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Paley Fest 2008 Buffy Reunion - Laweekly.com Report - Undead again

Webmaster — 2008-03-31T06:56:39Z

The students of Sunnydale High's class of 1999 have gathered at the Cinerama Dome for their eight-year high school reunion. A demon is here. So is a vampire, a werewolf, one of the witches, an ex-cheerleader, the geeky class clown and of course, the slayer herself, Buffy Summers. Cast members from the dearly departed TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer are doing what they do best, which is to sit around and talk during a panel discussion hosted by the Paley Center for Media.

“I'm gonna go with fun,” says series creator Joss Whedon when someone asks what filming the Buffy musical episode was like.

“You guys are remembering this differently,” says James Marsters, who played Spike, the tormented vampire in love with Buffy. “It was total terror from the cast.”

As with all classic high school reunions, people go partly for voyeuristic reasons. We want to see who got fat, who married, whose life ended up in shambles and which downtrodden nerd grew up to be Bill Gates. Is the sexy blond bad-boy vampire who threw bottles of blood against walls still bad and blond ? Not at all. Marsters is now puppy sweet with a shock of curly brown hair.

We step into the old familiar dynamics. Once more, Michelle Trachtenberg morphs into Dawn, the 14-year-old kid sister who can't get any attention. And in the minds of the fans, it's hard to tell where Buffy begins and actress Sarah Michelle Gellar ends. Buffy, Gellar says, was her hero as well.

And yet there are differences. Seth Green, who was sullen and dry as the proverbial martini as werewolf Oz, not only went from Austin Powers and Family Guy to his own Robot Chicken, but in real life he is gregarious and funny as hell. Charisma Carpenter as petulant popular girl Cordelia, who can talk bitchy circles around lesser mortals, is reticent in person. Sitting onstage under bright lights in a white boobalicious dress, she is stunningly beautiful and ill at ease. Amber Benson, so shy as Tara, makes the bawdiest joke of the night. Alyson Hannigan, who played her lover Willow, couldn't make it. “And it's Tara, by the way,” says Benson, “not Tah-ra. Although the Brits say it this way.”

“You should hear how they say aluminum,” says Green.

“Yeah. They say foil.”

“Joss would take us for a walk and say, ‘You're fired . . . just kidding !,” recalls Carpenter.

“He did that to me too !,” says writer Marti Noxon.

“He did that to me too,” says Green, “but it took.”

Fan loyalty, in Gellar's opinion, more than made up for any awards the show could have won. Whedon concurs : “I mean, who puts Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the WB and says, ‘Ah, I'm gettin' Emmys' ?”

“We all knew The West Wing would win,” says Marsters. “We'd shout it every time the envelope was opened.”

“Are you a '40s detective ?” Nicholas Brendon says to Emma Caulfield, noting her black fedora. She played demon Anya, girlfriend to Brendon's goofy human Xander. This cast is camaraderie defined.

Buffy gave us much to love. The show constantly broke the rules and did things nobody else had ever done. A musical. An episode where nobody is allowed to speak. An episode with speaking only and absolutely no background sound. A kiss between two lesbian witches.

There's serious talk and small talk, most of it the sort that happens late at night after the high school reunion proper has wound down and the smartest, funniest folks have gathered, kicked off their shoes and started polishing off the rest of the champagne. Favorite movies are discussed. Marsters' is Apocalypse Now, Gellar's is South Park : Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Caulfield's is Silence of the Lambs, and Green likes Raising Arizona.

“How about you ?” he asks Benson, “what do you like ? Do you like movies ? I like that dress. Wanna get out of here ?”

Green says he misses arriving at his trailer every morning to find that David Boreanaz had pooped in it. “Left something in there for you, buddy,” Boreanaz would say. Whedon misses directing Gellar. Gellar misses the family, the cast and the crew. Being there when a crew member's child won a karate contest, for instance. Trachtenberg misses sneaking into Gellar's trailer to pet her shoes.

True stories of the present time : Gellar and Caulfield both just got back from charity work in Africa. Trachtenberg is going to be on Gossip Girl. Benson is writing books now ; she sold a series of chick-lit fantasy novels to Penguin. Other people make it up as they go along. Green says he and Carpenter are producing a series of cardio-stripping/-fighting/-fitness videos.

“A series of nervous breakdowns have driven me out of the business altogether,” jokes producer David Greenwalt, who shakes his head ruefully.

Before the autograph seekers make their inevitable push onto the stage, when bodies roil en masse as if kneaded by a giant invisible hand, a golden mood comes upon us — writers, actors and audience members alike. How great it was back then, we think, slaying vamps and thwarting the end of the world. And how much we'd like to go back.

Paley Fest 2008 Buffy Reunion - Dwscifi.com Report

Webmaster — 2008-03-30T21:00:33Z

Five years after Buffy the Vampire Slayer went off the air, the reunion panel at the William S. Paley Festival of Television sold out within two hours of tickets going on sale. Abbie Bernstein heard what the cast and creators had to say about the show.

Star Sarah Michelle Gellar, making her first appearance at a public Buffy event, joined series creator Joss Whedon, seasons one-three executive producer David Greenwalt, seasons six-seven showrunner Marti Noxon and fellow cast members Amber Benson (Tara), Nicholas Brendon (Xander), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Seth Green (Oz), James Marsters (Spike) and Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn) on stage at Hollywood's Cinerama Dome.

