If you, gentle reader, are one of the 17 Americans who are not aware of it, here’s the what. Someone named Grace wrote TV Guide’s Mike Ausiello with this:
I’m pleased to hear that you plan to ask the WB folks about Angel movies, but please, what we need are Spike movies starring James Marsters. So, if those WBers try to brush you off with a generic "David Boreanaz is busy," you’ll help us out and ask specifically about Spike, won’t you please? - Grace
Ausiello replied:
Ausiello: As you predicted, WB president David Janollari immediately played the "[Boreanaz] has a lot of other things going on" card when I asked him for an update on the Angel movies. But I was ready with my Spike follow-up. "I’ve never thought of that," he said of doing a Marsters-centric telepic. "I had not thought about it. We always thought Angel would be the character the audience would want to come back to see. We may give some thought to the Spike movie. That’s interesting."
Some 900 Coaxial News readers immediately wrote to ask if I’d heard of this “TV Guide” publication and if I’d seen the news. One AICN reader, we’ll call her “Marie,” asks Herc:
What did you think of the WB’s comment about the possiblity of a Spike movie? They must have known there was fan support for it. Was he being stupid or just oily?
Whaaaa? Neither! “We may give some thought to a Spike movie,” he says! And I say thank you, Mr. Janollari! Thank you thank you thank you!! Can someone quickly organize a pilgrimage to Burbank, Calif., so that we may grovel gratefully en masse before Mr. Janollari’s lushly appointed office and groan thanks for his possible willingness to think about devoting two hours of valuable WB airtime - airtime that might otherwise be earmarked for an exciting two-hour “Summerland” event!! - to one of the most popular and compelling characters ever to grace American television?
Can we bathe his tasseled Italian loafers with our tongues, pausing only to howl gratitude to the passing WB programmers who canceled “Angel” but spared “One Tree Hill”? Can we at last be allowed to personally acknowledge their roles in filling the consequent primetime void with serialized marvels like “The Mountain,” “Blue Collar TV,” “Jack & Bobby,” and “Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show”? Can we construct please football-field-size signage hailing “David Janollari: Programming Genius”? Can we assign massive Army cargo helicopters to dangle said signage over Hollywood Way from now until the end of eternity?
For the record, James Marsters revealed on Australian television back in July that Buffiverse mastermind Joss Whedon had approached him about reprising his most famous role in one of four potential TV movies. The news was ceaselessly cycled all over the media for weeks; I think it even trickled all the way down to the local newscasts here in Los Angeles. Can the PRESIDENT OF THE FUCKING WB be so consumed with organizing ski trips and tanning sessions and aborting "Global Frequency" that he’s wholly unaware that both Marsters and Whedon are keen to make a TV-movie for which millions of fans have been salivating for months??
Dear Herc:
Some of your readers are christian. We believe his name is holy and shouldn’t be used for profanity. There are thousands of words you could use to express your anger, just please, don’t use His name. Thank you.
...please look up from your bible for a second and realize that this is not Aintitcoolnews.com. Herc does not read responses to his articles on ANOTHER site. He has his own comment box on his site. If you wish to complain, do it on his site at your own discretion, because I assure you, the other talk-backers will shit all over your self-righteous lecturing.
Here here!!!Ever since I read the tvguide extract I’ve been furious! ’We haven’t thought about doing a Spike-movie!’ Come ON!!! But really - WB haven’t been known for smart headhunting for years....*coughLevincough*....
I’ll make that giant "Thank You" sign and dangle it over Hollywood Way. Then we can all tow it via Angel’s Fire Dragon to the WB studios and drop it on Assiello’s office. Next, celebration.
Dear Herc: Some of your readers are not Christian. We do not care what words you use, just that you drive your point home and make fun of people and their stupidity. Both of which you have done wonderfully in this article. Please feel free to not censor yourself and use whatever wordage youd like.
Golee, say anything but that. That is so rude. You donot use Jesus’ name in vain! And if you do believe in him, don’t curse his name. If you don’t believe in him, why the heck to you scream his name?! Moving on.
