Dear Mr. Whedon,
Thank you for existing.
I was trying to come up with some words that would express my feelings for your body of work, and I feel the above about sums it up.
And... is that a houndstooth tie? NO!
In a recent interview I had with one Andrew Gingerich about future filmmaking projects for the Making of documentary Stories From Sturgeon, Mr. Gingerich expressed dismay that there no one in television worked in the fusion of genres. Well, Mr. Whedon, I believe we could both disagree with Mr. Gingerich’s remark as I feel one of your many strengths as a filmmaker is in the seamless fusion of two disparate genres.
And... is that a houndstooth tie? NO!
In one of your most well known works, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example you were able to explain life using demons and vampires and ghosts. And that is neat. In your cult television show Firefly you were able to integrate the Western and Sci-Fi genres incredibly well, incorporating common elements of civil war, isolation, expansionism, and the idea of “A Man and his Horse”. This is also very neat.
However, simple genre integration, although super cool, would fail if it were written poorly. Lucky for both of us that you’re not. Yes, I heard some of your commentary on Buffy, and I was very glad to hear that you are indeed a smart filmmaker. You’re also a very smart writer, as the characterization in all of the works of yours that I’ve seen is incredibly strong. It is because of these characters and these people that we are able to believe in your integrated worlds, and in a television dominated with shit like Heroes, it’s nice to watch a show that defines characters beyond “I JUST WANT TO FIT IN!” and “I’m bumbling and I’m a foreigner”.
So thank you Mr. Whedon. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Vvinni J. Gagnepain
I’ve been wanting to start watching “Castle”, but I figured I should start with season 1. Then I decided that it’s a crime show, so I can probably just start watching it, and so I saw one episode. The entire time I was only thinking about how much I love Nathan Fillion. Oh man, Nathan Fillion.
Ah yes, I forgot he did Dr. Horrible. That was quite good.
Perhaps I will watch through Firefly once I get back to the States.
Whedon changed my life. I started with Firefly but I wish I’d started with Buffy. Also, did you catch the halloween episode of Castle? It stars Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle, who, on halloween, dresses up as a “Space Cowboy” in the same costume he wore on Firefly as Mal. It’s a great reference that no-one will get. But they got away with it. Castle: under-rated.
That’s a good question, Andrew. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is certainly his most successful work, but it takes a lot of time to watch all of it (It had seven seasons).
If you enjoyed Serenity, then you should probably start with Firefly, the show Serenity acted as an ending to . It was cancelled prematurely, so there are only maybe thirteen episodes or so.
Finally, if you just want to watch a quick three-episode long web series he did, you can check out Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog for free on Hulu.
That is a houndstooth tie.
In the future we will call it something else because it will no longer be made from dog teeth.
I will cop to not really being aware of Joss Whedon’s work (except for Serenity, which was awesome), but at least I’m smart enough to realize that I’m stupid and evil for not being aware of it.
Tell me, if I were to become a Joss Whedon aficionado, where should I start?
No, Vvinni, I think this post is useful. I think everyone needs to hear about Joss Whedon’s skills. And, about his taste in ties.
And, it’s good of you to write these nice things now. Whedon probably needs a good deal of reassuring due to the shit show of Fox canceling Dollhouse.