A Whedon-free Buffy movie

In 1992, there was a movie called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," that had all of the cultural impact of Crystal Pepsi or "The New Adventures of He-Man." More people bought a Turbo-Grafx 16 than people went to go see this movie. And despite my friend Steve insisting that I watch it, I refused because it was called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I wasn't alone in my assessment.

In 1997, Joss Whedon gave Sarah Michelle Gellar her only taste of career relevance by casting her as Buffy in his TV remake of one of the most widely panned movies ever. The show became a cult hit, lasting seven seasons, and recently publishing a comic book-based eighth season (titled "Buffy: Season 8), also written by series creator Joss Whedon. I have watched a grand total of one episode of this show, but the one I saw drilled it home that this is actually a show that's worth a damn, unlike the recently cancelled "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

Today, it was revealed that Fran Rubel Kuzui, the director of the original film (a fact that I never cared to know until this morning), is working on a new Buffy movie, one that's not connected to either the movie or the show. Kuzui apparently believes that it's her right to fail a second time just because she owns the character. She plans to make the movie "darker" in tone, because that's what all of these types of films plan to do in the wake of "The Dark Knight." They should just give this theme an official name, like "Batman-chic."

Now, that bit of news should be enough to piss off all of the Buffy fans around the world, because Buffy fans love them some Buffy show. They also love them some Spike, some Xander, some Angel, and some Willow. None of them will appear in the new film, much like Joss Whedon won't be involved. According to AICN, they're not saying he can't be involved, but they are saying that he'd have to "audition like everyone else."

The only reason why anyone knows "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" at all, is because Joss Whedon knows how to write shit that's worth a damn. It certainly wasn't the creative abilities of Fran Rubel Kuzui, who was only an executive producer on the series and series spinoff, "Angel." All that means is that she was collecting a check while someone else did the heavy lifting. Hell, Reginald Hudlin was an "executive producer" on "The Boondocks," and not only did he have no involvement with the show after Fox passed on it, but they made two episodes completely disrespecting him. There isn't anyone outside of Kuzui's personal circle of friends and family who can name anything she's ever worked on without consulting IMDB first.

And for the record, she produced "Orgazmo." First "Buffy," then "Orgazmo." If I had a track record like that, I'd be drying trays in the back of Burger King for a living.

Fans are already outraged. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out...