Joss unwilling to continue? by HOEperative

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Joss unwilling to continue?

POSTED BY: HOEPERATIVE
UPDATED: Monday, February 27, 2006 14:34
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Monday, February 27, 2006 10:10 AM

Scary thought.

From the Visual Companion:

Joss [on writing the script for Serenity]:

"Every line had to be useful but not feel like a lesson. To hide that much information in a compelling story- LET'S JUST SAY I'M NOT ANXIOUS TO DO IT AGAIN ANYTIME SOON."

This strike fear into anyone else's hearts?

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Monday, February 27, 2006 10:19 AM

ISAACSHEPHERD

I have had that scary feeling now and again he doesn't want to continue the series and sometimes it is hard to say. All I know is I want more and if he gets a good deal from a company he will continue (at least I think he will). He's really busy right now so I don't think he'll pick it up tomorrow if he'd get a call tonight.
I think Joss isn't expecting to get an offer for continuing. Maybe he feels like Mal after battle of Serenity, like he lost the war and it's time to give in to the Alliance and start a new life.
I'm hoping a studio or perferably a network will realize this is worth continuing and give Joss the proper amount of creative freedom he needs and more so deserves. In the mean time keep the fanbase growing and keep recruiting! After all we've done the impossible and that makes us might!
IS

The Bible's a bit fuzzy on the subject of kneecaps.

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Monday, February 27, 2006 10:38 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

He might want a break from the 'verse for a while, but I get the feeling he's far from done with it. A couple recent things he's said, one in an online post at Whedonesque.com, and one in a podcast, lead me to believe that he HASN'T left this 'verse behind, but that he still feels a longing for it, and wants to tell more stories of our Big Damn Heroes.

In both places, when the subject of a Serenity sequel came up, he simply said his phone was "still silent and withdrawn". Just the language he used makes me feel like he wishes it WEREN'T silent and withdrawn. There's a bit of loneliness, a touch of downheartedness in those words. I think that if he were "over" the whole Firefly/Serenity thing and wanted to leave it behind, he'd have so, or would have worded his response differently. Remember, Joss IS a man who uses words to make his living, so he tends to choose them carefully!

Anyhoo, that's how I interpreted his response. Kind of an "I'd like to tell these stories, but right now I'm a little bit down about Serenity's box office results, and no one's beating down my door to start a sequel or resurrect the series..." After such a long emotional roller-coaster ride as he's been on through Firefly and Serenity, I'd hardly blame Joss if he's not in a rush to jump back into it. I think he needs to relax, work on a few other projects for a bit, and recharge his psyche to jump back into our 'verse and take it on again. Frankly, I'd rather wait a few years to get his best efforts, than have him feel like he has to push something out there just to appease the flandom, even when his heart isn't quite in it.

Until Joss is ready and his phone is loud and insistent, we'll hold.

Mike

A baby seal walks into a club...

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Monday, February 27, 2006 10:46 AM

CAUSAL

Quote:
Originally posted by HOEperative:
Scary thought.

From the Visual Companion:

Joss [on writing the script for Serenity]:

"Every line had to be useful but not feel like a lesson. To hide that much information in a compelling story- LET'S JUST SAY I'M NOT ANXIOUS TO DO IT AGAIN ANYTIME SOON."

This strike fear into anyone else's hearts?

He's not talking about writing for the Firefly 'verse--he's talking about combining plot exposition (for all the newcomers) while at the same time presenting a great story (for all the veterans). The thing that sucked for him wasn't inhabiting the 'verse, it was the challenge of writing a script that would accomplish about 8 years-worth of back story in an artful way that wouldn't insult the Browncoats or alienate new folk. Quite a challenge. But why be worried? Now that that's out of the way, he can just write a script as normal. No need to do all the heavy exposition twice.

________________________________________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

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Monday, February 27, 2006 10:50 AM

AZTECHROME

Joss knows the business. He knows when to hold 'em and knows when to fold 'em.

Right now, it's time to fold.

But that doesn't mean that Joss is happy about what's happened. Given the opportunity to renew the 'verse, Joss would be all over it like white on rice.

I think this was a very personal project for Joss. I'd expect him to appear and please the fans for years to come, regardless of the fate of the show. I don't think any other project, or the lack of budget will interfere with that.

I'd say the man is saddened, and will do what he can. He's got to earn a living though.

which, reminds me..... i need to stop posting to fireflyfans.net so much!

