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In the beginning...there was "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" the movie. Released
in 1992, the film hardly set the world alight and grossed a decidedly mediocre $16,624,456 in the US. Directed by Fran Rubel
Kuzui and starring Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry and Rutger Hauer, the studio took Joss Whedon's idea(An early draft can be read
here: The Original Movie Screenplay) and turned it into an adventure fluffier than the bunnies Anya fears so much.
"All this nonsense, including Sutherland's hilariously mystified
performance -- he seems geniunely surprised to find himself in this picture -- and Reubens's death-scene equivalent of his
never-ending kiss in "Big Top Pee-wee," washes painlessly over us. The movie's real problem is that, after you've seen it,
you're not sure if you've really seen anything. Even before it's over, it's as if it never really happened. Like a vampire,
it turns into mist and vanishes." (Washington Post)
"Swanson ("Hot Shots") takes on the rampant silliness in Joss Whedon's
script with becoming charm. Director Fran Rubel Kuzui ("Tokyo Pop") may think she's crafting a comic romance about a mall
doll who finds more to life than shopping, but her pacing is deadly. And the film's clichéd heart deserves the stake. Repetitive
gags defang initially sly turns from Rutger Hauer and a post-Pee-wee Paul Reubens as hissing bloodsuckers. Buffy isn't heinous,
just disposable. As a friend tells Buffy while she eyes a fashion purchase, 'It's so five minutes ago.'" (Rolling
Stone)
"Screenwriter Joss
Whedon should thank his lucky stars that he was able to not only salvage this wreck with the hit TV show, but also get the
opportunity at all. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER is a prime example of a high concept idea resulting in an insufferable product.
For all it promises, it delivers on nothing in any way that passes for entertainment. A boring, sorry mess of a film."
(Cinescape)
And finally...
"About an hour into the movie,
I just started to cry, a single manly tear rolling down my cheek. I was heartbroken." (Joss Whedon)
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| Kristy Swanson, the original Buffy |
Fortunately for us, Joss Whedon did not give up on his idea of creating a show
where "the girl has to look the part of the blonde bimbo who dies in reel two, and yet she's not that." (Joss Whedon, SFX).
In 1996 he approached Warner Bros with a 25 minute presentation episode for a new television series.
The pilot has no incidental music or sound effects, and the special effects
obviously leave a little to be desired (check out the "dusting" which looks like someone's spilled a bag of flour on the floor).
The story takes place mainly at the school, with one fleeting visit to The Bronze.
Of course the main topic of discussion is Riff Regan's portrayal of Willow.
Still bright, anxious to please and vulnerable, still shopping at Sears and yet so not Alyson Hannigan. But let's try
to forget she exists for the duration of the pilot...
You'll spot many lines which made it into the actual series and the four leads
who reprised their roles in the series have already got the feel for their characters.
Although fans consistently ask whether the presentation episode will appear
on DVD, it seems highly unlikely this will ever happen if Joss Whedon has his way:
"Not while there is strength in these bones. It sucks!...It
was dreadful...I was a first time guy who didn't know what he was doing, surrounded by old veterans who didn't know what they
were doing. I look back and just see the mistakes I made."
So I feel I should apologise to Joss for helping keep the "God-awful presentation"
in the public eye. OK, so it's rough around the edges but if it hadn't been for the pilot, the world would have been left
with the memory of a Buffy who wore pink leggings.
And that is scary...
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| "I'm destiny-free, really." Buffy discovers her Slayer heritage in "Becoming Pt 1" |
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