By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Sarah Michelle Gellar recently shocked the world when she declared her willingness to return to the world of Buffy. The actress has traditionally said that she does not want to return but likes current projects Dexter: Original Sin have convinced them that there are clever ways to bring back beloved characters and their worlds. The question still remains How to bring the series back, but that question was actually answered decades ago with a failed pilot: Simply put: Buffy the Vampire Slayer must return as an animated series.
The first Buffy Animated attempt
Back in 2004, a year after the live-action show ended, Joss Whedon released a four-minute presentation for Buffy: The Animated Series This should help him sell a cartoon to any interested networks (you can watch it in the video above if you’re interested). In fact, he had been working on the project since 2001 and was hoping that the cool animation and returning actors like Anthony Stewart Head could help him sell this show, which was intended as a prequel set when the characters were still in high school.
The series was never sold and Whedon said the project was dead in 2005, but with Gellar ready to return, it was time to float the idea of a new project Buffy the Vampire Slayer Animation show back to life. Notably, she did not return to voice the character for that 2004 presentation, nor did she reprise the role of Buffy Summers in the excellent Audible original Hunters: A Buffyverse Story. Now that she’s ready to come back, it’s important for a future showrunner to find the best way to make it happen.
Why animation works better
If Buffy the Vampire Slayer Although it was not an animated series but a live-action series, the high cost of production would be the biggest concern for any network. In addition to all those beautiful sets and special effects, they would also have to pay for the old actors to return, and some of them may not like the idea of returning to a grueling production schedule. Poorly done, a live action Buffy Restart would be like that Frasier revival, which notably brought back the title character but limited the original ensemble cast to occasional guest appearances (thankfully that changed with Peri Gilpin’s strong presence in Season 2).
Make it lucky Buffy the Vampire Slayer turning it into an animated series solves both problems by making production cheaper, although it does make production much easier for the talent. One of the reasons Audible has snapped up so many veterans Buffy Stars for Hunters: A Buffyverse Story is that for most actors it’s better to just record lines than to spend hours doing hair and makeup until the wee hours of the morning before shooting scenes. A Buffy It would be similarly easy to record lines for cartoons, and the versatility of the format leaves some creative writers plenty of leeway.
Joss Whedon originally tried to create one Buffy the Vampire Slayer animated prequel show, and that idea could still work if creators and fans wanted to use this cartoon to flesh out the Scoobies’ previous adventures. However, it would be just as easy to set the cartoon in the present and examine how the world changed when Buffy gave her superpowers to every potential Slayer in the world. If they wanted to leave X Men ’97 If you want to continue great comic book arcs and turn them into episodes, a good place to start would be Dark Horse’s Killer Buffy comics, created as new “seasons” of the original series.
Speaking of which X Men ’97this show is proof that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer The animated series could be successful while still dealing with some very dark themes. Quality always wins, and when we get high quality Buffy cartoon (with or without the controversial Whedon’s involvement), fans will come running. Sarah Michelle Gellar is ready to return to the role that made her famous, and a cartoon adaptation could ultimately be our best bet to recapture some of the old magic of one of the most groundbreaking franchises in television history.
Source: diversity