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Monday, February 27, 2006 11:00 AM

NOSADSEVEN

What Causal said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

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Monday, February 27, 2006 11:00 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

Quote:
Originally posted by Causal:

He's not talking about writing for the Firefly 'verse--he's talking about combining plot exposition (for all the newcomers) while at the same time presenting a great story (for all the veterans). The thing that sucked for him wasn't inhabiting the 'verse, it was the challenge of writing a script that would accomplish about 8 years-worth of back story in an artful way that wouldn't insult the Browncoats or alienate new folk. Quite a challenge. But why be worried? Now that that's out of the way, he can just write a script as normal. No need to do all the heavy exposition twice.
__________________________________________________________________

Hey! You wrote exactly what I was going to write... only you wrote it better!

"Now that that's out of the way, he can just write a script as normal. No need to do all the heavy exposition twice."
AND hopefully, less stress means more fun and that will carry over to the script as well...

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.net
75 songs retired and 75 new ones added as of Feb 4, 2006

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Monday, February 27, 2006 11:18 AM

HOEPERATIVE

Quote:
Originally posted by Causal:

He's not talking about writing for the Firefly 'verse--he's talking about combining plot exposition (for all the newcomers) while at the same time presenting a great story (for all the veterans). The thing that sucked for him wasn't inhabiting the 'verse, it was the challenge of writing a script that would accomplish about 8 years-worth of back story in an artful way that wouldn't insult the Browncoats or alienate new folk. Quite a challenge. But why be worried? Now that that's out of the way, he can just write a script as normal. No need to do all the heavy exposition twice.

Well, re-reading the bit in the book, I think you may well be right- I shouldn't have decontextualised what Mr. Whedon said :)

Nevertheless, Universal might well insist that any sequel would include a re-introduction to the characters, even a re-iteration of previous events. I mean, in the Trek movies they sometimes went as far as using a montage and voice-over, and firefly's a lot more joined-up than trek. Star Wars had its scrolling intro-text (and three hour runtime...)

Guess I should have a bit more faith, though. Plus there's plenty more Firefly writers who could turn out a fine script...

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Monday, February 27, 2006 11:22 AM

GELASSENHEIT

Quote:
Joss knows the business. He knows when to hold 'em and knows when to fold 'em.

Right now, it's time to fold.

He might be folding this hand, but the game is NOT over.

Gelassenheit means Serenity

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Monday, February 27, 2006 11:39 AM

GWEK

Based on the interviews I've read, I think Joss has now gotten two shots at doing Firefly, and has gotten burned both times. To try a third time right now might be too painful. He needs to do other things--maybe money making things!--but, oh, he'll be back.

Meantime, those who are inclined to can check out www.stillflying.net. We're going to keep that boat in the air until he Whedon comes back to us.

www.stillflying.net: "Here's how it might have been..."

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Monday, February 27, 2006 11:44 AM

AGIRLYMAN

Joss could hand pick somebody to take over the verse, and he could have limited involvement, or not at all.

Dong ma?

AM I NOT MERCIFUL?!?!?!?

Tee Hee

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Monday, February 27, 2006 1:48 PM

HOEPERATIVE

Stillflying.net is just awesome.

Just thought I'd say that.

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Monday, February 27, 2006 2:34 PM

KWICKO

Quote:
Joss could hand pick somebody to take over the verse, and he could have limited involvement, or not at all.

Well, he does have his helpers, and he's gone down the road of having somewhat "limited involvement" before, where large portions of his shows weren't written or directed by him, but Firefly seems so *personal* to Joss that I think he'd be loathe to just turn it over to someone, lock, stock, and barrel.

Check out some of his other comments on other projects, too, like Wonder Woman. He's got to do the same kind of thing - take this character, this past, this whole fully-realized world (that he didn't get to create this time!), and manage to write an egrossing story within those confines. Ain't no way it can be easy to do.

With Serenity, Joss had such a personal connection with it and with the fans that he had to keep trying to balance all of these often-at-odds things: Make it so someone who'd never even heard of Firefly could come in, be entertained, and be challenged; make it so that people who were steeped in the Firefly 'verse would ALSO be entertained and challenged, and make it so that he could effectively "wrap up" at least some of the storylines that he'd wanted so badly to tell if the series had gotten the chance to do so. So, in addition to staying true to the 'verse and the backstory, he had the unenviable task of trying to write a script for Browncoats and neophytes as well, without the luxury of having more than a couple hours to do so.

So... Yeah. I could see him not looking forward to doing it all again any time real soon. Not because he doesn't want to or can't, just because it's really hard work. The kind most writers would run away from. That he managed to succeed at it as well as he did is a testament to his creative genius. If he wants to "rest" and do some just-for-money-and-fun projects, that's cool by me. I know he'll be back to tell more stories from the Big Damn 'Verse one day.

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