Here's just a selection of quotes from the Q& A session…

Michelle Gellar on the character of Buffy :

“I always looked up to her. When I was younger, I would have loved to have had a role model like that.”

Joss Whedon, on Gellar :

“David [Greenwalt] and I would crow when we realised what Sarah could do. We called her Jimmy Stewart – the greatest American in pain ever.”

Michelle Trachtenberg, on the episode where Buffy and Dawn's mother dies :

“When I read the episode, it was like I was losing a part of myself. [Although there was originally dialogue where Buffy tells Dawn their mother is gone], in the end, there was no sound, and that was one of the most brilliant ideas [Whedon] ever had, because it allows everyone to attach their own emotional plugs.”

Gellar, on the show's lack of Emmys :

“We had the fans – that's better than any award. And we got all the fan awards.”

Whedon, on what he misses most :

“With all the love in my heart for the people I'm sitting here with, I miss the writers room. I've never been around a group like that, and I don't think I ever will be again.”

Gellar, on Buffy the show :

“We were constantly doing things that had never been done – we were constantly challenging our audiences and ourselves.”

Paley Fest 2008 Buffy Reunion - Medium Quality Photos

Webmaster — 2008-03-29T22:01:51Z

- Graphics / Event 2008-03-20 : Paley Fest Buffy Reunion

Sarah Michelle Gellar & Seth Green - Paley Fest Buffy Reunion - MTV Tv Report - Medium Quality Screencaps

Webmaster — 2008-03-29T12:14:55Z

- Graphics / Event 2008-03-20 : Paley Fest Buffy Reunion

Paley Fest 2008 Buffy Reunion - Superjer.com Report

Webmaster — 2008-03-26T16:41:55Z

* The evening began with a showing of Once More With Feeling, which was really cool to see on a big screen. But for whatever reason, people weren't singing along. I was literally the only person around me who was, so my magnificent 4 note range was on display for all. I think the hardcore fans were all in the bottom level. There were people lining up last night to be first in line.

* Actually, no, it began with a clip from the soap opera SMG was in before BtVS. It was hilarious to watch. It was funny to see how overwrought and artificial it seemed compared to BtVS.

* I didn't realize it, but I had actually bought two tickets. I sold the extra to an enthusiastic young fan who grew up watching Buffy. I was just going to sell it for face value but she insisted on doubling it - so I attended for free.

* AH, ED and DB weren't there. No reason was given. I didn't really care about DB but would have really liked to have seen the other two.

* JW was late because he was filming his new musical.

* Seth Green is an enormously funny guy. He busted out a couple dozen off the cuff and really funny comments. I don't think he said anything which wasn't funny. I haven't watched Robot Chicken but I'm definitely going to check it out now.

* NB seemed to be remarkably like his character. He basically spoke in quips.

* SMG was very gracious in her appreciation of the fans, at one point saying that the lack of an Emmy means nothing compared to all the love the fans have shown, and continue to show, BtVS. She talked a lot about how great everybody involved in the show was. She basically came across as genuinely sweet. She says she really misses the family-like atmosphere of the Buffy set.

* SMG didn't know about the recent sexual experience of Buffy in Season 8 until right before the program. JM found out on stage, then asked if Spike was going to be brought back as a gay vampire. SMG mentioned that the Buffy/Spike first sex scene of Season 6 was voted the hottest scene in TV history, which generated a big (and somewhat Jerry Springer-esque) cheer from the audience.

* I felt CC was kind of dissed by the moderator. I don't think he asked her a question, and she didn't really get a chance to say anything. She got skipped over for the "what are you doing now" question.

* SMG didn't mention her recent films when asked what she's been up to, but only spoke about her charity work for CARE.

* Though he made some really good opening comments, I didn't think the moderator was very good. He didn't really ask great questions and didn't follow up when interesting things came up. And he let some really good comments from AB about the Willow/Tara relationship get sidetracked by other panelists.

* JW said that Oz will be making an appearance in Season 8 at some point. I don't know if that was already known but it got a big cheer.

* At point the question was asked "after everything, who is it : Angle or Spike ?" But the moderator again let things go off topic immediately so there wasn't an answer.

* JW was asked about doing a Buffy movie. He basically said he'd love to but that an awful lot of stars would have to align for it to happen. Similarly, with doing a Broadway musical of Buffy - though he said if it ever happened it would be a whole new thing, not based on OMWF.

Click on the link for more :

http://superjer.com/buffy/edt_paley_reunion.php

Paley Fest 2008 Buffy Reunion - Ign.com Report

Webmaster — 2008-03-25T19:41:15Z

Paley Fest : Discussing the past and possible future for the series.

US, March 24, 2008 - The Los Angeles branch of the Paley Center for Media is currently conducting their annual William S. Paley Television Festival, AKA Paley Fest. This two-week event spotlights a group of noteworthy television series and television luminaries, with each night devoted to a different show or person. Be sure to check out the rest of IGN TV's coverage of Paley Fest 2008.

Considering fans were paying upwards of $1000.00 for a single ticket on eBay, it's safe to say the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion night at Paley Fest was the most popular one this year. A few key people were notably absent, including David Boreanaz ("Angel"), Anthony Stewart Head ("Giles") and the originally scheduled Eliza Dushku ("Faith") & Alyson Hannigan ("Willow"), but still it was a very impressive group that reassembled for this event. In attendance were Joss Whedon (Creator/Executive Producer), Sarah Michelle Gellar ("Buffy Summers"), Nicholas Brendon ("Xander Harris"), James Marsters ("Spike"), Marti Noxon (Executive Producer), Emma Caulfield ("Anya"), Michelle Trachtenberg ("Dawn Summers"), Charisma Carpenter ("Cordelia Chase"), Amber Benson ("Tara Maclay"), Seth Green ("Oz") and David Greenwalt (Co-Executive Producer).

