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shadowkat1. Nicholas Brendan according to the SlayAlive post does not like the Dawn/Xander pairing.
In related news, at Hallowhedon, Brendan revealed that he and Gellar talked about Xander and Buffy getting together and pitched it. Whedon said no. And apparently Whedon had planned on killing Xander off in S7, but the other writers talked him out of it - stating the fans would be *really* upset, *vehementally* upset.
They weren't wrong about that - but it does bring up a question that I'd like to throw out there: Should fans have a say in the plotting, etc of a story? Should the writers have convinced Whedon to cater to their fans? Should it matter that it would upset the fans if a character was killed or a beloved character did a horrible thing? Should a writer EVER cater to his or her fans? And if so, when? And to what extent would catering hurt the story? And what extent does this kill the reality of the story - after all people we love do die, and people we love do horrible things - to what extent should writing reflect that reality and to what extent should it merely entertain and comfort?
Okay that's a lot of questions. I don't know what I think on this right now. I really don't. I know that I wish sometimes the writer would ignore the fans, but other times, I don't. I can argue it both ways to be honest. So feel free to persuade, discuss, etc!
As a sub-thread of that question - to what extent has the internet changed how fans can affect the writing/plot of a tv show, novel, or movie? Is this a good thing, bad thing, or neutral thing??
2. James Marsters on youtube did a really interesting bit on kissing on camera - how difficult it is to do well, how awkward, and how much you have to trust your partner. He said if you do it for pleasure - it looks horrible. So you never enjoy it. And if he had to choose anyone to do it with again it would be John Barrowman - who went out of his way to make Marsters comfortable. Marsters also gives some great hints on how to keep a guy from mauling you - which I already knew but are quite useful - sneeze, step on his foot, elbow him in the gut.
3. Apparently Caprica has three cameras, a bit budget, and is scarey - with great scripts.
Marsters plays a terrorist that everyone is terrified of, and he's been told he's doing rather well. Hmm. Okay, that and the trailer and Eric Stolz is making me really look forward to Caprica. (Of course it helps that I love Espenson's tv writing, and adored BSG).
4. Apparently Georges Jeanty is better at drawing Joss Whedon than Sarah Michelle Gellar, who knew? (Brad Metzler's blog has a picture of Whedon and Buffy together drawn by Jeanty.)
In related news, at Hallowhedon, Brendan revealed that he and Gellar talked about Xander and Buffy getting together and pitched it. Whedon said no. And apparently Whedon had planned on killing Xander off in S7, but the other writers talked him out of it - stating the fans would be *really* upset, *vehementally* upset.
They weren't wrong about that - but it does bring up a question that I'd like to throw out there: Should fans have a say in the plotting, etc of a story? Should the writers have convinced Whedon to cater to their fans? Should it matter that it would upset the fans if a character was killed or a beloved character did a horrible thing? Should a writer EVER cater to his or her fans? And if so, when? And to what extent would catering hurt the story? And what extent does this kill the reality of the story - after all people we love do die, and people we love do horrible things - to what extent should writing reflect that reality and to what extent should it merely entertain and comfort?
Okay that's a lot of questions. I don't know what I think on this right now. I really don't. I know that I wish sometimes the writer would ignore the fans, but other times, I don't. I can argue it both ways to be honest. So feel free to persuade, discuss, etc!
As a sub-thread of that question - to what extent has the internet changed how fans can affect the writing/plot of a tv show, novel, or movie? Is this a good thing, bad thing, or neutral thing??
2. James Marsters on youtube did a really interesting bit on kissing on camera - how difficult it is to do well, how awkward, and how much you have to trust your partner. He said if you do it for pleasure - it looks horrible. So you never enjoy it. And if he had to choose anyone to do it with again it would be John Barrowman - who went out of his way to make Marsters comfortable. Marsters also gives some great hints on how to keep a guy from mauling you - which I already knew but are quite useful - sneeze, step on his foot, elbow him in the gut.
3. Apparently Caprica has three cameras, a bit budget, and is scarey - with great scripts.
Marsters plays a terrorist that everyone is terrified of, and he's been told he's doing rather well. Hmm. Okay, that and the trailer and Eric Stolz is making me really look forward to Caprica. (Of course it helps that I love Espenson's tv writing, and adored BSG).
4. Apparently Georges Jeanty is better at drawing Joss Whedon than Sarah Michelle Gellar, who knew? (Brad Metzler's blog has a picture of Whedon and Buffy together drawn by Jeanty.)
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Date: 2009-11-11 05:30 pm (UTC)Agreed. This happens a lot in regards to daytime soap operas in the US. (that and the fact that they set up dreaded focus groups.) It often kills storylines.
And is why soaps get a bad name - because everyone knows that writers cater a bit to the fans, more so than in primetime or night time series.
Re: a writer who ignores the audience completely and follows his or her muse wherever it may lead runs the risk of completely alienating the audience, or even offending them. If you're only producing art for art's sake, you might be willing to do that anyway, even if only one person in a thousand appreciates what you're doing. But people like Joss aren't artists, they're entertainers....
Excellent point and well articulated. There is a huge difference between a TV series and a book.
To a degree, much of this is dictated by networks, advertisers, and ratings. For example there was an episode in Angel that the network instructed Whedon and Greenwalt to rewrite and change, because it contained "objectionable" material. In S7 - the network told Whedon no more digs at fast food jobs, they were losing advertisers. Also ratings dictated
the break-up of B/A (when they were happy the ratings dived, when they were split up and angsty, the ratings climbed.) Ratings also to a degree saved characters such as Angel and Spike, who would have been killed in S2 permanently.
Fans affected the Spike/Buffy story in part by their vehement protest of any sexual relationship after Seeing Red (made the writers ambivalent as a result)
and the Willow arc - the writers had intended to make Willow bi-sexual, but the fan protest regarding Tara's death, alterred that. Fans and ratings are the reason we got the Buffy/Angel cross-overs, particularly in the last season - when the writers saw the shows as completely separate. And fans kept Xander alive.
Regarding Xander/Dawn - I think part of that might be the age difference. In May 2003 Michelle Trachtenberg was 17 and Nicholas Brendon was 32, almost twice her age (a 15-year gap).
This is interesting...because Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Vincent Karthesier (Connor) had similar issues. Carpenter was 32 at the time, Karthesier 17.
She was also pregnant. In reality - Cordelia was Xander's age - 21/22 and Connor was well 16. Their age difference was no different than Xander's and Dawn's.
Same deal with Dawn and Spike - they separated the two characters b/c the writers were squicked by the on-screen chemistry. Marsters was 38 or 39 at the time, while Trachenburg was close to 17. Technically speaking it was no different than Angel and Buffy.
Except DB was 26, when Gellar was 17.
Xander/Dawn doesn't bother me in that way. But I can see why it would bug Brendan - it's amusing that it bugs him for the same reasons Connor/Cordy bugged Charisma, and Dawn/Spike bugged the writers.