Joss Whedon in brief: writer and director with a flair for drama and the comedy that comes from that (or perhaps more accurately a flair for comedy and the drama that comes from that). Most of his most well known series are supernatural (or superscientific) in nature, and he is known for including strong female characters that tend to be played by devastatingly beautiful actors – like the Buffy the Vampire Slayer herself.
To be honest, I am more of a Firefly fan, and I got the series for myself as soon as I could. If you have not seen this series, and (as many people have commented) cursed its “sudden yet inevitable betrayal” by its cancellation after just one series, then you have missed a great ensemble show with great comedic moments. I never did get the whole science scenery around which the Firefly universe was built (how many terraformed planets were in this one star system again?), but the joy of the show didn’t come from the technobabble anyway. Captain Tightpants, the curvaceous Zoe (my word, Gina Torres has an incredible rear end), “Socialator” Anara, cynical Wash – the characters Joss Whedon creates and the actors he selects to portray them are incredible and (given the context) believable, and is why I keep going back for more.
The most recent Whedon effort was Dollhouse, which was cancelled after two series (better than Firefly!). It was a series which appears to have split Whedonians a bit (see the comments on this blog that Moosetastic originally led me to) in that it is actually quite a dark series, with most of the main characters actually involved in fairly dubious activities, despite the occasional effort to make them appear noble (Buffy and Firefly were about noble people, even if they weren’t always “right”). The banter is as witty as ever, the cast beautiful to behold (including Amy Acker, Eliza Dushku and Enver Gjokaj), but the story and the direction it was going to take was always a bit murky. But it is (or was) still Joss.
I am not quite sure why Whedon’s shows are in reality less popular than in my experience, considering the number of people I know who like them. Maybe its an American taste thing and New Zealanders like his stuff more, though Buffy and Angel and Firefly never really did get a lot of primetime exposure. Possibly its because people who are interested can’t wait for the series to hit our TV screens but instead get them as soon as possible from other sources, thereby crippling the potential NZ ratings then and there, though it doesn’t really explain the American “disinterest affair”.
Ah well, whatever, at least someone in the FOX Empire is still giving Joss Whedon the occasional green light to let him at least give us a taste of his taste. Here’s hoping he has another series out soon.
Verdict: When it comes to televisual quality, look for the Whedon stamp. And he does great DVD commentaries too. 4.5 Emmys out of 5.
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