The Week In Geek:Spidey Musical Debuts, Buffy Reboot, & Walking Dead Staff Told To Walk

And So Begins Buffygate…

Last week it was announced that Warner Brothers had optioned the rights for the big screen reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from copyright holders Fran Kuzui and husband Kaz Kuzui. Instantly, geekdom went into fire and brimstone mode at the notion of a Buffy without the input of creator Joss Whedon. And rightly so, since Whedon is the reason anything and everything works about Buffy. Fran Kuzui had directed the original movie based on Whedon’s script, but then totally re-wrote the script which resulted in an unmemorable time killer, with the exception of Paul Reubens. But still, why bypass the man who created the character and instead go to some actress turned first time screenwriter?

Well, it turns out that the Kuzuis indeed went to Joss Whedon first, as far back as last year….and he turned them down flat. We can only speculate as to why, but then speculate is what I do here: 

So why DID Joss say no? Obviously, Whedon is not sick of Buffy or her world, as evidenced by his commitment to the Season 8 Comics from Dark Horse he has been overseeing for the past 3 1⁄2 years. (the longest tv season of all time). I’m sure if offered the chance to continue his story on screen, he would have taken it. However, while the Kuzuis (and now Warners) owns the film rights to Buffy, Twentieth Century Fox owns the rights to things developed just for the television series, like Angel, Spike, Willow, Xander, Giles, Sunnydale, the Hellmouth. Essentially, these are all the things that make Buffy Buffy. Without access to the things and characters he cares about the most, why would Whedon even want to go do a watered down version of Buffy? And his working relationship with the Kuzuis was so bad he walked off the set of the original movie, never to return. So go back at this stage, when you can direct The Avengers instead? So don’t blame Whedon, blame the creatively bankrupt Kuzuis for not knowing better than to leave this alone.

First Class Actor For X-Men

 X-Men First Class just made a hell of a good casting addition in the form of hiring veteran character actor Ray Wise.  Wise is known for his recent turn as Satan on the series Reaper, and is probably most famously known as Leland Palmer on the groundbreaking  television series Twin Peaks and its film prequel, Fire Walk With Me.  Not much is know about who Wise will play, aside from being a government higher up, but he sure has the forehead for Mr. Sinister, doesn’t he?

And In LESS Anticipated Marvel Project News….

So last week, after many, many delays, cast changes, and near cancellation of the whole project all together, Julie Taymor’s Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, a singin’, swingin’ extravaganza, debuted on Broadway to a critical thud.  Their previews were plagued with technical problems, and the show was stopped up to five times, prompting one audience member  to yell out “I don’t know about anybody else, but I feel like a guinea pig and I want my money back! We should all get refunds!”  Ouch. Not the kinda buzz you want on Broadway, or anywhere for that matter.

Geeks have had it in for this project since it was first announced last year, suggesting that  this is the worst thing to happen in geek history (although I can’t help but think some of this smacks of “don’t put my manly hero in a faggy medium”  but I’ll admit that could just be me projecting). On the surface, a musical based on a super hero is really not that ridiculous…Superheroes  have operatic lives, wear over the top costumes, and like to shout out into the night sky when no one is around, shaking their fists in the air. Sounds pretty much like a musical to me.  But this particular production had been plagued with delay after delay, loss of key cast members like Alan Cumming and Evan Rachel Wood, and (from what I hear) a kind of lame score by U2’s Bono and The Edge. Despite all the negative buzz though, or maybe even because of it, advance ticket sales have been pretty great for this show, meaning that like with his third movie outing, critics can’t put a dent in Spidey’s web. Still, my gut tells me this will go the way of another notorious and expansive Broadway adaptation of a beloved geek property….

 Walking Dead Writing Staff Told To Walk 

The biggest breakthrough hit of the Fall TV season by far has got to be AMC’s The Walking Dead. Getting the best ratings for an AMC series ever, the show has become a bonafide television event. So what better way to congratulate your writing staff for a job well done than to fire them all? That is what executive producer Frank Darabont has done upon news of his series’ pick up for a full 13 episode second season. Apparently, he wants to go totally the freelancer route for year two, meaning no writing staff at all. Apparently this is the custom of British television series, but a lot of people believe the Writer’s Guild of America isn’t going to go for all this limey crap. Prepare to watch this unfold in an ugly way once pre-production on the second seasons begins in earnest next year.