon

Joss Whedon continued the publicity tour for "Much Ado About Nothing" last week at Wondercon in Anaheim, California. Unfortunately Nathan Fillion was not there, much to the disappointment of the fans.

A Short History of Firefly Fandom

Here's a short history of Firefly fandom from SYFY channel:

First Post ~ Beginning

This blog is my new way to celebrate the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other works of Joss Whedon including TV shows such as Angel and Firefly, and movies such as The Avengers. I will also follow the careers of the stars such as Sarah Michelle Geller, David Boreanaz, and others. I'm a fan but also interested in the writing and literary analysis of the scripts, and the influence on other books, shows, and society in general. I hope you enjoy reading this blog.