I like the character, Spike. Along with James Marsters. But, a Spike movie or series or whatever...no! OMG! HIS STORY IS OVER! You have to face it! We have learned everything...mostly from BTVS. And Angel movies...VERY bad idea. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Angel. BUT, movies would ruin the ending. I know it was a cliff hanger and that annoys people-including me. But, I believe it was the perfect ending. I mean, them all dieing wouldn’t be a good ending. Now would it? Okay, them beating all the monsters and that being it wouldn’t be good either. And who wants to know who died? NOT ME! And A movie is like a teaser. You just get that one little taste of it. I say the same thing about the stupid comic they’re thinking about doing. ONE WORD TO THEM: DON’T!!!!!!! PLEASE, DONOT RUIN OUR FAVORITE SHOW! I have alot more to say, but I want this posted, so. Laterz
Any Buffy or Angel movies would be bad. Because the Buffy and angel worlds are so big. You just wouldn’t be able to fit what you need into a movie. Sorry. I think you should let the stars move on...UNLESS THEY WANT TO DO ANOTHER SEASON?! XD
Spike? Spike? I can see TV movies based on Faith or the Scooby Gang (willow,Xander,Dawn,etc)or even a new Watcher’s Council headed by Giles for all those new slayers/former potentials. But Spike? Really? A character that went from very funny occasional villian to tired Angel-part-two-vampire-with-a-soul rapist/stalker-yet-good-guy? Has anyone noticed that Buffy’s ratings fell dramatically as Spike became more of a central focus in the final seasons? Key word - FINAL. Which makes sense because Spike’s first season on Angel turned out to be Angel’s FINAL season as well. BOY, what a good luck charm and ratings’ grabber THIS guy seems to be. Give us a break. Dust this lame character.
I reckon that Buffy went for a couple of seasons too long. I only watched them because Spike was in them.. James Marsters really stole the show. I admit BtVS was a good series, but I don’t think it would have done as well in it’s final seasons without Spike.
I still question the judgement of the people who decided to axe Angel in favour of the sops like One Tree Hill and Summerland; those series are in Australia now, and I really don’t see the attraction. Stupid stupid stupid people!
Go a Spike movie! And not just because James Marsters is a god. hahahahaha.
Quote. Which makes sense because Spike’s first season on Angel turned out to be Angel’s FINAL season as well. End Quote.
Um... FYI if it weren’t FOR Spike Angel’s FINAL season would’ve been S4... get your facts straight! Angel was canned coz WB are plain dumb... Levin was canned coz he canned Angel on a great season and got the fans angry...
Herc is right... they got rid of a dumbass and got a lying asshole instead... great job WB! p>
Hear hear! Just what is it with the suits at the networks that they seem to be so blind as to let an actor like James Marsters and his character Spike (A potential goldmine for a series) quietly slip away into television history?
Love Herc! And he’s right on the damn money. The WB execs are so damn stupid it’s not funny. ATS went up in the ratings and demos in season 5.. and yes it’s fact.. if Spike hadn’t come on the show.. there wouldn’t have been a season 5 of ATS. As David Fury said.. Spike was the "deal clincher."And I don’t buy for a second that they’ve never concidered a Spike movie.. hell even Joss has talked about it.. they are blowin’ smoke. I’d love to see the Jossverse continue in anyway.. but Spike is my favorite character and I’d love to see him be apart of it anyway possible. He is a popular character, who inspires a lot of interest with the fans rather you love him or hate him. So YEAH GIVE US A SPIKE MOVIE!
PS. I’m a Christian and I don’t care what Herc says. I’m not the type of person who forces my religious beliefs or anything else for that matter on anyone.
To me a Spike movie is a no-brainer ...sure to be a hit! Common Joss make a deal with someone to get this done and give all the Spikaholics what they’ve been waiting for!
I’m for it ONLY if it co-stars an existing Buffy cast-member or two.
Personally, I think the way to bill this would be "Spike & Xander".
Joss loved his Wolverine/Cyclops chemistry between Angel and Spike and I bet that chemistry would only improve with an actual cyclops.
Plus? A lot of Spuffy fans hate Xander. Many non-shippers and anti-Spuffy-ites like Xander but not Spike. You get a larger audience by pairing the two characters and a potentially fun, edgy chemistry here.