The night began with a screening of the extremely popular musical episode, "Once More, with Feeling," and the panel was asked what it was like making that episode. When Whedon said, "I'm gonna go with fun. It wasn't the hardest. It wasn't harder than 'Hush,'" Marsters countered with, "This was total terror !" Marsters pointed at Whedon and recalled, "You wouldn't let anybody off the hook, and the thing is, none of us signed up to be singers in front of millions of people. Tony Head and I were already recording and we were kind of comfortable with it, but like a lot of the actors, we weren't professional singers. The thing that I really loved about it is how everyone really screwed their courage to the sticking place and did it and came through for you, because they knew you had a great script. We ended up flying with it and having a great time. But what was so impressive to me was just the courage of the cast, to do something that they weren't really expert at, especially Sarah frankly." Gellar said that rather than having to sing, she "prayed for Buffy the rat. I kept thinking 'Bring the rat back.'"

Turning to "Hush," Gellar agreed it was the hardest episode to make, saying, "I think it was one of those moments were I thought, 'Oh this is great ! A whole episode with no lines !' I was like, 'This is a breeze !' And boy was I wrong." Whedon added that, "Writing it I was terrified. I was more terrified than with the musical that I just couldn't pull it off. When we were shooting it, everyone knew their action, but there was no lines, there was no rhythm, there was no cues, so everyone would do everything all at once." Whedon laughed that this made scenes "like ten seconds long" and that, "We had no way to communicate a rhythm." Brendon joked this was "Because we also didn't talk to each other when the cameras weren't rolling either."

Whedon remembered Marsters saying in an interview, "If we don't have the s**t scared out of us at least once a year, we're not working hard enough." Trachtenberg recalled that she was so "petrified" of having to sing in "Once More, with Feeling" that she got a form of tonsillitis. However, Marsters noted, "I think the people that were most terrified were the writers. The writers had to actually write truth and the things that truly terrified them or the days that they really humiliated themselves. The worst day of their life, when they made the worst mistake of their entire life, and then they put fangs on it."

Asked if he'd like to ever do a full Buffy Broadway musical, Whedon replied, "I would love to [bring Buffy] to Broadway. It would not be ["Once More, With Feeling"]. This is an episode of television. You would have to start from scratch. I've spent some time daydreaming about, because I'm me."

Season 6 of Buffy saw a very dark turn for the series, as Buffy herself, recently returned to life, spent most of the year in a very unhappy place and involved in a decidedly unhealthy relationship with Spike. Said Gellar of that season, "It was definitely tough for me. It's so hard to separate myself from her, so it was tough for me to see these situations and think, 'But Buffy wouldn't do this...' And I felt pressure from the force of the fans. I know Joss and Marti both particularly talked me down from a ledge a couple of times, because it just felt so far removed for me at the time. And maybe that was the point – maybe I was struggling in the same way that she was struggling to find who she was. It just felt so foreign to me."

Whedon recalled that ironically, his mandate for Season 6 had originally been "Let's lighten it up !" However, he said, "I do remember there was a time when I said to Marti, 'Okay, I think Buffy's been gone for too long. We've lost her, and it's time now to win her back.'" As it turned out Gellar had coincidently gone to Noxon the same day with her similar thoughts. Said Noxon, "Yeah, I remember that day too. It was just a day when everybody kind of thought, 'Okay, we've reached the bottom of the pool. It's time to surface.'" Noxon remembered Gellar telling her "I just feel like I've lost the hero completely in all this exploration." Noxon said they'd always intended Season 6 to be "the time after high school when you kind of lose yourself."

Gellar remarked that when it came to Buffy the character, "I always looked up to her. I thought when I was younger I would have loved to have a role model like that. A woman who showed you that you don't have to be the smartest and you don't have to be the most beautiful, but you can protect your family and the people that you love and you can be a powerful woman. I think that's what made [Season 6] hard for me." Gellar added that "For all of us, but especially Joss, Marti and I, we love her and it was hard I think for all of us to watch her suffer. I think it was a part of growing pains." Gellar noted that during this same period, Whedon had begun separating himself a bit when it came to his involvement in the show, and said, "It was a tough time, and I think that's what came through in the end, which was great, because when Buffy herself resurfaced, we all resurfaced and found our voice again."

Greenwalt said that when it came to writing for Buffy, he realized, "There's nothing like taking all your pain and misery and shoving it into very good looking people's mouths." Added Noxon, "Joss always said he was never happy unless Buffy cried. The journey was all about triumphing over adversity, [in both her] personal and monster life."

Whedon said he felt the template for the show was really discovered in the Season 1 episode "Witch." "David [Greenwalt] had come up with the idea that a mother was jealous of her daughter's youth and had stolen it from her," recalled Whedon. "It is absolutely the essence of the show. It took the idea of oh, there's good guys and there's bad guys and there's monsters and we love these people and it just took it one level further into the pain and into what people are capable of and in particular what David Greenwalt is capable of. That was a seminal moment for me, because it made me realize there was more to this."

