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‪Joss Whedon returning to TV with epic HBO sci-fi series

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  • ChinaskiChinaski Santa Cruz, CA
    per Urban Dictionary:

    Epic - The most overused word ever, next to fail. for even more asshole points, use them together to form "epic fail."
    Coryanubus21Elisa
  • bizmarkiefaderbizmarkiefader San Francisco
    So it's more superhero stuff? They way they say "building his new world" sure makes it seem like another cinematic universe. Really hope HBO doesn't just turn into GoT spinoffs and super hero shows.
    Chinaski
  • CoryCory New Scotland
    bizmarkiefader said:
    So it's more superhero stuff? They way they say "building his new world" sure makes it seem like another cinematic universe. Really hope HBO doesn't just turn into GoT spinoffs and super hero shows.
    Definitely sounds more supernatural than science fiction, to me.
  • JaimieTJaimieT Atlanta, GA
    Joss Whedon isn't quite good enough for HBO. This is the first sign of HBO quality dipping, I think.

    And before anyone yaps at me, I love a good Buffy episode and Toy Story is my favorite Pixar movie.
    russkelly
  • Garthgou81Garthgou81 Placerville, CA
    AT&T is fixing HBO already. Thank god someone stepped in to help them out. 
    Elisa
  • CoryCory New Scotland
    JaimieT said:
    Joss Whedon isn't quite good enough for HBO. This is the first sign of HBO quality dipping, I think.

    And before anyone yaps at me, I love a good Buffy episode and Toy Story is my favorite Pixar movie.

    JaimieT
  • CapeGabeCapeGabe
    I hope it isn't a Firefly clone with Victorian women substituting for space Chinese cowboys.
    Elisa
  • Doctor_NickDoctor_Nick Terminus
    I was on an Alan Moore kick for a bit and I read the first few of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  Not my favorite - we'll see what Whedon comes up with. 
  • ShumShum Utah
    This is the best news I've heard in a very long time!   After Whedon's experience with Firefly and Dollhouse I was worried he would never go back to TV and would spend the next few years trying and save DC.  Him getting on a premium cable network is exactly what I was hoping for, and I'm very excited to see what he does with this Sci Fi Superhero Period Drama, or whatever it ends up being.
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  • jhparkjhpark
    I guess it sounds similar to Penny Dreadful in the Victorian, supernatural sense. 

    It's odd, even though I liked Angel a lot, Buffy after season 4 or so never quite did it for me. I don't think I've ever watched seasons 6 or 7. I enjoyed Dollhouse though, and Firefly... And even though that's a mostly positive track record, for some reason I'm not at all excited by this news. I'm not sure why that is...
  • JaimieTJaimieT Atlanta, GA
    akritenbrink said:
    JaimieT said:
    Joss Whedon isn't quite good enough for HBO. This is the first sign of HBO quality dipping, I think.

    And before anyone yaps at me, I love a good Buffy episode and Toy Story is my favorite Pixar movie.
    Maybe HBO will take him to another level? IDK. The premise sounds interesting. I don't know if one network can retain dominance in the current atmosphere but they basically invented the current atmosphere and still do quality programming.

    That's a good point. I hope so! 
  • ShumShum Utah
    HBO definitely took Damon Lindeloff to the next level, so I'm optimistic.  I'm pretty biased though, and will probably love it even if it's sub par.
    Flukes
  • DeeDee Adelaide
    Ugh, go away Joss Whedon. 


