Questions mostly, and ugh, it's hot.

[shadowkat]

It's been beastly hot this week in NYC. It got to 98 degrees in the Financial District - felt like a 101. With 55% humidity. The commute home involved wearing a fan around my neck, and praying for the best. I lucked out - while there were transit signal issues earlier, they were resolved by the time I got to the subway, and due to the extensive delays earlier - I was able to catch an express home. They had a power outage at West Fourth Street. Took them all day to fix it, apparently, and stalled the system. It was at 8:30 am. I was fine - I got to work by 7:27 am.

Meanwhile, they apparently had a random shooter in Midtown yesterday - who invaded the Blackstone Building and shot a lot of folks, before shooting himself. They were talking about on the news. It was at 345 Park in Manhattan (far from where I work - I work in the Financial District.). I was no where near it - thankfully, nor was anyone that I knew.

I'm sleep deprived again, which meant feeling off all day. My digestive issues kept me awake last night, along with too much matcha yesterday - so wired. My body wouldn't let me sleep. And kept waking me up. I did get about 3 hours, or a little over, and one hour of deep sleep. But alas, it was painful. I ended up waking up at 5:16 am, and gave up and took a shower at 5:45. As a result, I got to work early - and didn't have to take a shower when I got home. But made it hard to focus today. I wisely did not have a lot of caffeine today, and instead of a matcha latte - got a zero sugar vitamin water. Also sinus head

***

July Question a Memage:

27. Do you like honey?

Yes. I like raw honey best. I use it as a substitute for sugar for the most part, if at all. I rarely do. I don't add sugar to anything.

28. Jigsaws were invented in the mid-18th century by a cartographer called John Spilsbury, who thought that mounting a map on wood and cutting it into interlocking shapes would make an informative game for children and students. When was the last time you made a jigsaw (how many pieces did it have)?

I've never made a jigsaw. I've put together jigsaws, but I've never made one.

29. Do you know anyone who is a twin?

Yes, several. A co-worker and Carnegie Hall's music coordinator have an identical twin. Two of my cousin's kids are fraternal twins, and my paternal grandmother was a fraternal twin.

***

Can an old television show be revived or rebooted successfully?

Depends on the television series? I mean if it's clunky, and they do a reboot that fixes a bunch of things - then yes. See Battle Star Galatica, although a lot of fans of the previous version were upset with the reboot, but they were in the minority. Also there was a good thirty years between?

But can they reboot a series with a devoted fandom?

Star Trek continued its series with Star Trek Next Generation, after it did a bunch of movies - and it had a die-hard fandom. But it had a world in which you can do that? And STNG was kind of just another series in the world, not a reboot.

Science Fiction it works very well with - because the thrust of Sci-Fi is the world-building.

Fantasy? Hard to know. I'm not sure about Buffy.

I don't know about anyone else? But I watched Buffy for the characters not the world, and I felt Whedon kind of sucked at world-building? A lot of things contradicted each other. And some were ahem, problematic, such as the Watcher's Council. I was never really that interested in the world - unlike Star Trek or Star Wars.

Then again, I'd have said the same thing about Battle Star Galatica - but I loved that reboot. But it was an actual reboot. The characters were revised, recast and the world expanded upon.

Also, another issue with Buffy - I was more interested in certain characters than others. That may make a difference? I don't know. I'd like to think I'd continue to watch - if Spike wasn't in it, or I didn't see any of the others. But I don't know if that's true?

Anyhow, thoughts?

Comments

[mefisto]

As I think I've mentioned before, I'm highly skeptical about the new Buffy. One reason, though, is the opposite of yours: I'd prefer not to see any of the old characters. That said, I'm pretty sure you'll get your wish -- JM has been very coy about stuff and that leads me to believe he'll have a role.

[shadowkat]

JM has been very coy about stuff and that leads me to believe he'll have a role.

Yep. And I'm guessing Charisma, Hannigan, EC, AD, and JL will as well.

But not necessarily a major one, and it will be a surprise.


I'd prefer not to see any of the old characters.

Why?

And all the old characters? Would you prefer not to see Buffy as well?



***

Per the latest from Deadline, they've cast the love interest, an pre-Olympian level jock, and popular boy named Kingston, who doesn't take an interest in Nova until a life changing event.

[mefisto]

I expect SMG, of course, but I think the show has a chance to be better if it offers something entirely new rather than nostalgia.

Funny, I just this minute saw the news about the love interest. I hope he's also a vampire and that all his games are at night.

[shadowkat]

I expect SMG, of course, but I think the show has a chance to be better if it offers something entirely new rather than nostalgia.

Well, according to SMG this is entirely new and not going the nostalgic route? (Although the description and casting sounds kind of stale and boilerplate to me.)

I am curious what Zhao's pitch was that pulled in Gellar? Because what I'm seeing right now isn't intriguing or innovative at all, outside of the original cast potentially coming back.

You can bring back original characters in an innovative and intriguing way - The Connors were able to reboot Roseanne. And Star Trek Next Generation was able to bring back Spock and reference earlier characters. And Star Wars' series - was able to reference and bring back core characters in new ways.

I can come up with ways to utilize Spike and Angel, without them being vampires. And ways to bring back Anya or Cordelia - from another verse, as something other than they were in the original. That can be innovative.

[mefisto]

You're probably right about the use of old characters, but I'm concerned it will only come across as fan service. If the new show is good, it should stand on its own. JMHO.

Agreed on the lack of anything intriguing or innovative so far.

[shadowkat]

If the new show is good, it should stand on its own.

Well, from what I've read in the articles to date - that's what Gellar keeps stating she's doing. And that while she wants to bring in old characters, she wants the series to stand on its own.

I'm not sure it can? The only shows that pull that off are series that are "episodic" in nature not serial. Like L&O and CSI's. Or Star Trek (the characters were actually unimportant in Trek - it was the world). That's why they were able to do so many spin-offs and reboots of it. And yet, even with all those series? They notably have one or two characters introduced from the old one - or often two - pull in the audience. STNG used Spock, Roddenberry's Wife, Spock's mother. Deep Space Nine - took Worf from STNG, along with another side character. Voyager took a character from DSN. Discovery - took Spock. Strange New Worlds - has a young Kirk and a young Spock, and the guy who was the original Captain in Trek.

Buffy did that with Angel - it took two characters from Buffy to establish Angel.

Vampire Diaries is more serialized - took characters from it for Legacies and the other series. But it had a rich world to dig from.

They all do. They have to. Otherwise the audience doesn't care. You need to have a draw, bring in old viewers and new ones.

[mefisto]

I think it has to be (new) character-focused and the writing has to be good. If it does those 2 things, the rest will take care of itself.

[shadowkat]

I'm taking a wait and see approach.

They are going the "pilot" route - which means Hulu/Disney is playing it safe.