Geller remembered when she was first cast on the show she was "beside myself. I'm thinking Joss Whedon, Toy Story. I read this amazing script… and all of my friends felt sorry for me, because I was on a midseason replacement, on a network no one had heard of, on a show based on a movie that wasn't…" Whedon finished her thought with "…All that." Gellar said that, "People would look at me and go, 'At least you got a pilot your first time out ! That's great ! Next year you'll get one that'll go.'"

Gellar noted with a laugh that she had to screen test eleven times to get the role, but that after she got it, she had lunch with Whedon. "I remember him saying the basic principle of the show is you take all that is horrible about youth and all that is scary, and we literally made them into monsters. But I think anyone can relate to what high school is like and how that is the worst monster for you and the worst nightmare, and it was something that was so relatable. I think that was the whole key to the show, was yes, not everyone faced 'the hyena' [referencing another Season 1 episode], but essentially we did, and I think that was what was so beautiful about the pain and about the story." Whedon recalled his initial reluctance when he was asked if he wanted to turn Buffy into a series, but that he remembered then thinking, "Oh wait a minute… the pain !"

The panel were then asked one of the most divisive questions of our time – "Angel or Spike ?" Brendon replied, "Well, given the comic book, I think Willow." As it turned out, the cast members had only just discovered Buffy's recent comic book hook up with fellow female Slayer Satsu "about five minutes ago" on the red carpet, and amusingly Marsters had to have the situation explained to him onstage by Gellar. Gellar said she was completely confused when asked, "How do you feel about Buffy's new relationship ?" and when she was told, "She's with a woman," she asked, "She's with Willow ?!"

The moderator, TV Guide critic Matt Roush, then asked the big question : Might Whedon and the cast ever reunite for a new Buffy project, whatever form it might take ? Said Whedon, "There's so many stars that would have to align, but there's a reason I worked with all of these people for so long. They're awfully talented. Clearly, from the comic book, it's a story that I can't let go. I think it would be really cool."

The comic books are exploring "Season 8" of the Buffy story, and Whedon was asked if he'd try to use the storyline from the comic books as canon should he make another Buffy live action story. Whedon replied "Hypothetically, if you could make things align, that would be fun. I wrote the comic Fray — and it took place 200 years in the future — thinking 'There's no way this can every affect the show, and so it'll be safe.' And then we ended up using a little bit – [Buffy's] scythe is from the comic book. And so I felt some obligation to work in that mythology and it would be lovely to make it all tie in. But if I had to shoot down everything that I'm doing in the comic because we were doing a project filming with these actual people, I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep."

Getting back to Satsu, Green couldn't resist saying, "It's totally hot. Totally steamy scenario. I'll say it. Everybody's thinking it." More seriously, Whedon reconfirmed that "It's not a giant life change. It's not like Willow. It's just somebody who's young with somebody that they really like a lot… and they have a lot of time on their hands." Whedon then looked at the crowd and asked, "Didn't anybody go to college ?!"

Roush asked the panel about the episode "The Body," in which all the characters react to the death of Joyce Summers (Kristine Sutherland). Said Trachtenberg, "I'm honored to be part of such an amazing episode. I know that being a fan of the show from the very beginning and then being on it was very surreal for me. When I read the episode, it was like I was losing a part of myself, to be honest." Trachtenberg praised Whedon's choice to not include any audible dialogue in the scene where Dawn is told by Buffy that Joyce is dead. However, when they filmed that scene, "It was a whole back and forth conversation ; a whole breakdown and everything." But when it came to the final version, "I actually thought that was one of the most brilliant ideas that you'd ever had because it allows everyone to sort of attach their own emotional plug into what might pop into your lives. I think it really allowed the audience to connect with Dawn for the first time." Whedon however told Trachtenberg that considering the minimal material he ended up using for that scene, "Sorry for putting you through a half day of weeping." Trachtenberg recalled crew members crying when she shot the scene, "So that was pretty cool" and also said she enjoyed doing a story where, "I wasn't stealing things or whining."

Talking about filming "The Body," Gellar noted, "I think the thing for me with the show was it was always so amazing to be a part of something that was constantly breaking the rules. We were constantly doing things that had never been done. We were constantly challenging both our audience and ourselves." Whedon revealed to Gellar that "Part of what happened with 'The Body' came from a challenge that you threw down, inadvertently. When I made 'Hush,' part of it literally was, 'You know, I'm kind of turning into a hack.' I felt like I was starting to phone it in and not challenge myself. So I thought, 'Okay, if I had a story I could only tell visually, that would be much harder.'"

Whedon reminded Gellar that there was a scene he was shooting between her and Anthony Stewart Head where he told Gellar, "'I can hear it. I can tell where the music comes in !' And you said, 'You know, that's not the best thing you can say to me. It feels then like I didn't give you what you need.' And I thought about it and I was like, you know, I'm kind of using music as a crutch. The idea of not using music [in 'The Body'] partially came from what I was trying to evoke but also partially from me realizing, you know what, I have to take something away from myself. I have to bare myself the same way you guys have to." Whedon told Gellar, "I got that from you and it was great. It was like, yeah, you know what, I can be better."