    ChinaskiElisaFrakkin T
  • rkcrawfrkcrawf
    @JaimieT Yap, Yap, Yap. He's got a pretty good track record. Even Dollhouse had some good moments before it got cancelled.
    Shum
  • BrooklynMDBrooklynMD
    I'm surprised how much hate joss whedon is getting here. He may not be the most visually interesting director, but he is a master of writing strong, likable characters and that's something that is sorely lacking in HBO's current lineup. I like HBO's prestige dramas as much as the next person, but they are all such self-serious, dark, humorless affairs. I think HBO needs him much more than he needs HBO
    ShumElisa[Deleted User]
  • JaimieTJaimieT Atlanta, GA
    BrooklynMD said:
    I'm surprised how much hate joss whedon is getting here. He may not be the most visually interesting director, but he is a master of writing strong, likable characters and that's something that is sorely lacking in HBO's current lineup. I like HBO's prestige dramas as much as the next person, but they are all such self-serious, dark, humorless affairs. I think HBO needs him much more than he needs HBO

    His characters largely sound the same, talk the same way. That's a huge thing to get "wrong." ("Wrong" because sometimes it can work, but in dramas it's less effective when all/most characters have the gift of one-liners.) He's a very good writer, but not masterful.

    Toy Story is seriously my favorite thing he's ever done because (1) it wasn't all him. He got balanced out. I don't think he's the best at pacing and the Pixar crew is. (2) He's incredibly good at writing comedy. He should do that more...
  • BrooklynMDBrooklynMD
    edited July 2018
    JaimieT said:

    His characters largely sound the same, talk the same way. That's a huge thing to get "wrong." ("Wrong" because sometimes it can work, but in dramas it's less effective when all/most characters have the gift of one-liners.) He's a very good writer, but not masterful.

    Toy Story is seriously my favorite thing he's ever done because (1) it wasn't all him. He got balanced out. I don't think he's the best at pacing and the Pixar crew is. (2) He's incredibly good at writing comedy. He should do that more...
    Oh man I think we're going to have to agree to disagree and see what happens when the show comes out. I think when it says drama it's actually going to be more of a sci-fi action adventure series much more than your classic prestige-y drama. I think he's definitely guilty of having the same archetypes of characters across his works, but those characters all have incredible depth to them. And as for the one-liners, I say bring it on. Every new prestige drama these days is a meditation on mortality, or grief, or human depravity or some other deeply depressing epistemological topic, and don't get me wrong, I deeply love a lot of those shows. But I would really love a show that's got a fun new world to explore with a bunch of fun new characters I want to hang out with, and I think that whedon specializes in that. At this point, I'm just as excited for this as I am for Lindelof's riff on the Watchmen. 
    ShumElisaweeniegirl
  • JaimieTJaimieT Atlanta, GA
    edited July 2018
    JaimieT said:

    His characters largely sound the same, talk the same way. That's a huge thing to get "wrong." ("Wrong" because sometimes it can work, but in dramas it's less effective when all/most characters have the gift of one-liners.) He's a very good writer, but not masterful.

    Toy Story is seriously my favorite thing he's ever done because (1) it wasn't all him. He got balanced out. I don't think he's the best at pacing and the Pixar crew is. (2) He's incredibly good at writing comedy. He should do that more...
    Oh man I think we're going to have to agree to disagree and see what happens when the show comes out. I think when it says it's going to be more of a sci-fi action adventure series much more than your classic prestige-y drama. I think he's definitely guilty of having the same archetypes of characters across his works, but those characters all have incredible depth to them. And as for the one-liners, I say bring it on. Every new prestige drama is a meditation on mortality, or grief, or human depravity or some other deeply depressing epistemological topic, and don't get me wrong, I deeply love a lot of those shows. But I would really love a show that's got a fun new world to explore with a bunch of fun new characters I want to hang out with, and I think that whedon specializes in that. At this point, I'm just as excited for this as I am for Lindelof's riff on the Watchmen. 

    Yeah, with Whedon fans it's definitely agree to disagree. But my cautious approach is not "hating on." (And I'm not upset at your word choice or anything.) I think some of us are just very aware of the Whedon hype train so we aren't balanced when we speak of him. We just go straight to the negatives.

    When I want something light I go to nonfiction. Lately it's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. I don't like light in the 1-hour fiction format.
  • ChinaskiChinaski Santa Cruz, CA
    i'm curious what the consensus would be if it read..

    J.J. Abrams is about to make a spectacular return to TV.

