Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005

Monday 14 February 2005, by Webmaster

Whedonverse News...

Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz: February 14 - 28

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” - Darla

As the character Darla, Julie Benz uttered the first words of dialogue in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" the premiere episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Given the success of Buffy and its spin-off Angel, one could safely say that creating these shows was indeed a good idea. Hopefully, fans of these shows and Joss Whedon’s other creation Firefly will think the Whedonverse Multimedia Project is a good idea too.

It’s somehow fitting that, after Joss Whedon, Julie was the first one nominated to have a donation of DVDs sent to her hometown library. She was there at the beginning of a successful series and it seems like good luck to be able to start with her now.

The project would like to do something special for this marvel of an actress; so once the donation is shipped to the Murrysville Community Library, the organizer of the Project will be sending a bouquet of flowers along with a card to Julie Benz announcing the donation in her honor. Any fans donating to the Whedonverse Multimedia Project from February 14-28 will have their name added to the card.

In that time the Project hopes to raise enough money to send a complete set of Buffy and Angel DVDs to Julie’s hometown library. If there’s enough for Firefly we’ll throw in a copy of it too!

All donations to the Project will be used toward purchasing DVDs for public libraries and other charitable organizations. The flowers and card will be paid for by the Project Organizer - not from donated funds.

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11 Forum messages

> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
15 February 2005 02:25, by Anonymous

It’s stupid crap like this that makes me embarrassed to be a Buffy fan!
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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
15 February 2005 18:19, by Anonymous

I agree. Julie Benz is awesome, but this is ploy is just lame.
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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
15 February 2005 19:25, by Anonymous

Hey, at least they’re doing something to spread the word instead of just hanging out in hyperspace, criticizing and complaining. If this makes you ashamed to be a Buffy fan maybe you really aren’t a Buffy fan. I’ll agree with you that Julie Benz is awesome, though.
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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
16 February 2005 02:49, by Anonymous

No I agree this concept is really lame. Julie Benz rocks, but the people behind this concept should focus thier energy on something a little more useful in the world. Who cares if the library has a copy of every season of Buffy. You know, this show still comes on TV in syndication.
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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
16 February 2005 03:00, by Anonymous

I’m a fan, watched the show religiously during it’s seven years and never missed an episode. I also try to keep up to date on any buffy news, which is why I visit Buffy.nu on a daily basis. However, my world does not revolve around a TV show. I’m afraid Buffy fans are turning themselves into a mockery like Star Trek fans have done. Just my opinion.
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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
17 February 2005 21:00, by Anonymous

As someone who started late with *Buffy* and caught up with the help of DVDs borrowed from my local library (our TV reception is not good here) I don’t quite see where donating DVDs to public libraries equals "Buffy fans ... turning themselves into a mockery." I could understand it if you were talking about people spending hundreds of dollars to go to conventions or bid on props or buy action figures, but trying to share the series itself with others by getting discs into a place where anyone could borrow them at anytime? I just don’t see where your sense of shame and embarassment is coming from. Is it somehow better (or less obsessive) for everyone to buy and hoard DVDs for themselves? Or is it that you’re afraid the library-going public will laugh at you (figuratively speaking) for watching a show called *Buffy the Vampire Slayer*? Until they get a chance, via copies in their library, to see it themselves, of course... :-)
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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
19 February 2005 14:52, by Anonymous

Yes, it is better if they buy copies for themselves. That way, the producer’s and many members of the cast who worked so hard on the show continue to earn an income through royalties. If you really want to show your apprecitaion to those who created the show BUY copies of the DVD’s instead of borrowing them from your local library.
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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
20 February 2005 04:23, by Anonymous

I wrote the original post saying that it’s stupid crap like this that makes me embarrassed to be a Buffy fan. Let me clarify. I think it’s fine to donate copies to the library. I just get embarrassed when their are constant "Movements" to get things done in the name of Buffy. Starting a website to raise money and donating DVD’s almost exclusively to the actor’s and producer’s hometown library to show appreciation IS stupid. Donating copies to your local library because you want to share the series with others in my opinion is not.
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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
23 February 2005 03:23, by Zoti Bemba

To the person who’s worried about royalties:

I’m not sure if anyone has looked at this for DVDs but the presense of current popular literature and bestsellers in public libraries has been shown to actually boost sales. People tend to use library books as a free trial sample — if they like the work or the genre then they buy more to keep for themselves. Book publishers consider it an alternative form of advertising, hence deep library discounts; I don’t think DVD publishers have quite figured that out yet but they will. The library market is huge, but not as huge as the market it leads to.

BTW I know in my case it was library DVDs that convinced me that the Buffy and Angel boxsets were worth the money — so much clearer than broadcast, no commercials, I could play things back or skip around, plus I could watch favorite episodes over and over again whenever I wanted instead of having to wait weeks for the library copy.

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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
24 February 2005 22:27, by Anonymous

The Project is donating DVDs to libraries that specifically request them IN ADDITION to donating DVD sets to the hometowns of the producers, writers and actors.
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> Whedonverse Appreciation for Julie Benz : February 14 - 28, 2005
25 February 2005 00:08, by Zoti Bemba

To the person who wrote the original post: Please check http://www.whedonverse.org/project.htm for a description of our project. Basically we want to see Wheadon DVDs in libraries, be it through us, by means of individual fans donating books or DVDs directly, or libraries responding to patron requests. The Hometown Libraries of the Stars idea was a way to get started while we waited to hear from libraries that had heard about what we are trying to do (and you have to admit we wound up with a pretty nice geographic distribution) as well as to raise fan interest in the project (’cause like it or not...). We have now have five libraries on our waiting list in addition to the ones nominated by fans. Believe me, we are eager to help them out as much as we can. All ideas are welcome.
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