Roush brought up Caulfield's impressive monologue in "The Body," in which Anya breaks down, trying to understand loss. Caulfield said that "The Body" is an episode that really resonates for her, but that "I had a real Anya moment and I'm not proud of it. I was recently asked by a fan 'What were you thinking during your monologue, because I cry every time.' I'm like, 'Honestly, I had to go to the bathroom. I was really hungry and I had to go to the bathroom,'" and that she went on about Whedon being really specific with how much she should cry, as she told the fan, "It was like going out of one eye and he wanted it going out another and it was too many tears and not enough tears." Caulfield said the fan quietly replied, "Oh… that's nice. Thank you," and that she then thought, "Ah, damn it ! I just spoke without thinking. " Caulfield added, "I was very, very lucky to have that monologue and to be a part of that episode, because it really was a beautifully done episode, from top to finish. Sarah's performance, the writing, and the directing was really flawless and should have won an award."

Gellar had a lot of praise for "all these recurring characters like Kristine Sutherland" she felt added a lot to the show, noting, "We were so fortunate because the show kept evolving and we kept adding all these great characters. Kristine was a part of the family. She'd been there since the beginning."

Willow and Tara's much talked about relationship was brought up and Benson said that when she was cast, "I had no idea that Alyson and I were going to become lovers… I mean, not in real life !" Green, the comedy MVP for the night, added that Hannigan and Benson's [fictional] real life relationship "was later." Benson remembered, "We were actually taken aside I guess three episodes in and told, 'By the way, you guys have really good chemistry.' The crew kept coming up and going, 'You guys look good together.'" Green added that the next sentence in that statement was, "I think I'd like to watch !"

Greenwalt recalled a phone call from The WB asking, "Is [Whedon] really going to do the gay thing ? " Whedon remembered, "They actually called me and said, 'You know, we have a lot of gay this year. We're kind of gayed out. Dawson's and this other show…' I said, 'I don't know. I don't watch those shows. We're going to do this thing. It's what we're going to do.' And then they were totally fine. They were like, 'Do you have to have the kiss [in 'The Body'] ?' I was like, 'Okay, I'm packing up my office.' I never pulled that out except that one time. I'm like 'I'm packing up the office" and they were like, 'Nope, it's cool.'"

Carpenter left Buffy after Season 3, to join Boreanaz on the spinoff series Angel. Roush asked her if she worked if it was "the right thing to do," and Greenwalt, who created Angel with Whedon, said, "It was the right thing to do, because we couldn't do Angel without her." When Roush asked Carpenter if she was nervous about leaving Buffy for a show that might not last, she answered, "I was and I actually said that. First off, Joss asked me to take a walk with him, which is always a frightening thing." Carpenter revealed that Whedon often "As a joke would say 'You're fired' and then 'Just kidding !'" Noxon added this was done to her after she'd turned in her first Buffy script, via an answering machine message from Whedon and Greenwalt in which they said the script "Just didn't cut it," before revealing they were joking and loved it.

Carpenter said that after Whedon pulled the "You're fired" joke with her (and revealed it was a joke), she then asked him, "If [Angel] doesn't go, what happens ? And he said, 'You will always have a net here with Buffy.' So I said, 'Let's do it !'"

Despite the acclaim for the series, Buffy got little in the way of Emmy recognition, but Gellar said, "When it came to the fans, they were so loyal and I think for all of us that was more important." Whedon joked that "No one puts Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the WB thinking 'I'm getting Emmys !'" Gellar added that years later, she can hardly recall who won the Emmy on the years Buffy was on the air, but that she keeps seeing Buffy included on lists looking back at TV history. When she told Marsters that the first Buffy/Spike sex scene made the top of TV Guide's recent list of TV's hottest scenes, he replied, "Oh, really ? Take that, Angel !"

A fan asked why we never saw Oz again after Season 4, and Green said that after he told Whedon he was leaving the show "We did have a conversation and I was like, 'So, what ? You gonna kill me ?' and he was like 'I don't know… maybe I'll just throw you out there and see what happens.'" Whedon gave a "definite yes" to the fan's question of whether Oz would be seen in the Season 8 comic book. Green asked him, "Am I gonna be making out with a girl ?" and Whedon told him, "We'll see."

A female fan said she was watching Buffy as a sophomore in high school, and looking back, was somewhat unsettled by the relationship between the 16 year old-Buffy and the 26 year old — in human terms, since Whedon pointed out it was more like 200 when his vampire time was factored in — Angel. Whedon said he felt that Buffy, "Was clearly nothing resembling a child. She had been a slayer for awhile when she came onto the show. Obviously, emotionally she was very fragile, but she was at an age where this was the sort of person she would fall for… the only sort of person she would fall for and vice versa. It was love. Maybe not legal, but it was definitely real." Noxon also pointed out to the fan that when it came to Buffy and Angel, "You might note it didn't go very well."

Benson was asked why she didn't return to Buffy, since Whedon has revealed previously he had a plan to have her back in Season 7. After joking about "having sex with Marlon Brando" at the time, Benson said, "It was really availability and trying to make it work. I was getting ready to go to London to direct the [BBC's] Ghosts of Albion. It just didn't end up happening for a lot of different reasons."

Benson said that what she loved was that with or without Tara, "Joss kept Willow as a lesbian, rather than saying 'Okay, now she's done," I'm really pleased with how that continued on, that she had somebody else, that she continued to be who she was, she stuck by her guns. She wasn't just a flip-flopper, you know what I mean ?"

Benson added, "I don't think anyone realized how intense the reaction to her passing away was going to be. I'm just really pleased that we got to do it. That we got to have that relationship and whether it goes on or it doesn't go on or it ends up in a comic book somewhere and ends up on a porn video somewhere…" Green suggested a fanfic, and Benson smiled, saying that according to one fanfic, "Apparently I'm getting it on with Giles and Willow at the same time." Green, who was having fun humorously flirting with Benson throughout the panel, then replied, "I didn't get to finish writing it, but it's going to be great."