This is for all you anti-Spike people (ok, mostly to the one who say “dust this lame character,” but you others listen up too). If you dislike this character so much why are you even here, on an article based on him, why read, why post nasty comments? I for one am tired of your ignorance and insults. There is no need to run your mouth about things you obviously don’t understand. If you want to vent go do it to someone who wants to hear it, if you can find someone that is. I am not the biggest fan of Dawn or Kennedy but you don’t see me going to one of their articles and start running my mouth about how much I dislike them. I just don’t read them and I sure as hell would post hateful comments. But to say things like he’s now a “tired Angel-part-two-vampire-with-a-soul rapist/stalker-yet-good-guy” is just uncalled for. I swear if one more ignorant person calls him a rapist I am going to scream. What part of vampire, evil, soulless, no conscious do you people not understand? A vampire they can do whatever they want and not care about the bad in it, hell they are the bad. Buffy was a total bitch to him and he finally just snapped and TRIED to rape her. He failed and knew that he had done wrong to her (he knew it was wrong and it tortured him, vamps are not supposed to feel remorse, yet he does) so he got himself a soul. Do you really think just any vamp would go though that to be good? And if you think Spike is such a bad guy cuz of that and don’t think that any other vamp would do it, you are greatly mistaken. And to the one who called him a “selfish ASSHOLE, who doesn’t give a damn about Buffy or anybody else,” where the hell do you get off saying that? Half the things he even did on the show were out of love for Buffy. I’m not going to sit here and force my Spuffyness on any of you but if you really think that then you really were not paying attention to the show. One other side note, we Spuffy fans don’t hate Xander, sure he pisses us off from time to time but I for one wouldn’t mind him coming back, I love Nick. Sorry the post is so long, but I had some things to say.
The whole Spike/Xander angst in S7 was the result of stupid writing. Their was nothing in the way for a strong friendship between the two. It’s just that ME couldn’t write anything else.
Exactly, he did it out of love for Buffy. Not for Buffy, but for his own obsessive feelings for Buffy. If he really had cared for her, he would have helped her truely, instead of calling her dead or comparing her with himself; being a demon. And he certainly wouldn’t have tried to rape her.
And when he does something great he will use it to play with Buffy’s feelings. In Intervention he damn well knew it was the real Buffy would stood there instead of Buffybot. He can smell her sent two blocks away, you know.
And the moment he had her, his interest in helping Dawn completely disappeared. This was soulless. In Touched he showed that he didn’t give a damn about any of Buffy’s friends at all. The only thing that counted was his obessive feelings for Buffy. And he LMPTM he showed that he didn’t give a damn about one of his past victims.
He is selfish! With or without a soul! Only HIS feelings count and not Buffy’s or anyone elses.
Ok, I’m done arguing with cuz you obviously can’t see things for what they are. You see what you wanna see and nothing else. You make up things about the story line that are clearly not there (i.e. in Interventions) and refuse to see other things just cuz it doesn’t agree with your point. I will give you one thing though. Spike doesn’t give a shit about the Scoobies. The second they walked out on Buffy he had no reason to be nice to them. He loves BUFFY, he would choose her over them any day as he did in Touched. THEY betrayed HER. But your probably ok with that right? Whatever, I don’t care for your pointless insults anymore. Damn, I hate ignorant people.
You didn’t even notice the point I wanted to make, namely that your observations make that the entire SC are a bunch of selfrightious, ungrateful assholes. Well, that’s what *you* make of them in favor for Spike. I call *that* wanting to see whatever you want. And I call that bashing for the entire character cast too, *except* of course for Spike the misunderstood martyr.
In Touched Spike can smell Buffy two blocks away. In intervention he can’t smell her when she’s standing right in front of him?? Both extremely convinient and both in favor for Spike. But the Spike lovers *never* can make the bring up the same convience for the other characters. I.e Xander was responsible for summoning sweet, while that never has been said. I.e Buffy was the one who was the bitch and Spike can never be blamed. Not even the slightest bit. And worst part is that they are all a bunch of ungrateful people, while Spike never has thanked anybody at all.
It’s true even without them, Spike would not be have been evil anymore. He would have been the Initiative’s labrat.
All I’m saying that all the characters should be treated the same. You, Spike fans don’t. I can’t really blame you, cuz the writers wrote it that way. Hence, all the other characters got bashed in favor for Spike.
And Empty Spaces in combination with Touched made that *very* clear. The entire Scoobie gang was OOC and bashed so that Spike could tell Buffy how much he loved her. And in a Spike movie they would treat any other character the same who is not Spike; so that Spike can have his arcline.
RSS 2.0