About Me - Browncoat and Whedonite

There are numerous TV writers that I respect immensely, including but not limited to J.J. Abrams (Felicity, Alias, Lost, Fringe), Tim Minear (Lois & Clark, The X-Files, Angel, Firefly, Wonderfalls, Dollhouse), Ronald D. Moore (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica), Carlton Cuse (Brisco County, Lost), Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies) and Ira Steven Behr (Star Trek, The 4400), but TV writing does not get any better than the work of Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse. The first three of these series are three of my favourite TV series of all time.

And it is no coincidence that many of my favourite episodes of these series were penned by Joss himself (and often directed by as well), except for Angel where it was more of Tim Minear's show ("Are You Now or Have You Ever Been," "Reprise," "Lullaby," "Home"). From Buffy, there's game-changer "Innocence," the awesome "Becoming" two-parter, the silent "Hush," the devastating "The Body," and brilliant musical "Once More, with Feeling." From Angel, there's the hilarious "Spin the Bottle" and the shocking "A Hole in the World." From Firefly, there's the deceptive "Our Mrs. Reynolds," the philosophical series finale "Objects in Space," and the terrific feature film Serenity. From Dollhouse, there's game-changer "Man on the Street" and the "I can't believe Fox never aired this episode!" genius of "Epitaph One."

Joss Whedon's fans, most much more fanatic than I am, refer to themselves as Whedonites. Browncoat is a more specific label for fans of the short-lived Firefly series. There are no specific labels for fans of Buffy or Angel, otherwise they would have also been listed in my About Me.

My interest in Joss Whedon's work obviously started with Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. Not so much the movie (1992). Although the movie was penned by Joss, the director had a different vision than the writer, and the end result was a silly, inconsequential film. When Joss was given the chance to bring his vision for Buffy to the small screen in 1997, I don't think anyone really believed it would be much better. Including me. I initially had no interest in a series based on that silly movie.

I was an active member of a different but similar show's online fandom (more details in a future About Me), and word of mouth for Buffy the series was very strong. And through channel surfing during the summer months when I was at home and actually had cable (I had no cable in university--and yeah, that fucking sucked!), I would occasionally catch an episode on YTV. And it seemed way better than I expected.

Prior to collecting TV series on DVD (and now Blu-ray), I used to collect series on VHS. Unfortunately, the pattern for TV series on VHS was two episodes per tape, three tapes per set, and a "Best of" strategy for which episodes were chosen. Until the DVD sets were released, there were actually several episodes in the first and early second seasons of Buffy that I had never seen. (There was no option for downloading TV episodes at this time. You actually had to try to catch an episode in rerun if you missed it the first time.)

I finally started watching Buffy as it aired (still on YTV--YTV later regretted carrying the series, once they realized that Buffy wasn't a kids show) late in its second season, coincidentally at the height of the series' run. To this day, I have yet to see a TV series match the quality of the Angelus arc of Buffy season two. A few series have come close (Angel's Darla arc, Battlestar Galactica's and Dexter's first seasons), but "Surprise" through "Becoming" is simply TV at its best. (It should go without saying that all of this is personal preference.)

But it is not just the great dramatic arc stories and threatening "big bad"s that made Buffy a terrific show. One of the best things about Buffy was how damn funny it was. Joss's dialogue was superbly witty and clever (too clever, for some), and some of show's Valley girl phrasing still finds its way onto my tongue at times.

At the end of Buffy's third season, the character of Angel was spun-off into his own series. The Space Channel aired Angel in Canada, instead of YTV, since it was clearly not a kid's show in any way. Initially, I had no way to watch the new series (last year of university, still no cable, still sucked), so I again missed most of the first season until DVDs were released. Somehow I managed to catch the last episode of the first season at least, and that episode was absolutely fantastic.

Starting with the second season, I was watching and loving Angel as it aired. Much like Buffy's second season, Angel's second season featured some of the series' strongest episodes. In fact, early in the second season of Angel, I had already concluded that Angel was a superior show to Buffy. This remained true for the entire run of both series. Although Buffy had the best season of both series with its second season, Angel was much more consistently good throughout. Buffy's last two seasons are regrettably below par, albeit not without a spattering of excellent episodes. Anyway, both shows are so interlinked with crossover stories and characters that watching all episodes of both series is essential to the enjoyment of either.

In fall 2002, with Buffy in its final season and Angel in its second last, Joss Whedon brought another series to TV: the awesome Firely. If Firefly had lasted longer than its truncated 15 episodes, it's quite likely it would have gone down as my favourite TV series of all time. It certainly featured my favourite Joss Whedon character with Captain Malcolm Reynolds, marvelously depicted by Nathan Fillion. Mal Reynolds was hilarious and heroic, and as an added plus, an atheist (just like his creator). Firefly was treated poorly by the Fox network, aired out of order, stuck in a Friday death slot, and therefore struggled in the ratings. On DVD, the series flourished somehow, enough that Universal was willing to bank the creation of a movie. Serenity is an effective conclusion to the series, so thank you, Universal!

After Serenity, Joss Whedon took it a little easier for a few years. 2008's web series Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog was a fun musical comedy, and the DVD even features a brilliant musical commentary. In 2009, Joss strangely decided to try to launch another TV series on Fox, the network that fucked over Firefly, and although Dollhouse certainly got less screwed than Firefly, because it at least got two seasons and a finale, it still begs the question, "Why Fox?" Dollhouse is the least of Joss Whedon's series, but in typical Joss fashion, its second season was pretty fucking awesome. Goddamn, what would a second season of Firefly have been like?

Joss Whedon is not perfect, despite what some of his more ardent fans would have you believe. His feature film writing work has been spotty, although it's possible that his scripts (which I've never read) are better than the finished products. And, as previously mentioned, the last two seasons of Buffy were not that great. A fair bit of blame for that lies with interim showrunner Marti Noxon, but it was Joss who left her in charge of Buffy while he was busy working on Firefly. But nobody is perfect. Joss Whedon has had more hits than misses, by far, and that's all that really matters.

I certainly look forward to Joss Whedon's next project, whatever it is, wherever it is. I am unquestionably a fan for life. And I will continue to re-watch and enjoy Buffy, Angel, and Firefly for many years to come, while also reading the ongoing comics continuations of these three amazing TV series.

(Thanks, Olympics!--for giving me some background noise to blog to so I could complete this long overdue About Me post.)