Benson said she felt Willow and Tara "Had the best relationship on the show. They raised or helped to raise Dawn. I think they were there for her." Gellar, with a look of mock outrage on her face, exclaimed, "Hey, I was there ! I participated. I was a little dead, but I participated !" Green turned to Gellar and said, "You were kind of like the cool uncle who shows up. 'Hey guys, I got you guys a snow globe !'"

Whedon had high praise for Christophe Beck, who scored the first several seasons of Buffy, recalling how he was listening to Beck's score for the Season 2 episode "Passions" – in which Angel kills Jenny Calendar – while having trouble figuring out exactly what he wanted to do in the Season 2 finale. Said Whedon, "I had that tune stuck in my head and it just was welling up. It just filled me. I was just by myself and suddenly everything in the episode just started coming together. I had all the events but not the theme and I realized I'm going to strip everything away from here one by one. The school, the mother, the lover, her friends, everything is going to be pulled away from her. It was all coming with this music just going and going through my head."

The panel were asked what they missed most about working on Buffy, and Greenwalt answered "I miss directing Sarah Michelle Gellar," saying he was amazed by her ability to convey every emotion and adding, "She is a machine." Gellar said she missed the crew who worked on the show, noting that unlike the actors, who she sometimes will bump into, she rarely sees the crew members, but recalls how hard they worked on the show and how close they were for 8 years.

It was Green however who had the most surprising answer, as he said "I actually miss arriving at my trailer every morning to find that David Boreanaz had already pooped in it, without fail. It was always that funny thing where I would arrive and he would be coming out of my door and be like, 'Left something for you, buddy !'"

After the laughter had died down from that revelation, and Gellar had confirmed with Green that yes, that had actually happened, Whedon said that his answer to the question was, "With all the love in my heart for the people I'm sitting next to, the thing I miss most is sitting in the writers room, because I've never been around a group like that and I don't think I will be again. Just so funny, so dedicated." Trachtenberg said she on the other hand missed "sneaking up to the writers' room. I'd either sneak into Sarah's trailer and pet her shoes or sneak up to the writers' room."

As the night was coming to a close, a fan asked Gellar what it was like playing Spike's robotic double of Buffy in Season 5. Gellar recalled how she was extremely busy filming both Buffy and Scooby-Doo (the latter in Australia no less) at the same time and then "Joss said 'I have this idea while you're doing both. We're going to make you play a second character !'" However, her exhaustion at the time aside, Gellar noted, "I think that's what keeps it fresh. You're playing a character for so long and you don't want to get lazy. You find yourself relying on certain things, so by taking away all the other parts of Buffy, I did have to find exactly the essence of her." She then looked over at Marsters and added, "And it was fun to be his slave for a little bit."

'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' Stars Hold Out Hope For Big-Screen Resurrection - Including Some Girl-On-Girl Action

Webmaster — 2008-03-24T21:59:26Z

'Because we already were a movie that wasn't successful, I think it makes it that much tougher for us to go out there,' Sarah Michelle Gellar says of original 'Buffy' flick.

If the "Buffy" boys have their say, any future big-screen adaptation of the movie-turned-TV show-turned comic book would have to feature the recent events of the "Season Eight" comic books — in which the vampire slayer gets some girl-on-girl action — as a jumping-off point.

"I don't know if Sarah [Michelle Gellar] wants to be kissing girls, so for Sarah's sake, we'd say, start from the TV show," said Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander. "But I think for everyone else, start from the comic book. I want to see Sarah kissing girls."

As the original "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" cast and creators gathered for a reunion Thursday for the first time in four years, talk of a possible movie was in the air — even if no script or studio was in place "as far as we know," said Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia. "No one's been formally asked to do it, but I'm sure it would be very popular."

After all, no one was expecting a show that was intended as "a midseason replacement on a network no one had heard of, based on a movie that wasn't ... all that," as Gellar put it, to take off like it did. But being a success despite everything could actually count against them in the end, she pointed out. "We have two strikes against us," she told MTV News. "Because we already were a movie that wasn't successful, I think it makes it that much tougher for us to go out there. One of the reasons that the show succeeded [where the original movie did not] was that it wasn't a two-hour story, but a story you have to develop over time."

Still, the cast has faith in show creator Joss Whedon to come up with a script that delivers. "I'd sign up for him reading the phone book, he's that good," said Emma Caufield, who played Anya.

So what loose ends would the cast like to see developed should there be a two-hour version ? Most of the actors wanted to see their characters resurrected — literally.

"I'd like to come back from heaven, obviously, so I can have a part," laughed Carpenter, whose character had moved on to a higher plane on the spinoff "Angel." "Otherwise, I'd want Angel and Buffy to be together and Buffy and Cordelia to finally be friends."

"I'd like to see Joyce [played by Kristine Sutherland] come back," said Amber Benson, who played Tara. "Have the mom return. And I'd like to see the Tara/Willow stuff regenerate."

"I think most of the characters on the show have died and come back," said Caufield, "so I would think Joss would come up with a creative way to resurrect them, to incorporate that aspect. I mean, Anya just died — an ax, and you're cut in half, and there it is, no period for mourning. I'd like her to be singing somewhere, since Joss is very talented at writing musicals. Maybe they can all burst into song, in a war-torn country or something."