    The Alias and Lost creator, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens director, has an “epic” new sci-fi series that was just greenlit by HBO.

    Titled The Nevers, the series is described as “an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world.”

    JaimieT
  • BrooklynMDBrooklynMD
    Yea I hear you and quite honestly I never considered myself a Whedon "fan" until this conversation but it turns out I am. I guess I was just surprised by you saying that this was a step down for HBO. I feel like they've been tripling and quadrupling down on dour, humorless dramas recently which I guess you can say is a byproduct of our times. 
    I'm not ready to say already say Whedon's show will be spectacular already but I do think it could be a breath of fresh air. 
    Elisa
  • ShumShum Utah
    That's just fine.  We don't even want you guys on our hype train!!  (sobs quietly)
    JaimieTBrooklynMD
  • Garthgou81Garthgou81 Placerville, CA
    I actually like Whedon quite a bit. But he isn't for everyone of course. Dr. Horrible is a ton of fun, Buffy is great, and Firefly is...well awesome, Avengers managed to pull everything Marvel had been building together. His comic work is pretty outstanding also. 
    Shum
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  • JaimieTJaimieT Atlanta, GA
    edited July 2018
    I don't really know Joss Whedon's work but I'm jumping on this train just because the premise of this show sounds cool. But this talk of genre makes me think... Genre is bendy and kind of fusion-y nowadays anyways. So it could be a "prestige drama" as well as the other stuff? That's kind of what GoT does. It's fantasy, based on a popular fantasy book series, but the drama side of the show is so solid that it has a wider audience than your typical fantasy thing. 

    Yeah, but that's GRRM vs. Joss Whedon. You definitely aren't familiar with JW's work. :tongue: GRRM can write characters, story, lore, and dialogue circles around JW.

    JW is like the Stephen King of light fantasy TV.
  • ShumShum Utah
    JaimieT said:

    Yeah, but that's GRRM vs. Joss Whedon. You definitely aren't familiar with JW's work. :tongue: GRRM can write characters, story, lore, and dialogue circles around JW.

    JW is like the Stephen King of light fantasy TV.
    Yeah, I don't see this being the next Game of Thrones or anything, but it could possibly have a similar mixture of prestige drama and mainstream appeal.  I love both of these creators a lot and don't really want to pit them against each other too much, but I will say one thing Joss may be better at than GRRM is emotional payoff.   He also tends to finish his stories, even when his shows get cancelled.
    weeniegirl
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  • GiovanniGiovanni
    I gotta say, based on the description this sounds absolutely terrible. 
    Dummy
  • GiovanniGiovanni
    akritenbrink said:
    JaimieT said:
    I don't really know Joss Whedon's work but I'm jumping on this train just because the premise of this show sounds cool. But this talk of genre makes me think... Genre is bendy and kind of fusion-y nowadays anyways. So it could be a "prestige drama" as well as the other stuff? That's kind of what GoT does. It's fantasy, based on a popular fantasy book series, but the drama side of the show is so solid that it has a wider audience than your typical fantasy thing. 

    Yeah, but that's GRRM vs. Joss Whedon. You definitely aren't familiar with JW's work. :tongue: GRRM can write characters, story, lore, and dialogue circles around JW.

    JW is like the Stephen King of light fantasy TV.
    People within the fantasy world think highly of GRRM, but no one else knew what Game of Thrones even was before the show, and to me it sounds like the show has condensed and refined his writing quite a bit. You still have to be a real fantasy enthusiast to care about the books, IMO. It's not like they reached a level of literary accomplishment similar to an Emmy for a TV show.
    Even without the show they were best selling books. I started reading them in 98? But that's the genre Im into. The reason it got turned into a show was because they had such a big impact on many people who read them. He basically started the whole grim/realistic fantasy genre. 
    ElisaJaimieT
  • DummyDummy
    Giovanni said:
    I gotta say, based on the description this sounds absolutely terrible. 
    Seriously. It's like they are daring people to watch it. 
    Giovanni
This discussion has been closed.