Besides having more songs, there were also votes for more action. "I would like to fight a little more," said Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn. "I say that only because bikini season is coming up, and I got to train. I don't like to work out, but if I have to do it for work, I can."

"There should be bigger snakes," Brendon said. "Next time, if [Buffy] could fight a snake the size of Nevada, that would be great. More guns, less sex. Isn't that what America's about ?"

Wait — wasn't he the guy cheering Buffy's lesbian romance ? Perhaps that should be "more guns, more sex." And if Buffy's allowed a "little lady-loving action," as Tom Lenk, who played Andrew, put it, couldn't Andrew finally be allowed some action as well ? "It became a running joke, the question of his sexual preference," Lenk said. "Sort of how you never saw the guy's face on 'Home Improvement' or never saw Karen Walker's husband on 'Will & Grace.' And it might be nice to see him hook up one way or the other, to make some decisions for Andrew in that department. To just say [whether he's straight or gay]."

That all depends on whether the movie would pick up after the TV show ended or after the events of the comic book. "It would be cool to see what happens directly when the TV show ends, when they drive off on the bus," Lenk said, "because the comic book picks up after awhile. I'd like to see how they start building that network of slayers."

A lot of fans would too, and that fan pressure would be key to making it happen, predicted Seth Green, who played Oz. "You saw 'Serenity' get made" as a movie, after initially airing as Whedon's TV show "Firefly," said Green. "If the fans were excited enough, it's possible."

As Whedon said on the panel, "many stars" would have to align — not the least of which would be a certain lead actress wanting to participate. "But if I had to shoot down everything that we're doing in the comics because we're doing a film," Whedon said, "I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it."

Tvguide.com gives a Salute To Buffy

Webmaster — 2008-03-24T21:56:55Z

Because I was so honored to be a part of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion, wanted to share my opening remarks in text form with the fans who weren't there. (Our crew was busy catching late arrivals on the red carpet, so we don't have video.) Imagine moments when the hyped audience burst into spontaneous applause : not so much at my words (heartfelt as they were), but at the shared love for the magic that was Buffy. At times, I felt I was giving a state-of-the-Buffy-union address. What a rush. Here goes :

My name is Matt, and I'm a Buffy-holic.

Have been since 1997, when Joss Whedon's odd and completely disarming Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit the WB. Trying to find a point of reference when writing about it at the time at USA TODAY, I likened it to “Clueless meets Carrie by way of Salem's Lot” and described it as “90210 with a 666 suffix.”

We had no idea.

What Buffy really was, was My So-Called Life as a Vampire Slayer, a show that used fantasy to get to some very real and disturbing places. It was so ingeniously entertaining, so scary and so funny, but also so emotionally evocative. A coming-of-age allegory where high school really was hell, where the wrong decision truly could herald the end of the world, where adolescent anxieties often took demonic form, and where even after graduation (a truly explosive event) the life lessons—and afterlife lessons—never stopped coming. With all of the pain and joy and sex, and friendship and betrayal and sex, and consequences and death and sex, that all of that implies.

Yes, Buffy was also a very hot show. And yes, it was very good for me.

In fact, the new issue of TV GUIDE ranks the scene of Buffy and Spike bringing down the house as they do the hot nasty the #1 hottest scene ever. (Even outranked The Thorn Birds. Imagine.) But what really set this show apart, and why we're still talking and obsessing about it five years after it left the air, is what it represented. Buffy took genre conventions and flipped them upside down, starting with a title that was too easy to regard as a joke. As we all know, Buffy was no joke.

Like its title, it mixed comedy, horror and action as it took the horror-movie cliché of the pretty blonde girl who always got killed in the first reel and turned her into a kickass icon of feminist empowerment. Although her power always came with a price, and like everyone else on the show (living or living dead) she was far from perfect, she juggled duty, incredible sacrifice and responsibility for the world along with friendship, family and love.

The tone could range from a stark episode without music in which Buffy's mother died suddenly of natural causes to a full-fledged musical comedy episode complete with dancing demons. Buffy was known for its clever, quippy, pop-culture-obsessed dialogue, but earned its one Emmy nomination for writing for what was basically a silent horror movie. As the Scooby gang might say : Ironic much ?

In its seven years—first on the WB, then on UPN (making it sort of the first actual CW show), it became a true cult phenomenon, adored by fans and endlessly dissected by academics. We are all "Buffy-ologists."

And the show lives on, currently in Season 8 in comic book form, but also in its influence in such shows that came later, like Alias and the current Heroes.

And now, let's get this party started.

And what a party it was.

Paley Fest Buffy Reunion - Mycelebrityencounters.com Report

Webmaster — 2008-03-24T21:41:01Z

It all started weeks ago when Paley announced the 10 year Buffy Reunion. I heard about theKarin and I premium package and was lucky enough to find a friend to share in the cost. We bought the first one when it became available and then planned, and anticipated and watched the Paley Site several times a day to see if any new guests were announced. Finally the time came. I drove out from Utah and arrived at Wizard World in LA at 4:30am. There were people in line already ! I talked with them and just had a good time for awhile and I decided I better check on my friend Karin. Karin had bought the ticket to Pushing Daisies that my friend who had bought the passes with me wasn't going to use. We had agreed to meet at Wizard World. So I gave her a call. I had my i-pod speaker in one ear and my phone to my other ear so I did not hear the phone ringing just a couple of people behind me. She answered her phone and the crowd around me burst into laughter. It was kind of funny I had been talking to her for the past hour or so but did not know I already knew her.

My friends Angela (hereafter referred to as Angela1) and Tara arrived just as they finally opened the gates to let us in, and they wanted to go put their bags in my car. Milo Ventimiglia and Alyssa MilanoNo way was I going to miss my chance to meet Milo Ventimiglia and Alyssa Milano, so they had to wait. When I first walked in to the hall my friends and I went straight to the Golden Apple Booth to get a ticket to the Pathology signing. After waiting around for 4 hours the signing was great. I was able to tell them both what great work they have done ; Milo on Heroes, and Alyssa on Charmed.

Seth Green and I at Wizard World LA 08Immediately following the signing I went up to the TopCow panel. Tara had come specifically to meet Seth Green who was there making an announcement about his comic book series, The Freshman. Seth was soooo funny. All the guys up on stage made many crude and hilarious remarks and references. Seth told us about a Halloween party where a Spiderman jumped out at him and danced around trying to make Seth figure out who was under the mask finally the guy takes off his mask, and it's Luke Perry. Seth joked about how he loved that guy. "That guy could totally ride 8 seconds with me" he said.

When we got down to the signing we were informed Seth wouldSeth Green looking at the Oz Trump card sign 2 other things besides the Freshman card they had given us so I was digging through my bag for what I may have. I found my Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Trump cards with Oz on the front and my Buffy Season 8, Issue 1 comic book I had brought to be signed at Paley. Seth was so friendly he asked for my name and wrote it in a bubble on all 3 and then was looking for his "powers" on the card. He was disappointed that the card reflected just his human attributes (on the show he turned into a werewolf). He remembered meeting me before (We had met at comic con for the last 2 years), and I told him I would be at the Paley Buffy reunion on Thursday. He said, "Really ? Me too ! It's going to be fun ! I will look for you there." then I got the best picture with Seth of any I have ever gotten. He shook my hand before I left and said "see you Monique" It was awesoPushing Daisies Cast Paley Fest 08 photo by Dominick Dusseaultme !

Click on the link for more :

http://www..com/paleyfestival08.php

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Cast, Creators Reunite To Debate Angel Vs. Spike, Buffy's Same-Sex Romance

Webmaster — 2008-03-24T12:22:58Z

"Final analysis, final verdict," TV Guide scribe Matt Roush said to the assembled panel of Buffy the Vampire Slayer castmembers and creators. "Angel or Spike ?"

As Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, looked amused but shocked — and James Marsters, who played Spike, wriggled uncomfortably in his chair — only Nicholas Brendan, who played Xander, had the nerve to pipe up and rephrase the age-old question : "Given the comic book, I think Willow."

Ten years after the unlikely show hit the air, the Buffy cast and creators reunited Thursday for the first time since the show ended in 2004 at Hollywood's Cinerama Dome as part of Paley Fest. The Buffy event was at full capacity, and some tickets were sold for 10 times their face value on eBay. "Sarah and Seth [Green, who played Oz] and I are planning a song-and-dance number with jazz hands for it," Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn, joked on the red carpet. "We have mermaid costumes and everything. We're the 'Jazz-Hands Buffy Brigade.' "

That was, in part, a reference to one of the things that has kept the show alive during the years it's been off the air : Buffyoke, performed to the tune of the show's "Once More With Feeling" musical episode, which was shown prior to the panel at the Cinerama Dome. Since the sing-alongs had been stalled, Gellar and Green told MTV News that they should stage their own, saying they could hold them at Green's home and call it a "Hot Musical Evening ... And Some Pizza." "I just heard [about the sing-alongs getting killed]," Gellar said. "That's so sad. That makes me mad. I'd go to one !"

But though Gellar was up to speed on the sing-alongs, she was definitely not up on the other form her character Buffy had been resurrected — via the Season Eight comic book series spearheaded by show creator Joss Whedon.

"I want to be Buffy ; she's getting some pretty hot ladies," Green joked on the red carpet prior to the event, to Gellar's puzzlement.

"What ?" she asked.

"You haven't heard any of that ?" he said. "The comic Joss is writing. Oh my gosh, she's totally making out with a girl."

"Is it with Willow ?" Gellar asked.

"No, but she's smoking-hot," Green said. "I have to get you the back-issues."

"Buffy's getting some action ?" Gellar asked. "Nice, good for her."

And so when the Angel/Spike choice came up on the panel a few minutes later, Gellar was prepared to address the big news that had rocked Buffy's world earlier this month — barely. "Wait !" she said, putting her hands up. "I did not know about this until five minutes ago. Someone says to me, 'How do you feel about Buffy's new relationship ? She's with a woman.' And I'm like, 'She's with Willow ?' "

Marsters gasped, "What ?"

That's what reunions are for, folks — catching up. Whedon and the cast also waxed nostalgic on how hard it was to make the "Hush" and "Once More With Feeling" episodes (the shows during which they couldn't speak and had to break out into song, respectively) and speculated on the possibilities of turning Buffy into a Broadway musical ("I'm a song-and-dance man," Green offered) or another movie, since that's where the story started out in the first place (though even Whedon conceded the original movie wasn't "all that"). But where would the story go from here ?

"You could call it 'Xander the One-Eyed Monster,' " joked Brendan, referring to his character's eye patch. Whedon and Gellar, trying hard not to burst out laughing, couldn't help themselves. Gellar stifled a tear and exclaimed, "This is why this [reunion] hasn't happened in four years !"